The Forty Acres
THE FORTY ACRES
It was a hot Mississippi afternoon & some freedmen were
waiting for Morrisons store to open so they could buy stakes
they needed to stake out their 40 acres. Rumor had it that
the plantations north of town would be split up within three
or four weeks; some men from Baltimore had come down to sell
the stakes.
Everyone came to town early because the stakes
would go fast & when they ran out, nobody knew how long it'd
be before they could get more in, & no one wanted to take a
chance of missing out.
According to word going around, the
mules they were all promised could only be delivered after
everyone staked out their 40 acres of land.Eltheda Smiff,
JonnieBlue a few others were all sitting under an oak tree
watching Bigelo strap a razor. No one ever knew what Bigelo
might do next, & even Col Bybee watched him carefully when-
ever he was around.
"I just don't trust Bigelo," Col Bybee
had told Eltheda many times before he had set them all free.
Nobody left the plantation then, even though Col Bybee had
come out & told everybody they should leave now. One thing
did know, nobody carried a razor to town & strapped it in the
middle of the morning, but no one had the nerve to ask Bigelo
what he planned on doing with it, either.
He sat on the porch
with his back leaning against the store front, right next to
the door, & every now & then he would look at Eltheda & grin.
"What do you suppose he gon do wi'dat razor?" "No good I
bet," said Eltheda.
They knew Bigelo had been telling every-
one that he was going to get his stakes,even if he had to
steal them. The last Eltheda knew, he still didn't have the
money to buy the stakes, but was still swearing by god he
would get them one way or another."You reckon he crazy
enough to try an rob his stakes from dem men from
Baltimore?" JonnieBlue asked.
"Who knows how crazy he is,"
laughed Eltheda.
"Gon be forty acres more for us." Col Bybee
got everyone together & told them that it was a lie,
& no one
would ever get 40 acres or a mule. But nobody believed him &
then just a few days later somebody said they saw it in a
newspaper & then the three men from Baltimore showed up with
a wagon load of boxes that they said contained specially
forged US Government Land Stakes they were to sell for one
day only.
Bigelo got to his feet & went & looked into the
store through the dusty window.It was almost time for it to
open & Bigelow was getting impatient.He was all of six feet
tall & Eltheda knew he would never want to spend too much
time around Bigelo. "I gon be free today!" Bigelo
proclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Gon get my 40 acres
an' be free, dat or I'm gon be free some other way, but I be
free today!"
He pranced around on the porch waving his razor
like he was jabbing & cutting at someone."He gon be free
sure nuff,"laughed Eltheda.
"We gon bury that fool today in his 40 acres I reckon."
Bigelo went up to the front door
& began banging on it.
"I want my stakes!" he shouted."Open
up & give me my stakes now!"
Suddenly the front door opened
& a man came out, shoving Bigelo aside. "What's going on
out here?" said the man. "What's all the racket."
"You one of dem men from Baltimore?" asked Bigelo.
"That'sright," said the man."Alright everbody come in one at a time
to buy your stakes. Let's do this in a orderly fashion."
"I got here before anyone else," shouted Bigelo.
"Then you go first!" said the man.They both went into the store
& closed the door. It was real quite for a minute then they could
hear voices getting louder inside like an argument was
going on.
"Sound like he not gettin his stakes,"laughed
JonnieBlue."Sound like it," Eltheda agreed. Then they heard
a loud yell from inside & two gunshots.The door suddenly
crashed open & Bigelo stumbled outside, waving his razor
above his head. Blood pumped out from his chest & all over
his gunny sack shirt.
"I is free!" he yelled, & fell face down in the dirt.
© ron wilson aka Vee Bdosa
the Doylestown Poet
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