Mosana - Part XIX
EPISODE 19
I wondered what to do with the diary. It offered a lot of possibilities, but I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to alter my plans.
The answer presented itself soon enough. I would incorporate the diary into my plans. Big word, I know. But then, I had read a lot in Ed’s house.
Contrary to what I originally thought, the diary didn’t alter my plans, it aided them. It provided me a way to get rid of Master Wells permanently. Because, you see, I couldn’t keep poisoning him to get him out of the house each time I wanted newspapers. But it would require a lot of work. Fortunately for me, I was a hard worker. So while I formulated a by-plan for activating the power of the diary, I read the newspapers and gathered as much information as I could.
I got more than I had hoped for from the newspapers. More than just telling me who the founders were or the names of likely abolitionists, the papers also gave a clue as to the locations of the Underground Railroad network of safehouses - stations. As the newspapers reported on slaves who had successfully run away from their owners, they inadvertently hinted on the places the slave could have hidden. No slave could have gotten from here to there without help. They would have stayed somewhere, eaten somewhere, gotten a change of clothes somewhere, someone would have given them a ride, and so on.
As I read, I mapped out the routes with my eyes and my imagination. A church, an iron factory, a farmhouse, a horse cart carrying corn, a port… Help was everywhere, if only we knew where to look.
My imagination wasn’t enough. I needed visuals. Guessing from old newspapers wasn’t enough. I needed to see the routes.
Which kicked in the next phase of my plan - going outside the gates.
As Master Wells was out of commission, somebody had to run the errands. And I knew it would fall on one of the slaves. And I also knew which slave it would fall on.
Gabe.
It wasn’t hard to deduce. There were other grown, able-bodied male slaves in the Manor apart from Flint and Gabe, adults and adolescents alike. There was Sole, Manny, Harvey, Richard, Peter and Castor. And any one of them Madam Russell could send on an errand. But none of them had a sister like Gabe did, whom she could use as insurance. She was assured that Gabe wouldn’t try to escape if she held his sister ransom.
So I prepared Gabe for this. I told him exactly what to look out for and how to mark the routes in his head so he could report back to me. I knew he was going to be escorted too, most likely by Amy. She would do the buying while Gabe would do the carrying, while Jerome stayed with the carriage.
I needed one more thing. A diary. One that looked exactly like the one I had pilfered from Master Wells’ room. And for that I needed another important thing. Money.
This meant that before the next time they would go into town for grocery shopping, I had to find a way to steal money from either Amy, Madam Russell or Master Wells.
I tried Master Wells’ room first. There was nothing there. Either the man didn’t have any money or he didn’t keep it in his room.
Next was Amy. She was the most likely to have money lying around. She was a spoiled socialite who went out often, so she was bound to spend a lot of coins. But I couldn’t wait around until I was given the opportunity to serve her. At that time, Judy was the one who took her tea up to her in her room every morning. I stopped serving Amy the day she found out that Flint and I were together. She couldn’t stand seeing my face.
When I finally gave Judy her task, the girl was ecstatic. She eagerly asked me for pokeweed with wide eyes. I told her to calm down; that wasn’t the plan. As simply as I could, I explained to her what I needed her to do. She was to look subtly around the room as she served Amy and try to note the likeliest place Amy would keep money. I couldn’t have her going in there blindly, without knowing where to look. She needed to know exactly where the money was, so that when it was time, she could steal in there and take it for me.
Judy was a bit disappointed that her task didn’t involve Amy shitting on herself. Nevertheless, she carried out her instructions adeptly. When she brought me the coins, I almost reprimanded her for what she brought. She swiped a lot, like she wanted to go grocery shopping herself. All I needed was a few coins to purchase a diary and she brought me money for a dozen diaries. I only hoped that Amy wouldn’t notice that her money was gone.
She didn’t.
I gave a few coins as I felt was needed to Gabe to carry about. I wanted him to be prepared. I didn’t know if he would be able to reach me the day the Russells were ready to go shopping.
I was right. I only saw the carriage drive through the gates. I didn’t even know when Gabe was summoned to accompany Amy to the market. I had earlier shown Gabe the diary, so he would know what to buy. I emphasized that I needed the exact same one. My whole plan depended on it.
I waited pensively for the carriage to return, and Gabe along with it. It occurred to me that now would be a good time to run. Madam Russell was alone in the house and any number of us could overpower her. A number of objections rose up in my mind at the thought of that. One, there was no carriage. Well, actually, there was more than one. But the rest were secured behind a steel door behind the house. The Russells owned carriages they weren’t using. And Jerome had taken the only carriage in use. We wouldn’t be able to get far on foot. None of us had ever been outside and we didn’t know the routes into town. The Manor was deep in the countryside and surrounded by trees. Two, the gates had been secured from outside as soon as Jerome left. Three, Gabe’s sister, Ari, was in the house with Madam Russell. There was no telling what that witch would do if a rebellion was to ensue. I couldn’t risk harming Gabe’s sister. He would never forgive me.
