Little Black Girl Lost 4 (2 page)

Chapter 1

S
he was more than startled, more than afraid when she heard a familiar but frightening sound. As she walked up the wooden stairs to the auction block, she was careful to never lock eyes with her pasty captors; a lesson that had been seared into her mind on the voyage to the Americas. She had seen the burgeoning crowd before coming out of her cell, and had heard the natives speaking in a language she clearly understood. They were bidding for the people who had been aboard the ship that brought them there. In her native land, she had seen people of her hue captured by those of the same and then sold, but without a bidding war. This was different.

She heard it again. This time she nearly jumped out of her skin. It sounded like the onslaught of ten thousand locusts buzzing as they neared a fertile and well-maintained, lush green garden. If only it were the sound of locusts coming to eat the season's crop. They would be far more welcome. The sound she heard was that of a well-crafted bullwhip as it neared a taut bare black back, before its tail broke the sound barrier and crackled loudly.

The sound forced an unpleasant memory to the surface. The first time she'd heard it was in Africa—Nigeria, to be exact. She could almost see the flesh-destroying weapon in her father's hand as he controlled captured enemies of Dahomey, her place of origin. The weapon didn't seem so frightening then. That was the way things were done, her father explained. Besides, the captured men were enemies who had tried to kill the men in their nation. The second time she heard the weapon was aboard the
Windward,
when the Dutch sailors used it on all the captives, even the women and children, to control them.

Now, in North America, more than four thousands miles from the shores of Africa, the sound alone made her tremble, though no one noticed. She stood perfectly still, attempting to hold on to a measure of pride in front of a crowd of pale onlookers. Of all the women who had been captured and sold, she was the only one who hadn't been raped or sodomized aboard the
Windward.

She heard the horrifying sound again and lifted her eyes to look across the courtyard. Suddenly, the clamoring bidders standing a few feet from her were a distant memory as she zoned in on the barbarity. She saw a tall, well-built, tar black man having his flesh skillfully ripped away, exposing white flesh and bone, quickly followed by the flow of red blood. His wrists were stretched high above his head, tightly tied to a seven-foot pillar of white cement. His torso was completely bare; his loins were covered by a pair of tight pants.

The sound of the whip hummed a familiar tune and then crackled again when it sliced into his back and peeled away more of his color, exposing more white meat underneath. About forty to fifty black men, women, and children who looked like him watched the chilling savagery with raw awe and indefinable dread. Next to them stood another fifteen or so white men and women, along with their children. Some of the women covered the children's eyes, turned their heads, and shook a little when each lash found an unmolested area of flesh. Others looked on nonchalantly, as if they had seen worse. But they hadn't. The truly horrifying part of it was yet to come.

Chapter 2

S
till watching from the auction block, she saw a fashionably dressed black man who seemed to be in charge. He was wearing a navy blue suit, which consisted of breeches, a vest, a white silk shirt, a cravat, and white silk stockings. He stood near the black man wielding the whip.

Before delivering the next series of blows, the man with the whip wiped his face with a handkerchief. Sweat ran down his face as he doled out blow after blow, expertly turning the slave's back into a masterpiece of oozing red paint that made its way down his back.

A sound from deep within the slave climbed its way up his throat and out his mouth. It was the sound of agony mixed with humiliation. They had broken his will to resist, yet the fierce beating continued. With each stinging blow, he, being a grown man, was reduced to an infant, crying uncontrollably, unceasingly.

“Lord, God in heaven . . . Lord Jesus ... help me!” The man screamed, but the vicious beating continued. “No more, Massa Tresvant! No more! I'll be a good nigga, Massa! I swear to God, I'll be good.”

Tresvant raised his hand, signaling the slave with the whip to stop the beating. “You're gonna stop reading my books?”

“Yes, Massa! I swear to the good Lord above I won't read another book for the rest of my life!”

“We'll just have to find out, won't we?” Tresvant said then nodded to the slave with the whip.

With the same intensity and ferocity—more, if it were possible—the whipping began anew. After several more lashes, the man's words became incoherent babble. With each stinging blow, he screamed and babbled until he could no longer stand. His knees surrendered and gave way, but his arms held him up.

Then mercifully, Tresvant said, “That's enough, Jude. Cut him down.”

Jude took off his three-sided fedora and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He was of a small stature, taut, and light-skinned. He pulled a sharp knife from his boot, walked over to the demoralized slave, and cut him down.

Tresvant looked at his other slaves and said, “You all know I hate doin' this, but he forced my hand. You all know that, right?”

Jude said, “Yes, Massa Tresvant. You sho' is right. You done gave that nigga plenty chances. He be too smart for his own good.”

Tresvant said, “Don't I take good care of you all?”

In unison, they nodded quickly and repeated, saying, “Yes, Massa Tresvant.”

