My Dear Sister,
We rode in the carriage for two days before we got out. When we did get dropped off it was in a little town in Tennessee. We got out of the carriage and the man kept going to his destination a few miles away.
We stopped at a restaurant there and ate some food. We got some strange looks from people. The town we were in was a little mining town in the mountains. They didn't have slaves or nice clothes like the ones that Jack and I wore (even if they were dirty and torn from the journey).
Jack asked a man at the restaurant how to get to Kentucky, which I guess is on the way to Indiana. The man said to go down the road a few miles and turn left at the fork. He said we were still a long ways from Kentucky though, and it will take us a while to get there on foot. With that in mind, Jack bought lots of food and we went on the road.
We walked for several days. After a while we just forgot about time. We all got used to sleeping on the ground, though we didn't sleep very often. Time sleeping was time that could be spent walking. Natta slept a lot but she was usually being carried. The little ten year old was just not as strong as the rest of us and did not have he stamina we had. It was quicker to carry her. When we did walk she would wander away from the road and pick grass and flowers so she could make jewelry out of them.
We found ways to pass time. Keeya sang a lot. She had a very pretty singing voice, much better than mine. She sang songs that sounded nothing like the ones we heard in France. "Did you learn that song in Africa?" I asked her.
"Yes, my Mom sang it to me," Keeya said, and sighed. She looked out at the mountains then snapped back to reality. "My Mom went on the ships five years ago," Keeya said.
"I wanted to see her here," Natta said from atop Jack's shoulders. "But America is too big."
I think that was when it hit me. All this time I've been carrying on about being away from France, I've completely forgot that Keeya and Natta had to leave their life and their country too. It brought back to me this strange guilt I sometimes feel for working on William's slave ship. It also made me want to reach our destination even more.
One day we were walking and Jack stopped by a road with a sign labeled "The Cardinal Nest".
"What's this?" I asked Jack.
"The Cardinal Nest," Jack said. "It's one of the safe houses that I was telling you about. Escaped slaves go there for refuge. Kind of like my cousin's house."
We walked down the road to a house and knocked on the door. I saw a man look through the peep hole then open the door. "Eliza!" The man called. "It's them! They've come here!"
Eliza, his wife came into the room. "Are you sure it's them?"
"Of course it's them!" The man said. "How could it not be them? Their sketches are all over the town!"
"You were expecting us?" Jack asked.
"Sketches?" Keeya asked.
"Come, sit," Eliza said. We sat on the couch. "I'm Eliza and this is Henry."
"Hello, I'm Azelma," I said. "This is Keeya, Natta, and Jack."
"Well we know that," Henry said.
"How?" Jack asked.
"You don't know?" Henry said. "There are signs all over looking for you. You must be pretty important for them to put up signs for y'all in South Carolina all the way up here in Kentucky."
At first I was very happy because Henry had said we were in Kentucky. I hadn't even realized we had crossed the state border. Then I realized how much danger we were in.
"You four are really something," Eliza said. "To run away and come all the way up here."
"We are on our way to Indiana," Jack said. "My cousin lives there." Jack seemed to immediately trust Henry and Eliza. I decided to never immediately trust anyone and I didn't like it that he told them everything so soon.
"Well y'all can stay here as long as you need," Eliza said.
"Thank you," Natta said.
"You must be starving," Henry said.
"Our food has been running low," Jack said.
Eliza made us all dinner. It was good to eat warm meat. After we ate she showed us upstairs to a room we could stay ate for the night. It was a nice room with a couch where Jack slept and a big bed for Keeya, Natta, and I.
Natta ran up and jumped on the bed. She hadn't had a real bed to sleep on in over a month and even before then the beds in the slave houses were far from comfortable.
We slept well that night. I had a lovely dream about making it to Indiana with no troubles at all. I woke up suddenly from my dream by Jack shaking my shoulders and whispering "Azelma! Azelma!" anxiously.
"What?" I asked. I looked around to see Keeya holding her crying sister in her arms next to me.
"The police are here," Jack said. "They are looking for us. We have to hide."
We quietly ran up a ladder leading to the attic. The attic was very dark except for one tiny stream of light shining through. We huddled behind what seemed to be a dresser. We could hear the police from downstairs.
"We know you hide slaves here. It seems very likely that they would come here."
"There are no slaves in this house."
"But are there other people here? The boy or the French girl?"
"It is only Eliza and I."
"I don't think you are telling the truth."
"Why would four kids from South Carolina be here?"
"We've had reports of people seeing them walking down the road. It is a very urgent matter, Sir. The slaves are escaped. The French girl is wanted by the law. And the boy comes from a very wealthy family. He's run away and his parents have invested a lot into finding him."
"Well they are not here."
"If that is so I guess you don't mind if he search then?"
"I promise you there is no one here. If you have to search so be it."
We heard their footsteps walk around the downstairs of the house. We sat silently and made no noise. The police moved around downstairs. I heard them going through Eliza and Henry's things. I was very glad I has my pillowcase of things with me.
Then we heard them come into the attic. "I can't see anything up here," a police officer said.
"Don't you have a candle?" another one said. We could not see them and they could not see us. It was frightening.
"I don't need a candle," the officer said. "Just open the window more." He walked over to the window and opened it. They still couldn't see us behind the dresser.
"There's no one here," the policeman said. "Let's leave."
"Hmmm," the other policeman said. He walked up to the dresser we were behind and started shaking it. I put my hand over my mouth to stop my breathing noise. I felt like I could sneeze but held it in and convinced myself it was all in my head.
"Yes, let's get out of here." They left the attic. I breathed.
"That was too close," Jack whispered.
Keeya moved out from behind the dresser. She wiped her tear streaked cheeks. "Yes," she said. "Are they gone?"
"I think so," I said. "I heard the door."
"They could be looking around outside," Jack said. "Let's stay here for a bit longer."
I looked out the window. "We made it to Kentucky," I said.
"The next state is Indiana," Jack said. "And my cousins don't live too far into Indiana. We are more than halfway there."
I saw the policemen leave in their carriages from out the window. "They are looking for us," I said.
"It's my parents," Jack said. "I should have known they'd try to find me."
"We just can't let them find us," I said. I saw that Jack was upset. "We'll make it," I told him.
I didn't just tell him but I told myself. And I didn't just mean making it to Indiana, but making it to this "better life" that Father wanted for me and you fought for for everyone.
I hope it truely is better,
Your Sister, Azelma