Mufa is crouched down among the trees and bushes as he sits gazing at the moonlight playing hide n seek from his captors. Thinking of the moment he will meet with his fate, he takes a long sigh as he watches the clouds move in unison as if they’re dancing to the sound of music. He leans in as if he can hear the music, too.
He begins to sway and hum. He hears the voice of his mother singing as she would do so many times as she rocked his little sister to sleep. She looks over and smiles at him, as he hums the beat to her lyrics. Mufa grabs his older sister, Latty and begins to dance with her; she just giggles and smiles tickled at how silly her baby brother can be at times, even though she yells at him so many times about how he drives her insane.
“C’mon, Papa, get up and dance with us,” says Latty; as she reaches out for his hands.
“Baby, Papa too tied and ole’ to shake a leg with you young folk”, he says.
“Please, Papa,” she begs.
He gets up, places her feet on top of his feet. “Twirl, Papa, twirl,” yells Mufa. Papa twirls Latty ‘round and ‘round, till he gets dizzy. Latty laughs and laughs, “Papa, you’re the best,” she says.
Mama interrupts with a Shhh. “Tanna finally fall asleep,” she says with a big sigh of relief. “Hoot, hoot!” Mufa hears. Just as quickly as he buries himself into his memories, just as quickly he’s reminded he is no longer in that moment. He turns quickly hoping it is her, but it’s an owl sitting perched high up on a tree branch.
“Hoot! Hoot!” the owl continues.
Mufa thinks the owl is taunting him, knowing he’s eagerly waiting for his sister. He engages in a mental stand-off with the owl. The owl looks, never once blinking, repeatedly saying “Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!”
“Why are you mocking me?” Mufa screams inside his head. “Mr. Owl, Mr. Owl, Mr. Owl, answer me!” he continuously yells in his thoughts.
Mr. Owl sits staring into Mufa’s eyes, connecting and understanding the pain Mufa’s soul is bearing. He can feel the past few days of torment Mufa has suffered. He decides to get in one more hoot before he goes back to his normal activity. Mr. Owl lifts his head, stares cold and hard at his prey; eyes wide open, he stares and stares, never once blinking. The stare down seems like an eternity to Mufa. He thinks the owl knows his inner thoughts and that is a sign that he’s being watched. His mind has been running for days and he believes Mr. Owl has led them to him. He fears this means he will get caught. Have they tortured his poor Latty and she caved because she couldn’t take it anymore?
“Hoot!” says the owl as he slowly and gently turns his head and nestles back into the warmth of his feathers and closes his eyes.
Mufa begins to panic and walk back and forth, looking, crawling amongst the bushes, terrified for his life. The Sheriff has her, I know it, I know it, and Mama has lost her job and mind, Papa, Oh! Papa they have him behind bars and poor Tanny, she’s left alone, an orphan all because of him. Papa is a big strong man; he won’t last behind those bars, Mufia thinks. Surely, they’ll kill him. What have I done to my family? I knew I shouldn’t have run, why I let Latty talk me into running. It all makes sense, Mama always fussing about hanging with the wrong boys. “You lay down with dogs, you come up with fleas,” she’d say. Mufa breathes in and out, talking himself out of the anxiety brought on by his torturer. Latty, where are you, he thinks? Then a hooty hoot hooty hoot sound comes from out of the shadows.
“Hooty hoot hooty hoot,” Latty sings. She’s been waiting for this moment for the past three days. Her brother, Mufa has been in hiding from the law and the KKK. He is being accused of killing an officer that everybody knows is a part of the KKK in these heavily-armed segregated back hills of Tappahannock. This small town is full of racism that is fogged thick; it strangles you in your sleep, leaving you gasping for air.
“Latty, Latty, where are you, I can’t see?” Mufa calls out.
“Sit still, free your mind and follow the sound of my voice,” she says. “Hooty, hoot, hooty hoot,” her voice echoes so effortlessly. The hoot sounds so inviting; Mr. Owl opens one eye and turns his head. Mufa looks at him, just for a second, he thought he saw a small smile on his torturer’s face.
Mufa comes from out of the darkness and walks towards the beautiful sound of his sister’s voice. All their lives she has taken great care of him. Teaching him to read and write, how to tie his shoes, even teaching him about the birds and the bees, though he felt a little shame; he was learning it from a girl that just so happened to be his sister.
He remembers she made a promise to him one night; he was crying because he was afraid of the dark. She promised him she would never let anything happen to him, never allow the boogeyman to come and steal him in the night. This time the boogeyman was the law and the KKK. She was keeping her promise to every word she’d spoken to him that night.
When Latty sees his face she grabs and holds him so tight he can’t breathe. She begins to cry and telling him how much she’d miss him, how much she’d been worried leaving him in the darkness for the past days. She kisses his face all over; it makes him giddy.
“Stop, stop with all the kisses,” he says. “How’s Mama, Papa and Tanna?” he asks. He knows his Mama has been down on her knees for the past three days praying for his safety. She believes in the power of God. He can do all things.
He’s invisible to the eyes, but not to the heart. He can move mountains and sway the devil in the other direction. But, he knows this one time she’s blaming herself for not praying hard enough, or missing a few Sundays of church so she can earn a few extra dollars at work. He knows she’s been on her knees night and day because he’s been held close in God’s arms, because of his Mama praying.
“Sick with worry” she responds. “Mama won’t eat, won’t sleep, she just stays on her knees crying and praying to God, asking him to watch over her baby, her only son. Papa he sits up all night watching out the window with his shotgun, asking Mama to ask her God to keep the burning cross off the yard. Tanna, she’s too young to understand; she cry and pray with Mama.”
