Storm’s A-Brewin’
Lips red as beets. All he could think about were lips red as beets.
They are deceptive with their welcoming appearance.
They manipulate him into doing things that are bad but feel good.
He liked to imagine the Missus as his love Solana.
“Alcide, could you come up to the house after morning prayer? Mr. Guerre has gone to Baton Rouge.”
His body stiffened.
Those words were code for, “Master’s away so pay me a visit.”
The group of slaves Alcide huddled with outside the small plantation chapel rippled like water.
It was a smoldering New Orleans morning. Dew had not yet stopped kissing the grass.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied dutifully, masking the resentment building inside.
“Ooo wee, Alcide! You shole is a lucky one!” Sixo shrieked. Tall and wiery, he was always joking about something. Even things that weren’t the least bit funny.
Alcide adjusted his face which threatened to give away his true feelings before saying, “So lucky I wish you was in my place,” he forced a laugh, ruffling Sixo’s nebulous cloud of hair.
At 6'2" Alcide towered over the rest of the men and did the work of a few of them. His Coffee-brown eyes were sandwiched between luxuriant lashes so long that he was often jokingly called “Ms. Alcide.” Dusky skin stretched tautly across conditioned muscles.
He was a looker, to say the least. Every gal on this and surrounding plantations wanted to share a cabin with him, including the Missus and her visitors that came whenever the Master was away.
“I’d do that job fa ya if you’d so kindly step aside!” Sixo yelled. He attempted to right his unruly locks.
The other men in the group laughed raucously.
Alcide was solemn. Conflicting emotions clouded his usually serene face.
“Aw Alcide why play so sad, huh?” Sweet Pea cooed. He wiped the sweat of the morning’s work from his brow. It was early, but the sun was already mad with fire.
“He ain’t playin’ Sweat Pea,” Rue stated matter-of-factly. “Alcide only got eyes for Ms. Solana.”
It was often whispered around the plantation that Rue conversed with the Earth and had ears everywhere. He knew who was sweet on who, when women were expecting, and when was the best moment to harvest the fields. It was as if Mama Nature herself spoke into his ear. He had the respect of all the negroes on the plantation. Even the white folks piqued his brain for information.
Against his will, Alcide’s face softened like cotton.
“I think you done hit a nerve, Rue,” Neville muttered. He stepped closer to Alcide, perusing his face like it was a map leading to treasure.
The huddle grew silent like a calm before the storm as Solana approached.
Solana, Alcide thought as elation swelled within him like a balloon.
What could he say about Solana? Her dark skin is comparable to the night, with light radiating from her eyes like the moon over the bayou. Laughter danced from her long neck and tickled the ears of anyone near. Her black hair was long and seemed strong enough to lift the sun into the sky. Just being near her was better than breathing. At least that’s how Alcide felt.
“Hi, Alcide!” Her dimples deepened like the ocean when she spoke to him.
He smiled back.
“Morning, y’all,” trilled Solana’s throaty voice. The group burst into jumbled salutations, but Alcide remained silent, drifting away from them into her orbit.
Clang, clang, clang. The church bell rang, marking the beginning of morning prayer.
“Good morning, Solana,” he said discreetly grabbing her hand. Their fingers played a little game before intertwining.
“Do you wanna meet tonight by Grandma?” she asked. A brilliant smile lifted her already high cheekbones.
Alcide’s face hardened.
“Master’s away,” he said gravely. He disentangled their fingers.
Solana’s dancing eyes stilled and dimmed.
“Oh,” she muttered.
Master Guerre’s absence meant the same for them. Alcide grabbed her hand again.
“I still want to meet you..by Grandma.”
The bell chimed again.
“Alcide!” Rue yelled. Although Master Guerre was gone, it wasn’t wise to be late.
Eyes were everywhere.
They gave each other a final squeeze of the hand and went into the chapel.
During morning prayer, Alcide couldn’t focus on God or praying. He was going through a flurry of emotions and was desperate for the time he’d spend alone with Solana later. Only then was he able to be himself.
A smile spread across his face, surprising him. Thoughts of Missus Guerre quickly turned it upside down as quickly as it came.
I shouldn’t get attached, He thought sadly.
Alcide and Solana had tried to keep their love a secret but eyes were everywhere. The white folks had noticed; Missus Guerre in particular. She pretended not to care, but he knew it burned her that Alcide cared for Solana, a “mere slave gal.”
“A storm’s a-brewin',” Rue muttered to Alcide as he passed him on the way to see Missus Guerre. He was leaning against the side of the church without a care in the world.
Alcide looked up, surveying the cloudless blue sky. Despite this, he knew never to doubt Rue’s premonitions. He nodded then headed for the big house.
This room is always so damn hot, Alcide thought of the parlor. He clenched his fists. The windows were shut with the curtains drawn so that no one but the small audience of overly perfumed white women could see. They were dressed in their Sunday’s best, but this was anything but church.
