Tangled Passion (12 page)

After rearranging Edwards’s words in his head, Longstands understood everything without needing Edwards to repeat—the man who just gave testimony shared the same hut with an old man who was very good friends with the escaped slave. The old man had returned to the hut late the previous night and the boy did not. The insinuation was that the old man must know of the boy's whereabouts—Longstands turned to Nathan and Anthony, a crack of smile on his face. He knew the two were anxious to get the interpretation, especially Nathan who was willing to give anything for any information regarding the whereabouts of Ashana.

By the time he opened his mouth, Longstands had already made up his mind about what he believed Nathan would love to hear. The ball was presently in his court and it mightn’t be for long but one thing he had learned in the British military was that as soon as the ball entered your court, you had no excuse not to take control of it. It really didn’t matter how much time it was in your court, as long as it was there you should take control of it.

“The boy took the girl against her will and they headed in the southeast section of the Fort,” Longstands began, changing the story in a way that placed him at some advantage. “The good news gentlemen, is that the route they took leads to a dead end.” Massa Longstands lied, blaming Ashana’s disappearance on Jonah.

Convincing Nathan that the slave boy had taken Ashana forcefully and without her consent, would at least clear Longstands from having anything to do with the escape and it was something he really needed his son to believe.

Anger built up in Nathan's bosom like the magma of a volcano impatiently counting down to the last few seconds of its eruption time. He didn’t know who the slave boy was and didn’t care but the fact that he’d had the nerve to take Ashana against her will made Nathan resolve to rip out his heart the moment he caught him. “When do we leave?” he snapped, like a mother who’d had enough of a nagging child. He was getting a little irritable and the blazing heat of the sun was beginning to take a toll on his body.

“Edwards, go gather me six men from the line-up,” Longstands ordered. This was a perfect opportunity for him to prove to his son that he’d had no hand in the disappearance of the slaves; a notion that he was sure his son still harboured somewhere deep down in his heart.

The way he handled the search operation would determine what his son did next; Longstands was bent on proving his non-involvement but more importantly, he was determined to take advantage of the situation as much as possible.

“Wait wait,” he yelled at Edwards. “I want only volunteers!”

“Massa?” Edwards said, looking lost and startled and staring straight at his Massa. Longstands knew right away; the slave hadn’t that word in his lean database of English words.

“Edwards, by the word ‘volunteers’ I mean only those who choose to go on their own. Don’t force anybody, understood?”

Edwards remained motionless, still staring at his Massa’s lips. Longstands took another look at Edwards’s face and knew he hadn’t done a good job of explaining.

“You,” Longstands said, poking his forefinger at Edwards’s chest. “You say to them, ‘anybody wants to come with us to find the runaways?’”

Edwards’s face began to brighten like a dark room, taking in sunlight rays from a hole in the window and suddenly all of them except Nathan broke out in a burst of laughter as Edwards ran towards the line-up.

“We will leave as soon as the runners arrive,” Longstands said, turning to Nathan, who showed no sign of being reassured. “The runners are very good, they can sniff them out from miles away, so relax,” he added with a little smile. It was a smile that came from a deep satisfaction that his latest plan would resolve his problem once and for all and restore peace between him and his son.

“Nathan, are you sure you want to come along? You really don’t have to, you know,” Longstands said.

“More than anything else, Father,” Nathan replied.

His son's immediate response didn't surprise Longstands; the boy had replied right away as if he’d been waiting for the question and Longstands regretted asking it. After all, his son was not one to be easily intimidated or persuaded. “I am just saying the terrain can be bad and all kinds of dangerous animals inhabit the bushes so...”

“I know Father,” Nathan interrupted. He had to put an end to the line of conversation because there was no need to try to discourage or persuade him otherwise.

“Okay,” Longstands said, feeling defeated.

“I mean, who doesn’t know about the snakes, elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, hippos, etc. that inhabit this beautiful jungle of an island called Dominica?” Nathan said, with no effort to hide his sarcasm. “Anyways, I am in for the adventure Father, so it would be wise if you’d please drop the attempt to discourage me.”

The sarcasm wasn't really necessary, Longstands thought. “Well if you insist, son, you are welcome to tag along, but you must inform your mother first because...”

“Because Father, as I said before and repeating now, I, Nathan Longstands am a man of age and with this comes a privilege called ‘you no longer need permission from your mother’ so thanks Father for your understanding.”

As Edwards walked back to the shed, he continued to rehearse the word he’d heard for this first time–‘
vuloonteer.
’ He meant to add the word to his vocabulary; he would tell Longstands that none of the slaves wanted to be a ‘
vuloontee.’ “Vuloonteer, voloonteer vuloonteer
,” he practiced, pronouncing the word over and over again. He also planned to tell the Massa the reason why none of the slaves would openly ‘
vuloonteer.
’ The slaves would do certain things in public but volunteering to go search for their fellow slaves who were courageous enough to plan and execute an escape wasn’t one of them.

Edwards approached Longstands and explained that the best thing would be for the Massa himself to go over to the line-up and handpick slaves that would go for the search, in that way the slaves could hide under the excuse of having no choice because they were forced by the Massa. Longstands saw the sense in what Edwards was saying and turned to his son.

“Nathan, why don’t you go over to the line-up and select six, able-bodied slaves to accompany us,” Longstands said. “Look for young, tall, and strong ones.” To Anthony, he said, “You take the rest of the slaves to the plantation. Work must continue as usual but increase the burden and reduce the breaks, this way somebody is bound to speak soon and provide us with more information.”

“Yes sir,” Anthony replied and marched off.

