Virginia Hamilton Read Free Page A

that!”
    â€œYay suh!” Big Walker said instantly, eyes downcast.
    â€œSo you see, Anthony,” said he Mars, “Walker feelin’ ashamed of himself for hittin’ you. He don’t mean to. But you must never again give him cause. You must think, and be thankful that you are taken care of. Do right the first time. Remember that, Anthony.”
    Anthony remembered. “Yays-surah,” he said softly.
    â€œThen, let’s ride!” he Mars said. And they rode. Gone were Anthony’s tears and hurt. Oh, how he loved a strutting pony! Sitting there in the most favored place in front of he Mars himself, as long as Mars’ own boy, Charles, was off in school, made Anthony instantly, completely, happy.
    They rode in the early morning. For he Mars did not care to have neighbors see him ride holding Anthony on the saddle with him. It was all right if his own property saw, but that was all. He Mars never paid much attention to Anthony at other times. But when they rode, it was as if the two of them were in a worldof their own. He Mars then held Anthony close and would brush Anthony’s cheek with his own while talking to him.
    The field and house word was that Anthony was he Mars Suttle’s own boy. It was a fact that Mamaw labored in the Suttle kitchen, cooking all the food for the big house and the field hands and taking care of he Mars’s sitting room and Master’s bedroom. Missy Suttle had her own upstairs maid.
    It was true, Anthony’s skin was lighter than that of most property. And his mamaw was indeed a breeder woman. She was made to have a baby each year so that he Mars would increase his holdings. Still, nobody knew for certain whether Anthony was he Mars John Suttle’s second son. Word along the cabin row was that the big, tall Walker was who he belonged to.
    But Anthony knew nothing of this.
    They rode. Anthony was in paradise. He could smell the pony. He could smell the scent that he Mars poured onto his pocket cloth each morning. A clean handkerchief it was that Anthony’s mamaw had readied for him, all ironed and starched, just the same as she prepared his riding clothes. Nobody touched he Mars’s clothes but Mamaw. And it was she who put the scented cloth in his pocket.
    It wasn’t an enormously large estate that Mars and Mistress Suttle owned. But it was big enough to keep Anthony and Mamaw and all her thirteen children. It kept his sister’s and hers.
    â€œIf we havin’ be someplace,” Mamaw said, “this ole place ain’ worser than any.”
    Soon paradise came to its end. Whenhe Mars questioned him about what he had seen, Anthony knew the time to ride was almost over.
    â€œI seen all I wanted,” Anthony told him. “Yays-surah, I seen the chickens. I seen the cows and the horses. I seen fields and barns. Woods, too.”
    â€œAnd what about the rest of my property, Anthony? What about them in the fields, watering the horses and plowing; those feeding the chickens and milking the cows. And your own Mama Janety householding for Mistress?”
    Anthony took his time to think. He was smart, and so he remembered. “I seen all them,” he said carefully. He knew he Mars to be full of tricks. Anthony stayed alert and ready.
    â€œYou seen my own other property, Anthony?”
    â€œYays-surah!”
    â€œLike cows and horses, what do you say, Anthony?”
    â€œYays-surah!”
    â€œAnd what are they called, Tony, boy? What are they all called?”
    â€œSlaves!” he said triumphantly. He’d got beyond all he Mars’s tricks. And he was safe. “Slaves. They callum slaves.”
    â€œRight you are, lad,” Suttle murmured, nuzzling Anthony’s neck. But then, more sternly, he said, “ My slaves, boy.”
    â€œYays-surah, they yo’ slaves. They my slaves, too,” Anthony told him.
    â€œWh-what?” Mars Suttle peered down in shock at