Which Way Freedom by Joyce Hansen Read Free Book Online

the other while waiting for Buka to arrive. He hoped Buka hadn’t come and left while he was in the kitchen. It was important that he talk with him tonight. Wilson and Master John were selling him. By tomorrow night or the next, he had to be on his way.
    He opened the barn door to see if a lantern still burned in the house. If Buka didn’t come to the barn, then he would go to the shack. The moon was full and bright, but the house was dark. Obi closed the door, wondering what to do, and the hounds stirred, wagging their tails. Easter rushed into the barn. “Have to speak to you,” she said. She sat under the hayloft on the milking stool. Obi sat cross-legged in front of her on the floor.
    â€œTake me an’ Jason with you when you run.”
    â€œI can’t take you an’ Jason,” Obi said. “It too dangerous an’ how we get anywhere with him?”
    â€œI take care of him.” She took one of Obi’s long, calloused hands in hers. “We always been together, Obi.”
    His fantasy about running had never included Easter and Jason. Now that he was faced with the reality of actually leaving, he realized that Easter was right—over the years, they had become a part of him.
    He rubbed his forehead. “Maybe I go hide in the wood a while. I could keep a eye on you an’ Jason. If you sold to Master Phillips, I could come back for you.”
    â€œWhat about Jason?”
    â€œIf he give or sold to Missy Holmes, we find him easy.”
    He felt her hand tremble slightly. “If we separate now, then we never see each other again,” she said, trying tokeep her voice steady. “Remember you tell me one time we was like family—all we had was each other?”
    â€œSometimes even families have to separate. When them two—Joseph and Pat—on the Phillips place run, they leave their children,” Obi said.
    â€œI hear they comin’ back for them.”
    â€œI’ll come back for you an’ Jason. After I find my way to Mexico.”
    â€œIf we don’t leave together, we ain’t gonna see each other again, Obi.”
    â€œIt ain’t possible to leave together—Jason too much of a baby, for one thing.”
    â€œI told you I see to Jason.”
    Obi’s throat tightened. He was glad he couldn’t see her determined face. He’d miss her—miss both of them. He thought of the little, scared, barefoot girl wearing a shirttail made out of sacking. Wilson brought her to the farm on an Easter Sunday as a gift for Martha. She wouldn’t stop crying until Obi thought to give her some molasses candy.
    She ain’t no more little girl,
he realized. Suddenly, he wanted to tell her about his dream, and for the first time he shared with someone besides Buka his desire to find his mother.
    Easter was quiet a moment when Obi finished talking. “I don’t have no remembrance of nothin’ except livin’ here. You an’ Jason my family. Take us with you an’ we help you find your ma.”
    A pebble hit the barn door and Obi stood up. The dogs whined and wagged their tails. “That’s Buka,” Obi said, relieved, as he opened the door. Easter made space for the old man under the hayloft as Obi placed a crate there for him to sit on.
    Buka was silent for a few minutes after Obi told him about the soldiers’ visit and the family selling the farm.
    â€œThis war bring confusion,” he said at last. “Now the time to run. The blacksmith from Master Phillips’ placecome see me today. He say black people runnin’ off the plantations and escapin’ to the Yankee soldier.”
    Easter’s voice came quietly out of the shadows. “You think me an’ Jason can run too?”
    Obi broke in before the old man could answer. “I move fast alone. I just hide in the woods. Between me an’ you Buka, we keep a eye on Easter an’ Jason.”
    Buka coughed. “I