On To Richmond

by Ginny Dye

  “Opal, we’s got to get goin’.” Sam’s voice was a little kinder this time. He seemed to know she was struggling with her feelings.

  This time Opal gave one last look and walked slowly down the steps. She turned for one final glimpse of the house and saw Carrie watching her from the office window. Taking courage from her warm smile, she waved slightly and then stepped into the waiting carriage. Sam gave a gentle cluck, and the carriage rolled slowly down the drive.

  Opal was glad she had said good-bye to everyone in the quarters earlier that day. She didn’t want them to see the tears rolling down her face as the carriage moved through the tall hedges of boxwoods and moved out of sight of the three-storied columned house. Taking a deep breath, she sat straighter in her seat. As she faced Richmond, she felt her first twinge of excitement. Her emotions up to this point had included fear, questioning, but determination. Not once had she felt excitement - simply resignation that she was doing the right thing and determination to see it through. She had let fear keep her from going to Canada. She wasn’t going to let fear stop her now.

  “You okay?”

  Opal started at the sound of Sam’s soft voice. Immersed in her own thoughts, she had almost forgotten he was there. “I’m okay. Thanks.” She was relieved to find the tremor was gone from her voice. Taking a deep breath, she settled back and let the warm wind blow across her face.

  Sam nodded and kept driving, content to let silence reign between them.

  Opal was glad to be left to her thoughts. It hadn’t seemed real until last night. Until she had begun packing her meager belongings for the trip. Somewhere around midnight it had struck her that she may never see Cromwell Plantation again. She may never see Old Sarah again. Never see the little children that called her Auntie Opal. Never enjoy another Christmas dance in the old barn. That’s when the tears had come. Protected by the darkness of her cabin, she had sobbed until there had been no more tears. Then she had straightened her shoulders and faced the future. Whatever may come.

  “What you be knowin’ bout Richmond, girl?” Sam’s voice broke into her thoughts.

  “What do you mean, Sam?”

  “Just what I said. What you be knowin’ bout Richmond?”

  Opal hesitated. “Not very much I guess. My cousin told me she has a small house down at the bottom of one of the hills. She’s going to help me get a job in one of the iron works, and I got this letter from Miss Carrie that handles my pay. I guess that’s all I need to know for now,” she said more firmly than she felt. In truth, she had spent a lot of time thinking about Richmond and realizing how little she knew. The reality had done nothing but fuel her fear.

  Sam barked a laugh and turned to stare at her from his seat. “Come up here next to me, girl,” he ordered, pulling the horses to a stop. “We got a passel of talkin’ to do. You go into the city like that, and they’s gonna chew you up.”

  Wonderingly, Opal climbed up on the seat next to Sam.

  He started right in on her, seemingly anxious to make sure she knew what she needed to know before she reached her destination. “What you be knowin’ bout the Black Code?”

  “The Black Code?” Opal echoed. The sound of it did nothing to reassure her. It couldn’t be anything good.

  “I thought as much!” Sam snorted. “Now you listen, and you listen good, black girl. You’s got to know this stuff, so’s you can stay out o’ trouble.”

  Opal nodded. He had her complete attention.

  “You got to make sure you ain’t out after dark. For sure not two hours after the sun done gone down. Leastways not without a pass. The Black Code says they can whip you for dat. A pass don’t always make no difference. Some peoples got mean in their bones and just wait to find a nigger to whip.”

  Opal shuddered and resolved to confine her activities to daylight hours if at all possible. She wondered what kind of danger she was walking into. She gripped the wagon seat tightly to control her shaking hands and tried to remember her earlier courage.

  Sam continued. “Can’t no slave ride in a carriage or nothin’ without a written pass sayin’ he can. They find you doin’ that - they’ll whip you. They call it punishin’ with stripes!” His tone was scornful.

  “Does it happen very much?” Opal was horrified. She had thought it would be different in the city - away from overseers who took their anger out with the whip.

  “Happens plenty,” Sam said grimly. “You got’s to watch where you walk, too. If you be on the sidewalk and you see a white person comin’ at you, or you be passin’ one, you got to pass to the outside. If there ain’t be nuff room to do that, you’s got to get off the sidewalk and down in the street.”

