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Cotton blues
Cotton...
That´s not even a name.
Still, it is hers.
The Master chose her to make fun
of her stiff hair,
to laugh at her big eyes,
and especially at her skin,
a skin so dark it seems cut off from the night.
How old is she?
She ignores it.
Ten years, twelve perhaps...
Old enough to be sold,
Old enough to work...
She is also called Cotton, because it is the treasure of the plantation,
its richness.
Because, without the cotton fields,
the Master would be practically worthless.
She doesn´t say anything.
No sound has ever crossed her lips.
One would think Cotton is dumb.
Who can guess if she even dreams?
She gets up in the morning,
even before day itself.
First, she eats her flour mixed with water like the others.
Then she goes her way, with a bag on her back,
without looking around, wrapped up in herself.
She thinks of the old African...
Nobody notices Cotton.
Nobody speaks to her.
It is as if she did not exist.
Only old Kunta knows her dream.
All day long,
white dominates.
The white of the whip,
the white of the flowers she picks,
the white of the scorching heat,
which tears her down and makes her head go round...
Cotton is quiet.
She works in silence.
The others sing songs
that make the stomach go round
and they cry with exhaustion.
Cotton doesn´t sing.
This music is not for her.
She only thinks of the night,
where she belongs.
As soon as it gets dark, as soon as work is done,
as soon as the soup is swallowed, she goes and sits in the shadow,
away from the fires that draw the slaves.
And there...
Night obliterates all colours.
Everything becomes just like her.
The Master´s house, the sky, the cotton itself
become soaked with darkness.
There, at last, her dream may begin.
…
(To be continued in the PDF attachment)
Régine Joséphine
Coton blues
Vineuil, Bilboquet-Valbert, 2010
(Translation and adaptation)
__________________________________________
Lola at the Library
Lola loves Tuesdays.
On Tuesdays Lola and her mommy go to the library.
The library opens at nine o´clock, but Lola is ready to go long before that!
She puts all the books she borrowed last week in her backpack.
Her library card is also very important.
The library is not very far away, so Lola and her mommy always walk there.
Lola and her mommy give back the books from last week. The librarian buzzes them through the machine.
There is a special section in the library just for children.
It is really cool. Nobody ever says, "Shhh!"
Sometimes there is singing.
Lola knows all the words and the hands for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
Sometimes there is story time. Lola loves that.
After story time Lola chooses her books. In the library she can have any book she wants.
Lola likes stories with bears and anything with shoes.
There are so many, it takes ages to choose!
…
(To be continued in the PDF attachment)
Anna McQuinn, Rosalind Beardshaw
Lola at the Library
Watertown, Charlesbridge, 2009
Posted by: Stories for Everyone - AS <sg@storiesforeveryone.com>
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