The Prodigy Slave, Book One: Journey to Winter Garden: (Revised Edition 2020)

by Londyn Skye

  “Masa’ James, I’s walkin’ out on those fields today, and I realized that the very man you claim to bring me here to breed for don’t have one row ‘a cotton or tobacco in his fields, no slave quarta’s, and not one slave eitha’. So afta’ seein’ how empty these fields were, I just couldn’t help but ask Ben and Anna Mae who this William fella was and where all his slaves were. They both laughed and said I’d neva’ see a single solitary slave roamin’ around within these gates. Anna Mae said William neva’ believed enslavin’ folks was right. In fact, she said he worked for years with some anti-slavery society ova’ in London, and even raised money to help fund their fight to abolish slavery. He was standin’ there proudly side by side with memba’s of parliament when they signed the Slavery Abolition Act into law in 1833. Ben said a big part ‘a the reason William came to the United States in the first place was to help in the fight against slavery here. He was even heavily active in the anti-slavery movement with some group here called the Republican Party until his wife passed away.

  “So afta’ hearin’ all those incredible stories, it just didn’t make much sense to me why you’d bring me to a man like William to be bred … not until Ben and Anna Mae told me one otha’ thing about ’em.” Lily turned from the fields and finally looked at James. “They said William ain’t just some rich farmer that happens to know how to play a piano. They claim he’s a man that done been all ova’ the world playin’ music in symphonies since he was just six years old, and that he became one ‘a the most well-known composa’s and musical instructa’s in all ‘a the United States, and even ova’ in Europe. Ben and Anna Mae say he was a teacha’ for years at the university you attended, and that he was even willin’ to teach both ‘a they children … two Negro children,” she emphasized, “how to read and write. But most importantly … how to play piano.”

  James continued to stare at Lily for a moment before slightly nodding his head. “I know,” he faintly replied, sounding as if he was ashamed to admit that he had withheld the knowledge of William’s inspirational story.

  After his admission, there was suddenly an immense amount of hope written into Lily’s facial expressions. “Ben also told me that we’s here in Ohio. This a free state, ain’t it?”

  James sheepishly nodded.

  Lily’s eyes drifted down to her hands for a moment as she searched for the courage to ask her next question. “You ain’t eva’ really had any intention on breedin’ me at all…” She finally looked back up at James with tears sparkling in her eyes. “Did you?” she whispered.

  “James!” William interrupted from the mansion door.

  “Yessa’,” he said, without turning his attention away from the beautiful woman in front of him.

  “Could we borrow you for a moment?”

  “Yessa’,” he replied again while watching the tears that he knew Lily was fighting hard to keep from escaping. He kept his eyes on her for a moment longer before rising and leaving the table without ever saying another word. But he didn’t have to. The expression on his face had answered all of Lily’s questions. She had seen that expression often, once upon a time, during years that included some of the happiest Sundays of her life. Based on that expression alone, Lily now knew for a fact that her friend was still in there somewhere, and that he had undoubtedly revealed himself to her in a major way for the first time in many years.

  While everyone was inside, Lily tiptoed past the kitchen where they had all congregated trying to fix something. She stopped in William’s library to stare at his grand piano. She never knew such a beautiful style of piano existed. In her eyes, everything about it far exceeded the definition of grand. She walked around it and ran her hand along the artistically carved lines that were engraved on the side of it, then stepped back to absorb the entire view of the masterfully crafted piece. In that moment, the desire to play again began raging inside of her. She held off for the time being, though, and went upstairs, wanting to be alone with her thoughts for a while. She entered the room that William had so generously allowed her to stay in. But this time, everything looked different to her. Everywhere she turned, the colors seemed so much brighter. She noticed the patterns in the curtains, and every detail of the décor. The scent in the air was inviting, and there even seemed to be a warmth there she had never sensed before.

  Lily walked over to the window, drew back the curtains, and watched the last piece of the sun hanging in the sky. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets she had seen in years. While the sun warmed her, she closed her eyes and let the images of James’s gaze at dinner appear in her mind. Standing at that window with James in her thoughts, Lily began to breathe again without feeling as if she had to force herself to take every breath.

  After every inch of the sun had faded away into the horizon, Lily lit an oil lamp. She then walked over to a bookshelf and glanced over the array of William’s treasured books. She selected a rather large novel and opened it to a random page, only to be overwhelmed by a sea of meaningless letters staring back at her. She suddenly wished there was an oak tree with a blanket spread out at its base, and a familiar face seated next to her, who could dictate the words to her as passionately as he once did.

  Lily then glanced up from the book, and the bed she had refused to lie in was in her line of view. Like the open arms of a mother, it suddenly seemed welcoming to her. As she walked over to it, she looked down at the uncomfortable area of the hardwood floor where she had lay for three days. It immediately brought back the memory of the disturbing nightmare she had had about William. She suddenly felt guilty for dreaming such a horrible thing about a man whose heart she now believed should be replicated and placed in the chest of every human being.