So I quelled my thoughts and waited. Gabe finally arrived with good news and bad news. As soon as he was released from grocery duty, he ran to me. I looked all over him for any sign of a diary, but didn’t see any. Before I even had a chance to ask him, he told me, ‘I couldn’t get the diary, Mosana. The mistress had her eyes on me all the time. I couldn’t get away from her. I just followed her around with the bags.’
‘But did you see the diary?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, sorta. I saw the section for books and all. But I couldn’t get there.’
‘And the routes? Did you note anything?’
‘Yes. I know the road now. Wasn’t that hard to get. Just have to go through a narrow road in between a few trees…’
‘And what about landmarks?’ I asked again. ‘Anywhere we could hide?’
Gabe stuttered. ‘I saw a few farmhouses. It’s mostly farms and fields all around, but there’s a church and I noticed one… no, two iron factories, black-owned.’
He looked happy with himself but I was exasperated. I needed that diary. Master Wells was going to come out of the hospital at any moment. I had to do what I wanted with his diary and return it before he got back. Well, the decoy diary, that is.
I paced back and forth with Gabe’s eyes on me. I needed to act quickly if all was going to fall in place like I’d planned.
‘Are you alright?’ Gabe asked. ‘I did good, didn’t I?’
I almost laughed. He was worried about pleasing me. Ever since I told Gabe about my plan to escape the Manor, he looked at me like I was Athena, the Greek goddess of war skill and intelligence. He did everything I said without asking, and even bullied his sister to do as I said without objecting.
‘Yes, yes, Gabe. You did alright. It’s just that I need that diary. And before Master Wells comes home too.’
‘When do you think they’d go into town again?’
‘Uh, I don’t know. Maybe in a couple o’ weeks or so.’
Master Wells would be back before then. I couldn’t wait. Which meant one thing:
I was going to have to put Amy Russell out of commission too.
I wondered what to do with the diary. It offered a lot of possibilities, but I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to alter my plans.
The answer presented itself soon enough. I would incorporate the diary into my plans. Big word, I know. But then, I had read a lot in Ed’s house.
Contrary to what I originally thought, the diary didn’t alter my plans, it aided them. It provided me a way to get rid of Master Wells permanently. Because, you see, I couldn’t keep poisoning him to get him out of the house each time I wanted newspapers. But it would require a lot of work. Fortunately for me, I was a hard worker. So while I formulated a by-plan for activating the power of the diary, I read the newspapers and gathered as much information as I could.
I got more than I had hoped for from the newspapers. More than just telling me who the founders were or the names of likely abolitionists, the papers also gave a clue as to the locations of the Underground Railroad network of safehouses - stations. As the newspapers reported on slaves who had successfully run away from their owners, they inadvertently hinted on the places the slave could have hidden. No slave could have gotten from here to there without help. They would have stayed somewhere, eaten somewhere, gotten a change of clothes somewhere, someone would have given them a ride, and so on.
As I read, I mapped out the routes with my eyes and my imagination. A church, an iron factory, a farmhouse, a horse cart carrying corn, a port… Help was everywhere, if only we knew where to look.
My imagination wasn’t enough. I needed visuals. Guessing from old newspapers wasn’t enough. I needed to see the routes.
Which kicked in the next phase of my plan - going outside the gates.
As Master Wells was out of commission, somebody had to run the errands. And I knew it would fall on one of the slaves. And I also knew which slave it would fall on.
Gabe.
It wasn’t hard to deduce. There were other grown, able-bodied male slaves in the Manor apart from Flint and Gabe, adults and adolescents alike. There was Sole, Manny, Harvey, Richard, Peter and Castor. And any one of them Madam Russell could send on an errand. But none of them had a sister like Gabe did, whom she could use as insurance. She was assured that Gabe wouldn’t try to escape if she held his sister ransom.
So I prepared Gabe for this. I told him exactly what to look out for and how to mark the routes in his head so he could report back to me. I knew he was going to be escorted too, most likely by Amy. She would do the buying while Gabe would do the carrying, while Jerome stayed with the carriage.
I needed one more thing. A diary. One that looked exactly like the one I had pilfered from Master Wells’ room. And for that I needed another important thing. Money.
This meant that before the next time they would go into town for grocery shopping, I had to find a way to steal money from either Amy, Madam Russell or Master Wells.
I tried Master Wells’ room first. There was nothing there. Either the man didn’t have any money or he didn’t keep it in his room.
