Plan A

I find myself in a situation that is unbearable. I was born to an indentured slave who worked for a plantation owner. Slavery was abolished years ago and many slaves found themselves with not enough money to buy land so they were given “jobs” on the plantations where they had been slaves. Some “freed” slaves moved into towns close to the plantations and could not find jobs or housing. Suffering from poverty, some walked into larger towns and found jobs that gave them an apartment near the place they worked. The wages were very low and getting ahead took a lot of patience and determination.

My father stayed on the plantation with my mother and younger brother. We had a small one room house that had wood shutters for windows and a wood stove to cook on. The plantation owner had a general store where we could get food, wood and some material to make clothes. My mother worked in the kitchen of the plantation owner and snuck food that was supposed to be thrown out to supplement what we could get at the store. She made me two simple dresses and a wrap to wear under them.She also made clothes for my brother and father. The plantation owner gave my father rubber boots to wear in the field. He worked irrigating the crops with water that was pumped from the river. It was a big river that flowed all the way to the ocean. A tractor pulling a trailer came by at day break to pick up the workers. My mom made simple sandwiches for him for lunch and he had a gallon jug to carry water. It was hot and dry and the gallon had to be rationed to make it until the tractor came in the evening.

My mother walked the mile to the plantation house to work. She was given a pair of shoes to wear while at work. She was to keep them polished so she could not take them home. She had a pair of sandals she wore to get there and had to wash her feet outside the kitchen before putting on the shoes. She also had a clean white dress with an apron to change into while she was at work. My brother and I stayed at home during the day. We knew there would be a time we would be required to work also.

On my thirteenth birthday the plantation owner told my mother to bring me with her so I could be fitted with a white dress and apron. I was to work in the laundry washing the plantation owner’s family clothes, bringing fresh towels and bed linings to the rooms and washing and folding the table cloths and napkins. The plantation owner had three sons and two daughters. All the bedrooms were upstairs off a long hall. There were two other young girls that worked with me. We could see and feel the eyes of the sons watching us and knew they had unclean intentions. We were sometimes called into their rooms to do extra cleaning or bring fresh towels into the bathrooms while they were bathing. They didn’t mind that we saw them naked even when they had erections or were masturbating. We were young and innocent and had never seen a naked man. I told my mother about it and hoped she would tell the plantation owner or his wife. She was furious and still afraid to speak about to any one especially my father. She knew it could cost her job and if my father knew he would do something violent to stop anything from happening. She decided to confide with the other kitchen help about it. One of them also had a daughter working with me and was afraid of what could happen to her. They discussed different ways to help us and came up with a plan.

One of the sons had a birthday coming and loved chocolate cake. The plan was to bake a cake for his birthday that was laced with poison and serve it to the whole family after dinner. So we carried out the plan and made a super rich chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. After dinner the night of his birthday, my mother brought in the cake wit candle lit and presented it to the family. The plantation owner seemed pleased and asked her to cut the cake. He then asked her to eat the first bite. She didn’t know what to do. She was very thankful and said that it would not be proper for her to have the first bite but he insisted. She realized that he must have been informed about the poison. If she took a bite she would die and if she didn’t, she would be exposed.

An idea came to mind that might save her. She moved the cake y=to the edge of the table and took the knife and started cutting the cake. She turned the cake platter to make another incision and turned it again. This time she dragged the platter off the table and the three tier cake fell on the floor. Being very apologetic she gasped and started to scooping the cake onto the platter. She knew they would not eat it nor expect her to. The other woman from the kitchen came in to help her clean it up.

The problem with the sons and the young workers wasn’t solved and my mother started thinking of another plan. She began talking with my father about moving tro town or a big city. She finally told him why.