"They say B's house had so many wings
it looked like a sleeping hawk.
They say a family of white folks built it.
Enough verandas for everyone to have
a secret view of the place, each railing
painted to match the trees so you
felt you were stepping on clear air
when you went out there with your mug of morning tea.
The white folks kept a library of pine seeds
in the cellar and gardening books on stands in the hall.
But something happened.
They got into their wagon and said, take care of this
till we get back, which is the only way,
they say, a man like B could get a house
with so many grand porches on every floor.
They say, Blacks weren't meant to look down
on the world from a height, except, B did.
So you start to think of the land as his book.
He wrote what he wished.
To locate B, you must learn to move in two directions.
Find the war, and begin to pace the decades forward, then back.
Carry on your person the Hotchkiss map of the zone
you're searching plus a handwritten list
of relatives' names under the heading, 'Cloud of Witnesses.'
If you reach your mother in her red raincoat,
if you can hear her calling you from the woods,
you've gone too far.
Start again from the depot.
A train will transport you to 1870, the next census
after the war, but you won't be permitted
to disembark unless B appears.
To be honest with you, no one in this county
has ever disembarked at 1870.
Witness the platform for that year covered in wasps.
You'll have to start again from the depot,
and walk until you reach the 1850 slave schedule.
Here, you'll first glimpse Old Master
on a wooden bench surrounded by the members
of his white and Black households
in various states of service.
We advised you to carry your 'cloud of witnesses' precisely
for moments like this.
Some names will repeat over multiple persons,
while others have no names at all.
You have only to lay your 'cloud of witnesses' over the scene
and wait for a match.
Any shape you see could be yours.
"In Manassas."
Where did you say you were staying,
asks the man dressed as a Confederate general.
You hadn't said, actually.
I heard you were looking for family, the general continues.
We care a great deal here about family.
Me too, you finally say.
I'd like to know what happened here.
Oh, you're sure to do that, says the general,
if only you stay long enough.
You feel this cannot be denied, so you try a question.
What can you tell me about the freed
people who lived around here?
Oh, the general answers.
Brushing fluff from his coat, we're all free here.
I'm free.
You're free.
How do you know I'm free, you ask.
You must be, says the general, or you wouldn't have come here.
You don't think that proves it at all, however, you go on.
And how do you know that you're free?
To begin with, says the general, I
belong to certain organizations.
Organizations for which you must prove your pedigree.
I couldn't wear this uniform without proving it.
You grant that?
I suppose so, you say.
Well then, you see, a free man belongs to the organizations
of his ancestors.
And his ancestors always belonged
to certain organizations.
Now, I know all my ancestors, and I belong
to certain organizations.
Therefore, I'm a free man.
I think you're very lucky to know all your ancestors,
you say, but not everyone is so lucky.
Call it what you like, says the general.