“Oh, Alcide. I love the way you touch me,” Missus Guerre muttered, reveling in his strong embrace. The musty stench of her scalp stung his nostrils.
“Yes’m” he replied, running his calloused hands over her pale, moist skin. Daydreams of Solana’s honey-scented ebony complexion danced in his mind. The missus moaned deeply, rubbing her boney bottom against his throbbing lap.
The small audience of women in the parlor inhaled in unison as Missus Guerre began undressing Alcide. The room was heavy with the stench of perfume, stale sweat, and forbidden desire. Tears of shame stung the corners of Alcide’s eyes as his body betrayed his heart. His member grew turgid as several pairs of pale, hands roamed over his sinewy frame. Their thin lips suckled his most sensitive areas.
Images of Solana’s upturned face smiling in the moonlight were his only comfort.
“That’s enough ladies,” stated Missus Guerre. An expression of hunger etching across her. “He’s mine.”
Thoughts of Solana’s breasts bobbing gently atop the black water of the bayou, awash in Moonglow urged him to perform like a seasoned vaudevillian.
The woods are mighty lively tonight, Alcide thought as he made his way to GrandMa. The Moon was full and illuminated his steps. There was no need for an oil lamp which was good since he didn’t want to be seen. Crickets and cicadas chirped incessantly. Owls whooped as they perched on moss-covered branches. Tonight is almost too beautiful to be real, he thought happily as the earth beneath his feet cradled and cooled them.
After what seemed like hours of walking and listening to Mama Earth’s chatter, he reached a glade painted in a pale blue hue. Grandma was there towering above all the other trees in the clearing like a solemn protector. Her dark arms stretched across the bayou, the full moon reflected in the inky water. Moss draped her like grey natty hair. She did look like a grandmother.
Alcide placed his hands on her knobbly trunk and could swear he felt pulsing as if blood ran beneath the cool bark. He exhaled slowly, trying to forget the look of ravenous hunger on Missus Guerre’s face.
He exhaled then inhaled.
Her beet-red lips were in a perfect “O” shape.
Exhale. Inhale.
Her long polished nails dug into his chiseled shoulders.
“Alcide,” Solana muttered, saving him from tormented thoughts. He had been reliving happenings of the day as if he was in the Pensieve and hadn’t heard her approach. She was known for being silent as a cat.
He turned around to face her, tears slowly meandering down his face. Alcide’s breath caught in his throat. Solana had just emerged from the woods and was in a simple linen shift that hugged her curves. Her long abundant hair was braided into two large ropes that hung down her muscular back. Large, round breasts jiggled and strained against the material of her threadbare dress. The way the moon illuminated her dark skin, she might as well had been a princess clad in silk.
She was breathing heavily.
“She must have run here after work in the fields,” Alcide thought sadly.
“Alcide are you cryin’?” she asked, peering into his face. She wiped his tears away with rough hands.
Years of picking cotton all day in the hot sun have that affect
He grabbed her into a warm embrace. Their bodies melded together like 2 halves of a coin. They shook as they released tears that couldn’t be earlier.
“Did they hurt you?” Alcide asked not bothering to end the embrace. She was the first to break away. She sat beside the calm black water of the bayou motioning for him to join her. Solana rested her fragrant head on his shoulder. Their fingers did a little dance before they intertwined.
Moments passed in silence.
“Not more than they usually do. How were the missus and her hellhounds?” she asked. He sensed malice in her usually singsong voice.
Crickets chirped.
An owl whooped from its perch on Grandma.
“I thought of you the whole time.” He massaged her sculpted arms.
Moans escaped her lovely throat as she relished in his touch.
“Alcide, I love the way you touch me,” she sighed.
His hands became paralyzed. Memories of the missus uttering those same words fluttered in his head like moths.
“What’s wrong?” Solana asked. Her large opal eyes shined like stars.
He blinked his eyes and suppressed the shame that threatened to send him over the edge. He resumed massaging Solana.
“Nothing. Your eyes put the stars to shame.”
“Oh, Alcide!” She chided. She rose and removed the threadbare shift she had been wearing. “Let’s go swimmin’!” She screamed and jumped headfirst into the dark water.
Alcide removed his shirt and slacks following her in, the water’s coolness washing away all the sins of the day like a baptism.
They found each other within the bayou’s depths. Solana’s hair had come undone and surrounded her like an ethereal halo.
She’s an angel, Alcide thought rising to the surface for air. She joined him.
“Missus Guerre wants to sale me,” she blurted out the words as if she’d been holding in a breath all day.
Alcide grabbed her into a fierce embrace as tears coursed down both of their faces.
The moonlight dimmed as clouds rolled in front of the moon. In the distance, lightning cracked across the sky.
Damn, Rue was right. A storm is coming, Alcide thought sadly as heavy rain began to pelt him and Solana.
They stayed in the water, sobbing and clinging to each other for dear life.
