When Stars Intertwine

Chapter 11

For the next couple of days, Harry made sure he collected every interesting story that happened to him everyday. Sitting down in that chair besides her bed became the highlight of his nights. They slowly became comfortable with each other. Their conversations grew from patients, to life, books, funny stories and general talk.

On this day, Harry was in her room telling her a funny story.

"After ten minutes, I walked towards the farm house. As I walked, I heard something coming behind me,....when I turned around, I saw an angry bull charging towards me. Feeling hopeless, I knelt down to pray...."

"You did not," she said looking amused.

"Yes, I did, I knelt down and prayed to God and asked for help. Then I heard a loud voice from the sky saying, 'My son! your only miracle right now....is to run!"

"What?!" Annabel exclaimed and broke into a loud laughter, "for a second I thought you were telling me a real story."

"It's a real story," he shrugged.

She laughed even more. He looked at her affectionately enjoying her endearing laugh. He loved it when she laughed, which was a lot. She was a bubbly young woman lost in the world full of hate.

"Tell me about yourself," he said.

"What?" she asked under her laughter.

"Tell me about your life," he said again.

She stopped laughing and said with a smile,
"My life is not that interesting Dr. Walker, its mostly what you saw when you found me and worse."

"Tell me about the woman that taught you to read and write."

"Mrs. Bilson," she smiled wistfully, "she took me in as a house slave when I was seven years old, after my mother died. She was the kindest white woman I have ever met....mostly to me. People called me her pet, and sometimes I felt like one. She wasn't always very kind, but she was kind enough for me to like her."

"What happened to her?"

"She died of grief after her husband died," she had a serious look on her face, "and that's when everything changed for me...." she paused, "I was sold by Mrs. Bilsons son's wife....and I've been resold four times since."

They both remained quiet for a long time. He could tell that her mood had changed, he had just sent her back to a dark place. He felt stupid for asking such a question. 'What did I expect to hear about her life ....that she had a beautiful family in the north living in a nice house with a rose garden?' He was mad at himself.

"I'm sorry....I shouldn't have asked you that."
She shook her head with a stoic smile and said, "It's okay, there's no need to apologize, my life is just a different story from the ones you're used to
hearing."

Harry felt like an idiot, guilty too.

"I am sorry, I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you," he said and squeezed his eyes.

"It's not your fault," she said, but Harry couldn't help but feel like it was his fault, after all, he was white and his father was a slaver.

***

The following night, Anna gave up waiting for Harry to come and give her medicine and tell her stories or just talk like they did. She had become like a child who relied on her parent's bedtime stories to sleep.

She had never told Christine or anyone about her story time with Dr. Walker, she knew their unconventional friendship would be misinterpreted. She believed he hadn't told anyone either. She had come to believe that he was just a kind caring person, maybe a male version of Mrs. Bilson, but better.