Chasing the North Star (17 page)

Only then did I remember the Goat Man. I was so surprised and thrilled and curious to see Jonah, and so pleased to be taken in by Miss Linda, I had forgotten all about the Goat Man and his wagon. I had come all that way with the old man and then I forgot all about him. A sour flash of regret passed through my bones. But I didn't say anything. I helped clean up and wash the dishes with Lonella, and then slipped out like I was going to the privy.

But soon as I reached the edge of the yard I hurried to the road and made my way back into town. Everything looked strange, because I hadn't paid any attention to the houses and streets when I was following Jonah. I passed a tavern, and several stores, and came to a courthouse. The house where the Goat Man had stopped to work was on a side street, but I couldn't remember which one. And I wasn't even sure what the house looked like, except it had a porch.

I walked slow and stayed in the shadows, because I didn't want to be noticed. I crossed a street and followed it to the edge of town and I looked in every yard for the Goat Man's wagon. A dog ran out and barked at me. A drunk man stumbling along tried to get hold of me, but I pushed him away and ran on.

The street led out into the country past a warehouse and a mill, but I never saw the Goat Man or his wagon. I turned back and followed all the streets one after another, looking into yards and behind hedges. But I knew the Goat Man wasn't in town anymore. When he finished his job and saw I was gone, he must have driven the wagon on out of town, and would be camped somewhere miles up the road. But I didn't know which road he'd have taken. Roads ran off in all directions. Some led right into the mountains.

There was nothing to do but turn back to Miss Linda's house. It pained me to think I'd run away from the Goat Man. He had taken me all the way from the French Broad River. But at least he could walk again, with his stick, and he could work. He might have trouble carrying water from a creek, but I reckoned he could manage, toting a little at a time. He had managed before he ever saw me, cooking his mush, feeding those goats. And I had done more for him than he had for me. I'd cleaned up his filth and taken care of the goats, and even sharpened knives and saws when he couldn't do anything. Yet when I turned back toward Miss Linda's house, I found my eyes were wet. I walked slow to let myself get calm.

There were lights on in the parlor of Miss Linda's house, and girls were laughing and somebody was playing a piano. I could smell wine or liquor. I went on around to the back of the house.

Now Miss Linda had said I was to sleep in a room down in the basement with Hettie. And when I took a lamp and went down there, I saw there was only one bed. But that was where I was going to have to sleep. Hettie was a kind of dried-up old woman with a stooped back and white hair. She didn't ever say much.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw this door open, and Jonah standing in the door. He looked at me like he couldn't take his eyes off my breasts. He was scared and he wanted to drive me away, but I saw he hadn't had any company in a long time.

I giggled and shook my butt a little. But the last thing I needed was to get caught with Jonah at Miss Linda's just when I had to behave myself and study on how to survive and keep going to the North. “You look mighty curious,” I said and winked at him before sliding into Hettie's room and closing the door.

NE
X
T MORNING
MISS
L
INDA
called me into the parlor and asked if I knew how to sew. She said I needed new clothes and some shoes. She said everybody who worked for her had to have good clothes. “We all have to look decent,” Miss Linda said.

“Yes, ma'am,” I said.

She said to go down to the shoemaker's and get some shoes, and she gave me two kinds of cloth, yellow and pink, to make two dresses.

“Those that work for me don't see anything and don't say anything,” Miss Linda said and looked at me hard.

“Yes, ma'am,” I said.

“I hope you understand me,” she said.

“I understand you,” I said.

Eleven

Jonah

After Mr. Wells punished him with the hot and cold water, Jonah was ashamed to look at anyone at Miss Linda's. They all knew he'd been humbled and broken. They knew he'd begged Mr. Wells and promised him to be nothing but his dog. Somehow men like Mr. Williams and Mr. Wells knew that the worst pain, the most lasting pain, was not to the body but to one's dignity. That's what their punishments were intended for, to destroy the last sliver of your dignity.