  Opal listened intently. She was deathly afraid of the whip. She also didn’t want to draw undue attention to herself. It could put everything in jeopardy.

  “Your cousin... Miss Carrie say in dat letter dat she gives her permission for you to be livin’ there?”

  Opal nodded. “I read it myself. Had Rose read it with me, too.”

  “That’s good,” Sam said sharply. “I’d hate to see your cousin get a beatin’ cause she was puttin’ you up.”

  “Miss Carrie said she was going to make sure there was no trouble.”

  “I’m sure Miss Carrie did the best she could, but trouble just seems to follow us, no matter how careful we be.”

  Opal could feel her fear threatening to overwhelm her. She stifled the impulse to tell Sam to turn the carriage around and take her back home. Nothing was worth this.

  Sam, oblivious to her feelings, continued on. “You’s got to watch how you talk to a white person. All the time, you’s got to watch it. You say something wrong - or maybe just something they think is wrong.......”

  “And you get the whip.”

  Sam nodded, his satisfied look saying he was relieved she was getting it. Oh, she was getting it all right. She was going to Richmond, stay in her house and not say a word to no one. Not that that would do the cause any good. Silently, she willed Sam to stop talking. All he was doing was making her more fearful.

  Finally, she mumbled, “I thought the city was going to be different from the plantation. Why, Sam, there be blacks there who are free!”

  Sam nodded. “Yeah, they be free. In some ways, that be. All them laws - the people don’t care whether them niggers be free or slave. All they care ‘bout is keeping them under control.” Sam shook his head. “As much as they do to us to keep us afraid of them - they still got a whole passel of fears ‘bout us.”

  “Is that why you ain’t run away, Sam?” Opal had always wondered about that. She knew Sam had free family up North. Why had he never joined them?

  Sam looked at her for a long moment and then turned back toward the road. A long silence stretched between them. Finally he spoke. “My mamma and daddy was born on Cromwell Plantation. They used to talk to me ‘bout leavin. Told me ‘bout my kin up North. Used to dream ‘bout goin’ up there. I done knowed ‘bout the Underground Railroad for a long time.”

  When he fell silent, Opal resisted the urge to say something. She could tell he was lost in his thoughts. He would talk when he was ready. Sam had always been like that.

  Finally he continued. “I’d planned on leavin’...” Another long pause passed as the horses trotted smartly down the road. “Then John done give me a job to do. I done been doin’ that job ever since.”

  Opal was confused. “John?” She could tell by the look on Sam’s face that he wasn’t going to say anymore. She cast in her head for a solution. “Do you mean Sarah’s John?”

  Sam shrugged. “Don’t know none other.”

  “But what job did he give you to do?”

  “That don’t matter none,” Sam said simply. “I’ve did my job the best I could. Dat’s all that matters.” Then he turned his head and clucked to the horses to speed up. As the wheels turned faster in their pursuit of Richmond, Opal knew the old butler had said all he was going to say. Many miles passed as she tried to figure out what he could h
ave been talking about.

  Opal gazed around her in awe as the carriage rattled down the road leading into Richmond. Nothing she had ever experienced had prepared her for this.

  “Look up ‘dere on the hill,” Sam said, pointing his finger.

  Opal gasped as the Capitol came into view. “Why, it’s bigger than the plantation house!” She leaned forward and allowed herself to drink in the sight of the huge columned building on the hill. “What is it?”

  “That be the Capitol building. It be where Marse Cromwell work now.”

  Suddenly Opal was nervous. What if she ran into her owner while they were riding through town? Sam was here on business for Miss Carrie. If Marse saw her with him, it would mess everything up. Marse Cromwell hadn’t seen her enough to recognize her away from the plantation probably, but he would know Sam instantly. Instinctively, she shrank down into her seat and ducked her head.

  Sam laughed heartily. “Ain’t no reason to be nervous, girl. We ain’t goin’ up there. The part of town we be headed to, I guarantee you he ain’t gonna be there.”

