Underground

Well, this really is a challenge.

What I mean by opening with that line is, I had to choose a particular historical era to return to and then add to it my own idea of an occupation. I decided that I did not want to flit ahead to some future that I could not imagine without adding all the clichés of science-fiction. To head backwards required me to be honest about history and the circumstances that would guide my life. It would have to be something believable and real enough to tell a fantastic story.

I would be working on the Underground Railroad.

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Let me arrange the scene for you: I am a black West Indian male who is too aware of slavery on my particular island (I may as well choose the one my parents come from - Dominica). I manage to work shipping and loading the boats that are taking in and delivering supplies around the Caribbean Sea and beyond. With some careful scrounging and my very industrious nature, I save some coins and cajole a ship's captain to take me on as a worker, noting which boats head north instead of south. America is still a land of opportunities, no matter what my skin colour happens to be. If I do not get onto the ship fairly, I become a stowaway who is quite familiar with how to hide on cargo holds of certain ships...and I make it.

Now, the time happens to be somewhere early in the nineteenth century. Slavery is about to be abolished in the British colonies, but the Americans will hang onto that benighted institution a little bit longer until a war almost rips them apart. There will also be many nervous people around wondering how France lost Haiti to its slaves, and some discussion about such an event happening in the United States. My lips will remain sealed unless I have to talk (accents would give the whole game away). My concern would be with contacting Quakers, abolitionists and the like to find out about the campaigns to fight slavery. Offering my services, I would convert or join up with any religion or righteous institution that is willing to pay for my services (collection plates do more than gather change for more hymnals and extra pews).

My guess is that, much like my own family, I would again end up in Canada. This means that I would probably settle in the Maritimes, an important hub for the black community in that young and still to be confederated nation. Knowing that there is a natural squeamishness over guns, I would pose as a simple messenger with the cunning and talent needed to slip human lives over the border when necessary. What no one would be aware of is the fact that I have my own weapons and know how to use them (those lovely Haitians spread the word about their success and I would find the means to get a pistol and ammunition; they would look quite charming next to the machete and other blades that never leave that hidden pouch on my person...until I need them). And I would offer my services.

At least once or several times, I anticipate that I would be captured. Sure, why not? There are plenty of historical documents showing that those who worked on the Underground Railroad were subject to terrible treatment and abuse by those who believed in and profited from keeping things the way things were. And a black worker for such a group would clearly be a target. I may even conspire to get myself caught for the greater good...for a few cases. And then I would take my revenge. I know that Quakers and the like believed that violence is not always the answer. I also know that as a West Indian violence gets rid of a lot of questions. A series of terrifying attacks on the right targets would be just the thing to establish my reputation. And I would have no regrets.

It would not be a very long career. I am guessing that by the start of the American Civil War, my job would no longer be tenable. I would return to Canada with whatever I had saved up from all my endeavors, retire on a plot of land with a family, and tell tales about my life in that dangerous occupation. Perhaps with enough education and understanding, my children would be inspired to enter into law or local government, but I would not hold out much hope that my small efforts would effect the world beyond that brief period of history.

But I would be very proud of my time on the Underground.

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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