CHAPTER 32
Strong winds rustled in tall grass as it ebbed and flowed. A vast ocean in sunglow. Far out in the fields a dark figure appeared. A man with a deliberate swagger, he exuded confidence even from great distance. Eddy watched him from the junction where the plantation road spilled onto the highway.
The figure moved closer other details emerged.  A black top hat. A crisp suit, so out of place here in the open countryside. The man carried an ivory handled cane, gliding as it were over the tall grass blowing in the wind like Jesus on Galilea. 
As the man approached, Edgar began to lose his nerve. He stood petrified at this corner, unable to run. By now it was too late. The stranger closing in. In an instant they were face to face. Eddy fell into the moon shadow of the man looking down. The dark silhouette spoke with a deep baritone. 
“What is it you wish for?”
“My dream within this one.”
“How much you want it?” 
“More than anything,” Edgar heard himself say. 
“You prepared to pay?”
“Yes, Sir” Edgar replied. 
An evening fog rolled over the fields and with it the man disappeared. Eddy woke up I his bed at home, still wondering if the phantom agreement had been a dream or something from another plane. 
The hat. The cigar. The skeletal face. Was it a dream or had he made a supernatural deal? Fear and regret washed over him. What had he agreed to? 
Throughout his day, Edgar was haunted by the dream of the man at the crossroads.  After supper, he found Juliet in the back yard finishing up her work.   
“Thank you for dinner, Juliet. Very good. My compliments to the chef.”
“Chef,” she laughed as she poured out a bucket of dirty water. 
“I had the most curious dream last night. It didn’t seem like a dream at all. I wanted your take on it. Do you have time to talk?” 
“Time s’all I got, Eddy.”
He sat down on a tree stump as she continued her work. 
“Well, it was the most vivid dream I may have ever had. I was standing at an intersection in the countryside. There was a man in a tuxedo- he wore a top hat.  Except But the most curious thing is, I’m not so sure he was a man at all.”
Juliet’s sighed. “Oh Eddy. Ain’t we all done with all dat hullabaloo since we go traipsin’ through de cemetery?” 
“C’mon Jules. Help me. The dream’s got to mean something. I know the man at the crossroads was the Haitian Grim Reaper, Baron Samedi.”
“Baron Samedi isn’t the Grim Reaper.” 
“Well he’s a messenger to the underworld, right?”
“Yes.”

 “Is he good or bad?” 
“He’s both and neither. He’s life. He’s death. He’s a link between worlds.”
“I met him at a crossroads in my dream. I made a deal. What do you think it means?” 
“What kind of deal did you make?”
“I’d rather not say,” Eddy kicked at the ground. 
“The crossroads mean a change is afoot that’s all. It means you don’t know which way to go.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” He laughed. “So, um, do you think I made a deal with the devil?” 
Juliet sighed and changed the topic. 
“Speaking of crossings, you come ‘cross my papers yet?” 
“I’m still looking,” he lied. He was a terrible liar.  
Juliet didn’t want to talk about Eddy’s night mares anymore, mostly because lately she had been having her own. There was the recurring nightmare of the Atlantic crossing and the worry of what she would find when she arrived. There was also the recent cholera outbreak that killed hundreds of recent transplants in Freeport. And what would happen to the Allans without her. Miss Fanny was taking a turn for the worse and no one seemed to notice. Mister Allan poured himself so into his work, and in so doing had become stoic and removed. And Eddy. Bless his heart. He would be an all out mess. And yet, it was time Juliet stopped thinking about everyone else and do something, anything, for herself. 
“Well, I ‘prreciate you looking for the papers. They’re not gonna let me on a ship without ‘em.” Juliet grabbed a broom, and began to sweep the walkway, a non-verbal way of changing the topic.
“Have you given any more thought to going with me to Boston?” 
“T’would be hard up North too, Eddy. You know that.”
 “Well, what about the Caribbean, France, England, or some other place where there’s no slavery? Somewhere that its conceivable that you can come back?” It was obvious Edgar had been thinking long and hard about it.
“Can we go back to Baron Samedi?” she snapped.
“Sure!”
“T’was a joke, Eddy,” she sighed. Juliet sat down on the edge of the well.  
 “Alright, so let’t talk. News papers say De United States government is helpin’ to colonize de west coast of Africa. Folks getting’ a legitimate ticket, Eddy. Y’all got your Mayflower you’re so so proud of. Maybe this is mine. My ancestors didn’t have a choice. But I do,” Juliet let that fact sink in for Edgar before she continued, “President Monroe himself is helpin’ to pay de cost. It’s a clean slate; history in de making, and I’m gon’ be a part of it. No sir. You ain’t the only one with a dream, Eddy. My circumstances is different, dat’s all.”
 “But things are changing, Juliet. You’ll see.”
 “IF that happens, it ain’t gonna happen for a long while yet. You love your horror stories, Eddy. Well, here’s one for you. Once was a man name a Gabriel [3]; came from a plantation not too far from here. He was a skilled blacksmith and learned man too. He saw de injustice in slavery, decided to do somethin’ ‘bout it. Planned a revolt—  only some slave owners got wind of de plan before it could happen. Dey hung Gabriel and his whole group of followers up on Gallows Hill. Probably walked right past his grave. T’weren’t dat long ago neither; just before we were born. Sadly, Mister Gabriel wasn’t the only one with this story. Same thin’ happen’ down Charleston way just last year. “’Cept in dat case Mister Denmark Vesey [4] was already a freed man. Church-goin’ man too. Well, when de authorities find out ‘bout his plan, dey hung him… and all his Christian congregants. 
 “Oh, folks always sayin’ thin’s gonna change; dey pray on it, never comes to be. Now there’s dat Missouri Compromise [5] where even new states like Mirrouri gonna have slavery? What? Please. Eddy, if change is ever gonna come, as God is my judge, I am not gonna be here to see it.”