Bang, Bang!

Papa was planning on going down to Vicksburg with Stacey and Mr. Morrison to go and get food since our family was not allowed to go to them Wallaces for food and supplies. Mama insisted that Stacey stayed with them while Papa went with Mr. Morrison but Papa said that Stacey should man-up and go with them. Learn his responsibilities. And there they went, up to Vicksburg.

They were planning or returning later that day but there was an unexpected "change in plans". Mama was starting to worry when Papa, Stacey and Mr. Morrison didn't show up when they said they would. I was unable to sleep and so were my brothers. We were all to excited waiting for them to arrive.

A long time had passed, and it was when Mama was starting to lose hope when we heard Mr. Morrison's voice traveling through the distance, calling to Stacey. It was raining hard and Papa was being carried by Mr. Morrison.. As soon as we saw him, I knew something was wrong.

Papa was shot. As Papa got to bed and changed his clothes, Stacey said that as they were coming back from Vicksburg, when the back wheels from the wagon came off. Then Papa and Mr. Morrison thought someone messed with them wheels, 'cause both hopped off the wagon at the same time. Stacey told them he'd seen two boys near the wagon earlier when they were in Vicksburg. Papa and Mr. Morrison were afraid someone was coming after them so they didn't have enough time. They had to put those wheels on fast. Papa was certain that people were after them.

After we found the bolts and the wheels, Papa told Stacey to hold Jack's reins real tight, to keep him still while Papa put the wheels and bolts back on. Still, Jack was real agitated and skittish because of the storm.. Mr. Morrison had the wagon lifted to help Papa.. and that's when he got shot.

I couldn't imagine why anyone would shoot Papa like that, in the middle of the night. Stacey said that he then saw a truck coming towards us, however none of us saw it or heard it 'cause of the rain and 'cause they didn't have their lights on. They only noticed it when it stopped. There were three men in the truck, and as Papa saw 'em, he reached for his shotgun. That's when they shot him, and Papa fell with his left leg under the wagon. Stacey stopped talking for a moment and looked ashamed of himself. He continued, saying that Jack got afraid with the thunder and reared up, and Stacey couldn't hold him. The wagon hit Papa's leg.

I felt sorry for Stacey, especially with that look of guilt in his eyes. I wouldn't have known what to do either if it had happened to me... Stacey went on after a while, saying that he tried to reach Papa but he told Stacey to duck under the gully and them men went after Mr. Morrison, after shooting Papa. Stacey stated that it wasn't clear for him to see what had happened exactly but he did see that Mr. Morrison got one of the men and lifted him, like he was nothing but a bag of chicken feathers, and threw him in the floor so hard it could've broke his back. The other men got the shotgun they had and Mr. Morrison decided not to hit them. He might have thought it was too risky.. Instead, he ducked under the truck in the darkness and them men went after him. Stacey said he saw nothin' more after that.

Them men then went on and took the man Mr. Morrison threw down and took him to the truck. Bones cracked, men cried, and all dissolves into the whispering night.
Papa is sleeping now, in his bed and does not look like he will wake up the next morning.. He has a bandage wrapped around his head, his face seemed exhausted, even though no expression was shown. My brothers, Mama, Big Ma, Mr. Morrison and I... we all just hope Papa gets better soon. Not only to work and sustain us but also for his own sake. I have a feeling that it's all gonna be alright soon, I really hope it does.

Source: "Blog." Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016. 

Friends with the Enemy

For some days then, I've been thinkin' 'bout what had happened down in Strawberry, with Lillian Jean and them Simmses and that white father of hers and I realised: that wasn't gonna stay that way. I had the most brilliant plan of all to get my revenge on Lillian Jean because of what had happened and for the humiliation she made me go through. So I'd decided I would act as if Lillian Jean was all important because she's white and I was s'pose to carry her things and act inferior to her, as if I had learnt my lesson. If my plan worked, Lillian Jean would had what she deserved.
So for a couple of weeks now, I have been walking with Lillian Jean on our way back from school and she just starts telling me all that has been happenin' to her and her friends at school, secrets her friends had told her and who she likes (as a crush!). I don't know what's gotten' into her but she just assumes I'm her friend/book-carier/inferior-black-girl... I even call her "Miz Lillian Jean", which might be stressing sometimes but I've started to get used to it.
One day, coming home from school, I told her I had a surprise for her and she got all excited thinkin' it was a gift or somethin' I'd make for her. We stepped onto a dry gully and scrambled onto the bank. Lillian Jean was uncertain at first but I reassured her that the 'surprise' was hidden there, not too far. As we reached a clearing, far from the road, I smashed all her books onto the ground. She demanded me to pick 'em up thinkin' she wouldn't have to say that twice. But bravely, and quietly, I said "Make me." If only you could have seen her face! It was almost comical! She asked "What?" and I repeated. Her face paled and then turned bright red with anger. The girl slapped my face (and for the record, I wasn't planning on hitting nobody. She was the one who slapped me first) and I started tackling her so strongly that we both ended up falling. That ole Lillian Jean tried fighting as best as she could but the girl was no match for me. I punched her in the stomach and buttocks, twisted her hair but didn't touch her face once. She called me names and managed to scratch me twice, however could't pull my hair because I had purposely asked Big Ma to braid my hair into flat braids against my head. As I had pinned Lillian Jean to the ground, securely underneath me, I demanded an apology for all them names she had called me and for what happened down at Strawberry. She hesitated at first but I threatened her saying "You wanna be bald, girl?". And so, she apologised for herself, for her father. For her brothers and mother. For Strawberry and Mississipi. I think that she'd have apologised for the world being round if I had continued to jerk her hair like that.
I had it all planned. As I let her go, she threatened to tell that to her father 'bout what had happened but I told her that if she did that, I'd let everyone at Jefferson Davis know how good of a friend she is that keeps all her friends' secrets. I told her that if one single person knew, those were the last secrets she would have heard. Besides, if anyone did hear about it, she'd be laughed at for being hit by a nine-year-old when she's thirteen.

