without the sun shining my energy would run out and I might even die."
"How far is we from Corinthian?" I asked.
"Sixty miles at least."
Before I could voice my dismay John grabbed me by the wrist and we took off. We ran for a short time and fi nally came to one of the big trees we'd passed earlier. Fat raindrops had started to fall and the sky was dark with rain clouds.
"We'll have to stay here until the sun comes out again," John said.
"What if it don't come out?" I asked.
"Then we will have to wait until morning."
"Mastuh'll kill us we do that," I wailed.
"As long as you see him as master he may very well," John said. "But if you see that you and he are equals and you realize that he needs you more than you need him then, just maybe, you will be reprieved."
My heart was beating fast and my guts were churning.
"Let's try to run back," I cried.
"It's at least thirty miles away, Forty-seven, maybe forty. We would never make it in time."
"But he'll kill us."
"Kill us and he kills his precious Eloise."
I wanted to beat the smug slave's face in. Here he had shown me the best time of my whole life and now he was going to get me killed. Why did I ever go with him?
The rains came down hard but the thick foliage of the an cient tree kept us mostly dry. The ground was mulched pretty well by dead leaves and so the space was like a big, carpeted room. When the night came on it became very
dark. John and I leaned against the bark, shoulder to shoul der. The dark and the sound of the rain, and maybe the fear of Tobias, made me very tired. I nodded and almost fell asleep.
"Do you want to see where I'm from?" I thought I heard him say.
"Might as well," I said, "seein' as it'll prob'ly be the last story I hear 'fore Mastuh tie me to that wagon wheel an' have 'em whip me till I'm dead."
I turned on my side and I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep.
I opened my eyes on a beautiful day in some far-off and wonderful place. Not only was I awake but I was running down an open road.
Somewhere in my mind I worried that I might be seen by some white man who would beat me like the slave laws demanded. I worried, but the road was broad and straight so I figured that if I saw somebody coming that I could run away before they could catch me and bring me back to the plantation.
But when I looked around I realized that I didn't need to worry. The plants on the side of the road were red and purple, without leaves, not at all like proper trees. And the sky was pink and red and the road was paved with something like glass, and there was no sun in the sky but it was still bright and clear.
"This is where I am from," a voice said.
I stopped running and turned to see my friend was standing there next to me.
It was John and then again it wasn't. He had the same
voice and his eyes were deep and kind as they had been on the Corinthian Plantation. But in this new place he was a head taller, quite a bit thinner, and his skin was more or ange than brown. And above his head I could see a shim mering light that moved when he did.
You can imagine that I was amazed by the events un folding around me. The last thing I remembered was be ing under a tree in a rainstorm. Now all of a sudden I was in a strange new land and my friend had grown a foot and changed colors on me.
"What the hell you doin' to me, niggah?" I said.
He pointed at me and said, "Neither master nor nig ger be."
In this new place his words took on a new meaning. They brought about a vision: I saw Tobias and the cowering Pritchard in my mind. The slave master was holding a whip and the abject slave was writhing on the ground, beg ging our master for mercy.
I didn't want to be either one of them. I reached out in my imagination and pushed their images away. Then I turned my attention back to Taller John and his lecturing finger.
"That's right, Forty-seven," John said as if he knew what had been going on in my head, as if he saw the tableau of master and slave in my mind.
"Go
"How far is we from Corinthian?" I asked.
"Sixty miles at least."
Before I could voice my dismay John grabbed me by the wrist and we took off. We ran for a short time and fi nally came to one of the big trees we'd passed earlier. Fat raindrops had started to fall and the sky was dark with rain clouds.
"We'll have to stay here until the sun comes out again," John said.
"What if it don't come out?" I asked.
"Then we will have to wait until morning."
"Mastuh'll kill us we do that," I wailed.
"As long as you see him as master he may very well," John said. "But if you see that you and he are equals and you realize that he needs you more than you need him then, just maybe, you will be reprieved."
My heart was beating fast and my guts were churning.
"Let's try to run back," I cried.
"It's at least thirty miles away, Forty-seven, maybe forty. We would never make it in time."
"But he'll kill us."
"Kill us and he kills his precious Eloise."
I wanted to beat the smug slave's face in. Here he had shown me the best time of my whole life and now he was going to get me killed. Why did I ever go with him?
The rains came down hard but the thick foliage of the an cient tree kept us mostly dry. The ground was mulched pretty well by dead leaves and so the space was like a big, carpeted room. When the night came on it became very
dark. John and I leaned against the bark, shoulder to shoul der. The dark and the sound of the rain, and maybe the fear of Tobias, made me very tired. I nodded and almost fell asleep.
"Do you want to see where I'm from?" I thought I heard him say.
"Might as well," I said, "seein' as it'll prob'ly be the last story I hear 'fore Mastuh tie me to that wagon wheel an' have 'em whip me till I'm dead."
I turned on my side and I'm pretty sure that I fell asleep.
I opened my eyes on a beautiful day in some far-off and wonderful place. Not only was I awake but I was running down an open road.
Somewhere in my mind I worried that I might be seen by some white man who would beat me like the slave laws demanded. I worried, but the road was broad and straight so I figured that if I saw somebody coming that I could run away before they could catch me and bring me back to the plantation.
But when I looked around I realized that I didn't need to worry. The plants on the side of the road were red and purple, without leaves, not at all like proper trees. And the sky was pink and red and the road was paved with something like glass, and there was no sun in the sky but it was still bright and clear.
"This is where I am from," a voice said.
I stopped running and turned to see my friend was standing there next to me.
It was John and then again it wasn't. He had the same
voice and his eyes were deep and kind as they had been on the Corinthian Plantation. But in this new place he was a head taller, quite a bit thinner, and his skin was more or ange than brown. And above his head I could see a shim mering light that moved when he did.
You can imagine that I was amazed by the events un folding around me. The last thing I remembered was be ing under a tree in a rainstorm. Now all of a sudden I was in a strange new land and my friend had grown a foot and changed colors on me.
"What the hell you doin' to me, niggah?" I said.
He pointed at me and said, "Neither master nor nig ger be."
In this new place his words took on a new meaning. They brought about a vision: I saw Tobias and the cowering Pritchard in my mind. The slave master was holding a whip and the abject slave was writhing on the ground, beg ging our master for mercy.
I didn't want to be either one of them. I reached out in my imagination and pushed their images away. Then I turned my attention back to Taller John and his lecturing finger.
"That's right, Forty-seven," John said as if he knew what had been going on in my head, as if he saw the tableau of master and slave in my mind.
"Go
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