Darlene was a girl who was offered as a slave at the Tennessee State Fair. She was standing on a table in a brown dress while one customer looked her over. It was late in the sales day and the buyer asked for the reason why the girl had failed to sell, what was her flaw?
The seller had warned about the girl because he had had a rough time calming her down the night before. She was not a good slave, actually dangerous, but the buyer bought her anyway.
Here is the continuation of the story, "I counted out the credit bills on the table at the girl's feet. She had no shoes."
"Chain her hands behind her or she can hit you with her chain and hobble her feet. No use running your shoes soles off when they can be slowed down to a limp." the man with the red had who was selling her said.
I paid 8 credits for hand chains and a foot hobble, and that was robbery, but one has to secure one's purchase.
Her former owner chained her legs right above each knee, so her steps were short. He also tied a rope around her neck, but I took hold of her arm and led her. She had a rather firm, and cool arm. We walked along at a brisk pace and she tried to keep up with me. I was rather proud of my purchase and had given her my collectable bag of aircraft stuff to carry --it was tied around her neck in it's bag. She was as tall at I, and had shapely legs, I liked how she moved. My other bed slave girls did not have such great shapely legs, but had other nice aspects, legs were not always the very greatest part of a woman.
When I was in the vegetable part of the market I said, "What is your name, or do I have to just call you girl?"
"Darlene" was her reply with her head still ducked.
"Good you can talk, and you have a melodous voice."
"Thank you, but that man that sold me is a criminal and everything he told you was a pack of lies."
"You didn't attack him?"
"No I mean about buying me from someone else, and killing my sister to make me tame.. He sold my sister and she was not crippled. He also sold my brother, mother, father and uncle."
"None of that matters now."
"He got no pleasure out of me last night. I bit him. He has where I bit him bandaged now. I tried to bite it off!"
"Oh that's worse than he told me about you."
"I'm a senior at Becket High here in Memphis --my family was taken at gunpoint and forced into slavery. The police need to be called before he gets away."
"Slavery is not a police matter."
"We were forced!"
"Force is allowed in slavery. Darlene you are a slave now because I bought you from," I looked at my sales paper, "Oscar Brantley."
"That's not even his real name. I can tell the police where we were taken --he has lots more people chained there!"
"Did he say, Mr Oscar Brantly, that if you all didn't bow on your knees he was going to shoot you?"
"Exactly, that's what the criminal said."
"Did you all bow?"
"Well of course we didn't want to get shot!"
"So that bowing made you his legal property."
"It was just not fair. And then he raped my sister and then me."
"An owner can't rape his slave. He has certain rights over his property."
"He would have shot us if we didn't bow."
"If he had, well then he would have broken the law. It's against the law to murder, or wound others."
"What are you sir a lawyer?"
"No, I'm an agent of the government."
"Tennessee government?"
"No -- United States Government"
We were walking thru stacks of melons probably trucked up from Georgia and next was the parking lot where my car was parked.
"Will we ride the bus, or do you have a car sir?"
"I have a car."
I was parked on the far end of the lot because I was a late comer and now there were many empty spaces between my car and us.
As we got near my Zorzs she saw my driver standing next to it and said, "This isn't a U.S. Government car, like I've seen on the roads. They say, 'U.S. Navy' or 'Department of Interior. This is the car of a rich person, are you rich?"
"Rather well off I guess people would say. I have a permanent gover;nment job."
"What do you do for the government?" she said just about when Joseph my neutered driver said, "No one came near it master while you were gone."
"Joseph opened the door and I said, "Joseph this is my new slave Darlene."
"She's taller than the others master." he said. I often talked to Joseph like he was human so he talked rather freely with me, He drove me on trips. Often he was a convient ear, of course one expects little real human companionship from a slave. All his talk was slavish and all his listening was in hope of mercy. He knew what I did in my basement to make a living.
"I think she's a bit younger than the others also. She was in high school."
I had not thought her as young as a high school girl. One thinks of slaves as creatures that have never been human. I remembered my high school years fondly and didn't think of pretty girls as falling into a pit of slavery. Of course they did in reality, people know that others slipped and sild into that institution.
"I have a rather good job with the governemt." I said when we were both in the back seat of my car. She did not scoot over near to where I was probably because the chains inhibited her movement.
"I can tell this is a very good car." she said, "I studied civics in school so what part of the federal government are you attached to?"
"Criminal justice administration."
"That's part of the executive branch, you probably work for the president?"
"I help the president enforce the laws, I don't exactly work for him. My office was set up by acts of Congress, and those like me are rather independent agents."
I didn't know that there were people who were agents of the executive branch but didn't work for the president or vice president."
"Yes we are quite famous in our own way."
"Are you trying to scare me sir, into thinking you are a regulator?"
"We're actually not scary people."
"Your the reason that kids are scared of Holloween!"
"Never have I eliminated a child. Maybe I left a few without parents."
"Nobody ever told a child that. They sell regulators masks. They look like monster masks."
"Well there aren't too many of us, but most look about like I do -- regular normal people looking."
"But you go around and round up and kill men and women who disobey laws."
"Special political criminals, are who we are after. We don't search out and kill regular people."
"No one told any of us regular people. I hid under my bed every Holloween night, all night. I grew up hiding under my bed, and my little brother kept taunting me, "The Regulators going to get you Darlene!"
That's nice to know about, but we have about as much chance coming to one certain house as does Santa Claus of bringing you gifts. We kill some really evil people, and most times they give right up in terror and let me take them away, question them and then when I'm ready slit their throats.
Written by Ray Cates
2505 NW Magnolia Ave.
Ocala, Florida 34475
phone: 352-629-8198
