The baby hollered
nonstop for fifteen minutes. That’s how long it took for its mother to make the
feed. When I asked her about breastfeeding the baby, she said the milk in her
breast was for the baby that she was expecting. I rolled my eyes heavenward.
Dear Jesus, I said in my mind, no wonder these people are always happy because
ignorance is certainly bliss! The baby settled down after it was fed and went
back to sleep in his mother’s arms. I rejoined Maud and the Reverend in the
den. I really wanted to hear more about Charles and Charmaine. Somehow I began
to fear the worst.
After overhearing the
two gentlemen
on the balcony Charles got really scared. There was no way he
could go back to St. Thomas. These men would eventually find him and return him
to St. James where Stanley Wharbucks would certainly kill him. He went inside
and sat on the bed and looked at Charmaine sleeping peacefully, she looked so
much like her mother Charlotte, it was uncanny. Then and there he came up with
a plan. He got up and packed Charmaine’s bag. At the bottom of the bag he
placed the letter that he had written so many years ago. He also placed a
letter written by Charlotte and addressed to her parents in the bag. The letter was
sealed with wax. He had found this letter in another drawer when he finally got
the courage to dispose of Charlotte’s clothes. He took the necklace with the
locket and placed it around Charmaine’s neck. Charles then took out his little
penknife and cut a bit of his hair, he opened the locket and put his hair
inside the locket and closed it. He lifted Charlotte from the bed, covered her
head with a blanket, took up her bag and left the room. He knew exactly what he
was going to do, he was going to take Charmaine to her Grandfather. In her
letter to Charles, Charlotte had left directions to a secret entrance to the
Wharbucks’ Estate. This entrance would take him to the back of the Estate and
through the servants’ quarters. Charles’ intention was to leave Charmaine
there. It took Charles about two and a half hours to foot the distance to
Ironshore. Luckily for him Charmaine was a skinny child, but he was still
huffing and puffing when he got there. It took him another two hours to find the
hidden entrance that Charlotte had written about. It was now 2 am in the morning. Just like Charlotte had said, there was
a huge cotton tree with the letter ‘C’ in red paint at its base. He sat there and rested for
a while. Charmaine was getting fidgety. She had woken up once and inquired
where they were going and he told her they were going on an adventure. She was
now wide-awake and began asking more questions. He told her to be quiet. Charles
parted the overgrowth that was next to the tree and stepped into what seemed to be blast from the past.
Clearly this used to be sleeping quarters for slaves. It was dark but there were lanterns hanging in the trees and he could make out the houses that were neatly joined together. The houses, though sturdy, had obviously seen
better days. He crept closer towards them, pulling Charmaine who seemed
frightened about something. She always had a sixth sense about danger ever
since she could talk. Just then they heard a loud noise. A huge dog came
bounding towards them, Charmaine screamed when the dog jumped on Charles and
knocked him to the ground. A man with a rifle came running after the dog
shouting, ‘Down Boy, Down!’ The dog growled at Charles and the man pointed the
rifle at Charles. Charmaine was still screaming and the man turned to her and
said, ‘Hush child!’ She started to whimper. The man called the dog to his side
and told Charles to get up, all the while keeping the rifle pointed at him.
‘Who are you?’ he barked. ‘You are trespassing and I have the authority to
shoot you! Don’t believe that because the child is here I won’t do it!’ Please,
said Charles, let me explain! Just then the Reverend, Maud and I heard a piercing scream coming from the
verandah. I was getting tired of the shenanigans of the ‘migrants’ so I told
Maud to go and check this time. Maud came running frantically into the den.
‘Ma’am! I think the baby is coming! She’s not going to make it to the hospital!
We have to bring her inside the house!’ Oh No!, I shouted, not in my house!
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