Twenty
Alabama, May 1857
The young man walking along the dusty lane leading through the fields to the village was very funny-looking: very very tall, very very thin, covered in dust and carrying a gourd slung across his back.
The first person to intercept him was Bessie who was nine years old and had plaits tied with coloured ribbons. She was sitting on the edge of an oak wood, keeping an eye out for the fox that roamed around the cabins every night in search of food. She didn’t want to harm the fox, she just wanted to have a little chat with it. She had also slipped out of the house one night - strictly not allowed - to give it a present of a little mouthful she’d set aside for precisely that reason.
But the fox didn’t trust her. Even now the fox was hiding and was only waiting for Be
