Indentured

by Jeanie P Johnson

  “Going to London?” he asked.

  She merely nodded.

  “Same here, but then I will be boarding a ship to America, in a few weeks,” he informed her.

  “Are you an American?” she asked, working up her bravery to talk to him.

  “I suppose you could tell by my accent,” he smiled.

  “Tell me about America,” she requested in a small voice, avoiding looking into his eyes.

  “It’s a pretty big country. All of England could fit in one little state, and not even make a dent,” he laughed. “I have a plantation in Missouri where I grow cotton. I was here making arrangements to sell my cotton, and now I am headed home.”

  “I’ve never been on a ship before,” Leatrisha murmured. “It must be exciting.”

  “A lot of people get seasick, their first time sailing,” he said offhandedly.

  “Oh,” is all she said in return.

  “Where are you headed? I mean why are you going to London all on your own?” he asked.

  “To stay with my aunt who insists she can make a lady out of me,” she told him.

  “You already look like a lady to me,” he smiled.

  “On the outside I suppose,” she smiled back.

  “I don’t think it will take much to finish the job,” he laughed.

  “At least my aunt is hoping so,” she agreed. “But you were going to tell me about America,” she insisted.

  “It’s the land of the free. Some of it is still a little wild, but where I live it is fairly civilized. It is nothing like England. There are wide open spaces, and wild Indians further west. The buildings are newer, except perhaps in New York, which has been established longer than most of the other places, but even New York is young, compared to England.

  “It is a lot farther east from where I live. I own several slaves, that work my fields, and reside in a large plantation house, not far from the Missouri river. They call that area of Missouri Little Dixie because there are several southern plantations owned by people who moved there from deeper south, and transplanted their southern culture there. The weather is warm and humid in the summer, and cold and snowy in the winter, but it suits me fine.”

  “Does your wife like it as well?” she asked.

  He gave a laugh. “I do not have a wife. But I may find me one someday,” he smiled.

  “My father wants to marry me off to some blueblood, once he turns me into a lady,” she frowned.

  “I am sure any man would be glad to have you,” he murmured, trying to look at her features through the veil over her face, but she kept looking shyly away.

  “It is kind of you to say so,” she said solemnly.

  The train ride continued, and Leatrisha’s mind was distracted from her worries of living with her aunt, as the American continued to tell her about what life was like in America. It was so much different from English life, she thought.

  While there were wealthy people living there, anyone could marry who they pleased, he told her. There were seldom arranged marriages, or the same kind of social standards that were part of English society, he explained. Anyone could work their way to becoming a wealthy person, if they had some ingenuity and was willing to work hard. The land of opportunity, he told her.

  “Only the rich could afford passage on a ship there, though,” she pointed out. “So how can the poor work their way into being wealthy, if they can’t get there in the first place?” she wondered.

  “They could become an indentured servant to someone willing to pay their passage,” he informed her.

  “What is an indentured servant?” she asked, her interest peaking.

  “It is a person who is willing to work for someone for a certain period of time, between four and six years, usually, if that person is willing to pay their passage. Then when their time of service is up, they are free to become their own person, and do as they please, in the land of opportunity,” he smiled.

  “That is a long time to have to work for someone,” she murmured.

  “Perhaps,” he agreed. “Better than being a slave, though. A slave works their entire life for their masters.”

  Leatrisha doubted if she could be a servant or a slave to anyone for any length of time. Her independent spirit would get the better of her, she realized.

  The whole time they talked, she never thought to ask him his name, and she never mentioned hers. But what difference did it make, she asked herself, as they got off of the train in London. She would never see him again anyway.

  The carriage that aunt Meredith sent to pick Leatrisha up, brought her and Polly straight to her aunt’s home. Leatrisha had only been to aunt Meredith’s house a couple of times, growing up. Aunt Meredith was her father’s older sister, who had never married, so how could she ever prepare her niece for marriage, Leatrisha wondered. Leatrisha had always been frightened of her, when she was young, and she doubted her opinion of the woman was going to change, now that she was older.

  She knew why her father had sent her to his sister, though. His sister was strict and overbearing, demanding, and would know how to keep a close leash on her niece. That was what she was afraid of the most. Her freedom would be taken from her, and she knew she would not like it.

  The land of the free, she thought. That is what the American had called it. She wondered if she could truly be free if she ever went there? Here in England, she had her doubts she would ever be free. She would end up having to marry some stuffy man who would probably beat her, when he discovered her wayward ways. Nothing Aunt Meredith could do would ever turn her into a lady, she feared.

  “Stand up straight,” Aunt Meredith, commanded, as Leatrisha stood before her in the entry hall. “A lady never slouches!”

  Leatrisha let out an inward groan, and straightened her shoulders, as her aunt took a long look at her, walking around the girl, as she inspected her.

  “I understand you have become rather unruly. Your father caught you kissing some farmer boy, while you were scantily dressed, in men’s clothes. Disgraceful!”

