Another Tribe

Part 8 Human property

Julii had spent many of the things Robert called "minutes" staring at him, wondering if the brown man had hit him in the head. Nothing he said made any logical sense, and now he was shouting to drive his point home. "Why can't you understand? That buck is someone's property!"

Julii's confused silence caused Robert to speak even louder. "Don't you see? Someone in the South has lost a great deal of money because that nigger and his woman just up and lit out. I should return them, it is my duty to return them to their rightful owner for a good whopping, and the nigger knows it."

Looking closer into Julii's confused face, he sounded bewildered. "But now I don't know. He could have gotten me killed right here by them Yankees but he didn't. Why in the hell didn't he do that?"

Had she understood him correctly? She thought she knew everything there was to know about the meaning of the words "owner" and "property". They were burned into her memory because Robert had shouted them at her by the waterhole after he found the damage to his sword.

He made it clear that his sword and his horse were "owned" by him; they were his "property" and not to be used by just anyone. She had a very strong feeling that in the context of the big brown man, "property" was going to mean something awful. She asked for clarity: "What is property?"

Robert's answer was curt: "You know what property is." Robert lifted his sword, then pointed to his horse. "These are my property. I own them."

Julii looked at Robert in wonder. How could a human being be property? The concept of ownership was hard enough for Julii to understand; in her tribe no one really owned anything, but surely a human being cannot be property.

Slowing her voice, Julii asked for clarity one more time: "Are you saying someone owns the brown man and the brown woman?"

Robert's answer sounded matter of fact: "That's exactly what I'm saying. Someone is way out of pocket right now."

Then he added, almost as an afterthought: "And now there's the child, of course."

"The child?"

She waited for a reply, but Robert was already thinking about other things. She pushed him for an answer by asking: "The child has just been born. How can she be someone's property?"

Standing up, Robert walked to his horse and removed the saddle. Julii had to repeat her question. Robert didn't even look over his shoulder as he said: "It's the law. All niggers are owned by their masters, even the pickaninny."

"Pickaninny?"

She had liked the sound of that word when it was said by the men outside the thicket. She liked it so much, she had repeated it silently in her mind: pickaninny, pickaninny, pickaninny. But now she thought of it as a horrible term for such an innocent being and she hated its sound.

"Yeah, even them nigger kids have value too."

Once again, Robert sounded like a man whose words should be making sense as he added: "Especially a foal from a fine breeding couple like them two niggers. Like I said, somewhere in the South a man is missing his property, probably a good hard-working man, a decent God-fearing man who won't be able to harvest his crops this year."

Turning to look at Julii, he spoke with empathy: "A man who would have paid a lot of money for them niggers. I wouldn't be surprised if niggers as strong as him and her can cost upwards of a thousand dollars to replace. Maybe even more, the way this war's going."

Julii simply could not grasp this reality. Her Robert did not feel any compassion for the nice brown couple. Her Robert, the man she loved, just felt sad for the man who owned the nice brown couple. This was the act of a monster, not her shiny pink-white man.

Julii was trying to understand how Robert could justify anything he had just told her, when the big brown man returned through the thicket still effortlessly carrying his woman and child. There was no sign of effort in his breath or his words as he said: "Them Yankees've gone further on down the road."

Robert's body was tense with rage. Keeping his back to the brown couple and a surprised Julii, he shouted: "Why'd you go and save me?"

"Didn't save you."

The big brown man nodded in Julii's direction. "Saved her."

Laying his woman on the ground, he stood up to face Robert and said: "She's a kind lady. She's got a good heart. Lucky for you she loves you, or you'd be in the hands of them blue boys right now."

Julii watched the turmoil raging within her Robert, and then it hit her: Red nigger! Did he see her as a human being, or was she his possession like these brown niggers were someone's possessions?

Then something even more sinister dawned on Julii; Did Robert let her travel with him because he intended to sell her? Was that all she was to him? Simply a means of making that word he taught her by the waterhole? Profit? Was she there to make him a profit?

She watched Robert stare at the brown man and ask: "Why'd you come back in here? You know I'm duty bound to turn you in."

The brown man pointed to the haunch of venison still attached to the saddle laying on the ground. "I ain't got no choice but to take the chance I can lick you. You got food and water, and my woman ain't feeling too strong right now."

Robert moved to stand between the brown man and the venison. "That food's for us. We can't spare any."

Julii was angry. She felt like being a defiant possession. She walked to the saddle, removed the haunch of venison, and barked an order at Robert: "Make a fire. These people need feeding."

Her words made Robert rebel. Once again, his body became taught and rigid like an immovable tree. He was clearly not used to taking orders from anyone, let alone a "red nigger" "Injun". He spat on the ground defiantly. "You don't tell me to make a fire to feed no niggers."

"How about feeding a red nigger?"

Julii stopped and stared defiantly into Robert's eyes. She was angry enough to risk her life now. "Or if feeding your red nigger possession isn't important to you, do it for yourself. I know you white men need to eat because I've been feeding one for weeks."

Turning her back, Julii walked to the brown man and handed him the venison. Turning to the brown woman, she took the little baby girl lovingly from her exhausted arms. She could no longer look at Robert. Anger was subsiding, leaving pathetic fear in its place. She hoped that her tone had removed the need to stare Robert down because she was too scared to do it again.

All Julii could do now was wait and keep her back to Robert while she held the baby and her nerve. She simply did not know what was going to be her next move if he refused to make a fire.

Julii could not see what her bitter words had done to Robert but the brown couple could

Robert's taut, proud body became supple with shame and embarrassment. Her angry words had cut him down, not like a tree would be cut down - he was still ornery and proud - but he was wounded.

If a tree could be wounded, that is how the brown couple would have described Robert's demeanor. Resigning himself, Robert simply went obediently about making a fire.

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