It was Sunday. There was great consternation in the slave house. Everyone milled around Angela who had paid the lodge a visit.
She wore shoes, a blue dress of satin and lace, and a hat perched on the side of her head. She was the centre of their admiration as they huddled around her. One of their own had gained recognition in the Colony as the first full breed slave baptised by Adriaan De Voogd
'You look like a missus, ' said Lijsbet. The young girl could not take her eyes off Angela's feet. She bent down and studied Angela's shoes. 'Heels ' she shouted.
Angela took off her shoes and handed them to Lijsbet and the younger girls. They grabbed it, turned it over and over, stroking the heels, spitting and wiping it down, and biting on the buckle. One by one they took chances and fitted them on.
Zara's feet fit into them. They laughed as she struggled to walk and maintain her balance. 'This is difficult, she said when they finally handed the shoes back to Angela. 'Who showed you,' she asked as they looked on while Angela wiped them clean and put them back on.
'Missus Petronella. She gave them to me. She looked at Catrijn who had been watching from a distance. 'This day we will remember for the rest of our lives, Catrijn.' She pinched the cheeks of her radiant face as she looked at her image in the broken mirror stuffed up on a wooden table. 'Minister de Voogd said I made history today,' she quipped.
'Yes, they say we both made history because we were both baptised.'
'It feels good, does it not Catrijn?' Her friend did not respond. 'Catrijn?'
'I am not free,' said Catrijn with a hint of sarcasm. She pushed out her chin and placed her hands on her hips as the rest of the women fidgeted with the fabric of Angela's dress, nagged her for another chance to fit her shoes and stroked the fabric of her ribbons. Catrijn, annoyed about the fuss around Angela and unable to speak without one of them interrupting, shushed them away with a wave of her thick arm. They sauntered off, disappointed.
'I am sorry about Pieter, Catrijn. If he was alive he would have freed you.'
'Why did he have to die? He was my last chance... Now I will never be my own boss. Never marry a wealthy man.'
'Do not talk like that, Catrijn. Both of us will become a missus. Just like Petronella and-'
'Who in this Colony will ask for the hand of a convict slave with three children...'
'It will happen. I know will,' said Angela, but her joviality did not have the desired results. Her friend was morose. 'We will find a man worthy of our Catrijn.' She saw her face light up.
'You will? You have good connections. Your Arnoldus and Secunde Lucas. A word from them to a man with the right surname...' She clapped her hands. 'Oh, Angela, I will be unstoppable.'
'Remember what we used to say when we arrived here?'
'Of course. How can I forget...'
'What did you say?' It was Zara. She had been following their conversation with a childish admiration that made her face glow.
'Nothing in life is free. If you forget that you will definitely end up like Eva. She also thought she made history.' It was Catrijn.
'That is true. Everything has a cost,' repeated Maria who was sitting on the fringes, listening to them with little interest.
'What really happened to Eva? Everybody tells a different story. I do not know what to believe anymore.' It was the Khoe girl, Zara, who never seemed to get tired of Catrijn's tales.
'She was the interpreter of Commander van Riebeeck. She lived in his house, wore shoes and ate at his table. But, when the time came for him to leave he forgot what she had meant to him. She crawled on her bony knees. 'Baptise me before you leave,' she begged him. On her bare stomach she was seen crawling like a snake, licking the buckles of his shoes. Every day.'
'Poor Eva...' Zara was distraught.
Catrijn, seeing the pain for Krotoa on Zara's face, continued. 'He searched long and wide. Finally, he found her a husband. A surgeon. But every day the surgeon cried and cried because he was given a wife who walked around drunk from morning till night, and she ran around with any man who looked at her twice. He was so ashamed of her that he left and never returned. Now she is a prisoner on the island. Locked away for the rest of her life.'
Angela interrupted. 'Catrijn, do not mislead the poor girl.' She laughed. 'You can be such a devil.' She addressed the young girl. 'Before he left he made sure Eva was baptised. Then he searched for a husband for her and found a surgeon who agreed to marry her. They lived on the island, and together they had three children. But Eva did not like to live there. Or the way the Dutch treated her. One day her husband went looking for slaves in Madagascar, and died After his death she came back to the mainland with her children but she was lost her way in the taps and the church took her children.'
