Chapter 1

Tuesday November 30,1852

My sixth birthday is special just because Mama is happy,and Papa is with us instead of out on the plantation or locked in his study.I sit in the parlor holding a new dress and a beautiful doll,wishing the day would never end.Everything is perfect.

And then Papa says,“I still have one more gift for you,Elizabeth.This is Anna.”

A girl who has been standing at the edge of the room all afternoon steps forward.Even though she is a slave,she has lighter skin than most of the others I’ve seen around our plantation.

I crinkle my dress in my hands,wondering where Anna is hiding my present.I don’t want to say anything,though,in case it makes Papa mad.

“Anna will do things for you just like Hannah does,”Papa says.“She will do anything that you want to take care of you.”

But Hannah is an adult.Anna is just a girl like me.

Mama is giving me one of her looks,so I smile.

“Thank you very much,Papa,”I say.

After dinner I am sent upstairs to bed,doll and dress in hand.I make it all the way up the wooden spiral staircase,marveling as always when I rise above the crystal chandelier,before I realize that Anna is right behind me.

“What are you doing?”I ask.

“I’m supposed to help you get ready for bed,Miss,”Anna says,looking at the floor.

“Hannah always helps me do that,”I say.

“Now I am supposed to help you,Miss,”Anna says.

I enter my little rooms and lay my new dress on the mattress of my four-poster bed.The dress is white muslin with a pink satin ribbon.Then I look at the dress I am wearing:bright yellow linen,with ruffles everywhere.My shoes are black leather.Anna wears a thick brown cloth that barely reaches her knees and is barefoot.

“Why are you wearing that old thing?”I ask.

Anna ducks her head.“If I do a good job,I’ll get better clothes,Miss.”

I set my doll down next.Anna takes a nightgown from the wardrobe.I don’t ask her how she already knows where my clothes are.I look at her pathetic“dress”again.

“Why don’t you try my new dress on?”I ask.

Anna shakes her head.“I have to get you ready for bed,Miss.”

“Don’t say no to me.I’m your mistress now.”

Anna’s mouth hangs open.I decide she must not be very smart.

“My Papa said you would do whatever I wanted,and I don’t want to go to bed.Try on that dress.”

Anna steps back,her eyes wide.“Oh,no,Miss.I can’t.”

I put my hands on my hips and try to imitate the voice Mama uses when she speaks to our people,when she bothers talking at all.“If you don’t do what I say,you won’t get a new dress of your own.Then we’ll see if you step about so smart.”

Anna sighs,and takes off her horrible shift.I help her put the new dress on.She is the exact same size as me,and the dress fits her perfectly.

“How old are you?”I ask.

“Six.”

“The same age I am!What’s your whole name?Mine is Elizabeth Marie Edwards.”

“Anna Edwards.”

“Same last name as mine.”I grab a white ribbon from my dressing table and thread it through Anna’s hair.Her hair isn’t the same as mine.It’s dark brown,shoulder-length and curly.

“And now we are going to play with dolls,”I say.“I never have anyone to play with except my cousin Henry,and he’s only four and likes to eat bugs.”

I hand Anna my doll;it has an identical white and pink dress like my new one,and blue eyes and long blonde hair that look like my own.

“I’ve never seen such a pretty doll,”Anna says.

“Then you can play with her and I’ll play with my Christmas doll.”I retrieve another doll from a shelf and we sit on the floor.

Anna’s mouth doesn’t hang open anymore and she seems just as smart as I am now.Soon we are giggling.But then a dark whirlwind rushes through the door and jerks Anna to her feet.

It’s Hannah,a tall,beautiful slave several shades darker than Anna,wearing a long gray dress and a blue scarf over her hair.She shakes Anna and smacks her across the face.Hannah jerks my new dress off Anna,and I hear it rip.

“I told her to play with me!”I say,jumping to my feet.

“Get into your room,”Hannah says,thrusting Anna’s own pitiful dress into her arms.Anna runs from the room,naked and sobbing.“I’ll fix this for you,Miss Elizabeth.”

“Hannah,I told her—”

“Anna needs to learn her place.She’ll know how to act tomorrow.Now,let me help you get dressed for bed.”

***

In the morning,Anna shows up carrying my dress,stitched up just as if it had never been torn.

“Good morning,Miss,”she says.She won’t look at me.

“Anna,I didn’t—”

“Let me help you get ready for breakfast,Miss,”Anna says.

“Did you get in bad trouble?”

“I didn’t do what I was supposed to do.”

“But you’re supposed to do whatever I say,and—”

“Mammy says I’m not supposed to play with you,I’m supposed to serve you.”

“Who’s your mama?I mean,mammy?”

Anna looks up at me with clouded eyes.“Hannah.”

I gasp.“But she’s taken care of me since I was a baby.Every day.She’s been spending all her time with me,and you’re never with her.”

Anna blinks.“I know.Miss.”

“But who’s been taking care of you?”

Anna reaches to help me take off my nightgown.“Let me get you dressed for breakfast,Miss.”

“I want to wear my new dress!”

“Yes,Miss.”

That white dress is the prettiest,and my favorite.Anna seems to hate that dress.But I’m not sure.Because now she doesn’t say anything she isn’t supposed to say,or do anything she isn’t supposed to do.She is like a shadow,following me everywhere.

I hate her.