  Sam’s words comforted her. Soon she was looking around again, trying to drink in all the sights. The hills of the city were enough to amaze her. They were beautiful in their lush green growth. She had never known anything but the flat land along the James. Sam was silent as he navigated the crowded streets.

  Suddenly her attention was caught by something else as they rounded a curve. “Is that our river, Sam?”

  Sam laughed again. “That be the James for sho.”

  Opal could only shake her head as she stared. All she had ever seen were the wide, open expanses of a calm river as it moved to join the sea she had been told about. Here, the James looked like a stranger. She watched, fascinated, as it boiled over rocks and crashed down falls. The swirling waters churned into foamy rapids and then glided smoothly around little dots of islands. Her amazement increased even more as she noticed a large black object moving toward them on an expanse covering the entire river. “Sam!” she exclaimed. “Is that thing be what they call a train?”

  Sam looked at her almost in sympathy. “You sure got a heap o’ learnin’ to do.” Then he chuckled. “Yep, that be a train. That bridge be the only thin’ keeping that train out o’ the river. I allus been glad I didn’t have no reason to go on ‘dat train. Don’t know as how I’d trust that wooden thing.”

  Opal shuddered at the very thought of getting on that metal monster. Then she felt a surge of excitement. Why not? Who was to say that someday she wouldn’t be free and headed somewhere on that train? She almost laughed at the idea and then decided to hang on to it. The rest of the trip passed in a haze of discovery and astonishment.

  “Here we be, Opal.”

  Opal started as Sam pulled the wagon to a halt. She had been staring at the rows of simple, wooden houses they had been passing. Were all the black faces peering at her really free? How had that happened? Why had she been born a slave - spent all of her life in slavery - and they got to live free? She pushed down the resentment that rose to try to choke her. She had had her chance. Miss Carrie had told her she could go free. She could be on her way north right this moment if she had chosen. It had been her decision to come to Richmond. She knew what she was doing. The day may come when she could be free. Until then she would follow Old Sarah’s advice. She would bloom where she was planted.

  “Opal!”

  Opal gave a glad cry and jumped from the carriage to meet the woman running toward her with outstretched arms. “Fannie!” Within seconds she felt herself wrapped in a warm embrace. For long moments she just stood there, reveling in the feel of a hug from someone who was family. There were tears in her eyes when she stepped away. “Fannie,” she whispered. She could think of nothing else to say.

  Fannie had tears in her eyes as well. “Come inside. The rest of the family is waiting to meet you.”

  Opal nodded and reached for her bag.

  “I’ll take it inside for you,” Sam said. Not giving her time to reply, he gripped the small bag firmly and strode through the dirt yard toward the front door.

  Opal turned and gazed at Fannie. Her cousin was tiny - almost as tiny as Old Sarah. She hadn’t expected that. The strong letters that occasionally reached her through the slave grapevine had made her envision a much bigger, imposing woman. Her short ebony hair was already taking on a salt and pepper hue. Then Opal saw her strength. The eyes gazing at her with so much warmth were eyes that had seen much suffering and come through victorious. They were Sarah’s eyes. Opal sighed, knowing she had come to a good place.

  “Look the way you expected me to look?”

  Opal shook her head and laughed. “You looks ten times better.” Feeling a burst of confidence and excitement, she reached out and tucked her arm through her cousin’s. “Let’s go meet the family.”

  Fannie smiled and turned to lead the way. Opal gazed at the house. Compared to some of the houses they had passed on the way here, Fannie’s home was small and run-down. Compared to the tiny cabin in the quarters that had been her home all her life, Fannie’s home was like a mansion. Fitting snugly against the surrounding two wooden structures, the wood was gray and weathered, rising up two stories. The small porch, with three sagging steps leading up to it, looked like it had seen much better days. The yard was small and barren of any growth. Opal had just a moment to absorb her new surroundings before she stepped through the doorway.

