Brutus stood in the opening of a cave.
His son, Sonny, a brawny married man of twenty-three was back home, gathering information. So was his wife Jenny. They wanted to know who was going West, when they were leaving, who they were selling their store and land to.
Jenny took in laundry but not many folks in Danville used her services now. Some wanted her services without paying her. They’d been her best customers back when things were better.
Jenny nodded. Yes, they had been good customers, and she’d been a good laundress but things were different now.
The white women argued and Jenny just looked at them, saying nothing. They turned away, some mumbling cruel words as they left.
The owner of the dry goods store left with his family. No one would buy his shop so he and his family just abandoned it. They were going West. They were going where gold could be picked out of a stream. That’s what the newspapers said.
That’s what Old Man Jacob said. He’d been there. Out West. The place where gold glimmered in creeks. Food grew out of the earth almost as soon as you planted the seeds. That’s what Old Man Jacob said.
The farmers believed him. “A place where food was abundant. Grew out of the early as soon as you planted the seeds”. They repeated what the old man said. He’d been there. He had to know. Why some said that Old Man Jacob said he’d actually seen corn grow up towards the sky, right before his eyes. And Old Man Jacob never lied.
“If Out West is so grand why’d Jacob come back?” Spinster Sarah grumbled as she stood on the steps of Rising Sun Baptist Church after services one Sunday.
“Oh, don’t listen to her,” Mandy told the other women. “She’s mad because Jacob didn’t marry her.”
The other women giggled in their handkerchiefs then continued down the stairs. They had things to do—food to can, baskets to pack. They were leaving in the morning. “Out West” people heard Mandy murmur.
II
Danville was quiet. The white folks had gone. Those that could sell their land, their shops, did so. Most got far less than they thought they should have gotten. But they were in a hurry. Out West was waiting,
Brutus came back to Danville one night. He’d seen the white folks of Danville in their covered wagons leading a cow for the baby’s milk and sometimes a few chickens just in case
III
Pistol Will and his men got Mandy’s wagon one night. Brutus had given them the right information. Mandy’s folk were easy pickens.
They left her with her kin, sitting on the ground near a cactus.
They took the wagon, cow, and chickens. Cookie made a banquet for them that night. He was the one who told them about Brutus.
Two nights later Farmer Ed and his kin found themselves sitting on the ground, Cookie made corn pone as the special dish that night. He knew how much Pistol Will liked his corn pone.
IV
Brutus came back to Danville. His family settled into Farmer Ed’s farm. His nephew ran the dry goods shop. His nieces made biscuits, pies, and all sorts of good things to eat.
Prospectors came to Danville. They’d heard that that the folks were kind. After all, they’d all been enslaved or married folks who had been.
The white folks of Danville never returned. The Black folks renamed their town, OURS.
LINDA TRICE, PhD graduated from Howard University, got a MFA at Columbia University and a PhD at the Center for Minority Studies. She taught Black studies at Trinity College and Manhattan Community College. Her children’s books are published by McGraw Hill and Charlesbridge Publishing. See her profile at www.lindatrice.com.
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