'You make it sound like a fairy tale. Which it was not,' exclaimed Catrijn. She pulled her face and shook her head hands. 'A marriage?' she clicked her tongue in annoyance. 'Alone on that cold island like the Eva before her? She should have known. We all heard what happened to that Eva.'
'What happened that Eva?' It was Zara once again. They stared at her. Maria answered.
'They sent her to the island and she lost her mind.'
'That marriage was as good as a prison. They keep her away from the mainland because they are ashamed of Missus Pieter Meerhoff.' She spat on the ground. He spent more time at sea searching for slaves than with her. Can he show her off in the street with those other white women around? No. She is forever drunk and causing trouble at the inn. If she is not there, she enjoys the sweet delights at the men at the inns.'
When Catrijn was quiet, picking her teeth with a sharp object, Angela spoke. 'I pray my life never turns out like hers. I had people like Petronella and master Gabemma who believed in me. Everyday I thank God for them. If they were bad people, they too, would have sold me for a profit.' She caressed her cheeks. 'Thanks to them, I, Angela, can go into the world, and make my own luck. There are good people in this world. Just the other day someone helped me with a letter to the VOC. I asked them for a piece of land. If I am successful, I will own a small plot in Heere Street.' She looked at them. Then you can all visit me.
'Can I come and live with you?' Asked Zara.
'Of course. You can help me build the house for me and the children. Or you can look after the vegetable garden. Hopefully I will be allowed to sell my crop on market day, then you can go with me That would be-'
'Stop putting ideas in her head, Angela,' interrupted Catrijn. 'For now, keep your feet on the ground. That is all I am saying,'
'I understand what you are trying to tell me, Catrijn. All I am saying is that it is in order to be happy for me.'
Catrijn did not respond immediately. After a long silence, she stood up. 'I saw things in the leaves. She looked from Susanna to Maria until her gaze rested on Zara. Many of you have omens following you around. I can see it.'
'Maybe you block our light with your dark predictions,' said Susanna without any emotion.
Angela sensed the strain between the two women and diffused it. 'And mine? What are your leaves saying about me?'
'You, dear Angela, have a bright future waiting for you. Me too.'
One of the quieter women began to speak. She was big and so black, only the white of her teeth and eyes were visible in the semi-dark. In all the time she shared the quarters with them she had never attached herself to anyone. When they heard her speak they listened, surprised to learn that she understood Dutch, let alone speak it.
'Ten years ago I was on an old Portuguese slave ship. There were about 500 of us, taken from our homes, packed like fish below deck. The ship was on its way to a slave market, where they intended to sell us. There was nothing on the ship. No food, and no water. Sick slaves were dying every day and were thrown overboard... to the sharks following the ship. The very sick and old were also thrown overboard. Alive. We could hear them pleading with the sailors, praying that we were not next... The ship was beyond repair. For days it drifted on the open sea with us. Hungry and thirsty. Scurvy had claimed so many lives...until that fateful day. There was a ship, the Amersfoort. It was the hope we had been praying for. With our last strength we crawled above deck. Our lips cracked in our eagerness to smile for the Dutch surgeon who came aboard. He inspected the condition of those who still breathed. They loaded 250 of us, and brought them here. Of that 250 souls... 80 of them died o our way here. Only 170 of us made it.'
'Do you know what happened to those they left behind on that condemned ship?' It was Susanna.
'Some were old and sick... There were babies too. With no mothers to suckle them. They cried. All the time bu-'
Catrijn had enough. 'This is not a day for those stories. This day is about joy. Happiness. Angela's.'
The black slave ignored Catrijn's attempt to steer the conversation towards Angela. 'Maybe they took them elsewhere...'
