All But One

by Sandra LaVaughn

  The men laughed and agreed with Jethro.

  Theenda had purchased a large container that held one hundred beef sticks, two large boxes of peanut butter or cream cheese crackers, and a big box of Gatorade and Powerade.

  Bo said to Glaidous, “iffen' you don't git' home I's' beat you right-hear-and-now old man.”

  Glaidous looked to see where the boys were, they had disappeared in the darkness, he looked sternly at Bo and said, “you can beat me until I's blue in da' face, what do you gain?”

  Bo punched Glaidous in the face, Glaidous fell. Glaidous tried to get up, Bo pushed him back down on the ground. Looking up at Bo, Glaidous uttered, “why beat on me? The Browns don't like neither one of us.”

  “Dey’ don't like you monkeys,” Bo mumbled.

  The next punch Glaidous pretended to be knocked out.

  Lee heard horses galloping, he asked, “y’all hear dat.”

  Ben said, “sound like comin’ to us.”

  Jethro yelled softly, “crawl.”

  The four men dropped to the ground and began crawling towards the church. Lee whispered, “feel the ground shaking?”

  “Yeah,” Saul answered

  Lee said, iffen' one of us is caught don't give the others away, we's gots' ta' git' outta' here.”

  “Let’s scatter,” Ben suggested. The men roll on the ground separating themselves from each other, then laid very still. From the town area the overseers galloped towards the slave gate exit, one of their horses stepped on Lee's leg, Lee grimaced softly in pain.

  “My horse stepped on a big rock,” Fred claimed.

  “Lazy niggas' need to clean the plantation, especially this area, they live like pigs,” Roy said and continued, “I wonder what they do if they knew slavery was over?”

  “Honestly,” Roy began, “we ain't no better off.”

  “Well, when we git's out, we’ll get a lot of money, and they’ll still be here.”

  “Have you ever been outside of your hometown?” Roy asked.

  Fred answered, “Naw. Dis’ be da’ first time.”

  “Have you ever owned a brand-new car or nearly new car?”

  “Naw' ain't neva' owned a car,” Fred answered.

  “Do you have a bank account?”

  “Naw.'“

  “Do you buy new clothes?”

  Fred answered, “my woman shop at da' second-hand store.”

  Roy kept asking Fred questions, “would you like to move back in the white ghetto?”

  “Any place would be better than here. Thank' about it, we's slaves like dem,” Fred answered.

  Roy asked, “How’d you figure?”

  Fred said, “we work for free and cain’t git out da’ gate, just like da’ slave.”

  Roy responded, “we don’t get beatings.”

  “And dat’ make us free? Member when Massa Charles daughter and son gave us a little bit of food to last a month.”

  Glaidous and Bo heard them coming. Bo yelled, “Glaidous try’s ta’ run.”

  Roy asked, “run where silly thing.”

  They exited the slave area; Roy pushed the gate closed.

  Fred said, “wid’ dis’ bottle of whiskey, me and my woman gonna’ git’ drunk ta’night.”

  Roy said, “yep, us too.”

  Inside the church, Lee, Ben, Saul, and Jethro discussed overseer’s’ conversation. Lee said, “they da' same as us.”

  “Iffen' dey only knew dat' we's' knows' bout' freedom,” Saul chuckled.

  Ben walked over to one of the church windows and muttered, “so der' be po' white people.”

  Lee said, “yeah, dey be slave wid’ us.”

  Lee, Jethro, and Saul went into the Backroom of the church, where they faithfully had been digging every evening since Donovan had given them the tools. Lee asked, “Ben, you comin?” he put the hat with the flashlight on and went down in the hole.

  *******

  Timpkin and his wife were in their family room watching television, when KayKay said, “these little pea brain townspeople have no clue about anything.”

  Ignoring her comment, Timpkin asked, “when are Karen and the children coming?”

  “They can't, little Kay is sick, so I was thinking about going to see them.”

  “You have the Juneteenth celebration to plan.”

  “The committee is uncultured, with no idea, not a clue, yet they think that they know it all, they refuse to listen to me. And Donovan has the biggest head of all. “

  “Try something different, how about listening to them or him.”

