Beyond the Day of Freedom

By Wylanda James

Saard was convinced Mechach believed in his heart what he was saying, but was baffled by the reference he sometimes made regarding his mammy. She had often compared the love he and Matilda shared with one another to those of animals, and likened their reactions to the instincts a mother bear would have to her cubs or a female dog to her suckling pup. She couldn’t envision them having the same mutual feelings of love experienced by the whites.
Her comprehension of them having hopes and dreams of their own away from the plantation was far-fetched indeed.
His dreams and aspirations were far from what she believed.
He imagined himself in the same aspect of the young men she spoke about in her stories bowing at the ladies at various galas. How proud he would feel sitting with the wealthy plantation owners smoking his fine cigars, discussing the business of the day for hours in lavish drawing rooms. To him, his mother Matilda, was as beautiful as any of the white women who retired away to the dainty parlors with their tea, allowing the men some time alone. At other times, he could just envision the slaves bustling about to and fro, obeying her orders and granting her wishes without any resistance at all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483686578

Wylanda James

Wylanda James was born in Lowndes County, Alabama. She is the proud mother of three children—Toia, Tonya, and Lloyd. She began writing a long list of poetry, song lyrics, and short stories at an early age. Her works are both poignant and heartrending. But none is more captivating than her novel, Beyond the Day of Freedom. It is a revision of her first published novel, Mechach: FairSkin Redemption, the story of a slave named Mechach, whose fictional life story has proven to be a true life inspiration to all readers who share his courageous fortitude.

Book preview

Beyond the

Day of Freedom

A story that dispels the lies of racial purity

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Wylanda James

Copyright © 2013 by Wylanda James.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/22/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Prelude

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Epilogue

Efforts are eventually rewarded even if we

encounter obstacles along the way.

~ Toia Hardy ~

To

Quiota

To

my loving son, Toia

and

my dear friend, Judy

Thanks.

PRELUDE

A slave’s witness

Matilda was sold away from Massa Matthew’s plantation on a bright and early Tuesday mornin. She hollered and carried on somethin awful for havin to leave her boy, Mechach, behind.

The overseer had headed to the slave auction in Clayborne with him, before the sun comed up that mornin, so he wouldn’t have to see her go.

Right at quittin time, that same evenin, they was comin back to the plantation in the wagon ridin along real slow when all of a sudden, that ol’ sun hid like a coward behind them clouds!

There was no sign of rain or thunder, but the swift darkness in the sky made them horses act like they was spooked. They steps begin to git higher and quicker than they was when the sky was lit brighter.

No one else inside the wagon was bothered at all ’bout what was goin on, but Mechach felt real cold inside. The chains hooked to him and them new bought slaves in the wagon begin to rattle from his shakin so bad.

The horses, Mistah Duncan, he said, shiverin real bad. Why you think they is goin so fast now without you be tellin ’em to?

He didn’t know what to make of all the odd goings on around him.

Us slaves’ actions troubled him more than them animals or the look of the early night. There us all was, standin still when the wagon was passin by. Even the ones workin in the fields, who never paid him no mind before just stopped they work and looked sorrowful at him.

Somethin wasn’t quite right and he knew it. That’s why he spoke up again to the overseer. It must be somethin bad, suh!

He looked back at ever’body real worried as the wagon continued on.

Overseer Duncan didn’t say nothin at all to him—he couldn’t. It was the very first time he ever felt sorry for Mechach.

Added to his sorrow was the way Borah’s children carried on. He was too scared they would give Mechach a warnin before time to tell him about his mama not bein there on the plantation no more. They’d always be runnin around the wagon, tryin to take a look at the new slaves comin to the plantation, and pokin fun at ’em. But that evenin, they just stood by the old weepin willow tree and didn’t move none.

It didn’t set quite right with Mechach, they not sayin a word to him or callin out his name. Most times, when he’d smiled at ’em, they’d smile right back at him.