  William’s mother, Lily finally noticed, was certainly the master seamstress he had boasted about. The patterns of the quilt she had made were unlike any other she had ever seen. She now understood why William cherished it so much. Lily placed the book on the nightstand and reached down to feel the bedding. She suddenly could no longer resist the need to let her body experience the softness and comfort of linens that felt like they were made by a woman who wanted her children to feel wrapped in love as they slept. She lay down slowly onto the mattress and let the plush covers melt around her body. The feeling was so foreign to her, but it only took a moment for her body to admit that it never wanted to go back to hardwood floors or haystacks ever again. Nestled in the comfort of a real bed for the first time in her life, Lily drifted off quickly into a deep sleep. She fell into her slumber without her face surrounded by a puddle of tears, because she was now confident that James’s heart still beat with compassion, despite all the evil that Jesse had tried to infuse into it.

  Lily rested peacefully that night, but the same could not be said for James. He lay in his bed tossing and turning after being jolted awake by a recurring nightmare that he had become all too familiar with over the last eight years of his life. The nightmare was triggered by a gruesome event that had been seared into his subconscious several hours after his father discovered his friendship with Lily. The torturous memory was created after James was forced to witness an incident that took less than ten minutes to imprint itself on his impressionable sixteen-year-old mind. The grisly details left visuals in his head that would make him sick to the point of regurgitation every night for weeks following the horrific event. The horrors from that night drastically changed who James was as a young man and ultimately affected every decision he would ever make in his life moving forward, especially those concerning Lily. Even after going away to school, the nightmares, night sweats, and sleeplessness continued occasionally. But upon returning home, the night terrors had become more frequent, wreaking havoc on his ability to get adequate rest.

  Since arriving at William’s home, James was drawn to a certain place whenever the gruesome nightmare awakened him. Twice, he had stood outside of Lily’s bedroom door fighting the intense desire to turn the knob and enter. On those occasions his rationale had won the battle, stoppin
g him from doing something he might regret. But after sitting alone with Lily on the porch, absorbing the sound of her voice and the beauty of her soft features, his intense desire to see her finally obliterated his willpower to stay on the opposite side of the border in between them.

  James unlatched Lily’s bedroom door. He walked in as quietly as a church mouse, unprepared with an excuse if Lily happened to be awake. He simply did not care. There was so much he had wanted to say to her at dinner anyway. But he believed silence was his only sane option for the time being. If he said what he truly wanted to say, he had no doubt that the sprinkle of tears glistening in Lily’s eyes would have turned into a downpour. With the way he was feeling now, he feared he would likely continue to abandon all rationale and tell Lily the perils that were at war in his mind … things that he had kept to himself for years. For that reason, he hoped that she was asleep.

  James’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he walked over to Lily, happy to find her sleeping peacefully on top of the covers. He reached down to the end of the bed, pulled the folded quilt up and placed it gently over her body. He refrained from what he instinctively wanted to do next. But just the visual of himself pressing his lips against Lily’s soft skin was enough to awaken another part of his body. He took a deep breath, regained control of himself, and reluctantly sat down in a chair near the bed and watched her sleep. It was a ritual he had started as a teenager when the night terrors began to strike. Much like this night, Lily was completely unaware that James was comforted by her presence while watching her chest rise and fall, as she lay there in those vulnerable moments. Such a simple tradition reassured him that she was still alive, a fact that contradicted his horrific recurring nightmare.

  With the curtains still drawn back, the moonlight hit Lily’s face in such a way that James was able to cherish all her angelic features for the few minutes that he sat watching over her. He then quietly tiptoed out and returned to his own bed. As soon as James lay back down, it was evident that his secret ritual still remained the one and only remedy that gave him the peace of mind he needed to quickly fall back into a deep sleep of his own.

  Chapter Seven

  Slave Code

  Article III Section VIII

  It is a felony for any person who shall transport, secretly carry, or send away out of any state, any slave belonging to an inhabitant within it, such offenses are punishable by jail time and costs to be adjudged by the justices of the provincial court.

  Lily’s assumptions and intuitions were accurate. Questioning Anna Mae and Ben about William helped confirmed her suspicions about James’s true intentions. Just hearing Lily play two songs on his mother’s piano was all it had taken to convince James that she was far greater than the average pianist. Those two songs had James wide awake nearly all night in the hours after discovering Lily’s gift. He lay there staring at the ceiling for the longest time, mystified about how beautifully she had played. Eventually, he began to pray. He prayed until he fell asleep. Hours later, James was jarred from his sleep. He quickly sat up, feeling convinced that God had just sent the answer to his prayers in the form of a dream. That dream drove him to immediately get out of bed and set out before dawn, headed to Ohio in search of William Werthington.

  James made the two-day trek to Ohio despite having no idea where, or even if, he would be able to find the highly regarded composer. He had not heard anything about William since learning that he had retired from Ohio University years earlier. James hoped that his close friend and fraternity brother, Harrison Mitchell, might be able to help with his search.

