AS LONG AS I LIVE I WILL NEVER FORGET THE LOOK OF PANIC ON HER SWEET YOUNG FACE AS SHE SLID OFF THE FLIER. I DOVE DOWN TOWARD HER BUT I COULDN’T GET THERE QUICKLY ENOUGH. LITTLE EMILY WAS SLIPPING OFF THE FLIER AND I COULDN’T SAVE HER. IN A MOMENT SHE WOULD BE GONE—AND THAT WOULD BE THE END OF HER.
***********************************************************************************************************
SUMMARY: THE STORY SO FAR…
Josiah, a young slave 12 years of age, lives in a cabin in the slave quarters of a Virginia tobacco plantation with Auntie Bee, Mose, the plantation handyman, two young children, Randall and Emily. He notices Mose leaving the cabin in the middle of the night and follows him to his secret workshop in the woods where Mose is building some sort of strange contraption. Mose tells him it is a machine that will fly him to freedom. Now that he knows Mose’s secret, he stays to help build the flier. After mishaps, false starts and setbacks—the flier tumbles down the mountain and is seriously damaged—they are attacked by snakes—mountain lions lurk all around them—they realize someone has been spying on them and they think their escape plan has been discovered. Finally, their time has come. Now they are in the air, riding on the wings of the wind.
********************************************************************************************************
Poor Emily. I didn’t know how to get her up with us. I reached down to her, stretching my shoulder almost out of the socket. She had to let go in order to grab my hand. Grappling with my fingers, she struggled to hold on. But she could not get a strong grip.
She tried to wrap her little fingers around the wood but she didn’t have the strength to hold on. A moment later she was slipping down again. I watched in horror as her little legs went over the side with the rest of her body following as her arms reached out for me in desperation.
As long as I live I will never forget the look of panic on her sweet young face as she slid off the flier.
I let go and dove down toward her, stretching as far as I could. I reached for her but I couldn’t get there quickly enough. Emily was sliding over the edge. She was going down.
Little Emily was slipping off the flier and I couldn’t save her. In a moment she would be gone—and that would be the end of her. My heart nearly stopped.
Suddenly, her downward slide stalled, then stopped. The poor girl was barely hanging off the edge of the flier, arms flailing, her bare legs kicking the air. I couldn’t see what was keeping her on the flier—she wasn’t holding anything. But, at least she was still within reach.
I had to get to her fast while she remained stuck. I slid down the incline to where she was dangling helplessly and saw the fabric of her dress caught on a sharp splinter in the wood frame. That stopped her fall long enough for me to grab her arms and pull her up.
Holding her in a tight bear hug with both my arms, I steadied myself by setting my feet on the wood frame. With all my strength I hoisted her toward me. I would never let go because if I did, I knew she would be lost forever. I vowed to hold on, even if her weight started pulling me down, even if we both fell.
And if that ever happened, I was alright with it. The flier was riding so high it would take a long while for us to reach the ground, enough time for us to say our prayers.
With the three of us still clinging to the upended flier, I had to find a way to lower the incline so we could ride flat. How could I right the flier? More weight on the high side, I thought. That should restore our balance.
“Hold on to me,” I hollered. Emily wrapped her arms around my neck so I could free my hands. I reached up for the wood frame at the high end of the flier, grabbed it and held tight. With Emily holding on, I pulled
the two of us up. Randall was there already, sitting awkwardly, paralyzed in fear because of the steep angle of the flier.
I inched closer to the high edge. Now with three of us on one side of the flier, I felt the bed lowering under the weight. The side of the flier that had tilted dangerously upward, was slowly dropping. We were straightening out.
I wanted to make sure we held our position. To keep the flier stable, we had to distribute our weight evenly.
“Get to the middle!” I yelled to Randall. “Come on! Move! Quick!”
Now that the flier was riding fairly flat and even with the ground, Randall was able to crawl to the center of the bed. I joined him there along with Emily. We could breathe again. We were safe for now.
I was completely exhausted. We all were. We could not move, not a finger, not a toe, not an eyelash. All we wanted to do was sleep.
Tired as I was, I glanced at the mountains in the distance. I was relieved to see that they were on our left side where they were supposed to be. We were back on course. We were heading north.
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Friday, June 11th 2010 at 8:32AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