  “Karen needs me.”

  Timpkin said, “finish the project,” then snapped, “try listening to the committee.”

  KayKay tightened her lips and muttered, “if it's a failure it's not my fault.” She stalked out of the room, went upstairs to their bedroom. She slammed the door behind her. Timpkin smiled and continued watching television.

  Donovan school was having a PTA meeting, the students with their parents were beginning to file in, most of the teachers were in their classroom. Donovan entered the teachers’ lounge to retrieve his student roster, a few teachers were smoking cigarettes, even though it was against the law. The math teacher asked Donovan, “are you still conducting research on plantations?”

  “My research was on antebellum homes,” Donovan corrected the math teacher.

  Another teacher asked, “did you find slaves, there was something about a woman being killed, she was connected to slaves.”

  “In the 1800s some of my family members were slaves, now most of them are teachers, lawyers, or doctors, not slaves.”

  The math teacher asked, “did you know a Mrs. Carboy, they found her body hanging from a tree, she killed herself?”

  One of the teachers said, “She was from New York, aren't you from there?”

  “Yeah, and nineteen million others. Why all the questions?”

  “Nineteen million,” the math teacher commented. He got out his phone and looked it up. “you're close, almost twenty million. No wonder you came here,” he said laughing.

  The teachers stood around looking at each other, a teacher asked, “what about this Juneteenth thing that is coming to our little town, you're working on that, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Since Kay is off the committee, I want to help.” Said one of the female teachers as she smiled then continued, “sounds like fun.”

  Donovan chuckled when he said, “okay, we'll talk tomorrow we need all the help we can get. I have parents to see.” He left.

  On the pay-as-you-go phone, Lee called Donovan as he was going home from the PTA meeting, “yeah.” Donovan answered.

  “Mr. Bright, dat' you in here.”

  “Is everything okay Lee?”

  “Helen say dat’ white lady say she wanna talk again.”

  “Okay, I’ll call her.”

  Donovan pulled in his driveway, grabbed his bags out the car and went inside. He yelled, “Thee, I'm home.”

  Theenda walked up to Donovan and said, “who you talking to,” as she pecked a kiss on his lips.

  Donovan whispered, “Lee.”

  Lee said, “We's heard da' overseer’s' say Massa don't won't slave no moe,’ he be killin' us. I's' don't won't ta' die Mr. Bright.”

  “I understand Lee, speed up the dig, I'll speed up out here. You'll be free soon.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Bright.”

  Donovan put the phone in his pocket and asked Theenda, “what’s for dinner?”

  “I have a taste for pizza, butter pecan ice cream, with caramel, lots of whip cream and a cherry on top, and hum, a big old fashion pickle. Like the ones they sold in the corner store in Brooklyn.”

  “You might need to visit a doctor Baby Girl. That sounds disgusting.”

  She sent Donovan out for ice cream, she called the pizza shop and ordered two pizza, then asked if they sold whole pickles. They did, she ordered five.

  XXXV

  A Place To Meet

  May 19, 2017
/>
  Donovan’s father bought him a truck and had it shipped to Ogville. He piled his truck with the small band of abolitionist and drove them to Magnolia Resort in Tan Springs Alabama, population seven hundred twenty-three. Unlike Mary and Joseph, that went to Egypt to hide because of the similarity in looks and color, Donovan took them to an all-white town. Theenda said, “Sweetie, white town, in the south, hangings still going on. Is there anything in your brain that screamed, bad idea?”

  When they arrived at the hotel, KayKay said, “good choice hotel Donovan.”

  The suite's bedroom was separated from the living room, there was a kitchen and a business area. The hotel was exquisite, five stars. It had a weight room, sauna, swimming pool, a Jazzercise program, and a five-star restaurant that sold pickles and ice cream. Theenda said, “good choice Sweetie.”

  Timpkin said, “I’m impressed.”

  Tess said, “I’m glad Haze not here, trying to get me to go back with him.”

  They all ignored her.

