Queen (54 page)

    prospect, and it dawned on her that her card was seldom filled in after

    the first three dances, and then only by older men, married men or

    relatives, who might have been taking pity on her. Toward the end of the

    evening Lizzie would always find herself sitting on the sidelines with

    the older women and, heaven forfend, the spinsters.

    Perhaps it was this knowledge that she was not the most desirable catch

    around that made her more determined than

324 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

ever to catch Jass, but there was something deeper to it. As she became less

brittle, she found herself liking Jass more. She no longer bothered about

her parents' obvious desire for her to make a good union; she was motivated

by something more intensely personal. She wanted to be with Jass because

when she was with him, she wasn't lonely.

    There was another reason why Lizzie enjoyed going to The Forks of Cypress,

    and that was James. Lizzie was acutely aware of how ridiculous her mother

    looked, with her stupid entourage, and couldn't understand why her father

    didn't put some curb on the extravagance. The mirror told her why. Lizzie

    had not only subjected herself to the scrutiny of honesty, she had done the

    same for her parents. Her mother's vanity and desperate need to prove her

    worth and social standing now struck Lizzie as silly, and her father's

    subservient acquiescence to whatever her mother demanded seemed pathetic.

    This created a void in Lizzie's life, for she had a strong need of paternal

    guidance, and what was lacking for her in her own father she found in

    James. She would sit with him for hours, reading to him, or chatting,

    delighting him with scurrilous gossip of the small town that was their

    world, entertaining him, pampering him, and even gently flirting with him.

    Free of the constraints of family behavior, she dazzled him, for with him

    she could be what she had been trained to be all her life, the perfect

    Southern rose.

    James came to adore her, and looked forward to her visits with a special

    sparkle of excitement that almost no one else could arouse. He became

    jealous of her time, and especially of any time she spent with Jass, as if

    the father were rival to the son. At the same time, unaware of the

    contradiction, he encouraged Jass to see more of Lizzie, convinced of their

    suitability for one another. Lizzie, James thought, could give Jass the

    edge that he needed, for beneath her magnolia exterior was a determination

    of iron.

    Sally was suspicious of this new Lizzie at first, believing she was

    cultivating James in order to cement the idea of a union with Jass, but she

    could not easily ignore the evident affection that the two developed for

    each other. Sally was sure her first impressions of Lizzie had not been

    wrong, but obviously she was making a conscious effort to improve herself,

    MERGING 325

which Sally applauded. She doubted that she and Lizzie would ever be close

friends, but she was pleasant company now and, given the wretched excesses

of her mother's behavior, deserved ten out of ten for effort, at least.

Sally disRed cattiness in other women, and controlled any small tendency

to it in herself, but occasionally she would give vent to a tinge of what

she called "womanly smugness."

    Perhaps Lizzie has realized she isn~t such a catch after all, Sally

    thought, and has decided the rest of us are tolerable company.

    Jass, on the other hand, was becoming more and more of a catch, "a

    strapping young man" was the way Aunt Letitia described him, and no one

    was more aware of this than Easter.

She adored him. She wanted to be with him for ever and ever, and it

distressed her that she was seeing him less and less. He still came to the

weaving house almost every day, but she thought it was from habit rather

than from any real desire to be with her, because the familiarity that had

once come naturally to both of them they now had to strive for. It wasn't

easy anymore. He still sat in the old rocking chair at the end of the day,

and puffed on the cob pipe, and talked about the world, but he avoided any

physical closeness, and because there was this unspoken barrier between

them, a limitation had developed in the way they talked to each other.

Often he was silent for long periods of time, while Easter worked, and if

she asked him what was wrong, he'd shrug and say nothing was wrong, or

that she would not understand. Easter was convinced she understood only

too well. In the old days he would have talked about anything with her,

but now he had secrets, if only in one area. He would never talk about his

feelings toward Lizzie, and the less he said, the more Easter wanted to

know.

    That Lizzie was becoming more and more of a fixture in Jass's life was

    evident to everyone on the plantation. They rode together two or three

    times a week, laughed and joked together, and Jass delighted in showing

    her every aspect of the estate. If ever Lizzie expressed boredom with the

    details of farm life, Jass would laugh and say, quite loudly, that since

    she would be mistress of a plantation one day, she should learn

326 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

how they were run. He never said that she would be mistress of this

plantation, but the current view among the slaves was that it was only a

matter of time. Parson Dick confirmed this to Tiara when he told her that

at

meals she took in the big house, Lizzie sat on ol' Massa's right, and

behaved as if she were already mistress.

    "They gwine be married one day," Tiara said to Easter when they were

    sitting outside Tiara's shack one evening. Easter lost her temper, called

    Tiara an ol' bitch, burst into tears, and ran away to the weaving house.

    Tiara took it in her stride, nodded sagely, and looked at Cap'n Jack.

    "That gal bustin' her heart for summat she cain't ever have," she opined,

    and from then on all the younger slave girls would giggle and whisper

    amongst themselves whenever Jass went to the weaving house.

    Easter tried to talk about it with Cap'n Jack, but she'd seen little of him

    that summer; he was always in the big house nursing the ol' Massa. He spent

    what few hours he could with her, and she asked him about Jass and Lizzie.

    Cap'n Jack shrugged. -01' Massa want it to be," he said, "but young Massa

    ain't made his mind up."

    He laughed. "Wait till young Massa go Up South to college," he wheezed. "He

    gonna find girls there put Miss Lizzie in the shade of the ol' oak tree."

