Waking as usual when the cock first crowed, Malcolm washed up in the basin with water left from yesterday and dressed in his usual attire for working with his slaves, which consisted of a pair of khaki colored cotton pants, white undershirt and a light blue buttoned cotton shirt with red suspenders, which he topped off with a short-brimmed straw hat and of course, a pair of worn boots. Today he was going to put them in the southeast cotton field to pick it after he finished up with his devotions, then he’d go get some of Maggie’s fine cooking for breakfast. He knelt at his desk and said his daily prayers and asked forgiveness of any wrongdoings of the previous day, combed his hair and went out to get the workers to the field for the day. He went to the meeting ground and found every man, woman and child ready to go, as expected. He kept them in line with a firm hand and they knew he would not hesitate to whip every last one of them if need be. Naming two of the older men as today's supervisors he sent them out to the field, and watched as they marched with baskets on their heads to bring back the cotton in.
After a few more minutes he went to the kitchen and got a heaping plate of food from under a warming dome, and he took it into the dining nook off the kitchen and found Talbert already sitting there eating. He nodded to him and said “Good morning” in a slightly muffled tone, to which Talbert just nodded back and continued to eat as if he hadn’t even come in. Shrugging his shoulders, Malcolm sat opposite his peer and ate without looking up again and by the time he was done Talbert was long gone from the table, which he counted as a blessing since the man came as close to being his nemesis as anyone else ever had. In fact, he was nearly certain that he was in cahoots with the Devil and probably meant to rile the slaves into a rebellion. He felt in his inner being that Talbert would be the undoing of the Burgesses' wealth and power, but had nothing to prove it yet. Yet. He felt he owed it to his employer to keep a sharp eye on him since in Jackson’s eyes he could do no wrong, and gave him leeway to do just about anything now that he’d named him Overseer of the new plantation. It wouldn’t be long now before he left and stayed in the new place where he, Malcolm would have little if no interactions with the man and wouldn’t be able to watch him, then who knows what he might do over there on his own, the thought of which made him shudder.
Taking his plate into the kitchen, he sat it down on the counter next to the sink and since he didn’t see Maggie anywhere he went outside to the stable and got his horse Jeremiah from the corral and saddled him up. He got up and rode out to the field and checked on the progress being made and found that one of the children was sick and was being looked after by one of the appointed supervisors. Remaining seated in the saddle and looming over the group of workers, he told them “I fully expect the same amount of harvested cotton as if that child was doing her share of the labor. Should you fail to do so, you will be whipped and forgo your supper”, and then he turned and rode away. He had other fields to check on and he went to the west and got down to check the tobacco crops, which he did by walking down a row and coming back down another one and occasionally squatting down and looking at the base of the plants as well to make sure they weren’t getting a disease or being eaten by bugs. When he got back to his mount he hadn’t found anything amiss and went on to the next field and so on, checking in on his pickers every now and then. He was satisfied that they were going to bring in a really good harvest today based on what he had seen, and by lunch time he had completed his rounds and brought Jeremiah back into the stables to be rubbed down and fed, then he went to get lunch.
After he finished most of the food Maggie gave him, Malcolm went to his office and worked on the accounts and journals for the remainder of the day. He walked back to the meeting ground in the middle of the little slave ‘village’ which was situated close by the whipping post as a reminder to them at all times to obey their masters. There he found the cotton crew with their harvest for today laid out in neat rows five baskets across and six and a half baskets long for a total of thirty and a half bushels of cotton. He inspected the cotton and found it to be of excellent quality and nodded to himself in satisfaction, then he turned to his group of slaves, who had worked hard to make sure they picked enough to suit him and said “That is some good cotton there, folks, very good. I must say I’m a little surprised that you managed to pick this much - and for that reason, I’m raising your daily quota to one full bushel each from now on. The days are getting longer and that gives you a little more time to pick enough and in a few weeks we’re moving to the tobacco fields so all of the cotton must be picked before then. Dismissed.”
Malcolm was feeling on top of his game and couldn’t wait to tell Mr. Burgess about today’s bountiful harvest after supper. In the meantime he went to his little home behind the office and washed up in the fresh water a servant had refreshed earlier in the day, and hung his shirt and pants out to have the dust beaten out of them while he had a simple supper here in his quarters. There was a plate of food waiting for him on his little dining table in the middle of the room, which also served as his bedroom, dressing and bathing room. He sat down in the old dining room chair provided for him by Mistress Elizabeth and enjoyed the meal of pork tenderloins with onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered peas and half a loaf of bread spread lavishly with fresh cream butter and slathered in honey. There was even a large helping of custard with what looked and smelled like caramel sauce, but he didn’t even finish his supper although he would have loved it. Malcolm decided to save it until later, after talking to Jackson in the house, which meant putting on some clean clothes.
After he got dressed again in his formal clothes he went to the big house to speak with Jackson, and knocked on the enormous white carved wooden doors and waited for Joseph to come and let him in. He could have gone in through the kitchen or servants entrances but he preferred coming in this way and getting a chance to look at all the beautiful paintings and sculptures in the entryway and on the way to Jackson’s office. Soon enough the doors were opened and he was ushered into the house and escorted to his destination, although he knew the way from many such treks and could have found it blindfolded and walking backwards, but Joseph bade him remain outside whilst he determined whether the Master could see him. Malcolm rolled his eyes at the servants back and uttered an oath under his breath at the formality and arrogance but did as he was told until he was brought into Jackson’s office and library, the latter taking up three entire walls. The smells of leather bindings and aging paper was intoxicating and almost overwhelming and Malcolm instinctively inhaled a long breath and slowly exhaled, letting the aroma permeate his being.
