The Escape Plan [TL2018]

“I seen you and you’re gonna get a whoopin’!” giggled Mary.

Susan let out a deep sigh, rolling her eyes skyward, as she exited the forest that adjoined her parent’s farm. It had been an exhausting day of farm chores and she hurried to finish them and sneak off to the river and be with her love. The final moments of her life on the farm were coming to an end this weekend, or so was the plan. She thought that she had been careful, but her overindulged younger sister must have followed around by the logging road and caught a glimpse from the outcroppings that project over the river bend.
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but you’re obviously suffering delusions again”, Susan quipped “Think you’ve been in the sun too long?”
Mary skipped in a circle around her older sister, smiling devilishly. “Either you do my chores for a whole month or I’ll tell Daddy what you and that man have been up to again!”
Susan stopped dead in her tracks, eyes ablaze, hands fisted by her sides and through clenched teeth told Mary “Do it, I’m going to leave and never come back and what do you think your life will be like with Daddy then?” Susan couldn't take the words back, it was too late and as she stormed away she looked back to see Mary's puzzled stare. "What is that supposed to mean?" Mary hollered as she ran up from behind.

Susan and Mary were the last remaining daughters to a man who thought he had been cursed by God. He had wanted sons and though he and Mother tried for five times, only girls would be born on this farm. Their older sisters had escaped. Two were married off when it was discovered that they were with child. They had moved north to Nashville and wrote home only once a year. All of this had left him a bitter and hateful man. The girls were not allowed to socialize, listen to music or own a television set. Celeste, third daughter in line, hung herself from the hayloft in the barn two winters ago. Susan had been the one to discover her body, hanging limp and grey. The rope had cinched itself so tight; it looked as if Celeste’s head would pop off. Susan climbed up the rickety ladder to the loft and cut her sister down. She knelt beside her sister’s body and said a little prayer “Fly away to the heavens that surely await you. You’re suffering is over”. Susan had no idea that her suffering was about to begin.

Their Father, with only two girls left and realizing that he needed more help on the farm had sent word out in the nearby town that he was looking for a hired hand. A few days later, that person appeared. He was simply stunning. His eyes dazzled and sparkled with the sun and he had a beaming smile that exuded confidence and an, almost, inner peace. He stood tall, many inches above Father, and worked tirelessly that season from planting to harvesting corn and tobacco, the sales of which would sustain us through the winter months. He was a migrant farm worker and had traveled all over the south for years, but had a new plan that he shared with Susan.

At first Susan and Robert would steal glances across the yard. As she would be hanging laundry on the line, he would pass by on his way either to the barn or to work on equipment or whatever duties her Father had laid out that day. Her stomach would become queasy with excitement and there seemed to be electricity sparking between them. They would banter back and forth, outside of Father and Mary’s earshot, of course, and Susan would lay awake at night wondering what he was thinking and remembering how peaceful and in love she felt when she was snug up beside him, in the barn where he stayed, when she was brave enough to sneak out of the house. He’d wrap his strong arms around her, caressing and holding tightly while he talked of magical things and his wild ideas. He talked of a world where everyone was equal and there were no color or social divides. She would laugh at his naïve and dreamy talk, but felt spellbound and mesmerized as his deep voice hypnotized her into a feeling of peace and love. The world seemed brighter and the birds sang more beautifully when they were together. Even the grass and the flowers had a deeper hue that summer after he arrived at the farm.

In the evenings, as she would be drifting off to the world where she and Robert were the only people on the earth, her Father would call to her from downstairs and she would be snapped back into the harsh reality that had become her life since her older sisters’ escapes and her Mother’s death during Mary’s birth. She had now become the wife to an evil monster and mother to a spoiled and insolent young girl. As she tottered down the stairs toward yet another daily chore, the smell of diesel and mud wafted up from him, as he waited for her at the foot of the stairs. Susan had learned early on to drift away in her mind and hide her tears until he had finished with her.

Robert caught her by the wrist one afternoon as she passed beside the barn, her knees nearly giving way beneath her. “Let’s meet tonight to finalize our plans”, he said, “right after supper”.
“You know how dangerous this is!” Susan whispered “If Daddy catches us, he’ll kill you and…and…” Susan couldn’t bring herself to utter the obvious punishment that she would endure, the shame was too great.
Robert reached up to move her curls from her face and caress her cheek. He slipped his fingertips underneath her chin and raised her face to meet his. When their lips touched, she felt as though her heart was going to pound out of her chest.
“You are going with me in March, to Memphis, when I leave”, he said emphatically “and I won’t take NO for an answer”

Robert had told her of his meeting a man in Atlanta a couple of years ago and his plans to meet back up with him in Memphis at the end of spring planting. He had heard talk on his trips into town that there was to be a march on Washington DC and he simply had to be a part of it. He was going to abandon her Father and wanted her to do the same. He said a change was coming and he wanted her to be part of it. “We can both escape”, he said.
“But, I’m damaged goods, you should be ashamed to be seen with me”, Susan’s voice quivered as her eyes brimmed with tears.
“We’re all damaged” Robert responded“and I couldn’t be more in love with you, there would never be shame, only pride that you have chosen me”.
So, at that moment, the plan was finalized. They would suffer one more winter and make their getaway in the spring, right after planting.

