Free Tangled Passion by Stanley Ejingiri Page A

that at the Dublac River, a boat unfailingly arrived on specific nights to pick up escaping slaves. But she hoped that the old man would tell her something else—the story of the mysterious boat had never been authenticated.
    “There is also the other option, which I told them about,” PaNene continued, politely ignoring the question by pretending that he hadn’t heard her. He had no reason to blame a woman who was asking questions about the welfare of her daughter. “Now if they choose to, they can remain right here in Dominica; they could go to Morne Diablotins—you have heard of Morne Diablotins I assume.”
    “Yes,” Marecia replied, nodding at the same time. “I thought Morne Diablotins was another fairy tale,” she added, still finding it difficult to believe that there was a part of the island where the Massas couldn’t reach.
    “Those who believe it to be a fairy tale do so because they are too cowardly to even imagine such a possibility. Why? Well because they know that they’d never be a part of it so they live in denial, they bury their heads in the sand and vehemently oppose the truth.”
    Marecia nodded once again; she had sensed some anger in the old man’s tone and duly informed herself that any more questions would have to wait till another meeting between them.
    “The brothers up in Morne Diablotins know the territory very well, better than the Massas and whenever they receive signs that a slave or slaves has escaped, they go out and find the slaves and take them to the Hilltop, or assist them to escape to the island of the free slaves,” PaNene concluded in a tone of finality.
    Marecia had listened attentively to the old man, she had observed his effort to allay her fears and convince her that everything would be all right with the young couple and she respected him for his effort.
    After a brief silence, and an awkward moment of ‘what now?’ Marecia broke down. “Why did they decide to go?” she asked, sobbing softly.
    Although PaNene found her question a little stupid, he sensed and understood the fear and love behind it. He also understood where the senselessness in her question was rooted. Taking a deep breath, as he paused for a few seconds, he tried to convince himself not to say what he would have really loved to tell her in response to what he considered a stupid question. Because, they chose to do what we should have done a long time ago and because they'd rather die and be over with this misery than be walking corpses in this Fort. The old man had patience for a lot of things but certainly not a question like the type Marecia had just asked. He didn't know if she understood his response; he strongly believed in what he said and really didn’t care what anybody thought.

Chapter Fifteen
    T hey had been walking the pitch-dark tunnel for a dreadful and spine-chilling period of time—it seemed more like five days than the actual five hours it was. Now, with the exact distance that they still needed to cover before exiting the tunnel not known to them, and the fear of deadly creatures lurking in the dark corners of the tunnel, Ashana and Jonah remained glued to the same spot like kids lost in an unfamiliar territory.
    When they finally mustered enough courage to continue, it was with extreme caution; one slow step at a time. It was more relief to raise their feet off the ground than it was to return them; the fear that their feet might end up in the jaws of a hungry reptile was nagging.
    “I am scared, Jonah.”
    “Me too but we will make it through,” Jonah replied, squeezing Ashana’s palm gently. He wished he could believe himself about making it through; in fact on more than one occasion, he’d questioned his decision to escape.
    “I fear that the monster snake is coiled up in some corner, watching our every move,” Ashana whispered into Jonah’s ear.
    Jonah nodded. What if Ashana was right? What if the giant snake was keeping an eye on them? There was no doubt it could