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little about my “sister.”
    “ Yeah,” he said, “she gives me a run for my money.”
    The girl never ceased to amaze me.
    “ Take your time, then,” Willie said, returning to his own stall. “It’ll come back to you.”
    The cow gave me the evil eye. I stared at her bloated udder and swore I never touch a glass of milk again.

Chapter 5
     
    Another guy was sitting at the breakfast table when we got there. Willie introduced him to us as Samuel.
    “ Hey,” I said. “How’s it going?”
    “ Good now,” Samuel said. “It smells like heaven in here.”
    He had that hungry look in his eyes. Samuel shifted and I looked away.
    Sara put a large pot of porridge on the table and we helped ourselves greedily.
    “ So, Sam,” I said, wanting to make conversation. The guy seemed so nervous. “You here long? I’d offer you to bunk with me, but my sister ,” I grinned at Casey, “is taking up all the space.”
    It grew strangely quiet and Casey glared at me. Then I remembered where I was. Or more accurately when . Black guys weren’t equals.
    “ That’s fine,” Samuel said. “I won’t be here for long.”
    “ Samuel is recently come from the south,” Sara said, as if that explained everything.
    “ He should be safe here, right?” Casey said. “With Massachusetts being a free state.”
    Another pause. So far, Casey and I were striking out in the small talk department.
    “ That’s true,” Willie said. “But don’t forget about the fugitive act.”
    Damn. Samuel was a runaway slave?
    “ I’m waiting for my younger brother, Jonah,” Samuel said. “Then we’ll head up to Canada.”
    “ Oh,” I said. “I’m from Canada.”
    “ Really?” Willie eyed me. “I thought you were from Springfield.”
    “ We are,” Casey jumped in. “Nathaniel meant our grandfather on our mother’s side originally came from Canada. We’ve never been there.” She picked up the sugar bowl. “Sugar, anyone?”
    I got the hint and kept my mouth shut for the remainder of the meal.
    There rest of the day went more smoothly than the morning milking debacle. Mostly, we pitched hay, shoveled horse and cow dung, and repaired things like fences. Unfortunately, we had to milk the cows again in the evening. The second time wasn’t a charm, but it wasn’t as much of a disaster, either.
    I considered myself to be in pretty good shape. I mean, I was named most valuable player in football, basketball and baseball. I could run, jump, throw like the best of them. But by the end of the day working on the farm, I was totally wasted.
    Maybe it was all the fresh air.
    I beat Casey back to the cabin and quickly washed up and stripped down, slipping under the covers. Unless we were going to sleep under the same sheets, and that wasn’t about to happen, I didn’t relish the thought of her seeing me walking around in my boxers.
    Obviously, she felt the same way. She returned from the house with a ball of string, a blanket, a hammer and nails.
    She hung the string from one end of the cabin to the other about a foot lower than the ceiling, down the middle of the narrow aisle between our beds.
    “ Don’t clotheslines go up outside?” I said, watching with interest.
    “ This isn’t a clothesline.” She pinned the blanket to the line, blocking the view of her cot. “It’s for privacy.”
    I chuckled at that. This room was too small for real privacy. “Hey, just think of me as your brother.”
    Her face popped out from behind the blanket. “I’m not your sister, and you’re not about to see what’s not yours.”
    Feisty creature.
    As much as I would’ve enjoyed spying on my cabin mate, nature had other plans. Within moments I was in a dead sleep.
    The next day was much the same as the first, and the one after that, and the one after that.
    The fourth night I plopped on my cot and moaned. “I thought you said a couple days.”
    Casey’s voice came from the other side of the privacy blanket. “Usually it is. I’m sure I’ll be