Mrs. Mariah Hampton was riding back from town in the family carriage, and she wanted to kill her children. “If you don’t stop your bickering this instance, you’re going to be the ones cleaning the corals for the rest of the week!” she shouted.
“Don’t we have Jackson to do that, ma?” her son Will asked.
“Jackson would welcome the time off.”
“But Willy started it!” Sarah protested. “He said I have a crush on Sonny James and it’s not true!”
When Mariah heard that, she had to chuckle to herself just a little. She knew it was true; she was always pestering poor Sonny James at church, and the little boy was always so patient with her. “Well, Sarah…”
“You think so
too? Why does everyone think that?”
“It’s as obvious as the freckles on your face!” Will retorted.
“It’s not true!”
“Children! I’ve had enough of this!” Mariah said. “Will, tell Sarah you’re sorry, or
you will be the one cleaning the corals!”
After about five seconds, Will mumbled, “I’m sorry, Sarah.”
“Now that’s better. And I don’t want to hear any more of this.” Mariah gave the reigns a snap, as they passed through the gates to the Hampton Ranch. The horses gave a little more speed. Will and Sarah didn’t say anything more, but Sarah could imagine the glares the children were giving each other.
They finally arrived at the ranch house, a three-story (not counting the basement) white house, very finely crafted. Jackson, a negro ranch hand (once their slave, but was liberated by the Slave Liberation Program) was waiting for them. “Would you like me to take that for you, ma’am?” he said.
“That would be great, Jackson. Thank you! Come on, children! Let’s head inside.”
Jackson helped the children out of the carriage. They chorused, “Thank you, Jackson!”
“Heheh… you’re welcome!” Jackson said with a chuckle. He got into the carriage and drove it to the stables. Mariah smiled. Jackson was such a kind soul. She really did appreciate him around the farm. While he was technically a free man, now, he decided that he’d rather stay with the ranch and the family, as a ranch hand. They appreciated it, too. Jackson knew how to ride a horse and drive cattle, and was quite talented. They had actually been paying Jackson even while he was a slave, seeing as he was doing such fine work for the ranch.
The children had already run into the house, and Mariah was climbing the steps when her son, Aaron, already a fine strong young man, stepped out onto the porch.
“Mama… you gotta hear this on the radio,” he said, his face looking anxious.
“What is it? More uprisings? More violence in the East?” she asked.
“This… is a little closer to home,” Aaron replied, and entered the house. Mariah rushed into the house now. It was bad news, whatever it was. She feared the worst: another slave revolt, but this time in West Florida. The Hampton’s no longer owned slaves, but there were non-slaves in the uprising, too. Negro’s weren’t just looking for freedom; they were looking for control. For equality. For Proletarism.
Her husband Gray, her eldest sons Aaron and Joseph, the housemaid Silvia, and her eldest daughter Estherm, were all sitting around the radio. Over the radio, she heard the voice she recognized as that of Governor Jeeter, and through the garble she thought she could hear a speech.
”… through Tennessee and the western counties of Virginia. And now, negroes have taken control of Bayou and Nueva Catalonia, even taking the city of New Barcelona, and now the western portion of West Florida is now likely to fall to the negro Proletarists. West Florida is now, for all intents and purposes, cut off from the Federal Government in Washington, and with Aztecs fighting in Aztlan and Proletarists to our east, with aggressive intent to our government and our people, we now, in many ways, are on our own and threatened on all fronts.
“Therefore, it is with great sobriety and understanding of the urgency of our situation, that I, Governor William Jeeter, with the approval of the West Florida Legislature, declare the independence of West Florida from the United States of America. West Florida has been joined by the state of Cherokee, and together we have declared the formation of the Grand Republic of Florida, with its capital in the city of Dallas. Currently I am at the head of this emergency government, but I have no intent of maintaining absolute power; the people of Florida have suffered under the tyranny and persecution of the Washington government for too long, and I do not intend to perpetuate it. My first act with this emergency power is to promise the protection of the civil liberties that were guaranteed under the Constitution of the Republic of West Florida, which existed prior to the Spanish and Scottite conquest of the Republic of Florida. I am also calling for a constitutional convention to be held in the year 1914, to create a more permanent governmental structure for the Grand Republic, and establish the framework for the creation of a democratically elected government.
“I do not need to tell any of you that the times we live in are dire. We have gone from safety and glory to fighting for our very survival. I ask for the people of this great state, and the great state of Cherokee, to pull together for our common welfare, so that we may resist the threats to our freedom and way of life, and prepare to forge onward to a glorious and prosperous future. God bless you all.”
The broadcast was over. Esther and Silvia looked dumb struck. Sarah and Will were screaming upstairs about something Will said to Sarah about how Sonny James was funny looking. But what concerned Mariah most was the tight jaws of her husband and two sons. She knew that look. And she feared this.
This hoped that the civil war wouldn’t hit any closer to home, but she thought,
How could it not?
