Slave Girl by Patricia C. McKissack Page B

it’s a feeling of being loved and wanted. Wherever Aunt Tee and Spicy are that’s home to me.
    Friday, October 28, 1859
    Been working all week. Today is the first time I’ve had a minute to write. Most nights I just fall asleep on my pallet, next to Spicy. We all too tired to talk, but
it’s so good being back together again under the same roof – even though it leaks.
    Saturday, October 29, 1859
    Aunt Tee has found a way to be useful again. She made herself a job. All the hands in the Quarters work so hard, they be too tired to cook in the evening. So, she’s done
started cooking for everybody. Whatever the folk can rake together, they bring it to Aunt Tee. She adds it together to make a bigger pot. They come home in the evening to a big pot. Today they had
rabbit stew, wild turnips and ho’cakes fixed by the best cook in Virginia.
    After last meal the same day
    I picked up pieces of talk at dinner. Mr Harms was telling Miz Lilly about the Bible he’d found, but he said he found it down by the river. “Yes, Eva Mae told me
you’d found a Bible and that you were trying to say it belonged to her or Clotee. Why would you think it belonged to one of the slaves and not a member of the Big House?”
    “Slaves steal so badly,” said Mr Harms. “When anything is missing or lost, I always begin with the house slaves. They are the ones most likely guilty.”
    Mr Harms was sounding like a mas’er. But when I looked closer, the Bible he showed Miz Lilly wasn’t Spicy’s at all. Mr Harms was helping Spicy and me, but at the same time
finding favour with Miz Lilly. I felt myself smile inside.
    Then Mr Harms asked if Miz Lilly knew that William has some feeling in his toes? She didn’t know – she never takes time to know about such things. Mr Harms asked if he could use hot
water treatments on William’s legs. Say he’d learned the treatment from a doctor over in Washington.
    “Only if Dr Lamb says it is all right.”
    Then, he asked for Missy to help him with the treatments. “No,” said Miz Lilly, “Missy is attending to me. Use Clotee.”
    Mr Harms knew just how to charm Miz Lilly. If he had asked for me, she never would have let me help. What is Mr Harms up to?
    Monday, October 31, 1859
    It’s shoe-wearing time again. I hate putting on William’s old hard shoes.
    Eva Mae, Missy and me just about harvested everything from the house garden and preserved, pickled or dried it. The collards are ready to be picked, but Aunt Tee say wait til’ the frost
hits them, first. This is my favourite time of the year, when the summer heat gives way to fall coolness. I can finally get a good sleep.

Wednesday, November 2, 1859
    Hince and Mas’ Henley came back home winners. They also had a fine new horse, a beauty named Canterbury’s Watch. He’s not as spirited as Dancer, but Hince says
he’s a strong runner – steady. Hince calls him “Can”, because he “can run”. Miz Lilly came out on the porch, took one look at the horse, stepped back inside and
slammed the door.
    It was good to have Hince home. Although he spends most of his time with the horses, I miss hearing him laughing and how the sound floats up to the kitchen from the stables.
    I told him I was staying in Aunt Tee’s cabin down in the Quarters, but I still work up in the kitchen and Big House. “I’m glad you with Aunt Tee,” he said.
“Somebody to see after her.”
    Then Hince s’prised me with a piece of red satin ribbon. It was as grand as anything Miz Lilly owned. And it was all mine. Didn’t have to slip and play with it. Hince say he had
bought it with money he won, betting on himself.
    “I was going to wait until the Big Times to give it to you, but I couldn’t wait. How do you like it?”
    The word came straight from my heart and burst out of my mouth. “Beautiful!” Whenever I write B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L, I will see my red ribbon. It makes me feel pretty and like I want to
dance and dance.
    Sunday, November 6, 1859
    Hince