The New Era
Will, the new head supervisor of Cedar Grove Plantation, rose from his bed early, well before dawn. Usually, a slave who had attempted to escape would be ostracized for a long time even after returning, but Will had been entrusted with the role of leading all the slaves on the plantation.
It wasn't that he felt burdened.
The person originally slated to be the head supervisor of Cedar Grove was his closest friend, Mark. It would be one thing if he had taken the position because Mark had done something wrong, but he was filling the void left by a friend who had died after performing a great service.
His resolve was naturally different, but just two days ago, his master had said this:
“If it’s too much of a burden, I can pass it to someone else, so just say the word whenever you like.”
“No, sir. I must fill Mark’s place. But why me, of all people…?”
“Because you are the only one who has seen the outside world.”
He was truly a peculiar man.
From what he had heard, other plantation owners treated Black people who had seen the outside world like ticking time bombs, yet this man claimed that was exactly why Will was important.
Of course, it might be because the workers on this plantation lived in a much better environment than the laborers outside. But was the only reason he had been hired to contrast the horrific truth of the North with the comfortable life of the plantation?
Will’s premonition that there was more to it than that grew stronger by the day.
But thinking too much only led to fatigue. For now, he was the head supervisor who had to fill Mark’s shoes. There was a mountain of work to do.
Will began to tour every corner of the plantation to check the situation.
In front of the farm tool warehouse, the place that used to be noisy with the shouting of overseers or supervisors was quiet. Instead, the new supervisor was pointing at a board hanging on the wall.
[Today's Work List]
1. Sector 3 Primary Weeding (Complete)
2. Farm Tool C-3, C-4 Repair and Oiling (In Progress)
3. New Personnel Tool Usage Training (Afternoon)
“Just do it exactly like this. I checked yesterday’s work log, and you used the wrong parts when repairing C-2. Check page 3 of the manual again.”
“Got it. But these damn letters are still confusing no matter how much I look at them.”
“It’s still better to look at them. Did you forget that you got chewed out by Mr. Jonathan three times last time?”
After the craze for literacy education blew through and the master introduced what he called 'work manuals,' the plantation's efficiency had skyrocketed once again. Now, everyone knew what they had to do and could confirm how to do it through documents.
There was no need for him to intervene here. Will moved his steps toward the place he needed to check most diligently, and which was simultaneously the most incomprehensible to him.
It was a building constructed separately on one side of the plantation, noisy with the voices of children. It was called the James Wall School.
“Now, shall we review what we learned yesterday? If you add the squares of these two sides of a triangle… what do you get?”
“The square of the hypotenuse!”
“Good. That is a² + b² = c², the Pythagorean theorem.”
Will watched this bizarre scene while leaning against the back door. Why on earth… did they need to know things like that?
“Teacher! But where do we use this? Can’t we just measure the length of the field?”
“That’s a good question. But what if we need to build a bridge across the reservoir later? What if we need to measure the distance to the other side of the river? That’s when you use it. Now, next is geography. Who can name the three longest rivers on the European continent?”
“Me! The Volga! The Danube! And… uh… the Ural River!”
“Close! The Ural River is a boundary line. The last one is the Dnieper! Now, everyone look at the map together….”
Will felt dizzy. Pythagoras? European rivers? His brain couldn’t understand, not even by a speck of dust, what that had to do with cotton.
These children weren’t learning how to distinguish cotton grades, how to read the weather, or how to handle farm tools. Of course, it wasn’t that they didn’t have time to learn such things at all. But the children identified as particularly bright within the plantation were gathered separately like this to learn things that only wealthy white people would normally learn.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were learning knowledge that wasn’t needed for even a single second in a slave’s life.
It was a truly insane thought, but…
‘…Does the master… not intend to raise those children as slaves?’
Will couldn’t help but harbor this strange suspicion. Otherwise, there was no way to explain this bizarre waste.
“Ah, Supervisor Will. You’re here. Perfect timing. Everyone! Today, Supervisor Will is going to tell you about his experiences in the North.”
The children’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. The real story of the North, told by the ‘50-cent man.’ Will awkwardly stepped in front of the podium. The master’s words echoed in his ears.
‘Don’t speak of the North as worse than what you experienced. Just tell them exactly as it is. That will be enough.’
“Right… the North. Boston. You all think it’s the land of freedom, don’t you? I thought so too when I went looking for it.”
He could feel the children swallowing their saliva, focusing on him.
“It is freedom, alright. The freedom to freeze to death. The freedom to starve to death. The freedom to work 14 hours a day and get paid 50 cents. And the freedom to get beaten by white bastards for no reason at all.”
There was no exaggeration. It was just the facts he had experienced.
“Here, if you’re sick, you go to the hospital, right? Over there, if you’re sick, you die on the street. That’s all there is to it.”
Confusion and a hint of fear settled in the children’s eyes.
“Still, it wasn’t all bad. You could scrape together money somehow, buy a ton of booze like there was no tomorrow, and then just not show up for work the next day. Because you could just go work somewhere else.”
“But wouldn’t that be a loss for you in the end?”
“That’s right. It’s my loss. But because I could do those things of my own will, I managed to endure it by somehow winning the mental battle.”
Will finished his mission by speaking of his experiences and feelings without adding or subtracting anything. As the day’s work drew to a close, a courier on horseback kicked up dust in the distance and galloped toward Cedar Grove Plantation.
“Will! Supervisor Will!”
“What’s the matter?”
“A message from the master! This evening! The opening game of the inter-plantation baseball tournament! Sett Plantation versus the Other Plantation Alliance!”
The tension that had been frozen on Will’s face melted away, and a smile spread across his face.
“Damn, the time has finally come.”
