The Book of Night Women

by Marlon James

  In the kitchen all hell about to break loose. Nobody did like Andromeda, but word spread ’bout how she dead and one woman already run outside the house screaming that Obeah deh ’pon di Montpelier Estate. Homer send one of the mens after her and tell the womens in the kitchen to shut they mouth. But whisper rise up and down and up again, and they look at Homer and Lilith and another woman lose her head. She grab a knife and point it at everybody and scream that she sooner kill whoever try to work Obeah on her. Pallas approach her for the knife but the woman try to jab her, saying that Pallas always smell like wild bush. Pallas duck and shift and clobber the woman in the head with a pot and she fall to the floor. Another woman say is not Pallas who smell like wild bush, and the kitchen go quiet around Homer. Lilith think to go back down in the cellar but don’t want nobody suspect her of nothing. Lilith be thinking that Gorgon is who do this with her wickedness and malice. Gorgon who take her earring and give her what she didn’t enter no bargain for. Gorgon who probably goin’ make it look like this be Lilith own doing.

  —Chiron, get me a big sheet of osnaburg, Homer say.

  Lilith can’t deal with her mind talking to her. She try to be the busiest in the kitchen but start to wonder if everybody watching her since she be the only one who can work when somebody marking off the Montpelier house niggers. Chiron then shout out that it must be a field nigger trick for they always be hating us, the uncommon niggerfolk. Couple nigger nod and agree, even Pallas. Or is the Johnny-jumper them trying a new thing, another one say and the room go silent again. Not a moment pass before Lilith notice that silence mean they all looking at her. She look up quick at Pallas and see her looking away.

  —Lunch not goin’ cook itself, Lilith say to nobody.

  Outside her window a slave-driver ride past the kitchen on the way to the great house. The driver ride past again, heading back to the fields, this time with Robert Quinn in tow on him own horse. Homer enter the kitchen and go over to Lilith.

  —Where them going? Lilith say.

  —To the field, the first gang having trouble.

  —Not ’bout this?

  —Me not no town crier, Lilith.

  Lilith go to say something but then Gorgon burst into the kitchen, out of breath even though she come by her carriage.

  —Homer, ah yuh go tell dem fi make me carry Andromeda? Why yuh go set dis fuckery ’pon me?

  —Next time, make sure you not the only nigger round here who ride carriage, then. Besides, this need to take care of quick before it spread to the field.

  —Eehi. Of course. Wouldn’t want no bloody flux to spread to the field, Gorgon say, but she look at Lilith. Lilith try to glare at her but look away first.

  —Well, yuh too late. Yuh never see the overseer gallop gone? Two field nigger say dey see black coffin wid three wheel and two john crow on top rolling through de bush.

  Somebody in the kitchen lose they breath. A girl younger than Lilith start to whimper then bawl then scream ’bout Obeah coming for them and why Obeahman choose to mark her when she be a good little nigger. She dart from left to right to left and start to see Obeah in everything, the bunch of herb on the windowsill, the pot that black from boiling green tea. Then she say last week she see lizard bones in the cupboard and start to bawl louder and louder. Homer march right up to the girl and give her one hard slap on her left cheek.

  —Sort out youself, idiot!

  The girl sink to the ground and whimper.

  —Any more imbecile in here me need to deal with? ’Cause is the field all fool-fool niggers belong, so whoever want me to send them there, just show you hand. Nobody? Good, then get you lazy arse back to work!

  Lilith look at Gorgon. Gorgon look back, her lip moving like she telling Lilith something. Lilith want to call her a murderous bitch but Gorgon face look like she saying the same thing. She don’t know. Gorgon scratch her face but then, real quick, cover her lips with one finger and look at Lilith.

  —Lilith. Lilith! Go set the table, Homer say.

  At the table, Lilith hear them in the drawing room. Miss Isobel and Massa Humphrey, waiting on Robert Quinn to come back.

  —Confound it that the age of reason should visit everywhere but the goddamn colonies, Massa Humphrey say. Lilith try to peep in the doorway and see Massa Humphrey walking up and down, Miss Isobel sitting by the window with her pink fan out.

