Chapter 17

Not long after I sit,Anna approaches the well.Her dress is still torn,her back still horribly cut.Her hair is a mess,and I’m sure mine can hardly look any better.She’s still not fit to be out in the fields.All the other slaves out here have avoided me,averting their gazes,even the children,but after taking a drink,Anna approaches and sits beside me.

“When are you going to go back?”she asks.

“I don’t want to.I want to run and never look back.But a young lady unescorted on the run is simply ludicrous.I might run into drunken men,soldiers,or even Indians.Where else can I go?”

We sit in the most comfortable silence we have ever shared,each of us lost in our own pain.A shadow crosses over me,and I look up.

Henry.

“Come on back to the house,”he says gently.

“I don’t want to see Papa.”

“Your mother sent for me.”

Mama obviously has no idea what transpired between Henry and I since yesterday.