Thief

It is twelve midnight when someone kicks in the front door of the slave quarters.  The slaves cower in their pallets. The brave ones peek over their covers. The others pull the covers over their heads and pray. Wee Willie hid in the shadows of the rafters. 

“Get up, niggers.” In the pitch-black, windowless cabin, the voice of Overseer Higgins echoes off the log cabin walls.

 “Get up, I said!” A crack of his bullwhip emphasizes his command.

The slaves leap to their feet and stand next to their bedding. Sweat streaks down their bodies as they stare at the doorway. Higgins lights a lantern. His head bops as he takes a headcount. 

He looks over his shoulder. “They’re all here, Colonel.”

A collective gasp fills the room. Colonel Jenkins, in our cabin? The slaves look at each other. They know an unexpected visit from the Colonel’s means some poor soul is in trouble.

 Some slaves still remembered the last time the Colonel paid them a visit fifteen years ago.  A field slave named Poor Sleepy Charlie had complained of a bellyache. He was bent over in the cotton fields, puking most of the day. As a result, he didn’t reach his quota. The Colonel had Higgins tie Old Charlie to his bunk and administer ten lashes across his back. The deep cuts took months to heal. 

Charlie never walked upright again.

The Colonel made a new rule after that.

 If some lazy ‘coon’ couldn’t fill their quota, their cabin mates better make up the difference, or they’d all get the lash. 

Higgins steps aside, making way for Colonel Zachary Jenkins to walk into the room. 

The Colonel frowns as he scans the room. He places his fragrant handkerchief over his nose to block the pungent smell of body odor. 

“I’m disappointed in you, Children. One of you snuck into my study and stole the Jenkins’s Family’s Bible.”

 The adult slaves glance up at Wee Willie.

“You all know the penalty for stealing is lynching. Some of you know the thief’s identity, but you failed to tell Mr. Higgins or me. And what’s worse, some of you are learning to read behind my back. I will not tolerate that. If anyone tells me the thief’s name or the name of people learning their letters, step forward. I promise you no punished.”

The Colonel glares at each bowed-head slave. 

No one moves, the veins in the Colonel’s neck throb, and his face flushes. 

“Okay, if that’s how you want it. Mr. Higgins, I want every man, woman, and child standing naked and barefoot outside.  When that’s done, I want you and your men to do a ceiling to floor, wall to wall search of the cabin.”

As the slaves huddle outside, they weep over the sound of Higgins and his men destroying their meager belongings. Higgins hulking figure appeared in the doorway, panting from his labor.

“Sorry, Colonel. The book ain’t here.”

Colonel Jenkins scowls at the crowd. 

“I warn you, jigaboos, return that Bible by daybreak, or I’ll promise you, I’ll burn this cabin down with all of you in it! Now, get back inside, and straighten up things up. I better not see a flicker of light in there in after an hour.”

Colonel Jenkins turns to Higgins. 

“You keep a man here all night. No one is to leave this cabin unless you get orders from me.”

With that, Colonel Jenkins stomps off, heading towards the Big House.

Heartache sweeps over the slaves when they see the damage to their property. 

Big John Terry,  the undisputed cabin leader, walks to the doorway and surveys the destruction. He shakes his head and sighs.

“Stay here, folks, while I try to find something to give us some light.”

The slaves peer into the darkness. After a few cuss words, Big John kneels, then crawls on his hands and knees, groping along the floor. A few yards into his search, his fingers grasp a candle. Squinting, he walks over to the log wall, feels along the crevices for matches. Yellow light fills the room.

“Come on, let’s get dressed, then put this place back together,” Big John calls out. 

The able-bodied rush in and hurriedly repair chairs, beds, and tables. 

“Let the elderly in first!” Someone suggests. 

Grannie Nell sits in her rocking chair as two men lift and carry her back into the cabin. The rest of the slave’s file in behind her. The dimly lit room is the perfect backdrop for their sullen mood. 

The slaves work in silence as they mill about, straightening the room.

Big John Terry has lived on the Jenkins plantation longer than any of the other slaves. He knows the Colonel better than any other slave.  Colonel Jenkins never made promises he didn’t keep. 

“Let me have everybody’s attention. I think we all know who stole the Colonel’s Family Bible. It’s-.”

Grannie Nell franticly taps her cane on the floor to get Big John’s attention. Her primitive grunts, hand signals, and walking cane were the only way she could communicate. Years before, she talked back to one of her former masters. To teach all the slaves an object lesson, he had Grannie Nell’s tongue cut out.

When Big John looks over at Grannie Nell, she points her cane towards a dark corner. Everyone stares at the corner. Big John walks over to the corner,

“Okay, Neddy, get out of there.”

With a sheepish grin on his face, Neddy slinks out of the corner.

Angry grumbling spreads through the cabin. Neddy is one of the master’s spies.

“Go back and tell, master, you ain’t heard nothing. Now, get the Hell out of here.”

Neddy grins as he shuffles out of the door. A man stands and watches until Neddy disappears into the shadows.

Big John addresses the crowd again. 

“As I was saying, we all know who stole that Bible. Where is Wee Willie?”

Wee Willie is a slim, agile twelve-year-old orphan boy. He wandered onto the plantation, hungry and homeless. Some women took pity on him and let him stay in the cabin. But everyone knew he was a sneak thief. But this time he had gone too far.