That caused the fear inside him to keep growin more and more.

He tried to stand alone when the wagon come to a quick halt, but them leg irons was holdin him down mighty tight.

Overseer Duncan, still quiet and not sayin a single word a’tall to him, climbed down from the wagon and loosed them irons from his ankles.

Truth be told, what happened next, no slave on the plantation had ever laid eyes on before . . . Overseer Duncan helped the slave boy, Mechach, down from the wagon to the ground!

Mechach didn’t exactly know what to think ’bout what the overseer had done. Surprised, he looked to him with his eyes askin what he should do next.

Overseer Duncan nodded his head at him and said, You can go on boy!

Mechach pushed through all us slaves and white folks alike, and begin runnin. He slowed only to look up at them two white poles that was standin high on each side of the front door leadin inside the Big House.

When he did so, I thought of them gods Mistress Melody talked ’bout on the day Massa Goings had ’em hold up the new front porch.

Those poles are like a fortress of the gods, keeping watch like Sampson, empowering each subject who dares to enter their presence, she said.

The mistress always said many smart soundin words I couldn’t cipher the meanin of, but them poles didn’t keep Mechach from lookin for his mama though. He ran right past ’em inside the Big House and down the long hall into the kitchen.

Ma Betty was standin alone, waitin inside the kitchen door to tell him his mama was gone.

Is her dead? he asked her.

No child, she said to him. The massa done sold Matilda this mornin. She asked me to see ’bout you now.

A sadness in her heart moved her to pull him close to her bosom.

Her warm embrace felt mighty tolerable for a while, but Mechach soon felt a deep need for his own mama’s comfort.

Shakin his head in tears, he pulled away from her and ran back to the porch outside.

When he leaned up against one of them poles takin a breath, us slaves all breathed in a little, too. But none of us watchin from the ground said nothin to him standin up there.

We was too scared to help him none, thankin ol’ Solomon’s spirit was waitin to pull them poles down on any one of us niggers who had the nerve to come up.

Lookin at us all, Mechach ran back down from the porch to each step, one faster than the next, until he reached the ground and fell to his knees.

Mama! he cried, poundin his fists in the dirt.

Y’all see to that boy and lock him up until Mr. Goings decides what to do with him, Overseer Duncan ordered Nebo and Sammy.

What Overseer Duncan didn’t know was, as long as Mechach had that burnin fire in his belly to go after his mama, no shed was gonna hold him inside it.

Nebo and Sammy picked Mechach up and took him to the shed where all Massa Matthew’s troubled slaves was kept.

Now, tellin them boys to lock and chain him in the shed was the beginnin of a craft way that meant a whole heap of trouble for ’em. It started, not when they was told to lock Mechach up, but when they was told to keep watch over him.

As soon as they got him to the shed, Sammy clamped them irons on his left ankle real quick like.

Mechach didn’t try at all to break free. He just kept on cryin and snifflin over losin his mama, not even givin mind to ’em watchin.

Calm down, Mechach, now! Sammy told him. You be me and Nebo’s friend since way back to I can’t remember when. We don’t want to put you in these irons, but we gots to.

Then Nebo begin to tell Mechach how he should just stay where he was at, too. That’s right, he agreed with Sammy. You can count on us for sure. Stop that cryin and rest up a bit. We gonna let you lose when the mornin come. We can’t sit in here none, but don’t you be frettin. Like Sammy done said, we be your friends.

Nebo bowed his head and grinned at Mechach while he shoved Sammy to the outside of the shed ahead of him.

Mechach soon calmed down and got hisself some sleep.

Sammy sat outside the shed in front of the door. He looked inside it to keep watch on him for a long while before he said, Nebo, I been sittin here thankin. That boy gonna follow his mammy. You just mark my words.

Mark what words, boy? You can’t read none! Nebo said, mockin him.