  The tap of her aunt’s heals on the marble tiles echoed about Leatrisha, as the woman continued to walk. She stood at least four inches taller than Leatrisha’s short frame, and she was sturdily built, dressed in a dark green taffeta dress that made rustling sounds as she walked.

  “So now it looks like I am going to have my hands full,” the drone continued, as Leatrisha distracted herself by looking around her aunt’s house. It had not changed a bit since she was here last, she thought.

  The same heavy curtains at the windows, bronze statues cluttering the place up, tapestries and heavy framed paintings covering the walls. The carpet looked a little warn, but it was of the finest material. Large vases of flowers were placed about on tables and counters. Exotic potted plants decorated the entryway, and other places beyond. Leatrisha thought it a dreary looking house.

  “Are you paying attention?” she heard her aunt’s shrill voice bringing her back from her daydreaming.

  She looked back up at her aunt.

  “There are certain rules to be adhered to here.” she informed Leatrisha. “First of all, no wearing boy’s clothes. No riding astride a horse, and without a saddle. No kissing boys, regardless of who they are. No going out on your own. Every morning after breakfast, you shall be given a class in etiquette. Then after lunch, you will be given dancing lessons. After dinner, you will be taught how to conduct yourself with a gentleman.

  “By your sixteenth birthday, in three months, you will come out, and be presented before the queen. After that, there shall be balls and soirees to attend. All the eligible men suited to your position in life, will be presented to you. If they wish to call on you, or offer for you, you may choose among them. And you will choose one of them, Leatrisha. You cannot cry off altogether.

  “By the time you turn eighteen, you will choose your own husband, or one will be chosen for you. Do you understand?”

  Leatrisha merely nodded.

  “The butler will show yo
u to your room, then,” her aunt told her, and left the room.

  No friendly embrace. No, how are you feeling, child, or how was your train ride? No welcome to my home. She already knew she was going to hate it here!

  “What is this?” Polly asked, as Leatrisha came into the room assigned to her by her aunt. She was holding up the fawn colored britches and white shirt, with new buttons sewn back on it. “I do not remember packing such clothes,” she scolded.

  Leatrisha stepped forward and snatched the clothes out of Polly’s hands.

  “They are mine, and I intend to keep them,” she said defiantly.

  “But you know you can never wear them. We are not in the country any longer, child,” she reminded Leatrisha.

  “I like them. They have a lot of memories attached to them,” she told the maid.

  “Just don’t let your aunt find them, or they will probably be burned,” the maid warned.

  Leatrisha let out a long sigh. “I hate it here already!”

  “You are growing up. You have to put away your wayward ways, now,” Polly told her. “Do as your aunt says, and you will not get into trouble.”

  “Becoming a lady is going to be boring,” Leatrisha frowned. “If I had my way, I would board a ship to America. Did you hear what that man said about the place?”

  “He has put dreams into your head that can never be realized. You are a woman of future wealth. You will marry a man who is worthy of your position, and you shall live in luxury together, having children to carry on the traditions,” Polly related.

  “Is that all life is about?” Leatrisha asked. “There should be more adventure than just getting married and having children, who will do the same thing themselves when they grow up. There has to be more to life than that!” she insisted.

  “Most people in your position look forward to it,” Polly murmured.

  “But I am not most people, Polly. I need something more exciting than just attending balls and parties, and finding a husband to give me children.”

  “Sometimes we cannot always choose what we wish to have in life,” Polly soothed. “You are a very lucky young woman, and you don’t even know it.”

  Leatrisha, walked over to the window and looked out.

  “A whole world out there, and I am stuck here, learning how to dance and act properly with a gentleman,” she scowled, as she watched the people walking by under her window.

  She unlatched the window, and leaned out looking down, and then a canny smile broke out over her face. There was a trellis just below her window. She straightened up, and closed the window again.

  “I suppose I will just have to endure it,” she said, but Polly wondered what she was smiling about.

  CHAPTER THREE

  A nap in the middle of the afternoon? How can anyone sleep during the day, Leatrisha wondered. Maybe the old woman needed a nap during the day, but she certainly didn’t. She had been here for a week, and each day was much like the last. Miss Boughmont spent the morning showing her the proper way to be seated. How to hold a fan, how to eat her meals, as though she didn’t know how to hold a fork! Along with a lot of other useless things, she barely bothered listening to.

  Then a toad of a man gave her dancing lessons, until her feet hurt, and after dinner, a man who was at least as old as her aunt, tried to show her how to act with a gentleman. Which side of him to walk on, how to curtsy, and offer her hand to be kissed; What was proper to say, and what was not; How to side step any advances a man might make, she was sure he loved making those advances for her to side step, she thought laughingly to herself.

  It was all driving her mad, and she had not been outside to see London, the whole time she had been here! Now she longingly looked out of her window. Her aunt would be sleeping for the next two hours, and there was no way she could force herself to sleep when life was so quickly flying by with too many things to consider.

