“There are few more salutary smells than that of broken
glass and kerosene,” she smoldered.
Rosa always was a complainer. As a stout, strong woman, she
was the most valuable of all my slaves, but she had a sufficiently strong voice
to turn everyone against me. In a single day she could pick more cotton than
the whole lot of the Negroes, but her third attempt at coaxing the crew into
burning down my house with an old lamp was something to worry about.
“Rosa, I’ll have ya strung up if you don’t git yer act
straight,” I told her.
This sort of talk was completely necessary with Rosa. The
only thing she really valued was her life. She didn’t care about the things the
other colored women treasured. While the other women were singing songs and
making new clothes, she could always be found in a corner scheming up a way to escape.
It wasn’t that Rosa was a bad woman, just that she needed freedom.
She was valuable for me though. Unless someone was willing
to pay me 20 dollars I’d never give her up.
--
After a long day of picking, Rosa walked in with 40 baskets
of cotton, more than half the day’s haul. As was customary, I gave Rosa a
basket of cotton for working harder than everyone else that day. For other
women this would’ve been a treat. In the coming weeks after getting cotton I’d
find new blankets or shirts in their old hut. When Rosa got the cotton I’d
never find what she did with it. To this point she probably had earned more
than a hundred baskets for her diligence in the field.
--
I went into town to sell my cotton and brought back a bigger
haul at the market than ever before. This year I sold my cotton for a dollar a
basket. I had enough to buy an entire new plantation after this harvest.
When I returned home I saw the familiar smoke coming from
the fireplace of my house. As I approached the house, I saw white material
stacked six feet high lining my entire house. Rosa tossed an old lamp onto the
cotton and flames erupted.
“There are few more salutary smells than that of broken
glass and kerosene,” she smoldered.
--
-David Lake
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