Mechach done showed me how to figure some. You, too! Sammy said, tellin a secret only them and Mechach should know.

Nebo’s keen senses kicked in. If any of them white folk had got word he and Sammy had some learnin, they’d be in the same trouble Mechach was in right then. So, he warned Sammy, saying, Boy, you best hush up! You wanna be hanged or somethin? You just sit down here with me and let’s keep a close look out on him like the overseer says.

Not long after sayin to Sammy that they should both keep watch on Mechach, Nebo made a long wide stretch with his arms.

Whew, I’m tired, Sammy, boy! he said, yawnin out loud. You reach back and pull that door up a little. Don’t close it too tight, ’cause we want him to see us still out here.

Sammy said, He gonna leave alright!

He ain’t gonna go nowhere with us watchin. You just keep your eyes on him through that crack in the door till I get a quick shut eye!

Sammy didn’t object none to fixin the door like Nebo said he should. The only thing was, he didn’t watch it long enough. Right after Nebo told him to crack the door a little, Sammy was sleepin real hard, snorin loud just like him.

It was some bad watchin that they did for Massa Matthew.

I ain’t troubled none for what them boys did, they goin to sleep and all, ’cause it was meant from higher up.

The Good Lawd knows when we do things not quite right. But every now and then, He don’t step in to correct our faults when somebody else can be helped by ’em. I believe one of His nows was when Matilda was sold away from the plantation. His not helpin her ended bad when she had to leave her boy behind. That was why He caused it to be so Nebo and Sammy was the ones who Overseer Duncan told to keep watch over him. It was the then, under they watch, when He allowed Mechach a chance to escape and try to find her.

It’s true. I don’t know much ’bout all the ways the Good Lawd get things done. But one thing I do know for sure is, what Nebo and Sammy did was plumb stupid by not makin sure both of them irons was fixed tight on both of Mechach’s ankles.

It was right before mornin when Mechach woked up and seen ’em sleepin outside the shed like two drunk white men that done lost they way. In his opinion, Sammy’s brain is the same as you tryin to get a good fire goin all nice and hot. You got the wood and the kindlin all stacked up like it should be, but it ain’t no good unless you get a flicker from that match stick to start it up. Hardly ever, did Sammy come up with anythin worth listenin to out his mouth. It was ’cause he didn’t have anythin to flicker a thought inside his head to make him say somethin you’d wanna hear. Now that Nebo, Mechach thought him to be a smart son of a gun. In all his days, he’d never seen Nebo do one good day of work for the overseer. He was the only slave on the plantation who didn’t have a tired bone in his body. So it was hard for Mechach to figure out why Nebo felt the need to sleep so each day. He believed if heaven and hell both met in the middle of this earth, as long as they didn’t rouse Nebo when they come up on one another, he’d just keep on sleepin.

All in all, they both sleepin was a good thing.

Mechach was glad they sleep had got so deep, ’cause he didn’t want ’em to be tryin to resist him when he set out on his way.

He made a quick sigh thinkin ’bout ’em before tuggin at the iron on his right ankle. It broke free real easy. It don’t matter none, he said, lookin real sad at the left chained ankle. If I have to run away with one leg free and one leg in them irons hooked to ’em chains, somehow, someway, mama gonna see me again.

It was at that time, when I let him know I had come through the shed’s door hearin what he’d said. I didn’t mean to scare him like I did.

He thought that Overseer Duncan and Mistah Thad had come to get him sooner than they always did when the other slaves was in trouble.

I could see the fear in his eyes, but I wanted to talk to him a little. So, I put up my finger to my mouth to shush him.

I can’t stay here no more! he said to me, the minute I put my hand back down to my side.

Before he could speak up again, I told him, I didn’t get to speak to your mama before she left.

That’s when he swore, I gots to find her!

I tried to convince him to stay on the plantation and let Ma Betty take care of him. Ma Betty tells me, Matilda asked her to see to you now. Why don’t you just stay here and let her and your uncle guide you from here on? The massa gonna kills you if you tries to run away, and that’s a fact!

