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Chapters (153)
  1. Beulah Land
  2. Dedication
  3. PART ONE
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. PART TWO
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. 11
  38. 12
  39. 13
  40. 14
  41. 15
  42. 16
  43. 17
  44. 18
  45. 19
  46. 20
  47. 21
  48. 22
  49. 23
  50. PART THREE
  51. 1
  52. 2
  53. 3
  54. 4
  55. 5
  56. 6
  57. 7
  58. 8
  59. 9
  60. 10
  61. 11
  62. 12
  63. 13
  64. 14
  65. 15
  66. 16
  67. 17
  68. 18
  69. 19
  70. 20
  71. 21
  72. 22
  73. 23
  74. 24
  75. PART FOUR
  76. 1
  77. 2
  78. 3
  79. 4
  80. 5
  81. 6
  82. 7
  83. 8
  84. 9
  85. 10
  86. 11
  87. 12
  88. 13
  89. 14
  90. 15
  91. 16
  92. 17
  93. 18
  94. 19
  95. 20
  96. 21
  97. 22
  98. 23
  99. 24
  100. PART FIVE
  101. 1
  102. 2
  103. 3
  104. 4
  105. 5
  106. 6
  107. 7
  108. 8
  109. 9
  110. 10
  111. 11
  112. 12
  113. 13
  114. 14
  115. 15
  116. 16
  117. 17
  118. 18
  119. 19
  120. 20
  121. 21
  122. 22
  123. PART SIX
  124. 1
  125. 2
  126. 3
  127. 4
  128. 5
  129. 6
  130. 7
  131. 8
  132. 9
  133. 10
  134. 11
  135. 12
  136. 13
  137. 14
  138. 15
  139. 16
  140. 17
  141. 18
  142. 19
  143. PART SEVEN
  144. 1
  145. 2
  146. 3
  147. 4
  148. 5
  149. 6
  150. 7
  151. 8
  152. Copyright
  153. Books by Lonnie Coleman published by Classica Libris (digital editions)

Clovis nodded regally; Turnip climbed back into his seat, clucked to the horse, and they moved off at a walk. Peeping from windows and doors and from behind tree trunks and outhouses, their old acquaintances watched them, and all was well and quiet until Sallou, standing at one of the kitchen windows, lost control of her senses and began to laugh hysterically. The sound set others off, who had observed before in mere tense curiosity. As the carriage went past them and around the house to the front drive—Turnip had also been instructed that he was not to take the back road—it was more than Clovis could bear. Her face burned, her mind and heart raged within her, and without willing it, she stood in the carriage and twisted her body to look back at the laughing Negroes who had come out from their hiding places. Shaking both fists in the air, she screamed, “Ignorant slaves! I got slaves of my own now! See me? See!”

In a panic that told him to move, Turnip whipped the horse into a trot, and the carriage was soon out of sight of those in the yards. Roman sat in a crotch of limbs in an apple tree in the orchard and watched them pass. As the dust rose from the drive and drifted in waves over him, he said to himself, “Now, I am free.” But there were tears in his eyes. He knew she hated him. But she was his mother, and he would never forgive her.

4

In April, Roman was sixteen, half the age of his father Leon, and only a little beyond the age Leon had been when he fathered Roman. Yet the two of them, in the sixteen years both had been on earth together, had exchanged no more than a hundred words, all of them impersonal. Leon had always avoided the boy, and often did not speak when they met by chance. He disapproved of and ignored as much as he could Sarah’s friendship with him. He admitted his paternity, but only as a physical fact, and privately. Roman was more a stranger to him than was any other human soul on the plantation. To Roman, Leon was a total mystery, and one that fascinated him.

He could not conceive of Leon’s ever having desired his mother Clovis. His mental discord at imagining their bodies linked together even in blind lust was such that he could not think straight. That was because he could not imagine his father and his mother ever having been the age he now was and feeling the things he now felt.