On to Richmond (29 page)

             
The girl who had met her spoke as soon as she was inside.  “My name is Susie.  This here is Amber, Sadie and Carl.”  Then she looked back up at Carrie.  “We’ve done heard lots about you, Miss Cromwell.  Opal thinks the world of you.”

             
“And I think the world of Opal.  Is she doing well?”

             
“Oh yes, ma’am.  Opal be doing just fine.  She should be back any minute now.  She just went to run some kind of errand. She works most every day, but she had today off.  She’s going to be right happy to see you.”

             
Any minute turned into an hour, but it seemed to fly by.  Carrie had fallen completely in love with the children by the time she heard footsteps on the porch. 

             
“Miss Carrie, what are you doing here?”  Opal asked with delight as soon as she saw her.  Then her face clouded with anxiety.  “There be something wrong back on the plantation?  Are you coming to tell me I got to go back?”

             
Carrie hastened to reassure her.  “No, nothing like that, Opal.  I came to ask you a favor.  Your cousins here have been taking very good care of me.”  Then she looked Opal over carefully.  “You look as if you’re doing well,” she said warmly.

             
“Oh, yes, ma’am.  I’m doing real good.  How’s everyone on the plantation?”

             
“I assume they’re doing well.  I’ve been here in the city for the last three weeks.”

             
“Here in Richmond?” Opal asked in surprise.

             
Carrie nodded and explained that her father had asked her to come.  “I deliberately stayed away because I didn’t want my father asking too many questions.  That has changed now, though.  My father knows you are here.”

             
Fear sprang into Opal’s eyes.  “Oh, Lord...” was all she could say.

             
Carrie spoke quickly.  “It’s all right, Opal.  Once I knew I needed you, I also knew I had to take the chance.  My father was fine with your being here.  I didn’t know it, but all the plantation owners are being asked to send some of their slaves to Richmond to help with the war.  They are working in the factories, building the defenses, things like that.  I am going to have to send more when I get home.”  Her last statement had caused her to get very little sleep the night before, but she had decided not to worry about it till she was back on the plantation.

             
Opal still looked anxious even though the fear was gone from her eyes.  “What kind of help you be needing from me, Miss Carrie?  I’ll do whatever I can.”

             
Carrie nodded.  “I know you will, Opal.  I didn’t know anyone else I could trust.”  She smiled as the pride shone forth in Opal’s eyes.  Then she quickly explained about Matthew.  “He’s a very dear friend, Opal.  I can’t stand the thought of just leaving him in that prison.  I have some money for you.  I want you to buy him fresh food and some more clothes.   He’s also going to need paper so he can continue writing.  I would appreciate it if you could visit him every few days.”

             
Opal laughed.  “They’re not going to let me get near that prison, Miss Carrie.  I’ve heard the stories.  They’re not letting
anyone
in to see those men.”

             
Carrie pulled out the piece of paper she had carefully folded in her pocket.  “This letter will get you in, Opal.  General Winder, the one in charge of all the prisons, wrote it just this morning.  It grants entrance to me and,” she continued with a smile, “you.”

             
Opal gasped, her eyes growing wide.  “That letter says I can go into the Officers’ Prison?  Anytime I want?”  Her voice was disbelieving.  She reached for the letter.  “Can I read that thing?”

             
Carrie handed it to her with a smile.  Once again she thought of Rose and felt a pang of loneliness.  If it weren’t for Rose, Opal wouldn’t know how to read and write.  Suddenly, all she wanted was to be with her best friend again.  She had taken an extra day to make sure Matthew was provided for.  Now she was anxious to get home.  Spencer would arrive early the next morning to take her.  “Will you do it, Opal?”

             
“Course I’ll do it, Miss Carrie!  I’m just glad there’s something I can do for you.  You’ve done so much for me.”

             
Carrie watched the pleasure shining in her eyes and thought how much Opal had changed.  There was strength in her eyes, and a confidence she’d never seen before.  “You’re different, Opal.”

             
Opal looked up from the letter she had been reading again and smiled shyly. “Yes, ma’am, I reckon I am.”
              “Why?”

             
Opal shrugged, but her voice was suddenly intense.  “It changes a person to be able to decide things for themselves.  I still ain’t really free, but I get to decide things for myself now.  There ain’t so much to care about when you’re a slave.  It doesn’t do you any good to think for yourself because you can’t do nothing with them thoughts.  You’re always told what to do and when to do it.”  She paused and then looked Carrie straight in the eye.  “I got dreams and hopes just like any white person, Miss Carrie.  I’m going to work hard to make them dreams come true.”

