From
his hiding place in the Sweetwater barn, Buford Benjamin cried out in protest
at the exact moment his father’s gun went off. Now mute, he watched in horror
and shame as that same cowardly father hightailed it out of the barn through
the back door after shooting an innocent man in cold blood.
Why
oh why did his mother pick this morning to send him to follow his father? Why
did she even care about the abusive man’s welfare after the drunken binge and
violent explosion he had last night? Why hadn’t she packed their things and
gone to her parents’ house like she threatened to do last night?
Buford
hadn’t wanted to know the ugly truth about his parents’ loveless marriage. He
certain didn’t want to see Motega falling to the ground face first with blood
quickly soaking his shirt. He was only eight years old – too young to witness
murder.
Now
Buford was sorry he ever lied for his father concerning this brown-skinned man.
He wouldn’t lie again. Never again!
Too
traumatized to move an inch from his hiding place, Buford remained frozen in
shock even as Annabelle came rushing into the barn seconds later after hearing
the shotgun blast. He watched as she shouted for her son Matthew to run to the
nearest neighbor for help, then sat with her husband and tended to him as best
as she could.
Guilt
pricked Buford’s heart when he heard Motega whispering how much he loved
Annabelle and Matthew. In between those declarations the man told her who shot
him and why. As the dying man uttered his final I-love-you with his last
breath, Buford finally found the strength to reveal himself. He told Annabelle
everything that happened that morning.
When
the sheriff came, he repeated his story word-for-word, also revealing
everything his father had ever done concerning the Sweetwaters. Those
revelations may have eased Buford’s guilt and shame for the moment, but they
left behind a legacy of anger and fatherlessness among the Benjamins. They also
generated decades of pain and suffering for both families.
© 2014 by Mi’Chelle Dodson/Suprina
Frazier
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