Tresvant walked up to one of the white slave women and said, “Dorothy, didn't I tell you this would happen when you asked me to buy him for you? I told you then he was smart and had runnin' in his eyes. I could see it even then. Didn't I tell you that?”

“Yes, Massa Tresvant,” Dorothy said. “But Kimba is a good man. He just don't understand how things are here, Massa.”

“Oh, he understands all right. All too well.”

“Give him another chance, Massa. He gon' get his mind right. I'ma see to it.”

“Why should I, Dorothy?” Tresvant said. “Give me one good reason why, and I might consider it.”

“Cause yo' mama and my mama be the same. We's just got different poppas, is all. Yo' poppa be black and my poppa be white. Yo' poppa took my mama from my poppa 'cause he owned ‘em. He had his way with her and she had you. Then he give her back to my poppa. Even though I be a slave, we still be blood; we still be sister and brother.”

“You use that excuse every time, Dorothy,” Tresvant said. “One day it's not gon' work. One day, I'ma hav'ta kill him.” He turned to Jude. “Load 'em on the wagon and take him home.” He looked at Dorothy. “Since you wanted me to buy him for you, it'll be your responsibility to take care of his wounds. Get ‘im back on his feet so he go back to work in the fields.”

“Yessuh, Massa,” Dorothy said.

The auctioneer spoke again, reminding the young woman on “stage” where she was and what was about to befall her. “This here is a fine specimen from the continent of Africa, gentlemen. And she already speaks English, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese. She can pick up other languages easily. It's a gift, I'm told. And gentlemen . . . she's still a virgin.”

After the men heard that she hadn't been touched aboard the
Windward,
they murmured loudly, nodding their heads in approval, smiling lecherously.

“Let's start the bidding at eight hundred dollars,” the auctioneer said.

One gentleman shouted, “Eight hundred dollars? For one slave? A wench, at that? Are you insane? I don't know that I'd pay that much for a prime studding buck, but I'd at least be more agreeable.”

The auctioneer said, “Perhaps you didn't hear me, dear sir. Again, this one is different. She's practically royalty, sir. She was supposed to wed the son of a king where she's from. As I said, she already speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and French, which means you won't have to spend months on end trying to get her to understand how things are. She already knows and can help the others understand much quicker. Not only would she make a good bed wench, but you can hire her out as an interpreter, sir.”

“Eight twenty-five,” a man in the crowd shouted.

“Eight fifty,” said another

“Nine hundred,” said yet another.

As the woman on the auction block looked into the faces of the men bidding for her, as she saw the lust in the eyes of her potential purchasers grow with each succeeding bid, she was sickened by it all. Suddenly, how it happened, how she ended up in a strange land, on sale to the highest bidder, rushed to her mind in powerful, vivid images.

Chapter 3

Dahomey, Nigeria
The summer of 1791

 

I
t had happened to a chosen and pure gift from God that is great—that's what Ibo Atikah Mustafa means anyway. She was sixteen at the time. Her father had taken great care in naming her. Her name was not merely what she was called, but who she was supposed to be—a chosen and pure gift from God that is great! It happened to the seventh and last daughter of Jamilah, her father's first of three wives.

All the girls were gorgeous, but Ibo's beauty surpassed them all, and so did her intelligence. Her mind was a sponge. She quickly absorbed languages by listening to her father negotiate with the foreigners to whom he sold slaves. She was tall like her mother, about six feet, athletic, and thick all over—the picture of health and perfection. Her skin was flawless, the color of russet. She was an untouched, unblemished maiden, engaged to the eldest son of the king—heir to the throne.

It happened the night before the wedding celebration. Ibo was so impressionable and so young when it happened. She was a child. And like many children, she was incredibly spoiled, used to having her way at all times. She pouted whenever Faisal, her father, who was strict, overruled her permissive mother.

Faisal blamed Jamilah for giving Ibo so much freedom. She was supposed to train her to be a certain kind of woman, a certain kind of wife. Jamilah's training was successful for the most part, but Ibo was also a rebel, just as her father had been in his youth. The greatest of her flaws was conceit.

Although Ibo wore a veil in the city when she went out with her older sisters, she could bewitch a man with a single glance. Because of the veil, all they could see were her brown eyes, which were soft yet penetrating, and extremely alluring. Men stopped whatever they were doing, stared mindlessly, and dreamed of bedding her. Even women stared robotically. When she locked eyes with people, it was as if they were compelled to look at her, until she looked away, releasing them from momentary captivity. She knew early on that she had a special power over people; everyone except her ambitious father—and Amir Bashir Jibril.

The spell that Ibo cast on men and women alike was identical to what she experienced when she looked at Amir. He was tall and wonderfully built, with hard, solid muscles; beautiful to behold. His hair was full of soft curls that rode his broad shoulders. He cast a spell on her, she knew. And she loved it. From the moment she saw him, she was overcome with emotions she couldn't begin to understand. She only knew that whenever she looked at him, she was enraptured by a wave of emotions.