These pictures are something like where I had gotten ourselves into, and how it looked like along the way. 

 

Source Image #1: "View Topic - The 4 Clans: High Ranks Open! - Chicken Smoothie." View Topic - The 4 Clans: High Ranks Open! - Chicken Smoothie. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

 
Source Image #2: "Texas Water Resources Institute." Gully Plugs. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

Blind Apology

The event that I will be blogging about had a particular higher impact on me than others, because of injustice and prejudice of that day.

As some of you might have seen on my last post, I was at Mr. Barnett's mercantile, and I sho' did cause a lot of trouble there, already. When leaving the place, I was already feeling upset and didn't want my day to get any worse than it already was, but what was I thinkin'? It obviously had to get worse!
As I was thinking about the discussion at the mercantile, I accidentally bumped into that Lilian Jean, daughter of Mr. Simms. The girl wasn't alone, she was with Jeremy and her two younger brothers, however it didn't seem like they were looking for any trouble. Lilian Jean demanded an apology and as I wasn't lookin' for any trouble, I apologized. But when I started past her, the girl sidestepped me, because apparently only "sorry" wasn't enough for her. She wanted me to get down and walk on the road. That gal crazy or somethin'?
She told me "You can't watch where you going, get in the road. Maybe that way you won't be bumping into decent white folks with your little nasty self." It's awkward how I remember the words, and how she said it, maybe it just archived in this little head of mine as a second low insult of the day. I was already feeling bad but honestly, I didn't want to feel even worse! There were other things in my head and the girl just shows up thinkin' she's the boss of me jus' cuz' she's white..
I answered her by telling her that if she was so afraid to be bumped on, she should walk on the road herself, and with that the girl tries pushing me off the sidewalk and into the road, while I tried maintaining on the road.
Just as I swept my arm backwards, in the hope that Lilian Jean won't be able to reach it, another hand grabs my arm from behind and twists it firmly, until I end up falling bottom first on the ground. It was Mr. Simms, her father, telling me to apologize to that gal of his, "Miz Lilian Jean".
As soon as I got up again, another arm took hold of me, but just as I tried fighting against it, I hear Big Ma's voice saying that we were going home. Before I could say anything, Mr. Simms says that I'm not leaving without apologizing to that daughter of his. I thought Big Ma was gonna do somethin' 'bout it but instead, she didn't hesitate. She actually told me to say it. I said I was sorry but again, only that wasn't enough for the Simmses.
"I'm sorry 'Miz' Lilian Jean" was my line. I couldn't say it but Big Ma made me. A tear rolled down my face as I said the words, but it wasn't a tear of sadness and yes, a tear of hatred and injustice. It was one of the toughest moments of my life.
Later on, Stacey told me not to blame Big Ma for what she did. I understood then that it was better for me to have apologized than to have cause even worse consequences to me and to my family. She did it for my best, as usual.

 That's Lillian Jean Simms.. The white girl who made everything feel worst than it already was.

Source:"Other Important Characters." - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

Trouble at Strawberry

For years now, my brothers and I have been begging Big Ma to take us down to Strawberry, until the day Big Ma decides to take Stacey and I. At first, I thought it would be one of the biggest adventures, and it was, however not in a good way.
At first, we woke up before Little Man and Christopher-John, so they didn't see us. We rode on Jack, our mule, down to Strawberry, and as we parked our wagon, Big Ma started heading towards the back of the field. I thought that was very strange because there was plenty of space up at the front, near the entrance, but Big Ma explained those places were only for white people. I hate when she says that. Them white people ain't got nothin'! By the time someone gets to where we were heading, they'll have bunions on their soles and corns on their toes.