Lonella and Hettie and the girls knew he'd screamed and begged and cried like a baby. They'd all returned from church while Mr. Wells was torturing him. He couldn't look at their faces. And when he passed a mirror, he couldn't look at his own face. When he was around Miss Linda, he looked at the floor. They'd caught him seeking pleasure with an Indian girl. It was a very personal humiliation, something he knew he would never forget.

After that Sunday morning he and Prissy avoided each other. She'd been punished again and had screamed and screamed. Whether they had used ice to hurt her or not Jonah didn't know. Prissy turned away when she passed him in the hall or saw him in the dining room. He understood that she was ashamed, ashamed of what had been done to her, and what had been done to him. After that Sunday morning Prissy never spoke to him again.

As he regained his strength, Jonah began planning his escape. He knew that Miss Linda and Mr. Wells expected him to try to run away after he was punished. As soon as he was missed, they'd tell the sheriff, and men on horses with rifles and dogs would ride after him. They'd run him down in a few hours. He knew he had to wait until they no longer expected him to run. And he had to convince them he was humble as dirt and happy to be at Miss Linda's.

Whenever Miss Linda spoke to him he bowed his head and said, “Yes, Miss Linda.” He took off his hat whenever white folks passed near him. As summer changed into fall, the trees all around took on bright colors. Hickories became rusty gold and maples bright yellow and orange. And some maples on the ridge above the town turned pink orange. Jonah had never seen such intense colors. The mornings were cool and the afternoons sunny and hot. Molasses furnaces steamed in the valley outside town.

Jonah studied the mountains to the north and the mountains to the south. Roanoke was in a trough between two long chains of mountains running to the northeast and southwest. He knew he'd have to run to the northeast. He'd have to go soon if he was to make it to the North before winter came. Because it was getting cool at night, Miss Linda bought him a jacket of heavy jean cloth. It was the kind of coat called a Negro Jacket, the color of blue ink. When he ran away he'd need a jacket, and maybe long underwear. He thanked Miss Linda like she'd bought him his freedom.

Before he tried to escape, Jonah had to do some thinking. A little thinking beforehand could save a lot of effort and danger later. The trick to getting away was to go through water as much as possible, to throw the dogs and trackers off. An idea came to Jonah that was so good he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. What if he left Miss Linda's during a hard rain? His tracks would be washed away and his scent would be melted away long before they knew he was gone. Why had he not thought of that before? In hard rain it would be difficult for a sheriff to gather his men and set out, much less see the trail. The risk was that he'd get lost in the dark in a heavy rain, or get struck by lightning during a bad storm, but it was a risk he was glad to take. He couldn't carry a torch in a heavy rain. Even a lantern might get drowned out.

Jonah knew the best time to leave was in the evening after supper. When guests were arriving in the parlor, Miss Linda would be busy serving drinks and entertaining. He would help Lonella and Hettie with the dishes and carry in wood and water for the next morning, same as always, and then while the girls were busy upstairs, he'd be gone. It was better not to try to hoard things to take with him. That would only arouse suspicions. He had more than eleven dollars Miss Linda had paid him. He would take that and some matches and his knife and fishhooks, and maybe a bite to eat. He'd carry his writing tablet and pencil inside his shirt. Jonah wished he had a map, but it would be too obvious if he bought a map at the store or cut a map out of the atlas in the parlor. Instead he tried to memorize the maps of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania in the atlas when he got a chance.

One day, while he drew water from the well, Jonah looked up and saw someone standing in the bushes at the corner of the yard. He put down the bucket and stepped closer, and saw black hair and golden skin, and a big, wide shoulder.

“What are you doing here?” Jonah said.

The person hiding parted the limbs of the yew bush, and Jonah saw it was Angel. He was so surprised he took a step back. “How did you get here?”

“Come up the long road, same as you.”

“You can't stay here,” he said. With a chill he saw that Angel's arrival might interfere with his plans for escape. It seemed impossible she'd followed him all the way to Roanoke.

“You get away from here,” Jonah said.

“That's a fine welcome, after all your good help on the French Broad,” Angel said.

