Free Dear Austin by Elvira Woodruff Page A

out:
    “What'11 you give fer this healthy-looking young buck? Why, jest look at his back. Not a mark on it, no sir.”
    I was about to walk away when I heard the auctioneer's excited voice declare, “And he comes with this here finely carved walking stick—bet he workedit himself. Why, this little bird at the top looks like it's ready to take to the sky. That's a talent with wood, that is. Just how talented are you, young buck? Let's see how talented you are with your feet. Can you dance for these fine folks?” The overseer cracked his whip and the crowd roared with laughter.
    Stunned, I turned my head in time to see the auctioneer waving Darcy's walking stick in the air. And beside him on the platform stood Jupiter, stripped to the waist, his eyes wide with fear as the overseer's whip cracked across his legs.
    “Oh, Jupe!” I cried. “Oh, no! Oh, no!” I am out of paper and can write no more.
    Levi

September 1853
    Dear Austin,
    I found this auction bill and so am writing you a letter on the back. Jupiter was about to be sold off, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
    “He's not a buck! He's a boy!” I shouted at the auctioneer. “He's a boy, and he's got a name. His name is Jupiter Hale.”
    I felt my heart pounding against my chest as everyone turned to stare at me.
    “Well, thank you, son, fer that powerful piece of information.” The auctioneer flashed a smile, but I could see his anger boiling behind his grin. “Truth is, this ain't no church social, so if you ain't biddin’, you best keep quiet, lest you get mixed up with those that are.”
    They don't want to know him, I thought as two men beside me stepped forward to get a closer look. They don't want to know him at all.
    He's Jupiter! I wanted to shout at them. He can talk without words. He's got a dog called Whistle and a sister named Darcy. He can dive off Widow'sRock and whittle better than anyone I know. He's afraid of snakes, but he's brave enough to walk through a swamp full of them and gators, too.
    But I didn't say any of those things. Instead I just stood there silent and helpless as the auctioneer started the bidding again. My eyes shot back to Jupiter, whose forehead was beading with sweat. His eyes were big and glassy with fear, and he was trembling badly.
    If only we had stayed home, Jupe, I thought. If only we had stayed home.
    But we were a long way from Sudbury. He was standing up there all alone, just as he had done at Widow's Rock. Only this was worse, much worse, because this wasn't going to end with one dive. This could go on and on for the rest of his life! I remem-bered Possum's brother telling us about the slaves sold to the cotton fields and how badly they were treated. How their entire lives were used up and spent under the lash of an overseer's bullwhip. I shuddered at the thought of Jupiter's life taken away from him like that.
    A man beside me called out, “Three hundred dollars.” A voice in the back of the crowd called out, “Four.”
    “I have four, do I hear five?” the auctioneer shouted.
    Jupiter bit down on his lip as the overseer tugged on the rope that bound his hands. I felt a fit of hiccups coming on, but I shook them off. Jupiter was doing his best to stay strong, and I had to dp the same.
    “Four going once, going twice…”
    My eyes filled with tears, so that I couldn't see.
    “Be still, oh, mah heart,” a voice suddenly sang out from the back of the crowd. “I'll give you five hundred dollars.”
    “Sold!” the auctioneer declared, lowering his gavel on the wooden podium in front of him.
    I climbed back up on the edge of a water trough and was able to see the crowd parting as men tried to steer clear of the latest buyer. A buyer wearing a corn-shuck hat and carrying a powerful stink on him!
    “Fergus!” I cried, jumping off the trough.
    For it was Fergus! Fergus T. McGrath himself, who had bid on and bought Jupiter for five hundred dollars! And you know, Austin, I didn't care how bad he