“And you,” he interrupts her. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been strong, for everyone, I’ll cry when I get you to safety. Then and only then will I rejoice in any type of emotion. I know you’re innocent, I know you didn’t do those horrible things they say you did.”
“Come we must go, he’s waiting for you” she says as she points into the night.
“Who?” Mufa asks.
She takes his hand and they run quickly and deeper into the darkness, until they come to a car. Mufa freezes when he sees the white face.
“It’s okay, she says. He’s here to help us, to help you.” Latty walks over and hugs him; he gently kisses her lips. Mufa, makes a noise, his face turns as pale as the man standing in front of them. He’s taken aback because his sister has never kept any secrets from him. Now he’s thinking, how well do I know her? Mufa can tell her sister is familiar with him and he’s just as familiar with her; in their body language, the kiss, he knows they’re more than just friends.
“This is Ken, she says….he is my…”
Ken interrupts and says, “I love your sister and I plan on marrying her. But right now there’s no time to explain, we have to get you out of here; my father and his friends are looking for you. I’ve been the eyes and ears for your sister; she loves you very much and will do anything for you.” Ken turns and opens his trunk, and asks Mufa to climb in. He’s hesitant, but his sister pleads with him to climb in. Mufa stands there thinking how odd, he’s running for his life from the white man and he has one here risking own his life to protect him.
“He will drive you across the line to D.C., up North where you’ll be safe. He has friends that will be waiting for you. I will be waiting for your call to let me know you’re safe. I love you, Mufa, and as I promised when we were kids, I will take care of you and never let any harm come to you. I will not let the boogeyman take you into the night.” she says.
Mufa kisses his sister, hugs her tight, puts her face in his hand and rubs his nose up against hers. He whispers in her ear, “This is not goodbye, just a simple farewell till I see you next time.” He looks around, stares off into space imagining Mama, Papa and Tanna standing off in the shadows waving goodbye. He closes his eyes and he can hear his Mama’s voice saying, “I love you forever and always till we meet again. Don’t you forget you my favorite son.”
He laughs and says to her, “Mama, that’s cause I’m your only son.”
Latty, shakes him from his dream and says “It’s time to go, you gotta go, hurry Mufa get in the trunk, you wasting time. What I tell you about daydreaming?”
“I know, Latty, it just makes me feel good, take me away from these bad times I be having. I didn’t kill nobody, I swear on Mama and Papa, I didn’t kill nobody. It was Petey. Mama always tells me to stay away from him, he no good. He trouble cause his Papa a drunk and his Mama just plum crazy, lost her mind,” says Mufa.
“Hush, now, I know you didn’t do it, I know you can’t do no terrible thing like that, you afraid of spiders, how you gonna kill somebody. Just go and call me soon as you get there,” says Latty.
Mufa climbs into the trunk and he starts to feel the tightness of the space as Ken closes the trunk. He can hear the car start and he feels the bumping of the dirty road as Ken speeds away, taking him to freedom. He thinks positive, this will be a new beginning for him, he will be going up North where people that look like him are treated different, better; well, that’s what he heard. He’s hoping, praying the big city won’t eat a country boy like him up.
“Mufa, Mufa, wake up, we’re across the state line. We are no longer in Virginia,” says Ken.
Mufa wipes his eyes and gets up out of the trunk. He didn’t realize he fell asleep, sleep that was needed. Being on the run for days and sleeping here and there has been hard on his body.
“Where are we?” he asks.
“D.C., we’re up north,” Ken shouts out; he’s so excited he can’t keep it in. He feels good that he’s helping Latty and her baby brother. He’d loved Latty since the first day he saw her in his backyard helping her Mama take his family laundry off the clothes line. Latty and Mufa’s Mama is his family maid.
“I thought you’d probably want to use the bathroom, get something to eat and sit up front with me,” says Ken with the biggest smile on his face.
Mufa, is hesitant to trust him, but he knows Latty would never put him in danger. “Yes, I am so hungry,” says Mufa.
Mufa goes to the side of the highway and uses the bathroom, hoping the passing cars don’t see him. Once he finishes he climbs into the front seat of the car.
“It’s okay Mufa, I’m here to help you, and I won’t let anything happen to you. I promised your sister and my daddy that I would get you to safety,” says Ken.
Mufa eyes gets big and he puts his fingers in his ears to clean ‘em out, hoping he heard Ken right. “Your daddy, did I hear you right?” he asks.
“Yes, my daddy, he don’t believe you did it, he knows you’re a good boy. He said Ms. Mattie raised her boy right, with respect. How you think you was able to hide out in the woods for so long; my daddy was pointing them in the wrong direction ‘til he could figure out what to do with you. He said he gotta help Ms. Mattie cause she has always been good to us and it would just about kill her if something bad happened to you. We what you call good White folks,” says Ken.
“Do Latty, Ma and Pa know you and Sheriff Chapman helping me?” asks Ken.
“Your Ma and Pa don’t know. My daddy said it would be better if they didn’t know. I told Latty, so she could stop crying so much,” said Ken.
Mufa starts to look at Ken differently. He thinks maybe he is good white folks. Maybe he do love Latty. Maybe he can really help him stay out of jail and even from being killed like an animal. Mama always said Sheriff Chapman and Mrs. Chapman are good people; they don’t mistreat her like most her maid friends are treated. When Mama had Tanna, Mrs. Chapman gave her all these clothes she’d saved when she had Lila, Ken’s baby sister. Mama was so grateful cause she didn’t know how her and Papa was gonna manage. Mama said God heard her prayers and sent a miracle through Mrs. Chapman.
Mufa asks Ken, “Where are we going?”
Ken looks at Mufa and smiles, “First place we’re going is to get something to eat. I’m starving.”