“Ain't nothing for you here,” Jonah said. But he must have spoken louder than he meant to, for Lonella called from the back porch and asked who he was talking to.

“Ain't nobody,” he called.

“Yeah, I see it ain't nobody,” Lonella said. “You talking loud enough to raise the dead.”

Before he could stop her, Angel stepped out of the bushes and said to Lonella, “I be looking for a piece of cornbread; I be looking for some work.” She walked right up to Lonella on the porch. Though she'd lost some weight in the weeks since he'd last seen her, Angel was still big. Instead of the feedsack dress, she wore a gold frock that she must have stolen from a clothesline. Her skin was the color of dark buckwheat honey, and her feet were bare.

“What can you do, girl?” Lonella said.

“I can do most anything,” Angel said. “I've done most anything.”

Lonella looked the big girl up and down like she was inspecting a piece of pork, looking for maggots. Miss Linda stepped out on the back porch at that moment and saw Angel. She beckoned for her to approach the house. Angel said her name was Sarepta, like in the Bible. “Come with me,” Miss Linda said. Jonah watched helplessly as the women started to walk into the kitchen. Lonella turned back and told him to bring that water.

There were four buckets of water to carry into the kitchen, and each time Jonah came inside he heard Lonella and Miss Linda and Angel talking in the parlor. He edged near to the door in the hallway to hear better. He would pretend he'd never seen Angel before, and if she had any sense she'd act like he was a total stranger, too.

“We are just a family here,” Miss Linda was saying. “You will help Lonella and Hettie, or whoever else needs help. Looks like you have come a long way.”

“I come over the mountain,” Angel said.

“And you will go back over the mountain if you give us any trouble,” Miss Linda said. “Come, I'll introduce you.”

Jonah dashed back to the kitchen just in time to make it look as if he'd been working there, not eavesdropping in the hallway. He tried to avoid looking at either Angel or Miss Linda.

“Sarepta will be joining us,” Miss Linda said. “This is Ezra. You will help him when Lonella and Hettie don't need you.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Angel said.

“You can sleep in Hettie's room until we can fix up a place for you,” Miss Linda said. “Now come upstairs to meet the girls.”

Jonah was so surprised by Angel's sudden appearance he couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing. He was pretty sure it was a bad thing, for two runaways had to create more suspicion than just one. He couldn't have the fat girl following him and getting in the way of his plans. It was possible they might help each other, but it was hard to see how that might be. He needed to find out what her plans were, and how she'd gotten as far as Roanoke.

Because there were so many people in the house, and because she pretended to ignore him, Jonah found it hard to get alone with Angel. She worked in the kitchen with Lonella and cleaned the rooms upstairs with Hettie and rarely came outside. She slept next door to him in Hettie's room, but Hettie was always there. It was four days before Jonah got a chance to speak with her alone. It was late at night on Saturday night, and the guests were noisy in the parlor. Someone was playing the piano. Jonah slipped out into the backyard to relieve himself, and then he stood in the dark by the maple trees pondering his escape plans, wondering when a heavy rain would come. He saw Angel step out on the back porch and called to her in a loud whisper to come out in the yard.

“What do you want?” she said.

“Come out here,” he said.

“You ain't my boss,” she said and giggled. But she stepped off the porch and came to the maple tree. She was wearing a new dress, lavender, with bows on it.

“What are you doing here?” Jonah said.

“Same as you, I got a job.” Jonah could smell perfume on her. Her hair was done up in a ribbon.

“Are you working upstairs?” he asked.

“None of your business,” Angel said. “Mr. Wells, he likes me.”

“You ain't planning on going up north?” Jonah said.

“What if I am?” Angel said. “Don't have to ask your leave to do nothing.”

“You followed me here.”

“I followed the Drinking Gourd,” Angel said. “You think you're the only one know where the North is?”

“You'd better not get in my way,” Jonah said.

