By Taylor Jones ©2020
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” – Hamlet (1.5.167-8)
PART ONE
XAVIER
As Xavier Wellington rode the plantation, his attention wandered from his daily survey of operations. His eyes sought out Baptiste, the strong, fortyish field slave. The big nigger was everything that Xavier’s peevish, drunken father was not — kindly, sober, and temperate in thought and speech, so much so that Xavier couldn’t recall a time when he had not adored him. Sometimes, he even thought his feelings might be reciprocated, detecting in Baptiste’s eyes a warm light when they conversed. His own eyes, without a doubt, must have betrayed his lifelong infatuation.
He soon spotted Baptiste, for indeed, he was hard to miss. At well over six feet, he towered a head above the other slaves as they tended the Wellington tobacco crop. At an age when most slaves began to wither under the yoked burdens of hard work and mediocre nutrition, Baptiste seemed to thrive. Stripped to the waist in dark cotton trousers, woolen socks, and undyed leather shoes, with a course linen shirt tucked into the back of his trousers, he carried himself with unassuming dignity.