  Instantly she felt at home. Warmth and love seemed to be a living thing, reaching out to embrace her. She saw Sam smiling as Fannie’s husband, their four children, and an older woman she hadn’t yet identified, rushed forward to envelope her in big hugs. All was wild confusion and talk until they heard Fannie banging a big spoon against a large cast iron skillet.

  “I didn’t stand in a hot kitchen cookin’ all day, so’s that y’all could talk away the supper hour. Y’alls can talk whilst you eat!”

  In seconds, all were seated around the huge plank table and laughed happily as Fannie passed big platters of cornbread, cabbage and beans. There was even fresh squash and tomatoes.

  Opal stared at the feast set before her. “Do y’all eat like this all the time?” Visions of wanting fled from her mind.

  Fannie laughed. “As long as the garden produces, we do.” She jumped up from the table to walk over and open the door leading outside.

  Opal smiled in delight. The front yard may be barren dirt, but the back yard resembled the Garden of Eden. Every square inch was taken up with growing things. Large clumps of squash plants sported bright yellow blossoms. Green beans climbed stakes that Eddie, Fannie’s husband, had pushed into the ground to support them. Tomato plants vied for the center of attention. Fannie let the door swoosh shut before she could identify more.

  After that, silence reigned as the food was consumed. In the distance, Opal could hear children yelling and the steady chugging of a train climbing the steep tracks to the main station on Broad Street. Dogs were barking and roosters were crowing. Opal relaxed as the familiar sounds of the country mingled with the new sounds of the city.

  Finally, she lay her fork down and looked around the table. Eddie, seated next to Sam, was almost as tall as Moses, just not nearly as big. He looked like he hardly ate. The four kids were watching her closely as she ate. Carl, the youngest at six, eyed her with the delight of finding a new toy. Amber, the next oldest at nine, was merely watching her carefully. Not unfriendly. Just careful. Her large brown eyes promised friendship if she felt it was due. Sadie, budding into womanhood at thirteen, was going to be a real beauty. It was Susie who held her attention, though. At sixteen, she gave off confidence that was beyond her years. Holding herself straight and tall, Susie ate slowly, all the time watching their newest house member. Aware that Opal was watching her, she smiled, a warm smile that said she was her mother’s child. Opal knew they would be friends.

  Fannie was the first to break the silence. “Did you have a good trip here?”

  Opal nodded. “Sa
m was trying to train me how to stay out of trouble in Richmond.” She laughed as she told them of Sam’s warnings. Now that she was here, she was sure Sam had been exaggerating. The warmth of their welcome had erased her fears.

  Eddie was the first to respond. “Don’t be thinking Sam was joking, Opal,” he said somberly. “Things in Richmond used to be pretty easy. There’s been a lot of changin’, though. The comin’ of war done made a lot of people nervous. They especially nervous ‘bout us blacks. When people get nervous, they try and get things back under control. That can mean some rough times for us.”

  “Some people were real mean to Daddy!” Amber burst out.

  Opal’s heart pounded as she waited for Eddie to explain. The fear that had disappeared during their meal had come back even stronger. Eddie shrugged and kept his voice light. “Seems I didn’t get off the sidewalk fast enough when some white folks were coming down it. They took offense.”

  That’s all he said, but the worried look that sprang into Fannie’s eyes and the grim tightening of Eddie’s mouth spoke more than his words did.

  Fannie changed the subject. “The children been doin’ nothing but talking ‘bout your coming. They’ve made me tell the story over and over about why we’ve never met.

  Sadie spoke up them. “I think it was real mean of y’alls old owner to sell family away from each other.”

  Opal shrugged. “It happens.” She had been too young to remember anything. She had been only two when she and her mama had been bought by Thomas Cromwell. Her mama and Fannie’s mama had been sisters. When the plantation they had grown up on was sold, all the slaves went to the auction block. The sisters had been separated but knew where each other was going.

  In fewer than six months, Opal’s mama had taken sick and died in an outbreak of scarlet fever. Other women at Cromwell had raised the little girl. When she had gotten older, they gave her the stack of letters that had arrived sporadically over the years since her mama had died. Rose had read them to her. Opal had cried the whole time. It had been so wonderful to know that somewhere she had real family.