The Escape

Cast Bronze, 2008
24" x 14" X 18"

She was a big ole mare, one dat wuz breeded from a Tennessee walker and a hairy hoofed work hos. We knowed we shouldn't have ran off on her back, but dar wuz no other way--she was de onliest hos big and fas' enough to carry us norf where we could be free and treated like full-blooded 'Mericans. One of the many troubles we had wuz our hos was in foal and was big as a sow fixin' to unload a mess of piglets, yeah buddy! When we got to Kentuck, she let loose and dis pretty li'l ole colt popped out. My wife and the boy was sho happy 'bout dis, 'spite the fact dat we 'spect de nigga catchers wit dere mean ole hound dawgs was on our trail. Jus' befo' we ran off, we covered us'ins wit onion and molasses to fool dem dawgs off our trail, and it sho' nuff worked, don'tcha know!

De whole thing started lak dis, Miz Susie's oldes' gal, Mona Ann, was slippin' an' spendin' time wit a big pretty buck from de slave quarters (dat be me). Every since we wuz knee high to a frog we usta play ole roughy toughy, justa tumblin' in de grass and sometime huggin' and layin' on top each other. When we got a li'l mo' grown, I got a beatin' for dis, even though we had stopped doin' it long befo'--I guess de mem'ry of us bein' so close upsetted ole man Kisley.

Well, we jus' couldn't let go our feelin' fo' one another so easy. We started meetin' in de barn an' in de cornfields to rub against each other and feel on each others' secret places, don'tcha know. I finally got up nerve enough to ax her to run off wit me. I knowed enough about northin ways from talkin' to de union soljahs camped out on Mr. Stokes' farm nearby where I water and clean de hoses.

When we start to run, we never even looked back. We both had a half-brother chile dat neither one of us'ins could bear leave wit ole Massa, so we jus' scoop him up while he be sleepin' an' carry him off to freedom. Sad to say, wouldn't cha know, dem ole dogs caught up wid us. And I had dis ole musket dat I found on de battlefield--it wouldn't shoot nothin' cuz it be broke, but it sho was a good lance. When dem dawgs tried to pull me an' my fambly from our hos, I kilt both o' dem, lef' em dead in dey tracks. Goes to show dat when a man's fambly is gone be hurt he'll do 'bout anythin' to save dem, yes he would.