By Abdulwaheed Abdulgafar
The year was 1865 in the ancient state of Colorado. Gloria who was a lawyer was married to Thompson, a Casino owner. Gloria was a pretty black woman who was one of the few free blacks in America at the time. Gloria became free because she got married to Thompson who was a Whiteman.
Gloria was very ambitious and knew she will never achieve any of her dreams as a slave; she had always looked for a way to break free and become somebody in the society. In the earlier stage of her life, she had a boyfriend whom she loved so much, his name was Greg.
Gloria and Greg were so much in love that they were the talk of the town. When she turned 19 years of age, Gloria realised she was not getting any younger and her dreams were fast becoming elusive; she was so disturbed and became very unhappy. Greg noticed the recent change in her mood and couldn’t stand the fact that she was always sad, so he called her to find out what really the problem was, Gloria poured her heart out and Greg understood what she wanted; but had no solution at that moment.
Meanwhile, Thompson was the son of Mr. Willer who owned slaves and happened to own Gloria and her parents likewise Greg and his parents and siblings too. Thompson, who had not been living with his parents got back home and saw Gloria around, he couldn’t stop thinking about her but didn’t know what to do because he didn’t want to force her; Thompson wanted to marry Gloria, thereby setting her free. Thompson knew that it wasn’t going to be easy being that she is a slave girl; the law doesn’t allow for that.
So, on a fateful morning, he walked into his father’s quarters and told him of his intention, his dad was so furious and kicked vehemently against the proposal. However because he is the only family Willer has and for fear of him leaving again, he had to look for a way to make it work. Mr. Willer called Thompson and told him to seek Gloria’s hands and if she accepted willingly, then he would how to go about it. Thompson then put up courage and went to Gloria, he made her understand the way he felt about her but would not go against her will.
Gloria was in the state of dilemma, she had found solution to her nagging worry and also was madly in love with Greg. She then asked Thompson to give her some time to figure things out and get back to him. Gloria ran straight to Greg in tears and told him what had happened, he was short of words and burst into tears too. Greg didn’t want to be selfish, so, he told Gloria to go ahead and achieve her dreams and maybe someday, she will be magnanimously enough to assist him and others gain their freedom too.
To be continued