“Edwards, you take me to the old man's house, immediately.”

“Yes Massa,” Edwards replied with a heavy heart; it already hurt him badly that his very close friend had been mentioned in the incident but it was even more painful that he had to take Massa Longstands to identify PaNene.

PaNene, he thought to himself, was a very good man. He had known him over twenty years; they were of the same age and had arrived at the Fort at the same. When they were younger they’d often talked about escaping but as time passed and age came down on them, they slowly but surely gave up on the idea.

“Where will I go?” he remembered PaNene saying just a few years after the woman he loved had taken her life. Now, even though Edwards feared his friend’s involvement, he still doubted that his long-time friend had played any role in the escape.

She saw Ashana being chased by a band of furious looking men. Although Ashana ran like a stallion and it appeared as though these men could never catch up with her, it was the look on the faces of the men that frightened Marecia the most. This time she saw the men closing in on Ashana but just as they were about to grab her, the daydream suddenly stopped and then started over again, leaving Marecia perspiring and swearing under her breath. When she finally managed to tear herself away from the constant replay of the frightening vision movie, her thoughts returned to the events that she had spent the entire night preparing herself for. Marecia knew that any time now she would hear footsteps approaching her hut; men sent by Massa Longstands would storm into her hut and drag her away.

She took a deep breath and as she exhaled, she thought about the slim possibility that her daughter would not have to live the life she'd had to live. The thought that there was a possibility that Ashana might have a better life strengthened her for whatever she was about to face and helped the words that were in her mouth to come out; “I am ready,” she whispered to herself.

Ever since the death of Neka, PaNene had sworn to himself that he’d assist any slave who had the guts to plan an escape.  He was still feeling his familiar regret about Neka when he heard approaching footsteps.

“Massa,” he greeted bowing slightly. He looked at the faces of the other two men standing beside Massa Longstands; the young man was the Massa’s son and the other man was his friend, Edwards.

“Massa wants to know where your boy is at,” Edwards translated Longstands’s question.

“Jonah! You found him?” PaNene pretended.

Longstands couldn’t believe that the old man didn’t know anything about the escape.

“You returned to your hut very late last night. Where were you?” Longstands asked.

Edwards translated.

“I fell asleep by the side of the tree, by the time I got to my hut, everybody was asleep,” PaNene replied with a look of honesty on his face.

“Ask this old bag of bones if Jonah was in the hut when he returned from sleeping under the tree,” Longstands said to Edwards, clearly frustrated. The old man wasn’t providing any useful information and Longstands had a nagging feeling that he was lying and had something to hide. “Tie him against the tree,” Longstands snapped; he’d had enough of the old man’s lies and didn’t have much time to waste.

The interrogation of Ashana's mother didn’t last so long. Mr. Longstands had lost his patience; he didn’t see how Marecia could be so calm when she was fully aware that her daughter hadn’t returned to their hut the previous night and hadn’t been seen all morning.

If Marecia had no idea of the escape, she would have been alarmed by the disappearance of her daughter and promptly reported it. But all she said in response to everything she was asked about her daughter’s disappearance were the same words—“I don’t know where she is.”

“Tie her up,” Longstands ordered and the slaves swung into action.

“No! Stop immediately,” Nathan ordered. The slaves took their hands off the woman and looked at Massa Longstands, who in turn looked at his son, his eyes questioning the young man’s challenge of his authority.

Nathan simply looked away from his father and continued speaking. “She is my future mother-in-law and will not be subjected to such manhandling or punishment, besides there is no proof that she was part of this plot. From what you told me Father, the male slave coerced Ashana into running away with him; probably even kidnapped her. I think we should be on our way to find him and punish him; he is the one to be punished, not any one of these old folks.”

Longstands smiled at his son, giving him the kind of smile a father gave to his son the first day the son brought his girlfriend home—the only difference was this smile was fake.

“OK son, you are right,” Longstands said, trying to keep blood from rushing to his face and betray his level of anger. He knew his day would come; he held the four aces and was determined not lose the battle. He had kept his plan to himself so far. By the time the dust settled, Ashana and Jonah would be dead and there wouldn’t be any chance for his son to cause him any more headaches or embarrassment. By the time it was over, Nathan would never suspect that his father had anything to do with Ashana’s death. Longstands had everything figured out and everything was working in his favour. Turning to the slaves he said, “We’ll all return to my quarters for food and then we begin the hunt.”

“What would you like for breakfast Massa?” he asked with a smile, mimicking the house slaves. She smiled and dug her fingers against his ribs, tickling him continuously. He struggled for freedom but she was already sitting on him, “Say please Massa,” she ordered, laughing at his sudden powerlessness.

“Ple… p… ple… ase Massa,” he stammered. When she stopped and his hiccups subsided, she looked into his eyes and what she saw satisfied her.

“I could die now,” he said.

“What?” she asked, her brow folding like a drawn curtain.

“These few hours of freedom with you have made me feel like nothing has ever made me feel,” Jonah said. “This has been my prayer to the gods and our ancestors ever since I laid my eyes on you. You fill up a space in me so perfectly and in a way I am convinced no other person in this world and all the worlds out there could ever fill. The reality of me and you here seems like a dream and if it is a dream, then it’s one I really don’t want to wake up from.” The first drop of her tears landed on his chest, then two more drops and a few more as Ashana leaned over and rested her body on his.

“I love you so much,” she whispered softly as he hugged her. “You are the air that I breathe.”

Silence

“When all this is over we shall have children, we shall have a hut of our own and we shall never forget our vows to each other.”