    Which made Easter more miserable than ever. Cap'n Jack knew this, but

    didn't try to soften the blow.

    "Young Massas gotta try all the food on the table afore they decide what

    they wants for dinner," he said. "An' mos' times they gwine pick white

    meat, not dark."

    Any dreams Cap'n Jack once had that Jass might sweep Easter up to the big

    house as his true beloved were now forgotten. It wasn't going to happen.

It

    was still possible that Jass would want to have Easter one day-for a night,

    or a week, or a while-but that would be all, and given the increasing

    separation he saw between them, he doubted even that. Nor did he care.

    There had been too many wasted years of pain and bitterness in his life,

    and now he just wanted everyone to be happy, or as happy as the

    circumstances of their lives would pen-nit. That his daughter clearly was

    not happy distressed him, but there wasn't much he could do about it.

    MERGING 327

    Even the sweet dream of freedom for himself and his people that had once

    flourished so strongly in his heart now seemed to Cap'n Jack impossible,

    and certainly not something he would ever see in his lifetime.

    "Don't waste yo' life dreamin' on things yo' cain't ever have," he said,

    stroking his daughter's hair.

    40

One sultry morning in August, James felt remarkably better. The fever had

left him, his lungs were clear, and the promise of the sweltering day

invigorated him instead of bringing its usual enervation.

    He dressed with Cap'n Jack's help, thanked the slave for his loyal

    attention, and dismissed him for the day. Cap'n Jack was reluctant to

    leave, but James insisted. "Have some time to yourself-, you've seen

    enough of me," he said with a smile, "and surely I have seen enough of

    you." Cap'n Jack accepted the joke in good part, and went down to the

    kitchen, where Julie made him a large plate of sausage, gravy, and grits.

    James breakfasted with Sally and Jass in a buoyant mood that thrilled

    Sally and cheered Jass. The Trio were staying with friends near

    Charleston for a seaside summer, which Jass might have enjoyed, but he

    had chosen to study instead. Fewer relations were visiting this year, if

    only because the older relations were becoming fewer, or older, and less

    inclined to travel, and the younger had other, newer relatives to

    nurture. Father and son talked with a lack of reserve that Jass found

    unusual but welcome, and joked about Mrs. Perkins's latest extravagance,

    a little slave boy, jet black and exotically costumed, whose only duty

    in life was to follow Pocahontas wherever she went with a large

    ostrich-feather fan,

    Breakfast done, Sally and Jass went their separate ways, Sally to spend

    the day indoors, sorting out last summer's preserves and bottled fruit

    with Parson Dick, for the cellar was

328 ALEX HALEY'S QUEEN

the coolest room in the house, and Jass to a day of riding and swimming.

    James sat at the head of the empty table, and nodded to Parson Dick that

    Polly could clear things away.

    James seemed lost in thought, and Parson Dick lingered, in case he was not

    fully recovered from his illness, or to see if anything was needed.

    After a few moments, Parson Dick coughed gently, to let his Massa know he

    was still there. James looked at him, as if surprised he was not alone.

    "Thank you, Parson Dick," he said. Now Parson Dick was surprised. It was

    not a dismissal.

"Sir?" he said.

"Thank you," James said again, and left the room.

    Parson Dick was puzzled, convinced that something was amiss. He told

    himself it was not his place to interfere and went off to a day of

    inventory with Sally.

James went upstairs and changed into his riding clothes. It was so nice to

be alone. Much as he loved Sally, much as he depended on Cap'n Jack, much

as

he needed someone when he was ill, the lack of any moments of solitude

irritated him. He couldn't even fart in private, he told himself, and

dressed in his riding clothes, he went downstairs and out of the house.

"Saddle Glencoe," he told Murdoch.

    Murdoch was surprised and reluctant. The horse had only recently arrived,

    was still settling in; it was unwise to disturb such a fine specimen. He

    presented the list of excuses, and james listened abstractedly. What

    Murdoch did not say was that he didn't trust James to ride Glencoe. He

    wasn't a good enough rider.

    Suddenly James, bored with procrastination, turned on Murdoch.

    "I am the Master here!" he roared in what seemed like fury but was actually

    only an urgent communication of a desperate need.

    Murdoch saw no point in arguing if the man was in such a foul mood. He was

    the Master. He paid Murdoch's wages. He'd paid a small fortune for the

    horse. He had a right to ride it if he wanted to. He could do anything with

    it if he wanted to. He could kill it if he wanted to.

    MERGING 329

    Any damage done to the horse would only be small and would mend, Murdoch

    prayed fervently, saddling Glencoe himself

    It felt wonderful to be astride this, his most famous possession. James

    trotted Glencoe around the yard, knowing that every man present was

    watching him, even Monkey Jack, who had once been one of the greatest

    jockeys in America and the first to put Glencoe through his paces. James

    was riding him now.

    I am the Master, he thought again. This is my horse. He will do as I bid.

    He spurred the horse to a canter and headed for the track. Murdoch

    watched in aggravation, but kept his silence.

    James could feel the gathering power of his mount and urged him to a

    gallop. Hard and fast he rode, and it should have been wonderful, but

    James felt only an increasing frustration. It was not enough. He had to

    know more. He had to know what it was like to take the animal to its

    fullest potential. He had to know what it felt like to be true master of

    the most famous horse in the world.

    He saw the low fence ahead that separated the track from the drive, and