A short while later, his uncle, Ol’ Pappa, sneaked inside the shed to talk to him, too. It was a good thing he knowed where it was Overseer Duncan kept them keys.

For some time, the three of us just set down on the floor tryin to figure out what Mechach should really do ’bout everything that happened that day—his mama gone and all.

It wasn’t long before the three of us got to mullin over some real troublin questions that caused him to worry. It was questions like: Did he rightfully have the nerves to go through with his plan? Did he really have a hankerin to handle what was waitin for him out there in that white world beyond the plantation? Or, could he keep on stayin on the plantation all content like, and not be able to see his mama no more? The question that brought him the most worry was—was he up to doin what he had to do, even though it meant he might be hung up high on a tree just for thankin ‘bout it?

I tell you, the answers to all ’em questions wasn’t as plain and simple as one might thank. In order to reason them proper, Mechach had to git rid of the doubt that was pullin at him from inside. He was rightly fearsome for a short while. He didn’t expect it, but doubt rang in his heart like all of Massa Matthew’s supper chickens, who fretted just before I begins to turn them in the air wrangin they necks. They’s doubt was quick to last as soon as they necks broke. And that’s how he rid hisself of his hesitatin ’bout what he had to do. Freed to thank clear in his mind, the answers to his questions came to him just as quick as them chickens had gone on to glory.

He was beholdin to his mama, so there was only one real answer to them all—he had to find her like he promised.

Seein he had made up his mind ’bout what he was gonna do, I knowed right then, that livin the life as a slave on Massa Matthew’s plantation was over for him, forever.

He decided to go when the snores of Nebo and Sammy got louder outside the shed. He wanted to leave before they, and ever’body else, woked up and gots to stirrin ’bouts and gettin ready for the day’s work ahead of us when the light of the mornin come.

When the three of us set up straight on the floor, Ol’ Pappa reached over and used them keys to make sure Mechach’s legs was free. Then, he became real mad! So much so, that he threw the whole lot of them chains and irons up against that shed’s wall with all the strength and might he had in him!

Mechach looked at them chains and smiled at the two of us.

Soundin and speakin just like them white folk, he said to Ol’ Pappa, Don’t worry, Uncle, I won’t let you and my mama down.

Then he helped him up from the floor.

With his eyes all teared up, Ol’ Pappa pat him on the back and gave him his blessin.

That’s when I stood up and gave Mechach a hug.

When he pulled away from me, there was no other words that needed to be said. He just turned, walked out of the shed, took one last look at them boys on the ground sleepin, and headed for the woods.

Me and Ol’ Pappa watched him until he disappeared.

Them dogs, they didn’t bark loud after him like they always did when they gave warnin that a slave had left the plantation. The sounds that come from they mouth when Mechach ran away was a sad howl.

Run, boy, run! is what they was sayin to him.

In my heart, I was sayin the same, Run, boy, run! Run away to freedom! I hope to see you again one day.

CHAPTER ONE

When Mechach reached the edge of the woods, his feet sped along methodically touching the ground, as if the breath of the angels were forcing his steps, one after the other, farther and farther away from a lifetime of bondage and an oppressive master.

Matthew Goings, however, was not the kind of master who allowed his slaves to rebel against him or leave his plantation without severe consequences.

Usually, slaves who possessed such audaciousness would receive a harsh beating or a rope around the neck.

Mechach had no plans of pacifying the one who would perform the lashing or the hangman and his noose.

Knowing that a hunting party and the dogs would be formed as soon as they discovered he was gone, he dared not tarry. He wanted to get as much distance from them as possible.

He imagined what they would do if they caught him . . . they would bind him in chains and haul him back to the plantation to give him a good lashing in front of all the slaves.

