Gunpowder and Tea Cakes: My Journey with Felicity

Felicity and I don’t speak as we creep away from the slave quarter. We find our way back to the horses and continue down the lane until we reach the plantation again. We can still hear the distant drum beats drifting through the night.

When Mrs. Merriman sees us in the torch light, she calls out to us. Felicity explains that Midnight got a stone caught in her hoof and we couldn’t remove it. Her grandfather nods that we did the right thing by coming home.

Mrs. Merriman tells us to go inside. She mutters that she’s tempted to return to Williamsburg tomorrow with Marcus. It’s just as difficult to keep control of Felicity here as there.

After supper, Felicity and I retire upstairs to her room. We flop down on a four-poster bed with light, flowered curtains. Felicity murmurs she’s grateful we found Judith and Dinah. I confess I wasn’t sure what she would do.

Felicity laughs. She didn’t know what I’d do either. Most people wouldn’t think twice before punishing a slave for leaving the quarters after dark. I exclaim that I would never do that, and Felicity agrees wholeheartedly! I feel as if I might burst from the feelings whirling inside of me. I want to go home, but I can’t disappear into thin air here at the plantation.

Instead, I ask Felicity if I could return to Williamsburg tomorrow with Marcus. I need to find my father. Felicity agrees, and says she understands. But she’ll miss me dearly. I tell her I’ll miss her, too.