The Cost of Sugar(32)

“Have you ever slept with a man?”55 asked Rutger.

The girl glanced at him: “No masra.”

“What does your mother think about this?”56 asked Rutger.

“I have no mother, masra.”57

“Afanaisa, you can go back. I shall do nothing to you.”58 Rutger had stood up and was next to the girl, but she did not leave. She remained standing there, looking at her feet. “You really may go,” Rutger repeated.

Really softly she now asked, “Is the masra not going to break me in?”59

“No, child, I shall not do that.”60

Still she did not leave, but whispered in great embarrassment, “It would be better for the masra to do that.”61

Rutger understood nothing of this. Did the child know what she was saying? With a finger he lifted the girl’s chin so that he could look into her face. Tears were in her eyes and she blinked briefly. “Why do you want me to break you in?”62 Rutger now asked gently. While the child answered, a tear rolled down her cheek. “Otherwise the basya will thrash me.”63

Now it was clear to Rutger. He also understood immediately how the Basya would discover this. Oh bastards, rotten bastards. What should he now do with the child? He was absolutely not intending to misuse her, but neither could she go back. Would he have to keep her there in his room the whole night through? Not knowing what to do, he began pacing up and down the room. Then he went to sit on the bed again and said to the girl, pointing to the floor opposite the bed, “Sit down.”

The child sat on the floor. Rutger now said, “I shan’t do anything to you, Afanaisa. You don’t have to be afraid. No-one will know what happened here, not even the basya; I’ll take care of that. But I’m going to ask you a few questions and you must give me exact answers. Is that good?”64

The child nodded. And so Rutger came to hear what exactly had caused the uprising.

Overseer Vredelings would have all young women come to spend a few nights with him in his home. At a certain moment he had set eyes on a certain Sylvia, the wife of a large negro man named Kwaku. This Kwaku had said to his wife that she must ignore the white supervisor Vredelings’ order and not go to him. When the overseer realized this, he had several basyas tie Kwaku to a tree and had him watch while he raped Sylvia. Not once, but three times.

When Kwaku was released he had been unable to do anything, for the white supervisor walked round with a gun and there were always two basyas with him with razor-sharp axes. Even so, two of Kwaku’s friends had managed to talk to him, and the three of them would run away with Sylvia. But before they did that, they would start fires. They began in the warehouse. A large group joined them, but Vredelings had smelled trouble, and Kwaku and Sylvia had been shot dead immediately. Help had arrived from a military camp in the neighbourhood, and once the slaves had seen the soldiers with their weapons they had stopped everything out of fear. Because it was not known precisely who had and who had not taken part in the uprising, punishment was meted out by depriving all slaves of food for two whole days and giving all the men a whipping.

Afanaisa was saying nothing without prompting. Rutger had constantly to ask questions, and she would answer precisely the question that had been asked, and nothing more, before falling silent again. But even so, Rutger eventually came to know everything. Around eleven o’clock – the girl had been in his room for about two hours – Rutger had Alex come in. He said that Alex must take the girl back to her hut and say there that no-one must approach her.

She must return the next day. When he saw Alex looking at him somewhat reproachfully, he said quickly in Dutch, “I haven’t touched her, Alex, but she is scared of the basya.”

When Alex left the girl at her hut, he said to the woman who opened the door, “Masra says that no man must touch her, otherwise he’ll get a beating.”65

And so it was that every evening thereafter, Afanaisa came to the masra’s room, and every evening she sat on the floor and answered the questions. After a few evenings she dared to reveal more, and so Rutger came to know a lot about Jericho.

While Mr Jeremiah’s wife was still alive it had indeed been a prim plantation and a decent household. Perhaps not pleasant or amicable as far as the slaves were concerned, for Mrs Jeremiah was also a merciless mistress who did not spare the whip. But in those days the slaves always had enough to eat and she saw to it that the sick were properly tended. Children and pregnant women were cared for exceptionally well, for the misi knew well that they were her best investment. The masra had always been indifferent, and had drunk and played cards a lot. Everything had gone really wrong only when, two years ago, the previous white supervisor had left and Mr Vredelings had come in his place.