It had been a particularly brutal winter for the south and spring brought forth a record and freak snowstorm. The secret lovers had planned their escape for Sunday the 24th while Father and Mary were at church, she could pretend to be ill and stay home. It seemed a simple enough plan, but on Thursday the snow began falling and didn’t seem as if it would ever stop. By Saturday it had snowed nearly 2 feet! Robert snuck to the back porch Saturday afternoon as she was carrying in wood for the stove. He begged her that they leave in the morning, regardless of the weather. Robert said that they would be harder to track and no one would even bother as the snow was so deep and folks were struggling with their own situations as it was. She agreed and turned to go into the house.

As she entered, she saw Mary entering her Father’s room at the foot of the stairs. He looked across the room to Susan with a cold stare that pierced her to her core. Her heart turned to ice and she raced across the room placing her hand, firmly, on the door knob. Standing with her Father eye to eye, she shook her head from side to side. Her Father laughed, uncaringly, and called for Mary to come on out into the hallway.

“I thought we were going to play a game” Mary said innocently.

“I’ve changed my mind” Father snapped back, “You will prepare supper tonight, Susan and I have grown up things to discuss”.

It was in that moment all became clear to Susan. She wanted to leave with Robert. Oh, how she longed to be away and save herself and enjoy true love, but that insolent and spoiled child was her sister and she could never leave her here alone. It had all been an unattainable fantasy. She could never allow Mary to suffer the way that she had for all of these years.

Later that night, she snuck out of the house. She had written a note for Robert and left it on the barn door for him to find in the early hours as they were to make their getaway.

Never forget me, my love, as I will never forget you.
You must make your way now, alone, and I must stay and protect Mary.
I pray you find your way safely and all of your dreams for this new world come true.
I will think of you often and never forget the day that I met my true love.

She imagined Robert staring at the house and wondered how long he waited for her to change her mind. She never did and she vowed to never regret her decision to stay behind.

The snow melted quickly and she traveled to town the following Saturday. Folks were all a flutter talking about a famous black man that had been assassinated in Memphis on Thursday. He was standing on the balcony of his hotel and from somewhere, a shot rang out. This saddened Susan and she wondered if Robert had made it to Memphis in time before the dreamer’s unexpected death.

A smile crept across Susan’s face as she remembered, fondly, Robert’s stories of a man from Atlanta who had a dream and Robert shared that dream. She hoped that he was able to meet up again with the man that inspired him and secretly, in her heart, wished him Godspeed in his quest for a new and fair world where all people are treated equally.

There was a sort of a strange justice in the world that year after fall harvest. Her Father had somehow fallen from the hayloft and broken his neck. Susan buried him in the family plot beside Mother and Celeste. Sadly, Mary contracted influenza and didn’t make it through the winter. She died one night as the sun was setting and Susan sat by her bedside holding her hand. Mary gave her sister’s hand a squeeze, whispering “I’m sorry” Susan responded “You have nothing to be sorry for, you’re my sister and I love you”.

The End

a reply to: TNMockingbird


That was gorgeously written. Stunning in it's bleakness. I hope he found his way back to the farm not too long after.

a reply to: SprocketUK

Thank you, you are always so kind


Interesting idea for the contest...all love is tough, no? At sometime or someway or another.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I just liked the idea of love in a tough way. It's easy to imagine everything being all roses, I think the idea of loving through adversity though, that sort of magnifies the positivity of a love story.

Such beautiful writing, Chirp. I agree with Sprocket - you wove a majestic and gorgeous tapestry that is at the same time bleak in its heartache.

[HUGS]

a reply to: PrairieShepherd

Thanks Shep!!
You know, I was thinking of my niece and her two lovely daughters and what a rough time the love she and their father shared had they been a few generations sooner.
Also have had my sister on my mind (and heart) a lot lately with her aggressive Alzheimer diagnosis and how I would likely do anything to give her just a little more time...

So happy to see your photos of the camping trip (you and the Shepperditos).
(((hugs))) to you my friend and the missus