“You can't do nothing to me, Jonah Williams. You're just mad 'cause you know I'm lying in bed right next to you but you got to sleep alone.” She laughed and started back to the porch. In the weeks that followed, there were light rains some mornings, and more colored leaves fell in the yard. But a shower was of no use to Jonah. He needed wind and rain and heavy darkness that would hide him and cover his trail. Only heavy rain would quickly wash away his tracks.

Angel had moved out of Hettie's room to a little room upstairs. She had two fine dresses and new shoes and a red silk scarf. She still worked in the kitchen from time to time, and waited at the table in the dining room. But she did less and less work with Lonella and Hettie and Jonah.

“That girl be putting on airs,” Lonella said one day in the kitchen.

“She got what some men want,” Hettie said.

“Some mens like black skin and fleshy gals,” Lonella said.

Jonah decided that Angel's presence didn't make any difference to his plans. She seemed happy at Miss Linda's, and as far as he knew she hadn't told anybody that she'd known him before. But late one night when he got up to have a dipper of water, he found her on the back porch.

“Ain't you the fancy woman,” he said.

Angel ignored his sarcasm. “When you go north I'll go with you,” she said.

“Who says I'm going north?”

“I got money, and I can help,” Angel whispered.

“I ain't going nowhere,” Jonah said. “And if I was, you'd be the last person I'd go with.”

“Bet you could use a little company,” Angel said and brushed her hip against his.

“Listen, girl, don't get in my way.”

“Ain't scared of you,” Angel said. “Besides, you think you the only one want to go on to freedom. You're dumb as shit. You gone need my help.” A lamp was lit upstairs and Angel slipped back into the kitchen.

Two days later he passed Angel in the hallway and she muttered, “You don't take me with you, I turn you in.”

“What if I was to turn you in before I left?” Jonah whispered back.

“I'd send your sorry ass back to South Carolina,” Angel said.

The storm he was waiting for never came at the time he needed it. He hoped to escape in the early evening as things got busy upstairs, but no such coincidence of weather occurred. Instead he woke one night around eleven and heard rain lashing the windows above and wind shoving the shutters and roaring in the maple trees in the backyard. Jonah got out of bed and pulled his clothes on as quickly as he could. He laced and tied the brogans Miss Linda had bought him and got his money from under the cot, a box of matches, and his writing tablet and pencil. His fishhooks were wrapped in a folded sheet of tablet paper, and his knife was in his pocket.

There was laughter and movement upstairs and someone was playing the piano. Jonah climbed the steps to the kitchen. If anybody saw him, he'd pretend he was going to the outhouse. No one was in the kitchen, and he hurried to the back door and opened it carefully to keep it from banging in the wind. As he closed the door, he saw the barn lantern hanging on a peg. He grabbed the lantern, hoping it was filled with oil.

When he reached the steps, wind smacked Jonah in the face with cold drops. Rain stung his cheeks, and he pulled his hat lower. He skirted the edge of the yard, staying as far away from the front porch as possible, where guests might be coming and going. Lightning lit the air like magic blue powder flung from the sky. If anyone was looking out the window they'd see him in that flash. In that instant of illumination and flicker, he saw rain flung in sheets across the yard and across the valley. Other houses were dark. It had rained so hard, water stood in the yard and in the road. Puddles stretched to meet each other and appeared to spit and pucker with splashing drops.

Jonah froze and then it was dark again. Thunder growled so loud, he could hear it over the roar of the wind and rain. Thunder was so deep and loud it punched his chest and echoed in his ears. As soon as the rumble passed he hurried to the road and turned to the right. Jonah felt exposed, naked to the wind and lightning. Rain whipped his face and soaked his chest. He carried the lantern under his coat. When he got far enough away, he would light the lantern so he could see the road ahead. In the dark he stumbled through puddles and tripped on ruts and roots and rocks. Only the occasional flares of lightning showed him the way ahead. Several times he wandered into brush beside the road, and once he stepped into a ditch. There was a barn about half a mile up the road, which he'd seen from Miss Linda's yard. When he reached the barn he'd go inside and light the lantern. With a light he'd be able to walk faster. Speed was what he needed most now.