A man drags Wee Willie by the scruff of the neck up to Big John.

“Do you know what danger you put us all in by stealing that Bible? The Colonel will kill all of us if you don’t return his Holy Book.”

Wee Willie squirms his way free. 

“I ain’t got no book. Honest. Why do you think I stole it?”

“Cause we all know you’re the best sneak thief on the plantation. And you’re the only one who knows his letters.”

Wee Willie steps back, “How do you know I know letters?”

“Ms. Lizzie dropped a paper out of her pocket last Summer. You didn’t see her drop it. A few minutes later, I watched you pick up the paper, look at it, and give it to Ms. Lizzie. How could you know who to give it to if you can’t read?”

Wee Willie swallows deeply. “I swear, Mr. Big John. I don’t have the Colonel’s Bible.”

A man says, “Give him to me. I’ll beat the truth out of him..”

Big John restrains the man. 

“No one is going to beat no one. But if you didn’t take the Bible, Wee Willie, who did?” 

Grannie Nell taps her cane and points to Eunice, the kitchen helper. Usually, the kitchen help slept closer to the main house. But Lady Jenkins knew the Colonel favored dark-skinned, big rump young woman like Eunice. Lady Jenkins exiled her to the field hands quarters.

Eunice looks at Grannie Nell. “I ain’t got no book.”

Grannie Nell shakes her head, then signals.

“Did I see anything? No. Wait a minute. Yesterday, the head cook sent me down to the chicken coop to get fresh eggs.  I saw Ms. Laura walk into the cabin. I peeked inside, and she was standing over there by Luther’s bed.”

Ms. Laura was Colonel Jenkin’s spoiled middle daughter. 

Big John thought for a minute, “Walkin’ from here, huh? You sure it was Ms. Laura?”

“Sure, I’m sure, Big John.”

“What she wants in here?”

Big John and a few others walk over to Luther’s bed. They search around the area. They lift the bed, and to everyone’s surprise, the Bible tumbles to the floor.

They stare at the Bible, terrified to touch it. Luther walks over. 

“Oh, my God. How did that get there? I worked in the fields all day yesterday? I wasn’t nowhere near the Big House.”

A few people nod their heads in agreement. 

One man says, “Didn’t Ms. Laura come and get you out of the field so you could run an errand for her, Luther?”

Luther thinks for a moment.

“Yeah. Ms. Laura took me over to the Foster farm to race some boy. I lost, and she was angry. She told me she’d fix me.”

Grannie Nell taps on the floor until Big John looks at her. He interprets Grannie Nell’s signs, and he relates her message to everyone. 

“Yeah. Ms. Laura put the Bible in Luther’s bed to get him and us in trouble.”

The crowd grumbles. 

Big John raises his hand to silence the crowd. 

“I think Grannie Nell is right, but how do we get the Bible back in the house before daybreak?”

Grannie Nell taps on the floor again, then signs, Wee Willie.

Everyone looks at Wee Willie. He smiles. “I’ll return it.”

“Eunice, can you go out and distract the guard?”

She nods. It takes a few minutes for Eunice to distract the guard. 

Wee Willie sneaks out and disappears into the darkness. While he’s gone, everybody either paces the floor, console each other, or cry in their bunks; but no one sleeps. The slaves take turns standing in the doorway, searching the night sky. The stars tell the tale: It’s half an hour till dawn. 

Many of the slaves think that something has gone wrong.  They ask Big John, “Did Wee Willie take the Bible and run away?”

“Did they catch Wee Willie?”

“What will the Colonel do?”

“Look! Here come the Colonel and Higgins!”

The slaves hurry to the door. The shadows of the Colonel, Higgins, and his men loom out of the morning dew. Spreading his arms, Big John pushes everyone to the back of the cabin.  The Colonel and his entourage step into the cabin. Anger distorts the Colonel’s face while Higgins stands next to him, smirking. The slaves cry and pray.

Ignoring the tears and prayers, Colonel Jenkins gives the order, “Alright, Mr. Higgins, start with the men.”

Higgins marches into the middle of the room and asks, “Okay, who’ll be first to go under the las?.”

Without hesitation, Big John approaches him. 

“Turn around, nigger!”

Big John turns his back to Higgins. Higgins reaches up and rips the shirt off of Big John’s back. He unfurls his bullwhip.  To Big John’s surprise, he sees Wee Willie standing in the crowd. Big John closes his eyes to pray. In the middle of his prayer, he hears Neddy’s voice.

“Colonel! Mr. Higgins! The misses said she found the family Bible. Someone one took it off the shelf and put it on the table upstairs.” 

Colonel Jenkins turns. “Are you sure, Neddy?”

“Yes, Sir. She said it looks like that Bible never left the house. It’s in fine shape.”

“Stand down, Higgins, there’s no need for this, after all. You children get dressed. You got chores to do. Le’s go, Mr. Higgins.”

Higgins curls up his bullwhip, then whacks his thigh. Before leaving, he whispers to Bug John, “I’ll wallop you good next time.”

Colonel Jenkins leads the men out of the room. Big John and the others surround Wee Willie and thank him. 

Wee Willie smiles, then says, “Can I ask all of you a favor?”

Big John puts his hand on Wee Willie’s shoulders.

“What’s the favor?”

“Please stop calling me, ‘Wee Willie.’ My name is George.” 

Everyone laughs. And laughs are scarce in the slave’s quarters.