  For the hundredth time she glanced at the trellis below her window, stopping herself from putting on her boy clothes and escaping. But this time she just couldn’t resist. Even Polly was napping. The house was quiet. No one would miss her, and if she got back before her aunt woke up, she would be back safe and sound, ready to take her dancing lessons.

  Leatrisha began braiding her long ebony hair, and then winding the braid around her head and pinning it fast. She changed into her boy’s clothes and riding boots, pulled a cap down over her braided hair, and opened the window, testing the trellis, before finally crawling out onto it, and slowly making her way to the ground.

  She knew the docks were not that far away from the house, because she could see the tall masts in the distance from her window, and the first thing she wanted to see, were the ships that sailed away to other exciting places of the world. Places she probably would never see.

  No one seemed to notice her making her way through the crowds, as she wandered in the general direction of where she believed the docks to be. There were other urchins, all looking scruffy, with dirty faces, playing in the streets, or walking together in a group. Some glanced at her, and she realized her face was clean, so she didn’t blend in that much. She stooped down and put her hands in some soot next to a coal bin, and rubbed some of it on her face. Now she would fit right in. People would just believe her to be another urchin on the street, looking for a way to earn a living.

  It took her longer than expected to actually find the docks, and when she arrived, she turned her nose up at the smell of fish, that hit her in the face. She watched the burly looking men unloading their catch. The place looked congested with wagons being filled with crates of fish and other sea life, and people everywhere, mostly dressed in working clothes. The boisterous sounds of sailors calling to each other, some singing, as they worked, people walking back and forth up and down the planks that lead up to the ships, lent excitement to the air.

  “Where are the ships that go to America?” she asked a man, who was loading a wagon.

  “Farther up the dock,” he told her. “This is the fisherman’s dock. The passenger ships, don’t dock here.” She looked at the direction in which he pointed, and started heading that way.

  Time was slipping by too fast, she thought, but she refused to return back to her aunt’s house until she had seen the ships that the stranger on the train had told her about.

  “Watch where you’re going, lad,” she heard a familiar voice say to her, as she almost collided into him.

  Leatrisha, looked up into the blue eyes of the man she had seen on the train. He was talking to another man, who looked like a captain to a ship, and she couldn’t help but pause to listen. They were talking about cargo, and cotton, and prices, and how long it took to deliver goods from America. As they talked, the American absently dropped his glove he held in one hand, and Leatrisha picked it up.

  “Does this belong to you, sir?” she asked, taking on the street language of the urchins she had heard earlier that day.

  “Yes, thank you,” he said, and he took the glove and flipped her a coin.

  At first she looked questioningly at the coin, wondering why he had given it to her, and then she realized he thought her to be a beggar boy.

  He turned from the captain, shaking hands, and started strolling down the docks.

  “You must be an American,” she said, as she followed behind him, acting as though she had never met him before.

  “That I am,” he said, smiling down at her.

  “Do you know where the big ships are anchored that sail to America?” she asked.

  “Certainly. Why do you ask?”

  “I just want to see them, is all. I have heard some wonderful things about that place,” she told him.

  “And I suppose it is your dream, when you grow up, to sail away to America?”

  “Maybe sooner,” she smiled.

  “Where are you from?” he asked, taking a closer look at the lad. Something about him seemed familiar to him, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

  “Here abouts,” sh
e mumbled.

  “Do you live with your parents?” he inquired.

  “No.” she responded.

  “Then are you homeless?” he continued to ask.

  “In a manner of speaking,” she said, thinking that her aunt’s home certainly did not feel like home.

  “And you would like to go to America?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it. I just don’t know how I am ever going to get there,” she informed him. “I’ve heard of indentured servants, but I don’t know of anyone who would offer to pay for me.”

  “Do you have any talents, as a servant?” he asked.

  “Depends on what they are expected to do,” she answered.

  “If you are serious about wanting to go to America, and you have no family that will worry about you, I could use a boy to assist me on the ship, and at my Plantation. Someone who can do little things for me, like shine my boots and lay out my clothes. You think you could do things like that?”

  Leatrisha stood for a very long moment staring at the man. She could remain here and continue to become a lady, and be married off to some man she had yet to meet, or go with the American and pretend to be a boy, doing small chores for him for four to six years.

  She didn’t think she could actually fool the man for six years, or how ever long she must work for him, but once he discovered she was a girl, maybe he would give her some other kind of duties to perform until her indenture was paid. Then she could choose her own life path, and marry whom she pleased, when she pleased, and be her own person.

  America promised adventure. England promised the same thing she had been experiencing all her life, minus the dressing up in boy’s clothes and riding a horse bareback.

  “I will have to think about it,” she said at last. “When do you sail?”

  “In two weeks,” he told her.

  “If I decide to do it, then I will meet you here in two weeks,” she suggested.

  “You will have to let me know before that, so I can pay your passage,” he told her.

  “How will I know where you are?” she asked.