Saturday, August 19, 1826

The grasshoppers be jumping and making all sorts of noise in the baking sun. The sweat dripped into my eyes as I was bent over, hoeing the weeds out of the corn. My back hurt a right smart, so I headed for the shade tree to get a drink from the water bucket.  As I got closer to the tree, I see Wesley and Lizzie’s beau, Duke, whispering among themselves. I squinted at them when they both got all quiet.

“What you boys up to that you can’t say in front of me?” I said, grabbing the dipper.

“Never you mind, Jasper. It ain’t no concern of yours,” says Wesley, putting his hands on his waist.

“What you boys planning to do?” I says, getting more serious.

“Keep quiet old man. I don’t want the Massa getting no ideas,” says Wesley in a scolding whisper.

“I suppose we might as well tell ya then. We plans on escaping once Massa sells us down the river,” says Duke, grabbing my shoulder.

I was shocked and scared. Such talk could get us beaten or worse. “I don’t wants to know anything about what youse are planning,” I says, pulling away from Duke.

“Please don’t say nothin’, Jasper. We plans to do this whether you like it or not,” says Duke pleading.

“I won’t say nothin’, but I’ll not be a part of this,” I said, grabbing my hoe and heading back to the field. As I was hoeing, I was thinking about what they was planning. After seeing that hanging, I wants to be escaping also, but then I think about how old I am, and how hard it would be to try and run. Fear kept me quiet. If only I was younger.

Later on that afternoon, as the sun was getting low in the sky, I hit some rock with my hoe that was caught up in the roots of the corn. As I pried it loose, I found a perfectly round, flat, shiny, green rock that had  strange pictures on it. I thought it pretty and stuck it in my pocket.

After putting the horses up, I returned to slave quarters and heard Duke, Wesley, and Jo, arguing about Louis, Edward’s personal servant.

“Shhh, he might hear,” says Jo whispering, his tall thin body all hunched over with his hand covering his mouth.

“Don’t worry, he already knows,” said Duke.

“So Jasper, do you trust Louis?” said Jo, walking over to my cot. “When Massa put me in the basement, I talked to a man in chains named Jack, who Massa bought from a nearby farm. He tells me about people who help slaves escape to free states. I trusts Bessie and Lizzy ‘cause they tells me all what the Massa be doin’, but Louis, he is the Massa’s personal servant, and I don’t trust him.” 

“Well, if’n I had some deep secret to keep, Louis would be the last one I’d be tellin’,” I said. “He is the Massa’s son.”

“Who told you that?” said Jo, with his eyes all wide.

“I hears it from Lizzie. Lucy tells Lizzy that her and Massa been having relations in secret and then she is with child. Lizzy tells me to keep this secret, but I tells you this only because I don’t want you to trust the wrong person.” I says.

“Glad you told me, Jasper. Massa’s been buying up a lot of slaves and putting them in his basement. I figures he’s planning to sell a lot of us down the river once the harvest has ended. That’s only a month away I figure,” says Jo.

“That means we ain’t got much time to plan,” says Duke. “I suppose we best get to sleep befo ol Massa Edward comes in and wonders whats we’s up to,” he says, crawling into his cot.

I took off my hat and hung it on a peg above my cot and laid down. The guys blows out the lantern and I falls off to an uneasy sleep.

That night as we were sleeping, I finds myself sitting besides a river with a fiddle in my hands. The bright sun reflecting off the water sparkling on my face. I look down at my hands and see that they are white. A tall young white man walks up to me and says. 

“You look lost, Harvey. You ain’t been hitting the booze again have you?” says the man, looping his thumbs around his suspenders and cocking his head.

“No sir, I ain’t done no such thing. Massa would beat me bloody. Are those elephants?” I says, looking across the river.

“Harvey, I think you might need to lie down. You been out in the sun too long. Are you feeling okay?” he says, reaching for my hand.

“I feels fine, but I don’t know who you are, or how I got here. Am I dreaming?”

“Ah, my poor sad clown. Let me get you back to the trailer. I hear a big storm is heading this way,” he said, leading me to a house on wheels, pulled by some mechanical contraption. As I walked inside, I sat down on a comfy bed, and looked at my reflection in a mirror. I was shocked to see an old white man looking back at me. I didn’t say a word, but the other man handed me a glass of water, and told me to lie down. I closed my eyes and wound up back in bed covered in sweat. I sat up in bed and let out a yelp. 

“Jasper, are you okay?” says Jim, standing above me.

“No, I think the good Lord might have taken me away for a few minutes. I think I saw elephants.”

“You was talkin’ in your sleep. You sounded like the Massa you did. “Now go back to sleep, old man.”