Although the master’s daughter, Saard, didn’t think of him as a worthy individual, and would probably watch while they did it, Mechach couldn’t let the shame of being ridiculed or hung right in front of her take place.

She was one of the only two regrets he had after leaving the plantation.

Escaping the security watch of his friends, Nebo and Sammy, was the other. They would have a tough time with the master now that he had run away.

Like always, when they stood guard over a slave, that old, loud, tetchy, plantation rooster would have to wake them up as soon as the sun showed its first light.

As he suspected, their troubles began when it crowed its first early morning call.

Sammy squirmed where he lay on the ground at the entrance of the shed as soon as the initial cry out was made. When he first opened his eyes, he focused lazily at the shed’s door. While doing so, he realized something was wrong. He closed his eyes quickly once more and immediately reopened them again. His sleepy eyes had not deceived him—the shed’s door was opened much wider than he had left it the night before!

Nebo was still fast asleep, lying a short distance away from him on the ground.

Ohhh, my Lordy! We is in a heap of trouble! Sammy screamed aloud, before rousting Nebo forcibly on his shoulder. Nebo, you best be gittin up, and be quick about it!

Nebo responded groggily, What you want, Sammy?

Sammy spoke further. Oh no! Boy, you ain’t done gone and slipped away, is you?

Hearing those words from Sammy made Nebo become wide awake in a matter of seconds. He jumped up quickly, and threatened him. Boy, you better not be sayin what I thank you just said!

Nebo’s warning was deaf to Sammy’s ears.

Sammy was standing in front of the shed, worrying whether or not Mechach had escaped while he and Nebo were asleep. He was rubbing his head and darting his eyes from one side to the next, while doing a strange jig unknown to Nebo.

Nebo became very fearful about Sammy’s distress. Why you actin like you is, jumpin up and down so? You carryin on like a dang fool or somethin, Sammy!

Nebo, Sammy fretted wretchedly, I thank that boy done run off!

Nebo looked regretfully at Sammy, but was too afraid to look inside the shed to see if Mechach was really gone.

When the rooster crowed again, Sammy was still behaving strangely.

Nebo began to think Sammy had gone mad because he was acting so weird. He waved his hands in the air at him, trying to bring him to his senses. What be wrong with you, I say? Why you be sayin that boy done runned off? You did pull both of ’em irons shut real tight on both of his legs like the overseer said, didn’t you?

Sammy found it too difficult to express in words what was really tormenting him inside.

Nebo was just as frightened and alarmed as Sammy, but felt he had to get matters in hand as soon as possible. He had to think of something . . . and quick.

He ridiculed Sammy outright with expectation, trying to force some understanding from him. Now, Sammy, don’t you be foolin around crazy like you doin ’cause this be some real serious business we done got us self in! Come on now, tell me, it ain’t true what you thank it is, is it? Or you ain’t quite sure yet he gone, ’cause you was too dumb to look inside the shed and see if it be so, ain’t that right?

Hoping his mockery of Sammy was true, Nebo stepped slowly toward the shed, believing the master would have their hides if they had allowed the boy to escape. In hindsight, he wished he had secured both of the leg irons on Mechach’s ankles himself instead of leaving the responsibility to Sammy.

When he looked inside the shed his worst fear became true—Mechach was gone!

Dang it! he shouted aloud.

Sammy looked at him, guilt-ridden and ashamed. By the time the cock crowed its last wake-up call, a weak numbing feeling was felt in his legs. He was too scared to do, or say anything. He tried really hard to speak, but his words were muted.

Scared and weary at heart, Nebo looked up toward heaven, hoping for divine intervention. He tapped the side of his head with his right hand softly, over and over again, all the while praying to God, asking him to immediately intercede and help them.

Sammy stood stoically watching him pray. He wished he too could pray his way out the mess he had gotten them into. Because he was so terrified, he couldn’t come up with one solitary word of prayer.

What we do now, Nebo? he asked frightened.