  —Age and reason have nothing to do with the colonies, Master Wilson—

  —Humphrey, please, Miss Isobel. I despise formality almost as much as I do superstition. Goddamn it! Goddamn it all! Are there no ministers here, no priests? How in an age of Christ could so many be swayed by this . . . this darkness?

  —It flows in them like blood, Master . . . Humphrey. I daresay it comes as natural to them as our lord and saviour is to us. I find the whole thing ungodly, but a wise master would do well to understand their ways. Even use them.

  —Whatever on earth are you saying?

  Miss Isobel look away.—Pardon me, my folly. This is not a matter as such that a feeble woman can solve.

  —Oh, posh, Miss Isobel, I am an enlightened man of the age. I insist on your counsel.

  Lilith hear footsteps. Robert Quinn stomping to the room, him hat in him hand. He change shirt but it so white and loose that it look like another nightshirt and he tuck in only the front. Quinn walk past Lilith, not looking at her. Then he stop and turn around. Lilith quick to look away.

  —What news, Robert?

  —Like a herd of cattle they are, he say and step inside.—One says he saw this black coffin dashing down a path—with wheels, mind ye, like a carriage and driven by three vultures, then glory! ’Tis as if all have seen it. There was simply no talking to the fellow. ’Twere as if he’d seen the devil himself. Had to whip a few within an inch of their lives just to get them back to work.

  —Damn! What is this then—Obeeyah, you call it? Is it like voodoo, Robby? Is it like that gypsy business we saw in Venice?

  —Looks like stupid nigger superstition to me, that’s all it is.

  —This is not some nigger All Hallows’ Eve, sir, Miss Isobel say.—It’s a tad more serious than that. I’ve seen an entire estate go to a standstill over their superstitions. They took it with them from the dark continent, you know.

  —Well, all I need is me trusty whip to flog some light back into their thick skulls, Quinn say.

  Lilith watching. Massa Humphrey still walking up and down and don’t see Robert Quinn getting redder and Miss Isobel almost smiling when neither man looking at her. Lilith can’t bear to think ’bout herself so she think about Miss Isobel and why she smiling and hiding it. Robert Quinn say something about setting an example before it gets out of control and that’s only way to eradicate it.

  Lilith looking in on them with all her eyes and hearing them with all her ears so she didn’t hear him until he clear him throat behind her. Lilith jump. She turn around and see him green eyes first. Lilith drop the fork. Him still tall but thinner than she remember in the cellar and he didn’t bother to take him hat off. Him head bobbing and him neck loose and he seem weaker. But Jack Wilkins was like them animal who just because him weak don’t mean him not vicious. This be the first time Lilith see Jack Wilkins since she hear that he be her papa. He look at her like he didn’t know. Or mayhaps she think he look at her like that. Mayhaps she did want to see something else in the green eyes, something that say she was more than just a slave and him was more than just the man who fuck her mammy. For sure he must know who she be, even if he didn’t see her in the cellar. He looking down on her, she can feel it.

  —You can never eradicate Obeah; you might as well eradicate the niggers themselves. But you can make your own Obeah seem greater, Miss Isobel say. Robert Quinn snort. Massa Humphrey looking outside the window, him hands behind him back.

  —Are ye suggesting, ma’am, that we fight witchcraft with withcraft? Is that what yer suggesting? Quinn say.

  —And she would be right, Jack Wilkins say as he step past Lil
ith.

  —Nobody asked for yer presence or yer opinion, sir.

  —And when I need the permission of an Irishman, rest assured I shall ask for it.

  —Enough, both of you, Massa Humphrey say.—What are you saying, Miss Isobel?

  —This Obeah, it may seem to be about spells and witchcraft but it’s really about their religion, potions and poisons. Even if these dim blackies believe that it’s more than that.

  —And how do ye know so much of their ways? Quinn say.

  —The real question is how do you know so little, sir.

  Robert Quinn stomp over to Massa Humphrey, saying, Humphrey! Then whisper the rest. Massa Humphrey nod him head over and over until he say no loud enough that everybody hear.—I shall hear what else Miss Isobel has to say, Massa Humphrey say, but he look at Jack Wilkins, who was looking around the room and smiling like he seeing a whole bunch of things he know too well.

  —But Humphrey, this is laughable. We’re men of science, men of reason. Might as well be gypsies if this is to be.

