#10 (Part II)

#10 Ominous Foreboding (Part II)

     My head snapped round to face him. “I didn’t steal it! I met with Thorn. He said plans fell through.”

     "Our employer won’t see it that way. Do you know what hobbling is Ms. Applewhite?”

     “N-no.” The word whispered from between numb lips.

     His fingers tightened on mine, a warning. “In the old days a slave stealing away in the night – even if it was simply to cross from his master’s fields to the neighbor’s fields to visit a loved one – was seen as thievery. Most masters would hunt down the slave, chain the slave in the yard for all to see, and serve punishment with a sledgehammer or axe. Either one left the thieve unable to roam far.”

     “I’m not a thief.” I tried to free my hand. His fingers tightened.

     He was not done.