The Colour Of Brady: Caroline's Story.
This is the work of fiction and I do not own any of the characters depicted here. Hope that you will enjoy this and the following instalments. Any comments would be most helpful.
All of the Brady family had been watching a movie on TV about black slavery one night. They were all hooked on it and saw it through to the end. They found it good viewing but at the same time they thought that the subject was a little disturbing. Mike Brady commented that he was glad they were living in 1970's America and slavery had been long since abolished. They all decided to go to bed shortly after the film ended but sleep would not come that easily for any of them that night particularly the Brady females.
Carol Brady was thinking about that poor slave woman in the movie as she lay beside Mike and how badly she had been treated. She was grateful she was married to such a kind and good man like Mike. As she finally drifted off to sleep she tried to imagine what life was like for black women in those far off days and how they managed to get through day after day in such harsh conditions.
When Carol woke up next morning she did not recognize her surroundings at all. She rose from her very uncomfortable double posted wooden bed and looked at herself in the big mirror on the far wall and gasped in surprise.
"My God!" she blurted out. Her skin was now black and she thought that she resembled a young Oprah Winfrey. She wasn't altogether sure who she had been before but something told her that she did not belong here. She realized that she had on the kind of nightgown women used to wear about two hundred years ago. She looked in the large wardrobe beside the bed and saw some very unfashionable long dresses from a bygone age. What's going on! Panic welled up inside her.
That's when memories of who she was came into her head. Something told her they were not really her memories but she could not stop them. It was as if she was becoming another person. Her name was Caroline and as far as she knew she had no other name. She had been a slave on this plantation for fifteen years and she didn't remember any other life. She and her daughters all worked for this rich white family and they worked hard and long hours. The head of this house was a man named Brady and he and his sons were all hard and cruel.
As she slipped on one of the dresses she made up mind that on this day she was going to confront her master and tell him she was tired of this way of living. She wanted a place for herself and all her lovely girls which was being denied to them. If she put her case to him and tell him she felt she had been a slave long enough then just maybe he would be sympathetic. She had managed to save five hundred dollars over the past ten years and considering the small amount she was paid for her services each month that was quite an accomplishment. Perhaps this would buy her freedom and that of her daughters also.
Then she heard his voice booming from the downstairs main room. "CAROLINE! Why is my breakfast not ready yet? What's wrong with you this morning!"
She quickly went to the kitchen and prepared his oatmeal and a large mug of Brazilian coffee that she knew he liked so much. She placed these down on the large breakfast table where he sat and apologised for her lateness. She then told him that there was something she wanted to discuss with him.
"What's that, Caroline?" he enquired as he sipped the coffee.
"It's to do with my service to you all these years, Master Brady." She told him that she had been very loyal and hardworking all these years as he would expect but she was now finding this kind of life very difficult as were her children and she had a substantial sum of money for him that she hoped would buy her out of this life and would set her daughters free also. She handed him the five hundred dollars.
He looked at the money for awhile and then seemed to come to a decision. He replied directly, "My congratulations for having saved this amount of money. To be frank with you, my dear, it will be enough to secure your freedom but not the rest of your family. I could not accept any less then two thousand for all of you. I know that sounds harsh but that's how it is. I know you are a devoted mother and you will not leave this plantation without your offspring. I know you are a good worker and maybe in a few years if you can wait I will set you all free. It's up you, Caroline. You can stay on here and have your family around you or you can go but you may never see any of them again. If I know you, you will take the first option."
What a heartless bastard! Caroline was thinking. In the back of her mind she remembered him from another time and place and he had been a lot kinder in that world. Now she was stuck in this one and at the mercy of this much less considerate slave trader. Well, she'd had enough! If he wasn't going to give her the freedom she so wanted then she would take it at any cost. She was going to get away at the first opportunity.
Brady handed the money back to her and told her, "You keep this, my dear, it's yours. Buy something nice for each of your daughters. I know you are disappointed but slavery is a way of life here in the South. Please don't get any ideas about trying to escape. I am very fond of you but if you break my rules you will be sold and then you will lose your family, everything. Do not do anything so stupid."
Caroline just looked at him and asked, "What kind of man are you?"
Brady just grinned and replied, "You know you could be in a lot of trouble for speaking to me like that, don't you but I will let it pass this time. In answer to your question I am a businessman, nothing more, nothing less. I know you have some grandeur illusions about being free but believe me it isn't all you think it is. We are all enslaved one way or another, freedom is an illusion."
There might have been some truth in what he had just said but there was little doubt that she was more enslaved then him. He would certainly never trade his lifestyle for hers. Her mind was made up. She would break free of this existence or die in the attempt.
Nothing was said between them for a time and then her master spoke again. "I know this life is hard for you, Caroline, but it could be much worse and if you are thinking what I hope you are not you will make it so. If you run away and you are brought back here I will have to sell you to another plantation owner and he may be a lot worse then me. You may also be shot by one of my men while attempting to get away. All your daughters will be left without a mother. Take my advice and accept what you have and make the most of it." He paused before saying, "Will that be all, Caroline!"
She nodded her head and replied, "Yes, sir, I guess that's it!" She realized that the money she had could be very helpful to her when she put her plan to escape into action. That day she went about ploughing the cotton fields and doing all her other gruelling tasks that she had done all these years. Enough was enough. She was getting out tonight.
So that night while everyone on the plantation was asleep (or so she hoped) Caroline made her was as quietly as possible out of the large house and then crept along the many acres of field surrounding the property. She was just approaching the land borders when she saw a man standing in front of her with a double barrelled shotgun in his hand.
"That's far enough, girl!" she heard him say. "Now just get back in the house. I won't tell anyone I saw you but don't try this again, you hear me!"
Caroline knew then that this was a decent man. He could have just shot her down for the sheer pleasure of it as most of Brady's men would have or he could have taken her straight to the master to be sold but he was giving her a way out. There was no way she was going back but perhaps she could convince this guard to let her go. She put one hand in her large pockets and drew out a $50 bill from the rest of the money she had.
She held it out to him and said, "This is yours if you let me pass. Bet you've never seen this much money before. You can take it and I'll just keep running as far away from this place as possible or you can shoot me and take it anyway but I don't think you'll do that. Whatever you decide I'm telling you now I'm not staying here." He took the bill from her hand.
He looked at it for a considerable time and then spoke. "This is a lot of money for me, more then I'll make in six months here. I've got a wife and baby to take care of." He then came to a decision. "Okay, you can go and I won't say nothing but you're crazy for doing this, girl! They'll catch up to you, you know that don't you!"
"Maybe and maybe I'll get lucky." She replied. "I appreciate you doing this but I must ask one more thing of you before I leave. Please let my girls know that their mama is gone but I'll be coming back soon for all of them. Will you tell them that? You know all of them don't you!"
He nodded. "I'll tell them that but you'd be insane to come back here. Now you get going before somebody else sees you. I'm sticking my neck out enough already."
Caroline managed a smile and told him, "I know and God bless you!" She then started running, past the property perimeters and along the dark barren land. She was thinking about her daughters then and she was well aware what all of them were facing alone. She knew however they were strong enough to come through it and someday soon they would be a family again and all of them would be free.
The man who had given her this chance watched her until she disappeared in the distance. He looked at the $50 bill in his hand and remembered the last thing she had said to him. He smiled in her direction and said, "Well, someone sure did today!"