The feeling of euphoria stayed with her long after he was no longer near. She often wished he was a cool drink of water, so that she could drink all of him. One glimpse of him was enough to make her daydream for hours about what it would be like to marry him instead of Adesola, his brother, who was the same age as her father.

In his youth, Faisal had been a farmer like his father. He wanted more, and struck out on his own after he saw his father sell one of his debtors to the Portuguese traders for alcohol and tobacco. Unlike the Prodigal Son from the Bible, Faisal left home with nothing and became a slaver when he was twenty years old. Now, at fifty-one, he was one of the richest men in Dahomey. His three wives and forty-one children lived on his father's sprawling farm, which he expanded to ten times its original size.

Faisal had everything a wealthy man could afford, yet he still wanted more. He wanted to be the king, but he hadn't been born into the royal family. He could, however, acquire a seat on the king's court for a price: his youngest daughter from Jamilah, Ibo Atikah Mustafa. To him, she was a small price, and he was all too willing to pay. It would be good for her, he reasoned selfishly, because she could serve as the king's interpreter, making him privy to private conversations of a personal and political nature. Unfortunately for Faisal, Ibo and Amir had another plan.

Chapter 4

I
t was midnight and the festivities celebrating Ibo's last night as a maiden had ended nearly two hours earlier. Tradition required that her mother and sisters spend the entire night together—a bachelorette's party of sorts. Timing was everything. It was difficult to be patient, but she knew she had to be. She would only have one chance. If she made her move too soon, she would be caught, and all her plans would be thwarted by one of her sisters, or perhaps her mother, before she made the first step that would free her of the familial obligation.

Marrying Adesola was never a consideration. Going along with her father's plans was the cover she and Amir used while they planned to run away together to Sierra Leone, where he would learn to build ships.

She would wait until they all entered the dream world before making her escape.

The night dragged on and on, seeming to go on forever. It seemed as if the women would chat all night. Nevertheless, she put on a good show for them, smiling, laughing even. They all believed that she was happy, that she was looking forward to the ceremony.

It wasn't all a show, though. The smiles bubbled to the surface because she had thought of Amir and running away all night. The laughing came from knowing she had outwitted them all, including her mother, who was usually more discerning.

Hearing light snoring throughout the room, she opened her eyes, squinted, attempting to see her mother, who was only a few feet away, sleeping on a rug Ibo made and gave to her as a birthday present a couple of years earlier.

Jamilah was asleep, she could see. She knew that this was her opportunity to flee and meet Amir. It was now or never. Her heart pounded so hard she thought it would burst. She remained perfectly still as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She would never forgive herself if, in her haste, she tripped over someone, woke them, and missed the chance that would never come again.

She saw her sisters and aunts scattered throughout the room, making it difficult to find an easy path to the covered door opening. She looked at the open window, which was closer, but much more intimidating, since her mother was sleeping beneath it.

As quietly as she could, she stood up then waited a few seconds, just in case someone heard her. If it were possible, her heart pounded harder, louder, like someone was beating a bass drum. She stole a quick breath, attempting to calm her frayed nerves. She looked down at Jamilah again, afraid her mother would suddenly wake up. She wanted to take the first step, but it was the hardest.

Standing there, looking at her mother for what might very well be the last time, she thought seriously about changing her mind and going through with the wedding. But when she thought of Amir, she knew she couldn't disappoint him. She knew he was waiting. He was taking the greatest chance of all because if they were caught, the king would have him beheaded. He had put his life on the line for her, and she had to be at least willing to meet him at the edge of their property as agreed.

She lifted her foot several times before returning it to its original spot. Each time she lifted it, it shook uncontrollably. Again she considered lying back down and forgetting about her plans of escape. A lesser woman would have. Again she knew she couldn't disappoint Amir. Again she found the strength to leave all that she had ever known.

Time was running out. It would be dawn in a couple hours. Amir had told her they needed at least a two-hour head start or they would be caught. She lifted her foot again and it shook again, but this time, she made the all-important first step. She was so scared that her knees almost gave way and let her fall on her backside.

By sheer will, she steadied herself and made another step. It was easier than the first. She was standing right next to her mother now—her heart pounding feverishly, on the verge of exploding. All she had to do was step over her mother and she would be free.

She stole another quick breath and held it. Quietly, she stepped over her mother, leaving one foot behind. She looked down at her mother, saying within, “Please, Mama, don't wake up.”

Jamilah didn't move. She didn't know her youngest daughter was making a clandestine departure. She didn't know that her memories would be all she would ever have, and slept the moment away.

Ibo pulled the foot she had left behind over her mother, still looking down at her, still hoping she wouldn't wake up and catch her. She waited a few more precious seconds and then hoisted herself up on the open window. She looked for the last time at her mother, and then made her escape.