  *******

  A few days before making the reservations, Donovan called his dad, James, on his home land-line. He asked his dad for a large sum of money. He and his dad had a pretend argument about Donovan wasting his money. The quarrel was for Chief Stevens, who had put a listening device on Donovan’s home office phone. The day after Theenda’s mom hanging, Donovan wrote a letter to his dad, he thanked him for the new truck, he told his dad about the slaves, Theenda’s mom, and his bugged phone. Donovan took Theenda to a fancy restaurant in a town on the other side of Titleburk, where he mailed the letter. And then the couple prayed that God would get the letter to his father. To let Donovan know he received the letter, during the phony phone argument James was supposed to say, “why don’t you write instead of call, or use your cell phone, it would be cheaper.” During the conversation, James said those exact words.

  Donovan ended the phone call by saying, “dad you’re right, I need to do better with my money. You and mom have a blessed day.”

  When he got off the phone with his dad, Donovan asked Theenda, “what do you have a taste for dinner.”

  Theenda said, “Pizza, ice cream, and pickle.”

  Donovan said, “that’s disgusting, let’s eat out.” In the car, Donovan continued, “dad got the letter.”

  “Cool,” Theenda replied, she rubbed her belly and said, “I really do want pizza…”

  Donovan cut her off and said, “let’s go to the store, get the ingredients to make our own.”

  Theenda said, “even better.”

  *******

  With all the deaths that had taken place due to the hidden slaves, Donovan stayed on high alert.

  Before leaving for Magnolia, Donovan told the modern-day abolitionist to leave their cell phones at home. He instructed them to only bring their pay-as-you-go phones. The hotel kitchen had closed, before going there to sign in, Donovan stopped past Kentucky Fried Chicken, and got enough food for twenty people. They went to the hotel carrying their overnight cases and food, they put the food in Donovan’s suite. Once settled in the hotel, Donovan called a meeting in his suite, during the meeting KayKay complained about the lateness of the hour and long drive, she was sleepy, Timpkin eyes were droopy, however, Tess was chatty as usual, and Theenda was eating.

  “We need to plan,” Donovan began.

  “Why can’t we meet tomorrow?” Timpkin asked as he fixed himself a plate.

  “The sister of Mr. Brown wants to help us for a small price,” Donovan said ignoring everybody.

  “What's the price?” Theenda asked.

  “Escape with us.”

  By this time, everyone was piling food on their plates, then joined in on the conversation.

  Theenda commented, “everybody on the run.”

  Donovan explained, “her name is Becky Lou, she got word to Lee that the plantation owner is going to kill the slaves and leave the country.”

  Tess yawned, then said, “maybe the message from Haze will help to speed things up. Haze found a trailer camp that's for sale three thousand miles west of here, high in the mountains.”

  Donovan looked confused, he asked, “he contacted you?”

  KayKay antenna went up, she was stuffing her mouth with food, while chewing she nudged Timpkin when Theenda said, “no, I told her you got a text from him.”

  Donovan said, “oh,” he continued saying, “those places are full of fighting hard-core poor people.”

  Theenda said, “think about it, where cheaper could all of us and slaves live together.”

  “My concern is money.” KayKay chimed in.

  Donovan explained, “Becky Lou knows a rich elderly white lady who is willing to finance everything, back in the day her family was abolitionist.”

  Tess said, “that piece of black trash Haze has not contacted me, I’m his wife.” She looked at Theenda and spouted, “you didn’t have to tell them.”

  KayKay was sitting on the edge of her seat. Theenda ignored Tess, she asked, “How many trailers are there Sweetie?”

  When Timpkin began talking KayKay almost fell out her chair, he said, “Haze said the whole camp is for sale, over a hundred trailers, a park, and a little pond.”

  “How many are empty?” KayKay asked.

  Timpkin answered, “All of them. He said it's cold, so we'll need winter clothes.”

  Donovan asked, “what did you talk on?”

  “The pay-as-you-go phones you gave us.”

  Donovan said, “good.”

  KayKay asked, “how will we get the slaves over three thousand miles?” KayKay was proud, her husband was part of the plan and not Tess, whom she despised.