'It was in the middle of the night,' said Susanna. 'I remember it very well. We were asleep in the Coornhoop. The soldiers were shouting, ordering us to pick up our blankets and move closer to each other. Many women and children were crammed into every available space on the floor. They had lanterns. I saw many bodies shoved into the shed. Nobody made a sound in the dark. They followed orders, put their bodies down, and became quiet. When the soldiers left there were whispers in hushed tones. Here and there a child cried and was hushed in a stern voice. That is when I heard the Commander's voice. He was speaking to the fiscus, the one who used to be Angela's master.'
Catrijn interjected, once again. 'That does not help this woman. It makes it worse. What do you get out of this, Susanna? Why do you enjoy the suffering of others?
'She has the right to know what happened to her people,' replied Susanna. 'Do you want to know?' She asked the woman. When the woman nodded, she continued. 'He said the ship would sink in one day or less. He told the fiscus he was happy for the unexpected influx of slaves which did not cost the Colony anything. When the fiscus asked him about the rest of the slaves... he said the surgeon who inspected the sick decided to leave them.... because they were of no use to the Colony.'
Angela was uncomfortable with the sudden doom that engulfed the room. 'Please everyone, be happy with me. Arnoldus Basson is going to make me Missus Basson.'
Some of the women grabbed hold of her and wished her well, except Catrijn. Her indifference evoked the chagrin of Angela.
'Are you not happy for me? I will still be your friend. We came a long way. Here I feel wanted and loved. So, smile.'
'You will find new friends.'
'Never. Our friendship will last until the day we die.'
'Promise?' Asked Catrijn.
'With all my heart. Friends till the day we die.' Catrijn grabbed the petite Angela and squeezed her close to her bosom. 'You must speak to the Secunde and your Arnoldus. Will you? When?'
'Of course. Of course.' As soon as I am married I will make sure you are next.'
Her words reduced Catrijn to tears who clung to her. 'Thank you, Angela.'
'We must be happy if one of us makes it out of this place. Today it is me. Tomorrow it will be you. That is the reward of all our sacrifices, Catrijn. Mine has arrived but I will not stop knocking on doors until you are free as well.'
Angela was getting ready to depart. She greeted and hugged and waved. Zara was deep in thought. Something was troubling her. 'Angela,' she said. 'If nothing in life is free..., how did you pay for your freedom?'
A hush fell over the women. Everybody stared at her.
Susanna who had been standing in the doorway, did not partake in the joviality. She was present, but an outsider, as always, looking in.
'Exactly the way all of us here are paying for our ration of beans and water, Zara. On our backs.'
'Why don't you take your half breed and disappear Miss high and mighty,' said Catrjn pointing to the door. 'Your tongue will lead you down the same path as that friend of yours on the Island because you, Susanna, are as dark as the demons of the night.' She clicked her tongue and shook her head in disgust.
'Like the information you fed Anthonij? Tell your friend. Tell Angela how it came that her benefactor, secunde Lacus was found guilty of theft and fraud.'
'We know what happened, Susanna.' It was Angela who tried to reduce the tension. 'Anthonij had a loose tongue.'
'Catrijn too.' Susanna searched for Dorothe's face. Dorothe was a slave from van Angola. After the sekunde was imprisoned she and her son, Johannes van de Caep who was born in bondage, was forfeited to the Company. 'Go on. Own up to Dorothe. And your good friend Angela.'
Zara burst out in tears. 'I am sorry, Angela. I did not mean to steal the joy from your heart.'
Angela took her by the shoulders and looked her in the face. 'You did not, Zara.' She looked at Susanna who was leaning against the wall next to the opening with the missing door. 'Susanna is right. My freedom was not free. I, like all of you here, paid a huge price before they made me a free black.'
'She was jealous of you, Angela. That is why she told Anthonij. They thought it could buy their freedom. Not so, Catrijn?'
Catrijn was in tears. 'One day, One Ear, your vicious mouth will be the end of you.'
Angela drew the attention back to the Khoena girl. 'Go back to your people, Zara. Forget about Louis. He is not your future. Go now, before it is too late. The Khoe will welcome you with open arms because you will always be one of them.'
'I love Louis. I am will to wait.'