David, Wallis and the Mercenary Chapter Seven


Leon comes home to Eleuthera
Previously in the novel: Leon, a novice mercenary, is foiled in taking the Archbishop of Canterbury hostage and exchanging for an anarchist during the Great War by a mysterious man in black. The man in black turns out to be Edward the Prince of Wales.

Leon Johnson walked down the gangplank of an ancient freighter. In his pocket was most of the British pound sterling the mysterious young man in black had given him in the depths of Canterbury Castle. He told Leon to go home to his mum and be a good boy. Taking the coins from his pocket and tossing them in his palm, Leon smiled. He knew how to save his money. He worked in the boiler room of the freighter to pay for his passage. He was not afraid to work hard. He saved the coins to support his family for the rest of 1916 on Eleuthera. Leon followed the first part of the man’s advice to save his money and go home to his mum. As for being a good boy, well, being bad was more profitable.
Walking the docks of Freeport, Leon saw a fisherman unloading his catch for the day and waved at him. He was old Joe from Eleuthera and lived down the road from the Johnson family. Leon had found free transport to his mother’s door.
“Where did you go, boy? Joe asked as Leon jumped into the boat.
“No place special.” He reached for the ropes. “Here, let me help you. I want to get home to Mum.”
“It won’t be long now,” Joe assured him. “Sit back. Relax.”
Leon reclined as the fishing boat headed toward Eleuthera. He thought again about the advice from the Canterbury stranger—find another way to make money. Sadly, Leon knew that decision had been made centuries ago, when his ancestors lost a war to a neighboring African tribe which sold his early family members into slavery.
Initial history of his family was fuzzy but by the time of the American Revolution, the stories took form. His great grandfather Moses had taken the name of his owner, a successful American sea captain named Johnson. Moses served as butler in the captain’s Baltimore mansion in the colony of Maryland and sensed during the growing turmoil that his master was a Tory.
And why shouldn’t he be, Moses reasoned to the other slaves in the cook house. “My family has been elevated from a primitive existence in Africa to an affluent lifestyle which the Britons have given us,” he declared.
“Primitive existence?” A footman sat in a corner polishing boots. “What can be more primitive than being owned by white men who treat you like you ain’t even human? They treat their damned dogs better than us!”
Moses snorted. “Your ma and pa should be horsewhipped if they didn’t tell you it was other black folks that sold us into slavery in the first place!”
“And what difference does that make?” The footman threw a boot across the cook house. “You’re still a damn slave either way!”
When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown and American independence became secure, Captain Johnson loaded his family and slaves onto his ship and relocated to Freeport in the Bahamas. Except for the footman who, according to family lore, escaped and was never heard from again.
Moses jumped the broom with a lovely young lady who was Mrs. Johnson’s personal maid. She gave birth to one son and several daughters. Moses name his son Cyrus and indoctrinated him into the life of a good and loyal slave to the Johnson family. Moses, probably most probably, died before the British Parliament abolished slavery. While most of the servants discreetly slipped away to take up lives of their own purpose, Cyrus informed his kindred that they would remain servants of the household accepting the wages the Johnsons deigned to pay.
The next generation listened patiently as Cyrus lectured on the superiority of the British system during the brutal American civil war which ended slavery on the continent. Perhaps because his youngest son Jedidiah had not been born yet to hear the dissertations, Jed announced in adulthood he was leaving the employment of the Johnson family, which was on its last legs anyway. Cyrus was appalled. The third generation of white Johnsons preferred a life of dissolution made possible through the hard work of the original sea captain. Soon there would be no money left for the white Johnsons to waste.
Jed set forth to find an acceptable black fisherman to work for, learned fishing skills and saved his money to buy his own boat. After obtaining the skills and the boat, he searched for a woman to marry who was not too delicate for hard work by her husband’s side. When he found Dorothy, and a fine woman she was, they married in a proper church. After the ceremony his father Cyrus doddered towards him.
“I’m disappointed you did not have the traditional jumping of the broom.”
“Dorothy decided—and I agreed—we did not want to commemorate a time when our families were slaves,” Jed whispered so his bride did not hear.
“It’s our family tradition and has nothing to do with slavery. Your grandfather jumped the broom. You think you are better than him?” Cyrus protested. “Your mother, God rest her soul, agreed with me. Why would you want to desecrate her memory like this?”
Jed knew better than to argue with his father so he merely smiled. Dorothy came up and hooked her hand around his elbow. She nodded curtly to her new father-in-law.
“Excuse us, we have to leave now to reach our new home in Eleuthera by dark.”
Cyrus’s eyes widened. “Eleuthera? I didn’t know you were moving to Eleuthera. I have a job all lined up for you in the kitchen at the hotel.”
The Johnson estate had finally been sold at auction after the last son of the family died falling off the balcony in a drunken stupor. The new owners told Cyrus his services were no longer needed. So he found a job as a butler at a hotel catering to wealthy British families on holiday in the Bahamas.
“Father,” Jed began slowly, choosing his words carefully, “I appreciate your effort but I have been successful as a fisherman for the past couple of years and I’ve bought my own boat. Dorothy and I will be our own bosses.”
“You come from a long proud line of house servants,” Cyrus said. “Now you’re going to catch fish all day? That is not suitable for the Johnson family!”
Dorothy stood between the two men. “All right. I’ve taken enough of this nonsense. I know the Bible says to honor thy father and thy mother, but God didn’t know how stupid some of those fathers were going to be!” Then she dragged Jed away. She was a very strong woman.
“If you leave with that woman, I will never speak to you again!” Cyrus shouted at Jed’s back.

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