by Melody Ash
“Your parents don’t find that precision a threat?”
John smiled. “James has never given them reason to think as much. Anyway, he saved my life. That’s why my parents turn a blind eye to my visits with James and his family.”
“They know?”
“They suspect. If Father knew for certain, he would surely stop it, especially should he know I help the family learn to read and write.”
“They would be killed.”
He looked at her again with the same studying gaze, but she didn’t flinch. And he relaxed.
“They could be. But I hope one day James and his family will be free. That all of them will be free. A man doesn’t deserve to be owned like property. And, should that day come to pass, I want
to help James have the best opportunity available as anyone else. They can’t have that if they don’t read or write. As long as they don’t cause any trouble on the plantation, or start rallying the other slaves, my father doesn’t say much.”
“But if your father found an excuse?”
“I just help ensure he doesn’t. Like I said, they are good people, and I owe James everything.
My parents are made not to forget that.”
Caitlin’s heart softened. Yes, James and his family were good people, but so was this man before her. A product of his times, for sure, but wasn’t everyone?
“Is the tiger, is that how you got your limp?”
“My…” John’s eyes dropped to his legs and he laughed. “No. No. That, it shames me to say, is from a childhood injury. I fell from a horse.”
Caitlin grinned.
“You are smiling. If you forgive me for saying, but you have a most captivating smile.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond. Being at a loss for words was something new. She glanced down at the book, found her voice and settled on a soft, “Thank you.”
“Well,” he said as he stood, “I better return to the main house. I hope the book helps you pass the time today, and the flower brings you a smile.”
“They will. Both.”
“Good. And, Caitlin, please, don’t leave the cabin. I’ll try to keep the overseer from coming here, but if anyone sees you, I won’t be able to do so.”
She nodded, all too sure of what was at stake, not just for herself, but for John, Mitilda, James, Etta, and the children. “I will.”
He nodded. “I’ll return tonight and try to bring something more to eat. Until then.”
Chapter Five
Two days later, Caitlin tested her full weight on the ankle. Still sore, still swollen, but with the rags and thin pieces of wood flanking each side, she was sure she could get around enough to figure out how to go home. She’d stayed too long as it was.
She pulled the rock out from beneath the ragged blankets, studied the etching. Three circles connected to a larger circle by thin lines. A central figure—two half boxes facing opposite directions and meeting on the center—stood between two of the lines. Caitlin sighed. She’d seen something similar once before in a book, but still couldn’t remember where or when. More importantly, the meaning behind it was lost.
Caitlin waved a hand over the images, unsurprised when nothing happened.
“Okay. The first time, I was outside next to the remains of this cabin.” She glanced around the single room. The construction was almost entirely comprised of wood. It was no wonder very little of the cabin remained by the twenty-first century. The only brick utilized was in the fireplace, and in contrast to the rest of the building, it was very well constructed. She wondered if James had built the home as slaves were often encouraged to learn such skills. But theirs might not have been the first family to live in the cabin. No one had said one way or the other. And maybe that was a question she needed to ask.
“The remains Sean discovered are from the fireplace. So, if I was standing next to the remains in the twenty-first century, I would have to be standing about,” she took a couple of painful steps, “about here.”
She studied the fireplace, fingers running over the precise masonry, shook her head. Nothing close to anything she saw on the stone. No etchings at all. “What am I missing?” With a single sidestep, Caitlin moved along the hearth. “This might be about right, might have been where I was standing. Can’t hurt to try again.” A quick motion over the stone. “This isn’t making sense. If it’s connected to this site, it should work.”
The door squeaked open behind her, and Caitlin whirled around, tucking the stone in a back pocket. Breathed a little easier to see John.
“Good afternoon. You can walk.”
She laughed. “Sort of. Better than I could.”
He glanced at her ankle. “It still appears to be swollen.”
“It is. But I need to leave as soon as I can. I don’t want to see Mitilda and her family get into trouble because of me.”
He nodded. “Here. I know you must be tired of eating cornmeal mush and bread.” John handed her an apple and a small box of chocolate. “I hope they are both to your liking.”
“Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“You do not like them?”
“No, that’s not it at all. I just … your family.”
“I think you are more than worth the risk of angering my father.”
“That’s a nice thing to say, but I can’t stay, so that’s not—”
John took another step forward. “I know this is uncommon and inappropriate. But if you are to leave soon…” his voice trailed off as he reached for her hand, carefully brought it closer to his lips until his breath tickled Caitlin’s fingertips and teased her pulse. “May I have the honor?” he asked, eyes fixed on hers.
Caitlin nodded and breathlessly watched as John softly kissed her fingers. “It is my wish to see you again.”
She smiled. “I wish that were possible, but I’m afraid it won’t be once I leave.”
“Then I shall have to make an effort to see you before you go.”
“I would like that.”
