"She laughed and patted Clarence's belly. "Everything I do is illegal. It's the only way to live." She punctuated her point by blowing a cloud of high...y-illegal smoke up into my face.Just then a very large Afro-American bruiser appeared from nowhere and gave me what I took to be an unfriendly size-up. I figured he must be one of the poet slave-masters I'd heard about, although he looked more like a middle line-backer than a bard. He snapped his fingers at Julia. "Come on--up. Let's go. They're. We took them back in the carriage, regretfully, and I drove them to the meeting place deeper in the interior, on a wooded hilltop in fact.Both women smiled at me warmly when I offered my hand to help them down. They proceeded toward the big tent, and I assumed that would be the last I saw if them.I went off to find some food only to be called back to the carriage almost immediately. "These woman are to be taken back to the British, back to New Brunswick," the officer in charge told me, handing. " Thank you," I replied while blushing slightly. I knew that Mary'sdaughters were fans, but it still felt weird to talk about this withsomeone who knew my secret."How did it go?" she pried for more information."It was amazing," I said, and I could feel the rush start with just thememory of being up on that stage. "I was nervous at first, but I didn'teven make it through the first verse of the first song before I wasloving every minute of it. Performing on stage like that was the bestthing I've. I turned around to go home and get into some clothes that weren't ripped, and didn't have any blood on them. When I was done with changing my clothes, and had a chance to examine the damage in the mirror, I decided not to go to school anyway. I wasn't hurt that bad, I just didn't feel like facing people, and getting asked a million questions about what had happened.That night I had a difficult time explaining why Bill had beaten me up, and why I didn't want to go to school. My parents reacted.