Hall.”
I saw inside the door she was holding open and she was telling the truth. The whole inside was packed with sacks and jars. Must have been enough food for an army.
“I’ll ride on top,” Lucy said, and I nodded because I could see it coming. Bartlett he wasn’t ugly and Lucy she couldn’t help herself.
Tyler Two and me we climbed up into the carriage and after moving some bags and boxes around we made a small place to sit. I sat and Tyler Two he sat in my lap.
“I am Laura,” she said. “Laura Harris. And your name?”
“Sarny.” Started to say more but stopped. Didn’t have a second name. “Just Sarny.”
She nodded. “A sign of the times, dear. A sign of the times. And the little boy?”
“We found him. He don’t talk. Call him Tyler Two.”
“Tyler too?”
“Like the number. My own son is Tyler and my daughter is little Delie so I just called thislittle man after my own Tyler. Except he’s Tyler number two.”
“I see. And where are your own children?”
And so I told her all about Waller and little Delie and Tyler and selling them and how we found where they were going and all of it. All of it. And when I came to where they took little Delie and Tyler in the wagons she said a word I only ever heard men say and turned away and looked out the window ’cept the curtain was still drawn.
Told her all of it even the name of the man took my children and all the time I was sitting there talking I thought on how it couldn’t be happening. Never talked to a white woman except to say Yes ma’am and No ma’am, and here I was sitting in a fine carriage with this beautiful white woman that talked like molasses telling her everything. Everything. And she nodded and smiled and cried, a touch of a white hankie to the corner of her eye, and all the time I thought this ain’t so, this can’t be happening.
But it was. All of it.
Carriage rode like soft cloth over water, compared to the wheelbarrow. I never thought I’d see on anything like it and even later when the world was new and I rode in buses and trains smooth as glass I still remembered on that carriage.
When I’d finished Miss Laura she looked in my eyes and reached across the seats and touched my hand, like the feather falling off a bird, and smiled and said, “I will help you find your children when we get to New Orleans.”
“But how will you know where to look? I heard New Orleans is so big you can’t walk across it in a day.”
“I know the man who has them. Chivington.”
“You know him?”
She smiled softly. “I know many men. It is my business to know men.”
Oh Lord, I thought, I don’t know what I did to set you to helping me this way but should you give me a sign I’ll do it again and again. To hand me this woman who knows the man who has my children, who will help me. Thank you, Lord.
Didn’t say more. Didn’t want her to be not liking me. White or not, could she help me get back my children I’d do anything for her. Anything.
She opened the curtains and I leaned back in the carriage while little Tyler Two he went to sleep on my lap and I thought over and over again, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
TEN
It was still slow. Better than the wheelbarrow, better as day is better than night, but still slow because the road it was jammed with soldiers and wheel guns and the carriage was too big to go around.
First thing on the road, we hadn’t gone ten paces after we turned out of the lane into the traffic when an officer on a big bay, officer with all sorts of gold on his blue shoulder, he rode up alongside the carriage.
“What in blue blazes are you doing with this rig on this road?”
“Oh dear, I’m afraid I’m in the way.” Miss Laura she smiled up at him through the window and I could see him start to melt. “I’m terribly sorry but I have an urgent need to get to New Orleans.”
“New Orleans? But that’s still in rebel hands.”
“So I understand. Still, I have to get there. I’m
I saw inside the door she was holding open and she was telling the truth. The whole inside was packed with sacks and jars. Must have been enough food for an army.
“I’ll ride on top,” Lucy said, and I nodded because I could see it coming. Bartlett he wasn’t ugly and Lucy she couldn’t help herself.
Tyler Two and me we climbed up into the carriage and after moving some bags and boxes around we made a small place to sit. I sat and Tyler Two he sat in my lap.
“I am Laura,” she said. “Laura Harris. And your name?”
“Sarny.” Started to say more but stopped. Didn’t have a second name. “Just Sarny.”
She nodded. “A sign of the times, dear. A sign of the times. And the little boy?”
“We found him. He don’t talk. Call him Tyler Two.”
“Tyler too?”
“Like the number. My own son is Tyler and my daughter is little Delie so I just called thislittle man after my own Tyler. Except he’s Tyler number two.”
“I see. And where are your own children?”
And so I told her all about Waller and little Delie and Tyler and selling them and how we found where they were going and all of it. All of it. And when I came to where they took little Delie and Tyler in the wagons she said a word I only ever heard men say and turned away and looked out the window ’cept the curtain was still drawn.
Told her all of it even the name of the man took my children and all the time I was sitting there talking I thought on how it couldn’t be happening. Never talked to a white woman except to say Yes ma’am and No ma’am, and here I was sitting in a fine carriage with this beautiful white woman that talked like molasses telling her everything. Everything. And she nodded and smiled and cried, a touch of a white hankie to the corner of her eye, and all the time I thought this ain’t so, this can’t be happening.
But it was. All of it.
Carriage rode like soft cloth over water, compared to the wheelbarrow. I never thought I’d see on anything like it and even later when the world was new and I rode in buses and trains smooth as glass I still remembered on that carriage.
When I’d finished Miss Laura she looked in my eyes and reached across the seats and touched my hand, like the feather falling off a bird, and smiled and said, “I will help you find your children when we get to New Orleans.”
“But how will you know where to look? I heard New Orleans is so big you can’t walk across it in a day.”
“I know the man who has them. Chivington.”
“You know him?”
She smiled softly. “I know many men. It is my business to know men.”
Oh Lord, I thought, I don’t know what I did to set you to helping me this way but should you give me a sign I’ll do it again and again. To hand me this woman who knows the man who has my children, who will help me. Thank you, Lord.
Didn’t say more. Didn’t want her to be not liking me. White or not, could she help me get back my children I’d do anything for her. Anything.
She opened the curtains and I leaned back in the carriage while little Tyler Two he went to sleep on my lap and I thought over and over again, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
TEN
It was still slow. Better than the wheelbarrow, better as day is better than night, but still slow because the road it was jammed with soldiers and wheel guns and the carriage was too big to go around.
First thing on the road, we hadn’t gone ten paces after we turned out of the lane into the traffic when an officer on a big bay, officer with all sorts of gold on his blue shoulder, he rode up alongside the carriage.
“What in blue blazes are you doing with this rig on this road?”
“Oh dear, I’m afraid I’m in the way.” Miss Laura she smiled up at him through the window and I could see him start to melt. “I’m terribly sorry but I have an urgent need to get to New Orleans.”
“New Orleans? But that’s still in rebel hands.”
“So I understand. Still, I have to get there. I’m
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