*
Caitlin settled at the table, pulled in a deep breath. Judging from the fading light through the cracks in the roof, Mitilda, James, and Etta would be back soon from the fields. She pushed the rock gently in a circle on the table’s surface. No more time to waste. After John’s visit that afternoon, and a couple nights on the floor, it was time to figure out what she was doing wrong with the rock and leave the nineteenth century before she was discovered. She couldn’t risk hurting this family who’d taken her in despite all danger of doing so and didn’t want to complicate John’s life more than he already had by befriending the slaves. Mitilda knew more than what she was saying, and one way or the other, Caitlin was going to find out what it was.
When they came in, the family looked more exhausted than usual. James looked as though he could barely crawl, much less walk, as he trudged to the nearest chair, and Caitlin immediately relinquished the other to Etta.
Mitilda carried first Henry, then Rosie, to the opposite corner and laid them down, each covered with an old shirt as they snored with thumbs securely stuck in their mouths. Children settled, Mitilda moved to the fireplace and started a flame under a badly bruised kettle. Then she knelt on the floor next to a stool and began splitting green beans. Caitlin made her way to Mitilda’s side. “Here. Let me help. You look like you could fall over.”
“Please, honey. We do this every night. I be fine.”
Caitlin shook her head. “Well, then, tonight is your night off. I’ve been staying here for a couple days. It’s the least I can do.”
“No, that is not the way we do things. Have a rest, and dinner be ready soon.”
“If you won’t allow me to do it for you, at least allow me to help.” She picked up a green bean, snapped off each end, and tossed it into the pot.
“You a sweet chil’.”
“It’s nothing. You’ve helped me out, took good care of my ankle. And I wasn’t raised to be lazy.”
“Why is this here?” James asked, h
is voice husky as he picked up the rock.
Caitlin glanced around at the people in the room. The looks served as the only confirmation she needed. “That’s mine.”
James looked to Mitilda. “Did you give this to her, Momma?”
“I need some answers,” Caitlin said. “That rock is my only way home, but I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I think you know more than you’ve told me, and while I appreciate all your kindness, but each minute that I’m here puts us all in danger.”
James shook his head, ignoring Caitlin altogether. “Momma, you know if the masta catches us with this, it will be a whippin’ for sho.”
Mitilda hung her head. “Caitlin be right. If the overseer or the masta find this girl, the trouble would be worse.”
“But using it would mean…”
“Tsk tsk, don’ be arguin’ with your momma, James.” Mitilda shifted her attention to Caitlin.
“I know about the rock for sho, but we do not use it.”
“So,” Caitlin dropped a green bean in the kettle and sat back, careful not to turn her ankle,
“are you telling me you know it travels through time?”
James stood. “We shouldn’t be talkin’ ‘bout this.”
Mitilda shook her head. “Look at her, James. Do you ‘pose she from north like she say to Mister John? Look at her clothes.”
Etta nodded. “She right.”
James shook his head, glared hard at Caitlin, mistrust replacing kindness for the first time.
“Maybe she is, but we talk about this, and someone’s bound to hear. I have to take care of my family.”
“And the best way to do that,” Caitlin said gently, “is for me to go home. I can’t stay here any longer and risk being discovered.”
James shook his head. “I’ll be on the porch, take in the fresh air. I won’ be hearin’ none of this.”
Etta shook her head as her husband left the cabin. “I’s sorry, Caitlin. He a good man, but fear rules his heart.”
“I can’t blame him. The lives that you have here, the dangers you live with … I can’t imagine how that must feel. I like your family. I don’t want to cause more trouble for you.”
“Momma?”
Mitilda stood and hovered over the kettle, stirred the beans and a beef bone into the water.
She rested the spoon on the side of the kettle and turned to face Caitlin.
“I like you, honey. But what you are talkin’ ‘bout is powerful hoodoo.”
Caitlin nodded as she retrieved the stone from the table and sat in front of Mitilda, rested the stone on her lap. “I’m aware of that. If this wasn’t powerful, I don’t think I would be sitting in your cabin. But you knew this stone allows for time travel?”
“I knew only of the symbols. I know what they mean, but I never try to use it for nothin’.”
“Can I ask why not? Why not try to escape all this?”
“I have a family. A son, daughter, grandchild’n. Life is hard, but we knows it. What happens whe’ver you from? It might be worse’n for us. We can’t trust that.”
Caitlin nodded. “It is better there, I can tell you that, but I understand not being able to take the chance.
“My home is back there, though, and I can’t figure how this works. I keep waving my hand over the rock, nothing happens. I tried it outside where I first appeared. Nothing happened. I tried next to the fireplace because I stood near the ruins of that same fireplace in my time, and nothing happened. I know I’m doing something wrong; I just don’t know what it is.”
“You needs be in the sunlight, inside a circle,” Mitilda said matter-of-factly before turning back to the kettle.
Caitlin stared at her back. “In the circle, in the sunlight.” Her thoughts circled back a couple days earlier, while tracing the symbol with a single finger. “Of course. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. I’ve tried the sunlight, and I’ve tried the circle, but I haven’t tried both together.” She glanced upward to the roof, where a thin moonbeam shined through the cracks. “Tomorrow mid-day, the sun should shine right through the roof there.”