Jackson motioned for him to be seated across the desk from him and greeted him before asking for his report, which brought Malcolm back to reality once again. He greeted his employer back and began telling him about the past week's developments, telling him he needed more field hands because the crops were doing so well, they were not going to be able to keep up with harvesting everything. Jackson replied that he had already purchased more slaves for the new acquisision and they would be arriving next week, and that since there was nothing much to harvest there that Malcolm could use them as he saw fit for this season. Malcolm acknowledged Jackson’s plan was fitting and beneficial for the purposes he had discussed, and then told him about today’s bounty from the southeast cotton field and how the slaves had gathered more than usual because he had threatened them all with a whipping when one of the children fell ill. Jackson commended him for his actions and was very glad to hear about the excess harvest. He then asked if Malcolm might know of someone who could oversee the slaves when the new property was up and running, and he promised Jackson he would check around with his associates and see whether anyone knew of a man looking for that type of work. Jackson thanked him and bid him a good night, an obvious signal that the meeting was over so Malcolm rose and let himself out and continued back the way he had come and Joseph let him out.
He went back to his rooms and lit a lamp on his bedside table to illuminate the area, allowing Malcolm to see well enough to hang his clothes back up and get ready for bed. He sat in his easy chair and ate the custard, which was as good as he expected, then read from the Bible for about an hour before he turned off the light and got into bed. He laid there for some time thinking about the events of the day and having more slaves coming to work in his fields, figuring where to house them all until they were taken to the new plantation and he would be back to what he had now, which was truly insufficient for the tasks at hand, and wondering whether he should ask about keeping the new workers here indefinitely so he could expand the planting next year. He felt that if he put it like that Jackson would be more likely to agree since it could potentially increase the output and therefore generate more income for the plantation. Malcolm would have to build more houses but he had already planned out where they would go and accumulated the materials some time ago, just as he had planned this harvest to be larger than his workforce could actually handle in order to make Jackson realize the potential. Malcolm envisioned turning a much larger portion of the lands into usable farmland and even some grazing land for additional livestock because they would have more people to feed. Everything was going according to plan, the only thorn being that arrogant Aussie Talbert who had become even more of a threat to his little kingdom when Jacson had named him Overseer and unknowingly let the fox in the chicken house and with that, he drifted off into a troubled sleep where he found himself sneaking around behind his enemy waiting for the perfect time to strike, and just when it came he woke up.
Feeling like he’d been cheated, Malcolm went about his morning routine in a dark mood which even his prayers and devotions didn’t fully expunge and he ate only half of his breakfast without even tasting it. He went to the meeting place and barked his orders at the slaves, who then scrambled to do his bidding as quickly as possible. In the commotion the sick child from yesterday stumbled and fell down, causing the child’s mother to help her get up, and slowing others down in the process. Malcolm had brought his whip today and cracked it on the mothers back to get her attention and make everyone aware that such things would not be tolerated today, and she fell to the ground but got right back up and pulled her child along so she wouldn’t get whipped as well. Everyone else fell into a more orderly formation and hurried to the cotton field to finish the harvesting, which Malcolm informed them would be today even if they had to miss supper.
With that he turned Jeremiah towards the northern fields to inspect the other crops and check on the cows, sheep and pigs, which he kept in the farthest field from the big house because of the smells which he was fond of, but no one else shared in this delight. He spent a good amount of time out in the pastures and Jeremiah loved the interaction with his ‘cousins’, sniffing and rubbing necks with the cows and what amounted to the same thing with the rest of the animals until both were in a much better mood. He had to admit this was his favorite part of the job, and even as he rode away he maintained his favorable disposition and felt the anger fall away, thanking God for redeeming him yet again. He was nearing the cotton fields when he noticed that most of the slaves were huddled together and disregarding their duties, which nearly sent him into a rage again but he remembered his gratitude to his maker just moments ago and approached the group easily and inquired as to what the matter was. The oldest man of the group spoke up and told him that the little girl had taken a bad turn and was failing, and needed immediate medical attention. After a few moments of deliberation, he excused the child and her mother to go to the kitchen for help and he told the others to get back to work and included the supervisors in the harvesting to help make up for their absence. They did not hesitate to follow his orders and went back to picking and cleaning the cotton bolls as fast as they could without making mistakes like leaving the husk on or throwing the cotton away by accident. Satisfied that he would still get a good gleaning, Malcolm turned his horse towards the office and his rooms for lunch and praised God for working in him so that he was able to show mercy to the mother and child. He did wish the child a speedy recovery because her presence would be missed in the fields what with the tobacco almost ready and the new shipment of slaves could encounter any manner of troubles before reaching them, no mater what Jackson was promised. He told himself that he would look in on them later today when he was done with his bookkeeping and journaling, so he left the workers to their business and rode back to the stables, passing the struggling, crying mother and her daughter on the way but affording them not even as much as a glance to acknowledge their existence.