My launch into the wider world was almost halted before it began. When the aunties saw me off at the train station, a familiar odor drew my attention to a tall silhouette at the end of the boarding platform. The stink of sweat and alcohol alerted me to the presence of the slave catcher who had followed me to the bakery. And tracked me around town all summer, waiting for me to—what? Reveal myself as a runaway slave? When his wandering eye caught sight of me on the platform, he spun around so his good eye could get a look, too. That morning, he held a vicious looking dog by a chain. 

         “Slave catcher!” Auntie Ahmeek hissed to Shing Obe. “Don’t let him take her!”

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