  —Used to have your kind in chains before we switched to niggers, Jack Wilkins say.

  —I would like to see ye try it, ye son of a bitch!

  —Enough, Quinn! Massa Humphrey say.

  —And how do you suppose we deal with it? Book learning? Science? That’s lost to the negro. Might as well be the Dark Ages in the colonies, and you’d do well to think as such! Miss Isobel say.

  Quinn look like he about to slap her. Instead he turn and leave.

  —Oh, Robert, don’t be unreasonable, Massa Humphrey say.

  —Reason? Reason left this room a long time ago. Me, I shall trust to a good head and a better whip. Now I’ll take leave of ye and yers, Quinn say and walk out. Lilith dash over to the table and rub a fork with her apron. Quinn see her and stop. He look at her for a while but then storm out.

  —Let him go, Jack Wilkins say.

  —Far be it from me to take orders from you, Jack Wilkins, Massa Humphrey say.—Miss Isobel?

  —Yes, I know, I know, I’m too wise to their ways, but to be master over the niggers means having an intimate knowledge of their every move. You cannot sleep for a second, is that not so Mister . . . Wilkins, is it not?

  —Quite indeed, ma’am. Quite indeed and yes.

  —Now. Have you heard of the French Obi?

  —No, can’t say I have, Massa Humphrey say.

  —This is the West Indies, Master Humphrey. We do things differently here.

  Before the noon hour, three niggermens see a woman with some stick shove in her hair and shout that she goin’ home to work Obeah. They grab her, was about to beat her when one of the men’s calf explode. The slave-drivers look and whoop and holler when they see that it be Jack Wilkins. They run to him, one of them even kiss him on the cheek and say, Wilkins, ya goatfucker! As me lives and breathes, to which Wilkins say, And you won’t be doing the likes of both much longer if you don’t git you goddamn paws off me, McClusky, ye sodomite! He then turn to the field niggers, including the man who just lost half of him foot and bawling like a little girl.

  —Cursed hypocrites, the lot of you. Scared y’all are of the Obeah when it’s set against you, but mark my words—you still goes to Obeah woman to work some shit against each other, yes you do, Wilkins say. Then he gather the drivers and tell them what to do.

  Two hours pass before all over the estate slave-drivers whip out tallow candle from the great house and stick it on a fence, or stump, or table or ground or anywhere in the field that every slave could see it. Halfway down the candle they push a nail right through. The drivers light the candles. The cane field couldn’t be more quiet if everybody was dead. Driver try to whip the slaves back to work but it be of no use. The candles burning for a good while and soon burn down to the nail.—Miss Isobel? She tell them ’bout that? Homer ask Lilith twice. Two time she nod yes.—Light a candle on them, she did say. Light a candle on them.

  One candle did set in the kitchen by Miss Isobel herself. Robert Quinn see it and hiss. Lilith wonder if something was goin’ happen to her, if Andromeda spirit was going come back and pick up the candle and fling it at her and catch her dress afire and burn her to ash. Pallas drop a pot and Lilith jump. Lilith look at Homer, who look at the candle. Lilith don’t know much ’bout the spirits but know that Homer practice Myal, the blood enemy of Obeah. But both Myal and Obeah deal with so much darkness that even nigger from the Africa sometimes don’t know which is which. Lilith wonder if they would catch Gorgon. Lilith wonder how much lash it would take to loose up Gorgon mouth. Lilith wonder if she thinking too much ’bout herself and not Andromeda pickney and what it mean that she do.

  Out in the field the candles burn. Field niggers gone back to work but they quiet and the breeze whispering around them. Then a woman drop to the ground like she having fit. Another one, stumpy and fat, start to run, chattering balderdash that nobody can understand. In another field a niggerman start to bawl out and rush to the candle to put it out. Another man grab the candle and fling it in the field. Dry bush catch fire and the drivers had to be quick to whip niggers put it out with water from the pump. The man try to run into the bush but a driver take him time and aim, then fire. The man drop flat in the dirt. Before any candle burn down to the nail, seven womens and five mens all get catch doing one thing or the other to put out the flame. Massa Humphrey don’t spare none of them the whip. But he leave such matters to Jack Wilkins and niggers did done forget how he wicked and nasty. Wilkins have the driver tie them down to the ground instead of hanging them up and he drip pig fat on them. Then he set fire to they pussy and cocky hair, all the time chatting judgement which he say come from the good book of Leviticus. Then he have the drivers whip them chest and belly and back and face till they can’t scream no more. Wilkins then shoot one of the mens in the head as example to the others. Miss Isobel watch the whole thing from the terrace even after Massa Humphrey say he had seen enough.

