Darkness

Samuel Duncan

My brother seems so relaxed, so accepting, so pleased with the day. I know that he has had a struggle in adapting to the idea of a freeman marrying one of his slaves, and even more of a struggle accepting my relationship with Ben. But today Stephen seems open and happy with everything. It almost makes me think I should have tried harder to convince Ben to come with me.

We are watching Gregor get chased around by the children, some game where they take turns catching each other, and Stephen is laughing at their antics.

“I see that Marcus is doing well,” I point out. The boy is running with the younger children, probably telling himself he is just helping Gregor manage them, but I know he’s not so old that he isn’t enjoying himself too.

Stephen nods. “It’s really remarkable. A few months ago he was limping, and now look at him. You can hardly tell that he has any trouble at all.”

“How often do you send for more mineral water?” I ask.

“Moses goes out every couple of weeks and fills a barrel or two to bring back. I give it to Marcus, and to a couple of the field hands who seem in need of extra fortification. Honestly, the slaves all seem very healthy now that Margaret has gotten them eating better. Moses has really expanded the vegetable garden.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” I tell him. I look around at his fine plantation house, his lawn covered with guests, his garden, the trees behind which I know are extensive cotton fields. “Things are really coming together for you, aren’t they?”

He nods with satisfaction. “Thomas says that before long I’ll be the biggest planter in Mississippi. Oh, that reminds me, did I mention I got a letter from him?”

“No! How’s the election going? Is his friend a shoo-in to win the governor’s seat?”

Stephen shakes his head but smiles. “He swore me to secrecy, but that doesn’t include you, obviously. He says that Villeré is almost certain to lose to Claiborne. People just want to keep the man who was already in office before Louisiana became a state. But apparently Jacques is perfectly content with that, and they still have big plans for Thomas after the election. One way or the other, he is convinced he’ll be a parish judge before the end of the year.”

“Think he’ll wait long to marry your sister-in-law after that?”

“Ha! You think Nancy would let him? No, they’ll be married by early next year. Abraham has told me that he’s planning to grant her another parcel of land that he has up here in Homochitto as a wedding gift.”

“I’m glad to hear that Mr. Ellis is able to think that clearly still.”

He shrugs. “The dementia comes and goes. But I’m sure he’ll gift the land, and Thomas is already talking about asking me to help manage the plantation for him. They’ll want to live in Louisiana even if they have a plantation here.”

“Too bad. It’d be nice for you and Margaret to have them nearby.”

“It’s a couple days by carriage, so we’ll still visit them. You think after we all have children those sisters will remain apart for long?”

“Ha! Definitely not!”

Some rhythmic noise distracts us from our conversation, and we look over to the edge of the lawn where the slaves have been enjoying themselves, and see that some of them have made some makeshift drums out of buckets and planks, and have started drumming out a wonderful sound, an exotic song that evokes images of the land where many of them originated. A few of them start singing, a sort of humming chant, and it is just lovely to hear. Moses takes Dalila’s hand and they begin moving together to the sound, and soon the children have rushed over to join them, and there is a growing group of dancers to the sounds of the drums.

We watch this with amazement and enjoyment, and I see Stephen look over to where Margaret is sitting together with Rosy and her mother. “Are you going to ask your wife to dance?” I ask mischievously.

“In her condition? Certainly not! Besides, there are limits to how much I am willing to stretch decorum. I believe that dancing with my slaves would be going too far.”

I grin. I knew it.

“Will you dance?” he asks.

“Nah, I actually think I should be getting back to Natchez. There was some talk of more yellow fever cases in town, right after we closed up the infirmary. Gregor left some of his crew at the location just in case any new patients arrive, and I really should go check and see if I am needed.”

He nods. “I’m glad you came, brother. It was nice to see you.” He reaches out to give me a handshake before I go to the stable to collect my horse. “Next time,” he says, “bring Ben.”

I smile and clasp his hand. He really has grown. “Thank you, brother.”

Gregor sees me walking past as I go to the stable. He gets up from his seat and comes over to walk with me. “I’ll come by and check later, Samuel, to see if you have received any new patients today.” He looks around at the increasingly boisterous crowd of revelers. The dancing appears to be just getting started. Some of the men on Gregor’s crew are trying to teach the steps of a jig to a few of the slaves, and everyone is laughing uproariously. “Not yet, though,” he grins, “I’m going to try to get Rosalind to dance with me!”

I have to laugh. He certainly is enjoying this day to the fullest extent possible. I think he is almost as happy as Moses is.

Soon my horse is saddled and I am on my way. It’s gotten to be mid-afternoon already. My goodness, the day has really flown by. Such a lovely time. I’m sorry Ben missed it. I really should have tried harder to convince him.

I go straight Under-the-Hill to check to see if we have received any new patients. And sure enough, I am greeted at the boarding house extension by David who tells me, “Nothing was happening all day, but then an hour or so ago a couple of patients arrived. They aren’t too bad, but we’ve got them tucked into bed.”

I nod. “Thanks.” I look around at the members of Gregor’s crew who are here to help. “Where’s Ben?”

“Oh, he was here for a while, but he took off after it didn’t look like any patients would arrive. I told him we’d come get him if we need anything, but I don’t think we will. There’s already more of us working here than there are patients.”

“Yes, there are plenty of us now, we don’t need anyone else to help. It’ll be dinnertime soon, will we have anything to feed the patients?”

“Yep. Polly’s already cooking up some soup.”

All right then. I take off the coat that I had worn to the wedding, drape it over the chair in the now-empty office, and move back to the patient rooms. I had a nice break for a couple of days, but now we’re back to this. Well, I know we’ll get through it again.