  Timpkin blared out, “two school buses and use my fifteen-passenger van for the elderly.”

  “Tim, what are you talking about?” Theenda asked.

  Timpkin said, “a few of the slaves are in their late sixties and older, the bus may be too rough for them.”

  Donovan looked around the room at each and said, “in a month, I would like for us to be out of Ogville, MacCall, and Titleburk.”

  Theenda asked, “what about Juneteenth, it’s a month away? How far are the slaves in their dig?”

  Donovan said, “Baby Girl, they are killing people, we have to go.”

  “Slow your row Sweetie, so we don’t get caught, too fast we’ll make mistakes. Pray, plan, go on the eighteenth of June.”

  Tess asked, “can we get help?”

  Donovan remarked, “Thee and I have a meeting with the elderly woman when we get back. She knows people that are willing to help.”

  “Where will you keep the buses?” KayKay asked.

  “I'm a teacher, I’ll see if the owner of the junkyard that opened a few months ago let me keep them there, I’ll tell them it's for my students,” Donovan replied.

  KayKay commented, “they couldn't be that stupid, the school supplies the buses.”

  “Hum, no,” Donovan commented, “the bus driver is an alcoholic, I'll give him a few dollars, he'll keep his mouth shut. I’ll give the junkyard man some money.”

  “What a waste of a human,” KayKay uttered.

  Timpkin studied his wife's face and said, “you should know.”

  The meeting went on for two hours longer, KayKay stood and said, “I'm going to my suite to sleep,”

  As she was leaving Donovan said, “Wait, Kay, we'll finalize our plans at eleven in the morning.”

  “Where?” Theenda asked.

  “The hotel serves breakfast, so eat when you can, I’m checking us out at ten thirty. There's a park not far from here, we'll get there at eleven.” Donovan looked at his phone, he continued, “Haze texted me pictures of the trailers, I will show them to you tomorrow at that meeting.”

  KayKay said, “it’s late, why is he taking pictures in the dark?”

  “He’s three hours behind us,” Timpkin answered.

  “Yeah, it's eight out there, the sun hasn’t set,” Donovan added.

  KayKay left.

  Tess asked, �
�what’s with all the secrecy?”

  Theenda said, “our homes plus Haze, is bugged.”

  *******

  May 21, 2017

  The digging crew on the plantation was back in the church, Lee said with joy and a little too loud, “God Almighty, when we dig under Massa gate, we be on fee’ ground.” The men jump up and down, clap their hands, whooped and hollered like children playing.

  Glaidous said, “fee’ ground. Thank you, Jesus. You men been diggin' a long time, workin' in da' field, den' sneak ova' here and dig foe’ several hours. Yaw' rest, cause ta'night, I's' dig, I's' won't ta' help us off dis' evil place. I’s won’t’ ta’ look back and say, I’s help ta’ dig us out.”

  “We's be fee.” Lee said.

  Glaidous said, “Mr. Bright wrote in dat’ note, they be trailer homes. Big houses I's' neva' seed' Massa house, but I imagine big likes' dat.”

  “I agree,” Lee said.

  Saul stood shaking his head back and forth before saying, “I's' cain't see me livin' in a place dat' big, I's' git lost.”

  Jethro commented, “you's' say six rooms dem’ trailer house got's?”

  “Mm’ hum, that's right and the toilets be inside the house,” Lee said.

  Ben gasp, “dat' make da' house stank.”

  “Dats' how dey be livin' in feedom,” Jethro exclaimed.

  “Dey got lots and lots of thangs' in feedom dat' we's' neva' seed afo,” said Ben.

  Lee looked excited at the men and said, “I won’t ta’ see dis’ feedom, I won’t ta’ live fee, Mr. Bright said we get a job and get money.”

  “What we do wid' money,” asked Jethro.

  “Buy thangs,” Ben answered.

  “We cain't explain it but it gonna' happen,” Saul commented

  “Let’s start digging,” Lee put his hat on and said as he climbs down into the tunnel, “unk you comin?”