Later that day, while Big Ma was at Mr. Jamison, Stacey, T.J. and I went to the mercantile, thinking that we were doing a favor to Big Ma by getting the merchandise started, but we were actually there for T.J. After we arrived, Stacey and I went up to the counter, where Mr. Barnett was and we asked him for help. We handed him a list of things that Mama wanted, but instead of helping us, he skipped to the next customer, which was "Miz Emmaline". She handed him a list twice as long, and Mr. Barnett was off to help her. We waited for a very long time, until he had finally finished helping the lady. Just as we thought he was 'bout to help us, a girl, about my age, asked for his help and he started helping her! That was it for me. At first, I thought that he was helping the lady because she was older but now the little girl! I decided to say something. As politely as I could, I told Mr. Barnett that he was helping us, earlier but he just ignored me. I tugged on his shirt, thinking he didn't hear me and I repeated "You was helping us,". He told me to get my "little black self and go wait some more". I'd had enough of that, and I began losing my patience. I did not like his tone. Some people were telling me to be quiet, but I thought he had no right to treat me or my Stacey or T.J. the way he did. I ended up being thrown out of the store, and only come back when we learnt what we are.
I couldn't be mad at Stacey for not defending me back at the store, or for pushing me out. It must have been for good. Who knows what they'd do to us if I kept talking? I'm thankful we got out of there on time, I couldn't bare stare at that man's face no longer.

This is the Barnett Mercantile 

Source: "Vintage General Store - Yahoo Image Search Results." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

Warning: Wicked Wallace's Store

       Something happened today that makes it different from other days, something remarkable which I want to share with y'all.

We had just found out that T.J. was about to cheat on a history test we were all studying for. Stacey was the first one to object it and rip the cheats off from T.J.'s hands. This in not unusual, since my brothers and I are used to T.J.'s manners. But apparently, when Stacey and T.J. were taking the test, T.J. had another copy of the cheats in which he passed on to Stacey. It seems as if Mama, who is their teacher, was coming towards them and Stacey was forced to take the cheats, however Mama would find out about it.. and she did. Ended up hittin' Stacey hard on the bum, assuming he was the one cheating, while T.J. sat there, starring.
At the end of class, T.J. ran to the Wallace's store in hope that Stacey wouldn't come after him, but he sure did, ending up in a fight. Luckily, Mr. Morrison showed up and separated the two boys.
On our way home, Mr. Morrison talked to Stacey about what had happened and convinced him of telling Mama the truth himself. Stacey could tell her alright, making sure that we weren't mentioned to take the blame. Mama understood Stacey, and instead of whipping him and all of us, she took us to see Mr. and Mrs. Berry, a black couple. Mr. Berry had strong burnings which we couldn't see because of the light, however Mama explained that the Wallaces were the ones who had done it. By seeing the look on my brothers' faces, they couldn't be more shocked, and neither could I. Now we understood what Mama meant when she told us to stay away from them Wallaces.

         This is what the Wallace's Store looks like..
Source: "Controversial Issues." Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2016. 

Stuck in the Mud

It’s October and my brothers and I have just started school. It’s not even been a month and I’m already exhausted! As I’ve said before, in the “About Me” post, we go to Great Faith Elementary and Secondary school, where Ma teaches at. Since it is a school for black children, we don’t get to ride a bus to school. Instead, we have to walk, which is really a disgrace, especially in rainy and cold days. But that’s not the worst! There is this school bus, which heads to Jefferson Davis (a white school), which passes by us everyday when going and leaving school. This bus tries to run us over, in order to entertain his passengers... Isn’t that sick? So every time we see that the bus is coming, we have to jump to the other side of the road’s fence, in order not to die. Literally. Little Man hates it... It gets his clothes all wet and dirty. We all do. So here’s what we decided to do: Stacey had this genius plan to stuck the bus inside a whole that we would dig, in order to avoid getting muddy and wet everyday. So we dug this whole, which was the road’s length and went back to school, as it was starting to rain. On our way home, we saw the whole, which went from a whole in the middle of the road to a twelve-foot lake! The bus got stuck, and nearly tipped over! Now the white children will have to walk to school for at least two whole weeks, until workers are able to get the bus out of the whole and fix it. We couldn’t be more than delighted when we heard the news. 

Later that day, as we were laughing non-stop about the incident, we heard a knock on our door. It was Mr. Avery, which told Mama and Big Ma that “they” were “riding” tonight. “They” were probably the white man. As we were sent to bed, I sneaked out from my room and went to my brothers’, to hear what they were saying. After we heard the conversation, it didn’t seem good news. White man were going out, and probably, someone was gonna get hurt that night. 

Poor Stacey wouldn’t stop blaming himself for having the idea, but we calmed him, saying that we wanted to do it too. Mama doesn’t knows that the “bus incident” was our fault, and we don’t plan to tell her, if we don’t wanna get in trouble. 

Source:"School Bus Stuck in Mud, Starts to Sink." WOODTVcom. N.p., 27 May 2015. Web. 14 Feb. 2016.