Free Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom

where he got to.”
    â€œI don’t have no brother,” I say, talking fast so his crying don’t start up again, “but I got a bird.”
    â€œA bird?” he asks, but I don’t answer when I start thinking of how a bird got me here. I got all kinds of questions, and when I think of them, each one scares me more. Who is that Skinner? Where is he taking me? Is he a slave catcher like my daddy said? Is he gonna sell me? Will I be a slave? Will they cut me up like they did my daddy?
    â€œWhat gon’ happen to us?” Randall asks.
    â€œI don’t know,” I say. When he scuttles over close to me and starts to cry, stink and all, I start to cry myself. That stops him and he looks up at me. “Is you cryin’? Is you scared, too?” Then I remember my mama’s friend Sheila and how she takes care of me when I was small as him. “I’m too big to cry,” I say, and put my arm around him. “You just hold on till I can think of how to get us out of here.”
    W E WAS JUST layin’ there when Skinner comes down and slips in our sick and starts yelling so loud that Randall starts to shake all over.
    â€œWhat kinda mess did the two of you make?”
    â€œWe got sick, is all,” I say.
    â€œWell, you’re gonna clean it up!”
    â€œWhere are you taking us?” I ask. “Where are we going?”
    â€œNever mind,” he says. “I’m gonna bring you water, and I want this mess cleaned up!”
    It don’t take long before he comes back with a bucket and a rag. After he leaves, I wash the two of us down as best I can, then I clean up the floor. The only light that we got is from the trapdoor on top of our heads that got a ladder, and that’s where Skinner comes down to bring us our food. Randall don’t want the hard bread and cheese, but I know we got to get something in our stomachs, so I tell him, “I’ll take a bite, then you take a bite,” and that’s the way I get him to eat a little bit.
    The next time I see Skinner, I ask him again where we’re goin’.
    â€œNone a your business,” he says.
    â€œBut I want to go back home!” Before I know it I start yellin’ at him. “Where are we goin’? You got to tell us where you’re takin’ us!”
    He walks over and stands right in front of me and talks real quiet. “I guess you don’t hear me the first time. I said it’s none a your business.”
    I don’t care no more. I got to know. I stop yellin’ and straighten myself up and try to sound like Robert. “I believe that it is my business,” I say. “You brought me here to see—” His fist winds up and catches me and I go down.
    â€œGet off a me!” Skinner yells, and I see Randall, who’s been hanging on to Skinner’s arm, go flying against the wall, where he plops with a yelp like a puppy.
    After Skinner goes, I try to sit up, but I can’t and Randall crawls over. When I moan, he whispers, “Is you hurt? Is you hurt bad?”
    While I lay there, Randall sits close beside me, waiting, his hands squeezed together tight in his lap, and I still can’t believe that he tried to fight off Skinner.
    â€œI wish I was brave as you,” I say.
    â€œI want my mama,” he says, and even though he don’t make no sound of crying, water is coming from his eyes.
    â€œTell you what,” I say. “Soon as we get to land, I’ll write to Mr. Burton. He’ll come for us.”
    â€œYou can get us outta here?”
    â€œYup,” I say. “I’ll send a letter to Mr. Burton, and he’ll come.”
    Randall grabs at my hand. “An’ you take me with you?”
    â€œâ€Šâ€™Course I take you with me,” I say. “I’m not goin’ no place without you.”
    After that, I find what looks like a old sail and wrap us both in it, ’cause we’s cold. Even