This book was created and published on StoryJumper™

©2010 StoryJumper, Inc.   All rights reserved.

Publish your own children's book: 

www.storyjumper.com

A bell on the plantation started ringing at sunrise.   Marie sat up, 

rubbing the sleep from her eyes.   She took off her thin blanket, the 

only blanket she had.   She looked around her small cabin; to her 

right lay her mom, also just now waking up.   On her mom’s other 

side lay her 9-year-old sister, Lucy.   Marie’s dad had been sold a 

few years ago, when her master had been in debt and had needed 

the money, and Marie really missed him.   This morning, when the 

bell rang, Lucy sat up.   She looked at Marie and asked, “Why do 

we need to get up so early?   It’s not fair.   Sarah doesn’t have to 

get up so early.   She gets up almost three hours after us!   And she 

doesn’t have to work in the fields.   And she knows how to read and 

write, and she’s not even as old as I am!   It’s not fair!   Why us?”

    Marie sighed.   Her sister just didn’t understand their situation, 

and Marie was worried that that fact combined with her 

forgetfulness to adress their master’s family with the proper 

respect could lead to trouble.   She told her sister, “Miss Sarah, 

Lucy.   Not Sarah.   Miss Sarah.”

    This immediately propmted a complaint from Lucy.   “Why do I 

have to call her Miss Sarah? And why is she treated so much better 

than us?”

 Exasperated, Marie replied, “You have to call her Miss Sarah 

because she’s your mistress.   If you’re disrespectful, she could sell 

you.   She owns you.   She gets treated better than us because she’s 

white, and she’s free.   We’re not.   It’s just the way things are.   The 

sooner you accept that, the better things will be.”

    Lucy sighed, and replied, “You say that everyday!   It doesn’t 

make anything better.   You still get punished!”

    Marie replied, “If you go to work and start saying disrespectful 

things about your master, you’ll get punished badly.   And you’ll 

probably get sold.   Then you won’t be with Mama and me.”

    Lucy looked scared.   “Really? That would be really bad.   I don’t 

want to get sold away from you!”

    At that moment, Mama sat up.   “Come on, girls,” she said.   “You 

can’t waste so much time talking.   Eat your bread and get to the 

fields.”

    “Yes, Mama,”   Marie said.   She stood up and walked across the 

cabin to get a slice of bread for herself and one for Lucy.   The bread 

would be the only food they would have until supper, when they 

were done in the fields.   She gave Lucy her slice and said, “Eat it 

quickly.   We have to get to work.   And while you work, remember, 

show 

respect to your owners.”

    “Yes, Marie,” Lucy responded, sighing.   She and Marie ate their 

bread quickly.

    “Come on, now, Lucy.   Let’s get to work.”   Together the two girls 

walked out to the fields.   Work in the cotton fields was usually 

backbreaking.   When they picked the cotton, they had to be really 

careful not to prick their fingers on the sharp thorns.   If they did, 

then in addition to the pain, they had to clean the blood off the 

cotton, which was no easy task.   This morning however, Mr. Owens, 

the overseer, stopped the two girls on the way to the fields.

    “Come with me, you two,” he grunted at them.

    Marie followed him, giving Lucy’s hand a reassuring squeeze.  

Marie couldn’t figure out why Mr. Owens had told them to follow 

him; they hadn’t done anything wrong, and they were on time for 

work.   Suddenly, Marie wondered if it was because of Lucy’s 

disrespect for her mistress, but Mr. Owen’s hadn’t hear that.   And 

even if he had, why would he bring Marie along also?   Marie had 

been telling Lucy to show proper respect.   So Marie just followed 

him silently across the fields.   ‘We’re going to the Big House,’ Marie 

realized with a jolt.   But why?

 “Follow me, you two,” Mr. Owens said, opening the door.   “And 

don’t touch anything.”   He led them through the halway and stopped 

in front of a door.   He turned around to look at them, and told them, 

“You’re not to speak unless spoken to.   No matter what.   Do you 

understand that?”

    “Yes, sir,” the two girls responded.   Mr. Owens opened the door 

and led them into the room, where Master and another gentlemen 

sat talking.

    “Your girls, sir,” Mr. Owens announced, addressing the men in 

the room, and then backed out.

    The gentelman turned around and looked up and down at the 

girls.   “These seem like a fine pair,” he said to Master.

    “They’re fine field hands,” Master told the gentelman, “although 

you may need to teach the younger one some respect.   The older 

one knows her place.   If you keep them together, you shouldn’t 

have a problem with the younger one; the older one shows her 

sister how to show proper respect.”

    “I’ll take them,” the man told Master.   “Just give me the papers; 

I’ll sign them and give you the money.”

    Master handed the gentelman some papers. “Here they are,” he

said.   “They’re ready for your signature, and then they’re all yours.”

    The man signed the papers, and handed Master quite a bit of 

money.   “Here you are.   They’re mine now.”

    Master noded. “Indeed,” he said, smiling.   Turning to the girls, he 

told them, “This is your new master.   You belong to him now.   Do 

you understand that?”

    Marie’s mind raced in panic.   She was getting sold!   She could 

only imagine what Mama would think when she and Lucy didn’t 

come home that night.   At least she was going with her sister, 

instead of Lucy being sold alone, away from everyone she knew.  

But Mama was going to be all alone.   First Papa had been sold, and 

now both Marie and Lucy.   But right now, the only thing she could 

do was obey her new master, and protect Lucy.   “Yes, sir,” she 

responded to her now-former master.   “I understand.”

    She squeezed her sister’s hand, driving her nails into her palm.  

Marie hoped Lucy would get the message and idicate that she 

understood Master.   Lucy’s voice sounded very shaky when she said 

“Yes, master.”

    Marie and Lucy’s new master chuckled and told their former 

master, “She seems respectful enough to me.”

Their former master responded, “If her sister wasn’t there, it would 

be another story.   I’m warning you now.   I honestly don’t know how 

the older one learned such respect.   Their mother is more like the 

the younger one.”

    “And their father?” asked master.

    “Gone nine and a half years ago.   Before the younger one was 

born.   Doubtful the older one remembers him.”

    They were talking about the girls as if they weren’t there.   It was 

true Marie didn’t remember her dad very much.   All she could 

remember was a warm smile and the discriptions Mama gave her.  

And he had been sold while Mama had been pregnant with Lucy, so 

she had never seen him, never known him.   And it was also true 

that Mama did not show as much respect towards Master since 

Papa had been sold away.   Part of Marie hoped Mama would see 

them leaving and come to try to say goodbye, but the other part of 

her didn’t want Mama to get into more trouble coming to say 

goodbye.   Marie knew the men wouldn’t let her be with them, and 

her seeing them would only cause more trouble, both for Mama and 

for Lucy and her.

    Their new master got up and told the girls, “Follow me.”     

You've previewed 14 of 22 pages.

To read more: