The Colour Of Brady: Janet's Story

This is the third instalment of my saga about a strange dream all the Brady women have after watching a film about black slavery. You should read parts one and two first and I hope you will enjoy.

Jan Brady was just as effected by that movie all of the family had watched as her mother Carol and both of her sisters. As she lay in her bed she was thinking about those slaves, both men and women, who toiled their lives away for almost nothing and the cruel overseers who had the power of life and death over them. Thank God it was all abolished! As she drifted off to sleep she tried to imagine herself as one of the slaves and wondered how she could deal with it.

In her dream world she awoke in that other time and place. Here she led a completely different life. In this world her life was just intolerable. Her name was Janet and she had an older sister called Marcy and a younger sister named Cynthia. Her thoughts turned to her mother Caroline who had run off a short time ago. Had she deserted them? Janet did not think so. She firmly believed that one way or another she would return and liberate them all.

She and her siblings and the rest of the slaves all worked for Michael Brady and his sons and not one of them had any compassion at all. Peter Brady, the middle boy, was in charge of Janet and he was arguably the cruellest and meanest of them all. She knew him in another life she realised, a good and kind brother. Why couldn't this rotten swine be like him? He treated her as he would treat his wife when he had one but a lot worse. He believed not only slaves but all women were there just to serve men.

She had to wash his filthy clothes, cook his food of course, do just about everything for him. Then there were the times he would get upset and take it out on her. Last time he had punched her full in the face and knocked her down. She had a swollen lip and nose bleed as a result of this. There were times he would taunt and tease her and tell her to come into his bedroom because he wanted to talk to her and then he would tell her to get the hell out again.

Peter was dark haired and a quite attractive sixteen year old and everyone said how clever he was for his age. Janet was just a little older and had been under his control for as long as she could remember. A handsome, brilliant young man but there was a very dark side to him that he normally only showed to her. Was there any escape from this life of hell? It seemed unlikely.

As she rose from her shabby bed in her dingy bedroom and got herself dressed before going to the hot kitchen to prepare his breakfast she found herself wondering what he had in store for her today. Something quite mean, she was certain about that. Whatever it was she would have to accept it without compliant or objection. She was a slave and slaves had no rights, slaves were not even considered real people.

Before long she was entering the dining room along with her sisters and she stood behind Peter who sat in the middle of the large dining table since he was the middle child. His father sat at the head of the table of course. He addressed her saying, "About time, girl, you seem to get slower! Put it down on the table."

Janet did as he told her. When all of the Brady men had started eating and she and her sisters were about to leave the dining area Peter spoke to her saying, "I want you to clean my room today, girl! There's so much dust in there and you had better do a damn good job. You have two hours to get it nice and clean and then I'll be inspecting it. If I don't like it you are going to be punished. You will hate the punishment I have in mind so I suggest you get going and perform your duty well."

And so Janet went about her appointed task of cleaning his large bedroom. With the polish and cloth provided she thoroughly wiped all of the mahogany furniture and then the big double bed which only Master Peter slept in. She then went over the walls and floor and then the windows. She did as good a job as was possible but something told her he would never be pleased with her efforts because it was just in his nature to be heartless and wicked to her as he would be to her sisters if he were in charge of them.

Sure enough when he came to the room after the time he had allowed her he was indeed displeased. He told her there was so much dust she had missed even though she could not see a speck of it herself. He turned around to regard the Afro American girl in his charge. He told her, "You know what this means don't you, Janet! I'll have to punish you for being so sloppy and you are not going to like this punishment at all. Follow me!"

She walked behind him out of his room and down the winding stairs in the direction of the slaves' quarters. His brother Gregory would probably have made her do it all again as he does with her sister Marcy. Janet would preferred that rather then whatever cruelty Peter had in mind. He took her into her own bedroom and addressed her again. "If you don't perform your duties properly there are consequences, you stupid girl!" He pointed at an old rocking chair in the corner. "For your incompetence I am going to smash that piece of junk into little pieces. That will make you try harder next time. I could take it out on you instead and give you a good beating but maybe the lesson will be driven home harder this way."

Janet pleaded with him, "No, Master Peter, that chair has been in our family for a long time. It used to belong to my grandmother and she gave it to me when I was only five years old. It means so much to me. Please punish me any other way but that!"

Peter looked at her with contempt. "Your grandmother was a slave just like you, missy, and slaves don't have any property. They have no right to anything. They do not own, they ARE owned and anything in their possession is not rightfully theirs. That means I can do whatever I like to that worthless chair. Now you remain here until I return, you hear me!"

Janet was all but shattered as she waited alone and knew that her favourite chair in all the world would soon be reduced to a pile of wood by a ruthless and evil person who was not even a man yet. It would be no good going to his father for help. Peter was his son and he would back him in whatever action he took against her, right or wrong. Soon he returned to the room with a hammer held in his hand.

"This might make you know your place, girl!" He began to brake up the priceless chair piece by piece. Janet was reduced to tears as she watched. Before long all that remained was splinters of wood on the bare floor. Janet turned on her master with distain.

"Damn all of you Brady's to hell!" she screamed at him. "One day soon my mother is coming back to set us free and you are all going to be very sorry for the way you treated us all."

Peter just laughed. "She's coming back with an army, is she! She won't come back, you silly bitch. If she does someone will shoot her dead on sight, I know I would. Or she'll be sold for running away and you will never, ever see her again so forget about your precious Mama, she's a lost cause. And be grateful I am in a generous mood or I would make you regret talking to me like that. Nobody is coming to set you free so I'd accept it if I were you. I'll leave you now and I hope you have learned something from today's experience. You brought it on yourself, missy! You slaves are not worth the time of day, none of you."

So she was left alone again. A two hundred year old rocking chair was now just a heap of oak wood lying near the window. Was he right? Would her mother never return to this plantation for her and her siblings? Surely this life of hell had to end and Caroline Brady was the only one who might end it. Janet went down on her knees and began to pray as she never had before for salvation and for her mother's safety wherever she may be.