  Wilkins lead some drivers to one of the womens house. The Johnny-jumpers take one look and run outside and not even the threat of a whipping could get them to go back. The hut dark and clammy and smell like an arse. In every crack or corner or section of the roof the woman have rags hanging. Old rag, new rag, torn rag, some of them be osnaburg but some be other material from dress that white woman wear. She also have hanging bunch of feather, bone and things that nobody could say. One of the drivers kick open a clay pot and a stink rise up so gruesome that one say that is stillborn babies she keeping in there. No wonder I’s never seen a puss in these lands, one of them say when they fish out a rotten one. In another clay pot be all sort of ball that make out of dirt, some rolled up with teeth and bone and feather and rags. In every corner of the hut she have brown and green jars. Wilkins shake one and see dead lizards spin around. A driver find an old jewel box and give it to Wilkins. Under a table by the window there be a small chest and inside be plenty eggs, too small to come from fowl. Wilkins tell the drivers to burn the hut to the ground. With the niggerwoman in it. They bound and gag her so that nobody would hear her screaming. Later on Wilkins stomp through the house to where the massa and Miss Isobel be. He say that you can bet that everybody knew who were Obeahmen and women and this was just the beginning. Jack Wilkins start to lay down what Massa Humphrey ought to do. Miss Isobel quiet. Massa Humphrey look at Jack Wilkins and say, Good sir, you are quite mistaken. I’d sooner vouchsafe my soul to the devil than have you back as my overseer.

  Jack Wilkins stomp into the kitchen but stop when he see Homer.

  —Homer, I would keep it for myself just to spite the son of a bitch, but it isn’t his for me to take, is it?

  —Massa?

  —This, he say and show Homer the jewel box.—The mistress’s isn’t it now? I’m sure of it. That damn witch must have stolen it somehow.

  —It don’t look like the mistress own, massa. This look cheap, like what whore keep.

  —And how would you know? And what’s this inside, these earrings, could she have st
olen them from the mistress?

  —How would a field nigger get into this house, sah?

  —Sod if I know, Homer, maybe she’s in league with one of you. I would press further, and you know my ways, I’d get what I was looking for, but lucky for you, for all of you, that I couldn’t care less if the Wilsons live or die. Pox on the whole fucking lot.

  Jack Wilkins leave the box on the counter beside Homer. Homer open it and take out some single pearls, a ring and two earrings. Poor chile was trying to save up for freedom, it look like, she say, but Lilith grab her throat and cough and go straight down to the cellar. The earrings shine and wink and call out Lilith name. The same earring she give Gorgon two days ago.

  11

  EVERY NEGRO WALK IN A CIRCLE. TAKE THAT AND MAKE OF it what you will. A road set before every negro, from he slip through the slave ship or him mother pussy, that be just as dark. Black and long and wide like a thousand year. And when a negro walk, light get take away from him so he never know when he hit a curve or a bend. Worse, he never see that he walking round and round and always come back to where he leave first. That be why the negro not free. He can’t walk like freeman and no matter where he walk, the road take he right back to the chain, the branding iron, the cat-o’-nine or the noose that be the blessing that no niggerwoman can curse.

  Blood spurt on her face and wake her up. Lilith gasp and clutch her cheek. She scream in her hand when she feel the wetness and can’t see nothing. She look around blind and whimper until she remember darkness. The wetness, sweat mayhaps. She run upstairs to wash yesterday off, wash off the blood that she can’t see but know is ’pon her in some way, but gather herself as soon as she in the kitchen. Sun don’t rise yet, nor the house with it. Lilith slip through the kitchen and disappear round the little hill. She come up to the garden house but don’t see Gorgon. She look left, then look behind her and step before looking in front. Lilith walk right into Robert Quinn chest.