             
“What is your dream, Opal?”

             
Opal looked at Carrie hard as if trying to figure out if she really cared.  Then she answered.  “I want to have my own eatin’ place, Miss Carrie.  I always thought I would love to cook, but I was always on the other end of a hoe or a tobacco worm.  There wasn’t much time left for cooking.  I’ve been cooking some since I been here.  I like it a lot.  And the people who are eating my cooking say it’s pretty good.” 

             
Carl spoke from where he was standing to the side.  “Opal be as good a cook as my mama!” he said proudly.

             
Everyone laughed as Carl rubbed his stomach and smacked his lips together.

             
“I’ve been going to church here, too, Miss Carrie.”

             
Carrie nodded.  “You went to church on the plantation, Opal.”

             
“Yes, ma’am.  But it be different when the preacher isn’t saying just the things the plantation owner says he can say.  This preacher is different.  He talks about God like he’s really real.  And he’s white, to boot!”

             
Carrie laughed at her expression but was not surprised Opal’s preacher was white.  It was against the law for a black congregation to have a black preacher.  They could meet together, but the preacher had to be white.  It was another way for the white people not to lose control.  “I’m glad you’re going to church, Opal.  And I’m glad you’re finding out God is real.”

             
“Yes, ma’am.  Pastor Anthony, he’s a fine preacher.  And he’s a good man,” she declared.

             
“Pastor Anthony?”  Carrie thought for a moment.  Why was that name familiar?  Suddenly her mind flew back to the morning she had rushed to see Robert off on the train.  “Is it Pastor Marcus Anthony?”

             
It was Opal’s turn to stare.  “You know Pastor Anthony, Miss Carrie?”

             
“We’ve met,” she said, then explained.  “I liked him right away, Opal.  I’m glad he’s your pastor.”

             
Carrie stayed for just a little while longer and then left.  She was having one last dinner with her father at the Spotswood before she left for the plantation in the morning.  She had to go back to the house and change.

Opal turned and stared at Susie as soon as Carrie rolled off in the carriage.  “If that don’t beat all!” she exclaimed. 

              Susie turned to the other three children.  “Why don’t y’all go back out and play now?  Me and Opal need to talk.”

             
Once the children were out in the yard, Susie joined Opal on the sofa next to the window.  “A letter to get into the Officer’s Prison!  I can’t believe it,” Opal whispered, almost as if saying it out loud would make it untrue.   Opal clutched the letter in her hand and stared at it.  Just yesterday, Susie’s employer, Mrs. Hamilton, had talked to her about how much she wanted to get into the Officers’ Prison.

             
“Come on, girl.  We’re going to Mrs. Hamilton’s,” Susie said suddenly, springing up from the sofa.

             
“Right now?”

             
“Right now!”

Opal smiled at the look of awe and delight on Mrs. Hamilton’s face as she gazed at the letter in her hand. 

              “It’s a miracle,” she said in a whisper.  She stared at it for a minute more and then turned her eyes to Opal.  “Are you willing to help me?” she asked.

             
Opal nodded.  “Just tell me what to do.” 

             
“Wait right here,” Mrs. Hamilton said and disappeared from the room.  She returned moments later with a large serving platter.  “I want you to use this to take food to Mr. Justin.” 

             
Opal stared at it.  What was so special about that dish?

             
Mrs. Hamilton smiled then with a quick movement of her hand slid back the false bottom of the plate.

             
Opal and Susie gasped at the same time.

             
“We’re going to take the officers things no one will know about.  I hope we’ll get little gifts in return,” Mrs. Hamilton said coyly.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

             
Carrie stared out over the fields, satisfied with the progress being made.  She had been home only two weeks, but already fifty of her father’s acres had been plowed under and reseeded with food crops.  She would have done more, but that was all the hands could handle.  It had been a tremendous amount of work to pull up the maturing tobacco plants and haul them into the woods where they were now rotting in the August heat.  They wouldn’t go to waste, however.  Next year, the compost would be worked back into the soil to nourish the next generation of plants, whether it be a cash crop of tobacco or more food.   The folks at Cromwell Plantation had done all they could do.  Now they could only hope for a long, warm fall.  Food production would end with the first frost.