Etta nodded.
“I’ll go home then.”
The last night on the plantation was more fun than Caitlin would have ever expected. Some of the slaves in neighboring cabins gathered on the front porches. Some played spoons, one a discarded fiddle. There was singing, dancing, and children running circles around one another.
While she stayed in the cabin away from the other slaves and eyes that may report her to the master or overseer, she watched the festivities through the opened door.
The songs were ones she remembered from studying the history of slavery in America. The smiles were something more. As she sat back and watched them all, she wondered how often they enjoyed moments like these. Caitlin marveled at their strength, their tenacity, and admiration filled her heart until it consumed every part of her being.
The music and the laughter filled the night air until the potluck-style meal ended and everyone retreated into their own cabins. Caitlin settled on the hard, cold floor, curled in a ball, counted down to the following day when she finally would go home.
Chapter Six
Gasps, angry voices, and a hard jolt woke Caitlin. She opened her eyes to find a man dressed in a black tail overcoat and top hat standing over her, face twisted with anger and a sharp hatred.
“Get up, thief!” he yelled as he yanked hard at her arm. “Get up now.”
Caitlin ripped her arm from his grip, glared hard as she stood. “I haven’t stolen a thing.”
“You’re stealing our food and the roof over your head. Thief. Do you know what we do to thieves around here?”
“I’m just traveling through, twisted my ankle. I’m leaving today.”
“You bet you are, but not until you pay what you owe us. And James, if you have enough food to share with runaways, you’ll find your ration decreased. Now everyone outside.”
Mitilda, James, Etta, and the children were pushed out the door in rotating shoves, and as they stumbled to the earthy ground, the man pushed Caitlin off the porch to her knees next to them. She turned to look at him, and then saw the whip she hadn’t noticed inside the cabin. Her eyes grew wide as she turned to the family who had become her friends. She expected fear and panic but found only strength and resolution etched on their faces. Even little Henry, who stood in front of his mother, mimicked the others. Eyes on the ground in obedience, no one shook, or cried. They only huddled together in a single line, expecting what would come next, knowing it would be over soon.
Movement from the corner of one eye made Caitlin turn her head. The man, the overseer, pulled James aside among quiet gasps, arm raised, whip readied behind his back.
Without thinking, she rushed forward, kneed the overseer in the groin. As he dropped to the ground, Caitlin took James’ hand and struggled to pull him from the courtyard as he shook his head, eyes pleading.
“You make it worse,” he whispered.
“You and your family can come with me. People are free in my time. You’ll be safe.”
Her whispers ended in time for her arm to be pulled backward, and she gritted her teeth to silence a scream.
“You’ll pay for that insolence with your life,” the overseer growled.
Despite the painful ankle, Caitlin kicked and struggled from his grip as he pulled her towards a tree with weeping branches. A rope hung ominously, ready, from the saddest limb.
Caitlin kicked harder, pushing dirt around her feet into a trail of mounds as the man dragged her towards the waiting oak.
“Edward! Unhand her!” Caitlin glanced over a shoulder to see John riding through the crowd. He slid off the horse before the animal came to a full stop. “You will not harm that woman.”
Edward turned but didn’t let go, his fingers digging further into her bicep. “Your softness for these animals is disturbing.”
“Be that as it may, you will unhand her now or will pay the consequences for
disobeying an order.”
Edward narrowed his eyes, pushed Caitlin into John. “Take your Negro slut. But I shall speak to your father of this. You won’t be able to protect them any longer.”
John gently nudged Caitlin to stand behind him as she seethed. If only she could get her hands on Edward, he’d know what a twenty-first-century woman did to a man who thought he
could manhandle her. Instead, John’s arm restrained her gently, and the reminder caused her to bite her lip. Charging at Edward would only worsen the situation, not teach the idiot a lesson.
John laughed. “I urge you to take it up with my father. You may be the overseer, but I am still his son.”
“A son who has a soft spot for these slave trash. How long do you think he’ll keep looking the other way?”
“As long as I continue to be his son, which will be a whole lot longer than you’ll find employment here if you press this matter further.”
Edward’s hand tightened around the handle of the whip and John took a step forward.
“Should you follow through with what you are thinking, not only will you find yourself unemployed with my family, but you’ll be staying the night with the Sheriff. I urge you to consider the decision with the utmost of care.”
“Your father will hear of this.”
Edward stomped off, and John ordered everyone back into the cabins. As the crowd
dispersed, he took Caitlin’s hand gently into his own. He walked with her into James’ home with the family following closely behind.
“Edward is a bad egg, but he does follow the rules set forth by my father. I fear my father will not be dissuaded as easily. You must leave today.”
Caitlin nodded. “I plan to. What about Mitilda and James and—”
“Do not worry yourself about them. I can protect them. But you attacked Edward, and I cannot protect you from my father’s wrath.”
“I fought back.”