Showing results by author "Bonnie Turner" in All Categories

The train ride was going to be the first trip the twins had ever taken. Tilley and Faith Hall had just met their absentee father, Tillis Grasdon, a few weeks before; now they are going to live with him and his mother, Agnes. They have their new clothes in new suitcases, for their life of extreme poverty had never afforded them anything new until now. With promises of the finest schools and a better life in Roanoke, Virginia, they leave their mother, Marcie Hall, and Wilmington, NC, behind them.

It would be just another beautiful day in the Deep South, if you were not a slave. Off in the distance, the Whip-poor-will is softly singing, lying to everyone, like all is right with the world. How can it be so happy when a child is lying naked in the hay, while its very young mother, covered in blood, is worried she will be killed for having him? What if Madam Tibbs found her child, the very blonde heir to Tibb's Plantation? The hanging trees in the woods are calling her name, "Lucinda, come float from my branches, sweetmeat, for you girl, have blasphemed God and your Master Tibbs."

Mag stiffened her backbone before glancing up at the slight movement on the third-floor window: A woman, really only a shadow, stood behind the sheer flowing drapes. Mag felt the intense hatred of the glaring face. Shyly lowering her gaze, Mag realized the maid Dansie already hated her too. It had to be Dansie, for Joe said they were the only females there. Thoughts ran through her mind, "Just run, girl," as she hesitated to step up onto the porch. After that step she was obligated to go inside; but east to west, there are woods all around calling to her.

Tilley galloped into Judge Joe Blackwell's yard, trying not to think of what she had just witnessed. Jasper had rushed home after he had asked her to marry him yesterday, to a woman who had to be five months pregnant, his Ann. Why didn't he just tell her? But then she told him she didn't care; it was not as if she didn't have enough shit going on in her life at the moment.

This is our story, and you will tell it someday. It is a sad tale of perseverance, overcoming many hardships, but not once in that journal let it be said that Tilley Hall gave up. She fought for her life and her sister's; whether it was a man or a nasty old bear, Tilley always won. You, dear sister, will always win.