The next morning, Mary was still sleeping. As she woke up, she felt something lumpy under her bed. She got up and lifted her blanket to see Charlie hiding under her bed.
"What are you doing??"
"Hiding. The Fletchers are out looking for me. So, Regina said I could hide here."
"Gina!"
"We had to," Regina replied. "After what happened last night, I doubt they'll ever forgive him."
Suddenly, the girls heard the whistle. "Oh no, rollcall!" Mary exclaimed. "Help me hide him!" The girls hid Charlie in a chest in front of a nearby bed. Mary then hid under her bed, and Regina stood in front. As the children were lining up, the Fletchers walked in. Mary watched Mrs. Fletcher walk back and forth while marking her clipboard. That's when she noticed something odd.
"Where's Mary?" No one dared to speak. Regina just stood still and quiet. "I said: Where. Is. Mary??"
Once again, silence. Regina was stiff, yet she was calm. She could hear Cato whispering a silent prayer. Then...
"You!" The lady tyrant marched up to Regina and shouted: "You raised that troublemaking nigger! Now, tell me where she is!"
At first, Regina didn't say anything. Her friends looked and waited for her answer. Charlie peaking through the keyhole of the chest and saw a composed Regina and a steaming Mrs. Fletcher. Mary noticed Mrs. Fletcher's hand on her whip. Any wrong answer will earn Regina a good slashing. She braces herself for what will happen when Regina said:
"She ran away."
It was silent again after Regina's answer. The evil Fletcher just sneered at her. Mary saw the woman relax her grip on the whip and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Go clean." With that simple order, the children went on to do their daily chores. Mary heard Mrs. Fletcher say to her husband: "Make sure you find that girl...and that boy, too. The only worse than a nigger is a Yankee who helps niggers."
After the Fletchers left, Mary crawled out from the bed and went to help Charlie out of the chest.
"Comfortable?"
"Not really," he replied as Mary pulled him out. "Ow...I had more room in my mom."
"Charlie, you don't have to stay here. You need to get out of here."
"And leave you? I rather have the Fletchers kill me than let that happen. I mean, you said it yourself: your family is important to you."
"Charlie, that's very sweet of you, but your life matters, too."
"Without you...I wish it did." And with that, he walks out of the bedroom to meet with Leon outside.
YOU ARE READING
The Diversity Story
Historical FictionIn 1950s Alabama, Mary, an African American teen, desperately tries to help her friends leave an orphanage run by a cruel and racist couple: the Fletchers. One night, she meets Charlie, a white Yankee who happens to be from New York, located up Nort...
