That evening, James and me find the church, stand outside to wait. Sure enough, here come Boyle and before he can enter the church we pull him into the shadows. It take a little while to convince him to take us on board, hide us for a fee, but finally he agree to do it. Tell us to come back the next night before him sail and he make it easy for us to stow away.

A day to wait so we head back to camp. I leave James to get a small fire going while I head to the creek to get us water.

The heat of summer is no longer in bloom, but it is a beautiful night. At long last, these old bones start to feel alive. I get to the creek, dip the billy in, have a long drink, fill it up, drink again, the cool sweet water. For a moment, it feel like me a pickney back beside me little rock pool. It give me pause to see how far I come, how far I travelled. And I sit down by the river with the weight of it, listening to the sounds of the night.

The longer James and me stay free, the more me hopes start to rise that maybe we going make it to a world of freedom. I start to wonder what life going be like in this world, with nobody chasing after me. But try hard as I can, I can’t seem to settle on a future. All the dreaming I done only take me so far. I must start a new dream, one not chasing after freedom, but one where freedom is already taken.

I look up at the sky covered in stars, and know that sky, those stars, stretch from the land of my birth to where I am now. And a lightness start to bubble up inside. A lightness I never feel before, and I come to know what it is. Is the lightness of freedom. I don’t have to wait to find it. I have survived. Me whole. Me free. No matter what happens now, I have tasted it, and it taste so very sweet.

Me bout to head back to camp when a patoo in a far-off tree begin him lonely hooting. I hear the voice of Calla warning me.

‘When patoo call out, you must listen hard. Try find out the message she trying to tell you.’

And I take to heart that word of caution from the patoo. Know James and me need to be on the lookout for trouble, for the fate that might be stalking us.