Sett Plantation, which housed the most slaves, possessed by far the best baseball team in Mississippi—no, in the United States. To balance the scales, an all-star team had been formed from external plantations, including Cedar Grove, and Cedar Grove had achieved the feat of producing five of them.
He shouted toward the barracks.
“Everyone, get ready! Grab your bats and cheering gear! Let’s go crush those high-nosed first-string bastards!”
“Wooooo!”
The compatriots of Cedar Grove burst out, cheering.
“Let’s go! The master is waiting!”
Will slung the bat Mark used to use over his shoulder and set off.
Crack!
“Wooooo!”
“That’s it! A double! Run, run!”
The inter-plantation baseball tournament. Since it wasn’t fun to just play league games within the same plantation, it was an tournament introduced to provide a bit more thrilling tension. If more time passed, wouldn’t it be good to divide the leagues entirely and hold a regular season, followed by playoffs like the autumn baseball games?
“Yes, good! Well done!”
“Ah! How can you throw a fastball right down the middle there! You should have thrown a changeup!”
Cecilia, who had become as addicted to baseball as I was, was giving sharp advice from the side while drinking wine.
“Oh my, look at that pitcher. He’s completely exhausted. Will is going to hit one off him.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Can’t that overseer over there even find the timing to change the pitcher?”
I lifted the cold beer glass placed beside me. Leo habitually filled my glass and handed a freshly fried chicken leg onto my plate.
“You drink too. It’s a festival today.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Leo didn’t decline, quickly filling his own glass and taking a bite of the chicken leg. Sarah, Leo’s wife, was sitting next to Cecilia, eating the prepared fruit while watching the game.
“Sarah. How is the hospital these days? Work hasn’t increased because of the many new family members, has it?”
“Ah, it’s fine. Rather, the system is in place, so everyone is adapting quickly. Everyone is also learning well how to make oral rehydration solution.”
“Good. Hygiene management is the most important thing. Especially for mothers or newborns…”
The moment I tried to continue, Sarah suddenly covered her mouth.
“Ugh…!”
“Sarah? What’s wrong? Is your stomach upset?”
Cecilia patted Sarah’s back with concern. Sarah waved her hand, saying she was fine, but her face had turned deathly pale. Then, she gagged once more.
“Oh my…”
Cecilia’s eyes went round. Could this be… that?
As I looked back and forth between Sarah and Leo with a similar thought, Cecilia nodded enthusiastically.
“That’s right, that’s right! This is definitely…”
“Wait! Let’s go to the hospital right now! Cici, please go to the hospital with Sarah. Get her examined by the doctor immediately.”
I jumped up from my seat. It felt like my brain, which had been loosened by the alcohol, was spinning rapidly again.
“There will be many people giving birth from now on! Create a separate obstetrics ward at the hospital! Write a newborn hygiene management manual immediately, and we need to plan a special diet for mothers! Postpartum care… that might be too much, but we will definitely pay attention to the mothers’ health recovery!”
Leo was bewildered by the commands I was pouring out, but Cecilia was already excited, holding Sarah’s hand.
“I’ll go with her. Let’s go, Sarah. Quickly!”
The two women disappeared toward the hospital with quick steps, and Leo was still looking at their retreating figures with a blank expression. I tapped the shoulder of Leo, who was wearing the most foolish look in the world.
“Snap out of it, man. You’re going to be a father. Congratulations.”
“Ah… father? Me…”
Leo tried to open his mouth to say something, but he just stammered, his face a mix of emotion and bewilderment.
That was when it happened.
Crack!
The stadium erupted in cheers. It was Will. He had taken the first-string pitcher’s fastball with the bat Mark had loved and sent it flying over the fence.
“Home run!”
Will slowly threw the bat, looked up at the sky once, and slowly circled the ground.
“Will! Will! Will!”
“Mark! Mark! Mark!”
In the spectator stands, Will’s name and the name of his friend Mark, whom he had stood in for, erupted together. Leo, who had been watching the scene blankly, opened his mouth.
“Master.”
“What.”
“Why… why do you go this far?”
“What do you mean? Taking care of the mothers’ health?”
“Just… including that, all of this.”
I took a sip of beer.
“Why, indeed. Because I want to eat well and live well.”
I shrugged, pointing around the plantation.
“Over a thousand slaves. Militia major. It’s a speed of success that’s on a different level from an ordinary planter, isn’t it?”
“But you could have just exploited and abused them like other planters… and you would have been able to enjoy wealth and a life similar to the current level, Master.”
That was true, too. Certainly, no matter how much I said this was for me, they had brains, so they would want to know my motives in their own way. I gestured to Leo. It was the seat right next to where Cecilia had been sitting.
“Come here and sit.”
Leo sat down cautiously. It was a spot where he could vividly see Will entering home plate to the enthusiastic cheers of everyone, and hundreds of Black people dancing, completely intoxicated by the festival atmosphere.
“How does it look.”
“…It’s good. It’s good to see.”
“Me too.”
I poured another glass of beer and took a long sip.
“It was good in His sight. That’s enough. Is there a need to add various reasons and argue about it?”
I continued in a low voice.
“Even if all the existing order is overturned and whatever chaos comes to this land, isn’t it the best that I can still have a good time with you all, eat delicious food, and be this happy?”
And after filling the empty beer glass to the brim, I handed it to Leo.
“How about it? Not bad, right?”
Leo stared at the glass with slightly reddened eyes, then cautiously accepted it with both hands.
“That really… is not bad.”
Clink!
We emptied our glasses together. Soon, an unprecedented situation would occur where the president would resign. And the new era that Breckinridge had proclaimed would arrive. Even if that future, unlike the wishes of Breckinridge or the citizens of the Union, was not full of only hope and happiness.
I, and everyone on this plantation.
We were now ready to welcome the new era.