  Harrison and James had become friends after being assigned as roommates in the dormitories at Ohio University. Harrison was a strikingly handsome blonde, hazel-eyed rowing champion at the school. His tall muscular frame, chiseled jaw, infectious smile, and brilliant mind easily made him the pick of the male litter in the town of Athens. But when James arrived, Harrison was subsequently demoted to the runt. Despite being dethroned, Harrison took it in stride and quickly became great friends with James. The extraordinarily handsome pair were rarely seen without one another on campus, fraternity events, and around town. At Athens social gatherings, Harrison and James easily commanded the attention of the ladies. Religious convictions and social etiquette had no power to tame the duo’s behavior when it came to women. They both took full advantage of the sinful benefits of their magnetic aesthetics, as often as any virile man could get away with in secret. Harrison’s smooth-talking ways won him plenty of women, while James’s quiet mystique easily tilted the female scale in his direction. James’s natural introversion unwittingly caused dozens of women to attempt to prevail as the first to unlock his mysterious mind and capture his heart. But James dealt with women in a very selfish, cold-hearted manner and left a long list of broken hearts in his wake. Despite it, the gossip about his intoxicating prowess kept his female counterparts eager to win his affections. Harrison gladly capitalized on James’s cold-hearted ways; he was more than happy to “comfort” the leftover heartbroken women that James swatted off like flies, after they had all failed at penetrating the rock-solid walls of his heart.

  After graduating, Harrison put his smooth-talking ways and his fast-thinking mind to work as an attorney in his hometown of Athens. Knowing that Harrison had resided in Athens his whole life, James figured that he would likely know of William Werthington’s whereabouts. His assumptions were correct. When Harrison was just a boy, his family had been to several Fourth of July celebrations and Spring Extravaganzas that William held annually at his home. He was, therefore, easily able to give James directions to William’s estate.

  It seemed an odd request for James to be searching for William, but Harrison never once questioned James’s motive for seeking the retired musician. The fact that Harrison never wanted to pry personal information out of James was a rare trait amongst small town people. It was something that James always appreciated about him. Harrison never wasted time trying to unravel who James was as a person, nor did he ever divulge stories about their scandalous weekend adventures and create unnecessary gossip. Harrison was always much more concerned with enjoying life with his longtime friend. He was trustworthy and loyal, and treated James like more of a brother than J.R. and Jacob. It was for those many reasons that James had come to his fraternity brother first when he returned to the city of his alma mater in search of William. With Harrison’s proven level of loyalty, James never once doubted that his search would remain a secret, without ever needing to tell Harrison it needed to be.

  After catching up with Harrison over a brief lunch at Buck’s Tavern, James began making his way to William Werthington’s estate. Despite venturing there unannounced, he was fearlessly prepared to ask the world-renowned musical genius for an astronomical favor. James prayed all the way there that his words alone would be enough to move William to help, the way that Lily’s music had moved him to ride two days in search of a man he had never met. Following Harrison’s directions, James’s two-horse team eventually pulled him down a long tree-lined, decorated dirt trail. It led him to two large steel gates with the words “Werthington Estate” sculpted into them. Inside the gate, William’s expansive, white plantation-style mansion sat perched in the middle of perfectly manicured grass, surrounded by shrubbery, trees, flowers, fountains, and sculptures. The entire visual looked to James like the grounds of a king’s palace.

  On his two-day journey there, James had gone over what he wanted to say to William a million times in his head, but as he climbed down from his wagon, a sudden bout of nervousness threatened to destroy his ability to even speak. He stood there a moment and looked up at William’s beautiful home in utter amazement. It was a sobering reminder that he was about to speak to a man of great wealth and power, and that he needed to present himself as a confident man on an equivalent level. After reminding himself of the special reason he was there, pulling himself together suddenly became easy.

  James dusted himself off, adjusted his attire, remove
d his Stetson hat, and fixed his hair before proceeding up the steps to knock on the artfully carved double doors.

  “May I help you?” Benjamin asked when he finally answered.

  “Yes. My name is James Adams. I’s hopin’ I might speak with William Werthington. Is this his residence?”

  “Yes, it is. Is he expectin’ you?”

  “No, but the matta’ is very urgent. I’ve traveled two days in hopes that I could speak with him about somethin’ very important.”

  “Ah, I see. Come on in,” Benjamin replied, inviting him into the foyer. “Can you wait here a moment?”

  “Certainly.” After Benjamin walked away, James blew out a breath and began pacing to calm the nerves he felt brewing again.

  Benjamin walked into William’s study, where he sat reading his mail and smoking a pipe. “Pardon me, William. There’s a young man at the door here to see ya’.”

  “Who is he?” William asked, looking over the top of his spectacles.

  “I believe he said his name is James Adams.”

  “Adams, Adams, Adams,” William whispered to himself, trying to recall anyone he knew by that last name. “Doesn’t ring a bell. Can’t say I know anyone by that name.”