I would start this with a dear diary but I haven't been holding you very dear lately.

The camp has grown too crowded and a small group of about six or seven soldiers are moving us stronger ones to another camp.

One that was in Richmond Virginia. The walk is tough but it's nothing compared to the hours of blood sweat and tears that we had to shed over the cotton fields. I'm glad that we no longer have to use our blood to practically fertilize that ground.

There were complaints but no one ended up on the side of a ditch waiting for help that would not come. No one had to cringe waiting for a whip to descend upon them no we were helped when we needed it we got medican when we were sick we were fed good proportions of food to fuel and sustain our bodys.

And it seemed that Lucy was growing feelings for one of the soldiers that had been guiding us. Poor girl falls too fast.

Our boy Tucker though got pox. The soldiers believe he will be okay but he's not allowed near us. We pray that it clears up before we get to camp. Dang things will spread like a wild fire in a barn full of hay and stove lighters.

The camp was covered in tents as far as you could see cone shaped living spaces and children traveled back and forth carrying sticks, the older one lugging clothes, water or any number of chores that they had.

A white man on a horse back came over his stead nickering as it came to a stop. ¨Well hey there!¨ he called. Then he proceeded to explain what we would be doing. We would farm crops. Not really cotton but corn and beans and other foodstuffs.

The real difference was we would be paid for our hard work.

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Now this had a mix of responses from anger to excitement.

Being paid? We would be propared for when this war ended and thos slave owners got there comeupance.

Slowly we were brought to our tents. My family all climbed into a small sitting where we would sleep as well.

Privacy was not something we could even think of but oft we did not have privacy before anyways.

It smelled. It smelled like a pig farm nursery. I guess hygiene still was not a luxury we got to have.

We were awoken by a few men walking through the tents and getting us something to eat. They handed out clothing to us. I received what looked like slacks and a shirt made out of scrap material the uniforms they wore were.

Not that it was a bad thing, just something I noticed.

Turns out Lucy and that soldier were hitting it off better than I thought.

I caught him visiting her tent slightly more than the others. But I heard nothing more than a bit of chit chat.

Possibly planning for a future that would likely never happen.

I found out later from her that his name was paul. We talked as we worked tilling the land to ready it for the seeds of life about to be placed within the earth's belly.

Then the yelling came. ¨You let me in and get my slaves your breaking your law those are my slaves!¨ i rushed to the conundrum watching as a man looked at the slaver with a look of disgust. ¨Can't see what you're talking about.¨ they responded. ¨You're not part of our country therefore you don't benefit from our laws.¨

A black man shouted from the group. ¨Can't come back nohow massa dis chilens contraband.¨

It wasn't long after this day that we were started to be pulled or drafted into the war to help. Our men shot and helped the wounded and many other things.

Poor lucy. Paul had to leave with this ragtag group of fighters.

Many months after that paul had returned and little lucy was the first one out. She saluted him. And she was joined in by other men. The more men from the war that began to walk in to help us the more cheers and saluting there was. It was a beautiful show.

Then the men who walked in called at the same time. ¨We won! It's over! ¨over time there were a few more skirmishes of course but it was clear that we had won. Our freedom won over our enslavement. Afraid to say my now very dear diary, I have no choice but to leave you to rot in this little basket. I have a new life, a new world to go to.

Oh, and Lucy had a little girl. A beautiful little girl with a good man and hero named paul.

The host placed the book down. It had been months since the creators made him bring a whole human back to the time they were in.

¨Wasn't that a pleasant ending? I hope your evening is just as pleasant as well.¨

Forever he worries what he may have to do next.