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I walked on through the market, then turned off into Paddinto District, where the crowds thinned out. In a few minutes I would be at the station. The sun had gone down hours ago but it was as if I could feel its hot tongue on my neck.
He stood next to her, looking so smug, as if he knew the truth, as if the whole whipping spectacle was to punish his wife for her promiscuous ways. As soon as they were further down the avenue, sand kicking up in their wake, I darted out of the alley. I had to get away from these awful people. I stood there, paralysed, peering down the avenue. I knew I was being such a wuss but I couldn’t help it.
Popular Torgeir Waldemar Lyrics
Lorde sung a little part of “Take Me Home” by Phil Collins in an interview with Marc Maron, citing it as a song that has inspired her deeply. Lorde has had a long history of showing love for Phil Collins' discography, covering “In The Air Tonight” in the BBC Live Lounge in 2017. Here he was after all these years, staring at me, knowing full well I was where I shouldn’t be and there could be only one reason why. He’d been a big lad, was a big man now, typical of the Ambossans with their long, strong limbs and fierce, powerful bone structure.
Then I saw a thought take shape in his mind. To let me go would be a way to get back at his father. We both knew that I had read him. He smiled quietly and nodded at me, gesturing with his head for me to be on my way. We slaves don’t end relationships. In fact most times we don’t start them either, other people do it for us.
Phil Collins Lyrics
In the sweet light Of the valley, When the sun falls Upon the pine, I shall lay down All of my troubles, And I lift up, This heart of mine. Take me home, Lord, Oh take me home. O'er the hillside, And o'er the sea, To the soft grass of the valley, Where your grace Shall set me free. Through the shadow Of the darkness, Through the storms that Lead me astray I shall travel Forever knowing In your light, I will always stay. O'er the hillside, And o'er the sea, To the soft grass of the valley, Where your grace Shall set me free.
I could see the indecision in his eyes, weighing up the options, which one would benefit him the most. If I moved, I would make up his mind for him and he would raise the alarm. The smoke and smell and shouts of the bidding faded into the background. I didn’t plead with my eyes, because he would feel manipulated and resist. If I looked afraid, he would despise me. So I just looked blank, which is all I ever looked.
Take Me Home Oh Lord Lyrics
To get deep into the grooves, she explained, as we hid our venom behind impassive faces. The woman did not have an inner strength which made her powerful, I had long ago realised; rather, she had been given power over us. I wanted to print out the email and rush around showing it to everyone. But no, I had to control myself or I wouldn’t be going anywhere except the gallows or the electric chair. No leniency was shown to those who tried to escape.
Food, fabric, people - what’s the difference? I held my breath as I walked past Demerara’s Coffee House. These men could sniff out a slave a mile away.
I was one of the Stolen Children. So, in between Europa and the plantations of West Japan is this country in the tropics, the world’s greatest imperial power, the United Kingdom of Great Ambossa & the Canary Islands . It’s part of the continent of the mainland of Aphrika, which lies just over the Ambossan Channel to our right, which we also know as the Sunny Continent, of course, on account of it being so bloody hot here. The avenues have been swept smooth of yesterday’s sandstorm, and the hawkers selling takeaways - grilled corn on the cob, roasted chestnuts, fried plantain and little packets of fu-fu wrapped in leaves - have been sent packing. Gaana is the one-stop solution for all your music needs.
He sold Frank on to West Japan, but not before he had endured 30 lashes of the cat-o’-nine-tails on a public podium at Cumgbela Gate. Every slave in the neighbourhood was forced to attend. Can you imagine how I felt watching that? Poor Frank’s shredded back; how he cried out, because if you don’t they will continue until you do.
They all looked up and studied me a bit too closely. Now my number had just been called and after twelve painfully long years on the waiting list I was being given the chance to escape. The message had come via my secret email account, Please! @ohtakemehomelord.com, a free server set up by the not-for-profit Abolitionists’ Co-op and protected by AntiMasterGuard . I prayed I could trust it, but nothing was infallible.
Such was the demand for rum, extracted from sugarcane, that they ended up with chronic liver disease, alcoholism and permanent memory loss. Such was the demand for tobacco that they ended up with cancer and emphysema. I would be careful, but the Good Lord Above would decide if I made it. Yes, I still held on to my heathen beliefs, even though they ridiculed us as pagans and fantasists. Sure, I’d gone to Voodoo Sunday class.
Later we heard he’d become a slave trader, in order to continue living in the style in which he had grown up. I had to exit on to our avenue before crossing down a side street and heading towards Edgwa District and into Paddinto. I put my head around the entrance. Carriages were still arriving for the parties but it was otherwise deserted.
I was drenched and not feeling very brave. I came upon the coffee houses for which Paddinto was famous, many of which had auction blocks. I’d thought they’d be closed today, but to the traders, I guess, wealth was more important than worship. Several were doing business on this most sacred day of the year.
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