The Cost of Sugar(77)

“No misi, I’ll say nothing,”173 Nicolette was quick to respond. She would most certainly say nothing. Sarith had in fact named a particularly cruel form of beating, which Nicolette most definitely wanted to avoid, and this also applied to being sold to the Suynigheid Plantation, infamous for the bad treatment of its slaves. At the house in the Saramaccastraat Sarith told Esther that she had spent the night at the home of a girl-friend who had been taken ill at the party.

The next day she said to Esther that she would spend the day with her girl-friend and would perhaps stay the night there. She told Nicolette to wait for her under a tree on the other side of the road from the lieutenant’s house, for she knew that Rein did not like the idea of having slave-girls in his home.

However, at the gun that sounded for eight o’clock in the evening, all slaves had to be in their quarters. When evening began to fall and Nicolette had not yet seen her mistress emerging from the house, she began to get impatient. She paced up and down under the tree, and when the eight o’clock gun fired she went as quickly as possible to the Saramaccastraat because she was scared of being detained by a police officer. Early the next morning she returned to sit under the tree and waited until she saw Kwasi outside. When she helped her mistress, she asked Nicolette where she had spent the night.

Nicolette told her that she had waited until the eight o’clock gun and had then gone to the Saramaccastraat for fear of being arrested by the police.

“What did you say there?”174 asked Sarith.

“Nothing, I said nothing.”175

Now Sarith continued, “If you say anything, I’ll cut out your tongue and I’ll sell you.”176

“No, misi, no.” Eyes wide with fear, Nicolette pressed her lips together with a thumb and index finger, to assure the misi that she really would not say anything, and Sarith nodded. When they arrived back at Esther’s house she gave the girl two pennies.

The next day Rein left the town for several weeks and Sarith decided simply to return to Klein Paradijs.

Julius was pleased when he saw his wife coming back just of her own accord. She said that she was happy to be with him again at home, and he thought how sweet she really was. After all, she was still young, and surely such a young woman needed some amusement. Well, as long as she remained his wife and always returned to him, he would certainly not deprive her of her feasts and parties.

At Klein Paradijs, Sarith had the idea of giving a feast herself at the plantation and inviting a group of friends to stay there. Soldiers also had the right to some leave, and most probably Rein would be able to take some weeks off. Julius agreed to a party at their plantation. It was a nice idea, and would give Sarith something to do. Sarith busied herself with the preparations and had of course to return to Paramaribo to see whether all the guests she wanted to invite would be able to come and stay in the early weeks of September. In the meantime Rein had returned from his expedition and Sarith again spent several nights with him.

According to Sarith, no-one knew anything about this, but of course all of Suriname already knew everything. And left, right and centre there was talk of that Sarith, who was carrying on with one of the lieutenants. Esther heard something of this, as well. She had suspected that there was something going on.

When, all of a sudden, Sarith was away staying with her friend Bella Levens, as she would have it, for three days on end, Esther went to visit this Bella Levens one morning. During a short conversation, Bella asked how things were with Sarith, and Esther knew enough. When Sarith returned around lunchtime that day, Esther first tried to get something out of Nicolette, but she played dumb – no, she knew nothing. Misi had been staying at the house of another misi and masra, but she, Nicolette, didn’t know where. She hardly knew the town. Esther went to Sarith’s room and asked her where she had been staying. When Sarith replied, “At Bella Levens’,” Esther got angry and said, “Sarith, I was at Bella Levens’ this morning and she asked how you were. She hadn’t seen you in ages. Do you think I don’t know where you’ve been? Everyone is talking about it – aren’t you ashamed? What will your husband say if he hears about it?”

Like a little hellcat Sarith sprang up from the bed on which she had just lain down. Esther must mind her own business. Was it so terrible that she was with someone else now and then? Did anyone bother to consider what kind of life she was leading, there on that boring plantation, with just an old man and a child? And was her husband interested in anything else? No, only the plantation counted and whether the harvest was successful, and she, she had nothing. Esther had a house in the town, her husband liked going out, she had expensive clothes, carriages, everything, but she, Sarith, had nothing. Her husband wouldn’t even grant her a house in town.