Next was Amy. She was the most likely to have money lying around. She was a spoiled socialite who went out often, so she was bound to spend a lot of coins. But I couldn’t wait around until I was given the opportunity to serve her. At that time, Judy was the one who took her tea up to her in her room every morning. I stopped serving Amy the day she found out that Flint and I were together. She couldn’t stand seeing my face.
When I finally gave Judy her task, the girl was ecstatic. She eagerly asked me for pokeweed with wide eyes. I told her to calm down; that wasn’t the plan. As simply as I could, I explained to her what I needed her to do. She was to look subtly around the room as she served Amy and try to note the likeliest place Amy would keep money. I couldn’t have her going in there blindly, without knowing where to look. She needed to know exactly where the money was, so that when it was time, she could steal in there and take it for me.
Judy was a bit disappointed that her task didn’t involve Amy shitting on herself. Nevertheless, she carried out her instructions adeptly. When she brought me the coins, I almost reprimanded her for what she brought. She swiped a lot, like she wanted to go grocery shopping herself. All I needed was a few coins to purchase a diary and she brought me money for a dozen diaries. I only hoped that Amy wouldn’t notice that her money was gone.
She didn’t.
I gave a few coins as I felt was needed to Gabe to carry about. I wanted him to be prepared. I didn’t know if he would be able to reach me the day the Russells were ready to go shopping.
I was right. I only saw the carriage drive through the gates. I didn’t even know when Gabe was summoned to accompany Amy to the market. I had earlier shown Gabe the diary, so he would know what to buy. I emphasized that I needed the exact same one. My whole plan depended on it.
I waited pensively for the carriage to return, and Gabe along with it. It occurred to me that now would be a good time to run. Madam Russell was alone in the house and any number of us could overpower her. A number of objections rose up in my mind at the thought of that. One, there was no carriage. Well, actually, there was more than one. But the rest were secured behind a steel door behind the house. The Russells owned carriages they weren’t using. And Jerome had taken the only carriage in use. We wouldn’t be able to get far on foot. None of us had ever been outside and we didn’t know the routes into town. The Manor was deep in the countryside and surrounded by trees. Two, the gates had been secured from outside as soon as Jerome left. Three, Gabe’s sister, Ari, was in the house with Madam Russell. There was no telling what that witch would do if a rebellion was to ensue. I couldn’t risk harming Gabe’s sister. He would never forgive me.
So I quelled my thoughts and waited. Gabe finally arrived with good news and bad news. As soon as he was released from grocery duty, he ran to me. I looked all over him for any sign of a diary, but didn’t see any. Before I even had a chance to ask him, he told me, ‘I couldn’t get the diary, Mosana. The mistress had her eyes on me all the time. I couldn’t get away from her. I just followed her around with the bags.’
‘But did you see the diary?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, sorta. I saw the section for books and all. But I couldn’t get there.’
‘And the routes? Did you note anything?’
‘Yes. I know the road now. Wasn’t that hard to get. Just have to go through a narrow road in between a few trees…’
‘And what about landmarks?’ I asked again. ‘Anywhere we could hide?’
Gabe stuttered. ‘I saw a few farmhouses. It’s mostly farms and fields all around, but there’s a church and I noticed one… no, two iron factories, black-owned.’
He looked happy with himself but I was exasperated. I needed that diary. Master Wells was going to come out of the hospital at any moment. I had to do what I wanted with his diary and return it before he got back. Well, the decoy diary, that is.
I paced back and forth with Gabe’s eyes on me. I needed to act quickly if all was going to fall in place like I’d planned.
‘Are you alright?’ Gabe asked. ‘I did good, didn’t I?’
I almost laughed. He was worried about pleasing me. Ever since I told Gabe about my plan to escape the Manor, he looked at me like I was Athena, the Greek goddess of war skill and intelligence. He did everything I said without asking, and even bullied his sister to do as I said without objecting.
‘Yes, yes, Gabe. You did alright. It’s just that I need that diary. And before Master Wells comes home too.’
‘When do you think they’d go into town again?’
‘Uh, I don’t know. Maybe in a couple o’ weeks or so.’
Master Wells would be back before then. I couldn’t wait. Which meant one thing:
I was going to have to put Amy Russell out of commission too.
__________________________________
Hey you!
No long author's note today; I'm tired.
But who noticed how Mosana sometimes thinks like the Professor in Money Heist ;D
She plans her moves ahead of her opponent's and anticipates their reactions.
The Professor should recruit her, don't you think?
Till Sunday,
xoxo,
Ava.
Yes he sure needs to... Mosana is Smart
ReplyDeleteVery smart daughter i got there. I'm proud of Mosana
ReplyDeleteLol.
ReplyDelete