Blood Moon Over Bohemia

When they reached the Mulatto camp, Sanon was outside waiting for them on his porch. “I knew you were coming,” he said, greeting them with a hug. “Those clouds up there, covering the sun, they look threatening, no?”
“I noticed them earlier, but I don’t smell rain,” Abraham said.
“You won’t,” Sanon said. “There will be no rain this evening. Only clouds settling over this place.”
“Tell us,” Hester said. “What do you feel?”
Sanon sat down and gestured for them to join him. He pointed to Hester’s pail. “What is this you bring me?”
“It’s my father’s land,” Hester said. “I want to carry it with me.”
Sanon smiled and took the pail from Hester. “You shall, child. Leave it with me. Now tell me why you came.”
“It is happening,” Abraham said. “Everything you predicted. The Senate voted to take our land to build a spillway. From the river to the sea, it says. The House votes in July, but I don’t see them doing anything different.”
“Yes, we will be gone, tossed away into the wind to scatter across the land,” Sanon said, “but we mustn’t let them take our spirit because, when the time comes, that’s all we will have left.” Sanon looked pointedly at Hester. “You, child. You must pull from within. You have lost before, and you shall lose again, but you must stay strong. I know you want to fight, but this is already determined. Look at those clouds. In them, you will find truth. There is no stopping the forces that plot against us.”
“But why are they doing this?” Hester asked.
“There is a greater reason,” Sanon said. “This land has value to them, a value we cannot see. All will be revealed in time, and then a great fight will commence. A fight that will be won and lost at the same time.”
“Pardon me, but you speak in riddles, Sanon, “Abraham said. “I don’t understand.”
“Then you must simply accept that which you cannot understand. Do not fight them. You cannot win. Accept what they offer and begin anew with an open spirit. Take the past with you and keep it close. When the time comes, we shall be victorious, but that time is not now.”
“What will you do?” Hester asked.
“I will cross the river, as well. It is not to my liking, but there is nothing I can do. My power lies in healing. Like you, I will have to find my way. Now excuse me for a moment while I take care of this.” Sanon pointed to the pail of soil.
While they waited, Abraham reached for Hester’s hand. “We will get through this together,” he said. “It won’t be easy, but I’m sworn to care for you, and I will.”
Hester looked up at him. “You have taken good care of me, husband, but even you can’t make this better.”
“We have to make the best of it, Hester. If we don’t, they win.”
“Then they win because I see nothing good in this. We can’t just go buy new land.”
“Claude will buy it using our money and then deed it to us. We’ve already discussed it,” Abraham reassured her.
“Claude and Anna-Marie do too much for us already. Folks talk about it, you know.”
“Let them talk,” Abraham said. “Claude and Anna-Marie sure don’t care, and neither do I. They could never understand what Claude and I went through in the war or that Anna-Marie doesn’t think like others do. We are lucky to have them, and we should always remember that.”
Hester nodded. “Yes, we are. Look at Isaac. Already, he can read and write. Anna-Marie says he’s very smart. She treats him as well as she treats her own children.”
“That’s because we’re family. That’s how she sees it.”
“I wonder how the folks across the river are going to see it.”
“We can worry about that when the time comes,” Abraham said. “Until then, we must ready ourselves and make our plans.”
Abraham stood up when Sanon returned and handed a large piece of damp clay to Hester. “What is that?” he asked.
“It is to place in a sacred spot on your new land,” Sanon said. “I have mixed the soil with the clay. This stone now carries the spirit of Bernice and Big Jake and Isaac. You will take their spirits with you.”
Hester placed the stone on the railing of the porch and walked out into the yard, searching until she found the perfect stick—thin, but sturdy. She carried it back to the porch and began carving her parents and brother’s names into the stone. Underneath their names, she drew a cross. When she finished, she turned to Sanon and gave him a hug. “Thank you, my friend. Now I can take them with me. I will forever cherish this gift you have given me.”
“Your parents were strong, and now you, too, must be strong,” Sanon said.
“I will be. I will make you proud. I will make them proud.”
Sanon smiled. “That is all you can do, child.”
Hester and Abraham said their good-byes and walked back to the landing with Hester tightly clutching the stone to her chest. Along the way, Abraham noticed that his wife had a new spring in her step. The dark mood that had engulfed her for months seemed to have lifted. And when she smiled at him—not the half smiles she had attempted for a long time, but a bright, sunny smile—his heart soared. His Hester was back.
He said a silent prayer of thanks. Together, they would get through this. Together, they could get through anything.
Still sitting on his porch, Sanon stared at the storm clouds gathering in the dreary sky. Worry furrowed his brow. He had said so little, but he knew so much more. Troubled times were coming. Troubled times indeed.