Chapter 2 Crow's Escape from the Overseer!

So Mr. Mack stood in the garage staring at the photo of Jack and Rex with Laurel and Hardy, and he remembered when he first found that Crow could travel back in time. 

It did seem odd at the time that Crow was only unconscious for a few minutes, but when he awakened Crow told him what had happened while he traveled back in time, and his story was extensive and laden with historical facts and details.

Crow’s story begins when he was searching the internet for how slaves were treated during the times of slavery. Then in the blink of an eye, he found himself in a field where slaves were harvesting tobacco. There’s a man, many who now would consider a “cracker” yelling at the slaves who continued their work as effectively as possible. Then he noticed that Crow was standing to the side of the field.

“Get your black ass out here and work or I’ll give you stripes like you ain't never seen!”

A young black man reached out and pulled Crow into the field. He pointed at the other workers and told Crow to do the same. Crow, who didn’t know what to do, was eyed by the overseer who walked to him and pulled him out.

“You lazy nigger,” he screamed, and then gave Crow the whip, three lashes that cut deeply into his back.

The pain was excruciating, but Crow was too scared to cry and he hurried back to the field, working as efficiently as he could. But he wasn’t as strong as the other workers and couldn’t keep up. The overseer leaned angrily over him, so close that Crow could smell his terrible breath, and that continued the rest of the day.

After dark had fallen upon him, Crow left the field with the others. He was taken to where he was to sleep and one of the women rubbed an herb solution into the wounds the overseer’s whip had cut into his back. Then Crow found a place to rest, too tired and sore to eat and fell asleep.

The darkness was still upon him when he felt someone shaking him. He woke up with a start, fearful of the overseer, and was relieved when he saw that it was the same young man who had helped direct him in the field.

“Are you all right?”

“I guess,” responded Crow, incapable of identifying all of the areas of his body that complained of extreme pain. 

“You need to escape, right now! The overseer’s gonna kill you tomorrow if you stay. He’s mean and he’s killed others. I seen him do it!”

“Wha… What?”

“Now! Right now!”

Crow felt for his belongings, but he had none. He didn’t even have shoes and his feet were swollen with the sores and cuts he suffered in the field.

“Well, all right then. Let’s go!.”