Both his daughters were married and had no desire to inherit a plantation that was heavily in debt. And Sarith? Sarith had never liked Klein Paradijs. If he was no longer there she would immediately try to sell off everything. So why should he carry on? He might as well try to sell everything straightaway. The grounds themselves would probably not sell, for it was highly improbable that anyone would now want to buy a plantation on the Boven-Commewijne River. Quite the opposite. The plantations that were still being bought were all much closer to the town. He made his decision. He would not get into debt any more in an attempt to keep the plantation running. No, he would sell everything. If the plantation itself could not be sold, then the slaves, the drying shed, the machines and that kind of thing could be. Of whatever remained after the loan had been settled he would invest a part for Sarith and a part for himself and Mini-mini’s boys, and he would go and live with her in the town.
And Sarith? Now, Sarith had after all never been happy together with him and had never really regarded Klein Paradijs as her home. And Eva? Well, sorry to say, he could never think of that child as his own. She bore his name and he would ensure that she was cared for, but she was Sarith’s child, not his.
The next day, Julius walked around the plantation, thinking about what he had decided. He then told Sarith. He explained to her that she could leave if she wished, could take whatever she liked, and whichever slaves she wanted. Although divorce was virtually unknown in Jewish families, she could regard herself as ‘free’, he said, and if she really wanted to marry another man, he would do everything he could to permit that in law. He also told Sarith that he was planning to bestow his name on Mini-mini’s boys.
“I shall certainly do that, and you’ll hear about it, so I’m telling you myself,” said Julius.
Sarith nodded. She had expected this.
“Then these half-cast children will also be called Robles de Medina,” she said.
“Your child is called Robles de Medina,” he retorted. “These half-cast children, my children, will be called Robles, simply Robles.”
A few weeks later the tent-boat left the plantation. Sarith left. Little Eva stood in the boat with Nicolette holding her hand. Nicolette was also leaving, as were her own two small children and her mother.
The boat was heavily laden with everything that Sarith was taking in terms of household goods and furniture. They would stop briefly in Paramaribo and then continue on to Hébron, where she longed to be. On Hébron, with her mother and stepfather. In the familiar surroundings of her carefree childhood.
She left. The boat sailed away and the jetty faded into the distance. Away from the plantation, which in time would be empty – empty and deserted. Where only the buildings would remain until they were completely engulfed by vegetation and collapsed. Nature would reclaim what was hers. Bushes and trees would grow there, and after thirty, maybe fifty years there would be nothing to distinguish the spot from the rest of the jungle. Klein Paradijs on the Boven-Commewijne would be forever history.
263 In contrast to the Zwarte Jagers, this was a corps of free negroes and coloureds who gave their services professionally.
264 “Luku misi, luku, a no habi korsu moro, luku fa ai hari bro so switi now, ai kon betre.”
265 “Ai kon betre, tangi fu yu Maisa, tangi fu yu.”
266 “No fasi mi, misi, no fasi.”