In the ten years he has been on the plantation, no one has heard the Old African speak. Yet the Old African can speak to all of them in their minds. He has the power to ease one’s pain or he could cause it. The slave owner, Riley, wants to see him dead. After a young man is whipped, the Old African has decides it is time to lead the slaves to the Water-That-Stretched-Forever, and from there, back home to Africa.

English language arts 10 (2011).