Best Served Cold

It was an ordinary evening in the sticky, hot, Louisiana summer. The mosquitos came in swarms and the crops were ready for harvesting. “The boys and Hector must be busy reaping the corn.” I thought. I, as the only female, had to cook the meals and stay in the kitchen most of the time. Sweat poured down my face as I slaved over my masters dinner. Pork chops fresh from this morning. Crisp, cool, vegetables picked earlier today. And finally lamb stew with potatoes and onions. It was almost done. The meat was finished. I was just chopping vegetables while the stew simmered. This meal would certainly make the master happy. I looked through every flaw he could whip me for. It was perfect. All my time spent cooking for my master and his friends had finally paid off. While he was busy with this appetizing feast we would finally conduct our risky gamble to escape this prison. I chopped the last stalk of celery when footsteps echoed from the stairs.

“Is dinner done yet?” Master growled.

“Certainly sir,’ I replied.

“Good, fetch my daughters and you can have the rest of the time to help your offspring with the reaping,” He grumbled.

“Right away sir,” I quickly hurried out of the room and went to inform his daughters that dinner was done. I rushed up the stairs and opened the door to the girls room.

“Dinner is finished,” I advised them.

“Okay, now leave us slave,” one of them snarled. I hurried out of the room and leapt for joy at the thought of seeing my family. I quickly ran out the door before the master could change his mind. I immediately spotted Hector out in the fields and scurried over to him.

“My dear,” he sighed.

“Oh Hector, everything is going according to plan, how are the boys?” I asked.

“They're fine, we’ll leave in ten minutes so hurry and get the stuff,” he warned. I rushed to the nasty barn we were forced to stay in. I grabbed the four satchels we had and started stuffing clothes and rations in them. I tied them all together and rushed out of the barn. We were going to have to hurry if we wanted to make it out. I set our stuff by a tree on the treeline surrounding the whole estate and rushed back to fetch Hector and the boys. When I finally got back to the estate I was out of breath.

“Is it all ready?” Hector questioned.

“All set up, we just have to escape the grounds,” I replied. Right after that the master yelled for me to fetch him a glass of wine.

“If we want to go we have to leave now. He is almost done with his meal and after he is done with his wine time he is going to come out and catch us,” he reminded me.

“Yeah, but if I don’t go in there now he is going to get suspicious and we’ll have less time to run,” I shot back.

“Fine, go in there and meet us at the tree once you're done, make sure no one follows you,” he suspired. I knew I had to do it but I didn’t want to. Spending another moment without my family made my heart pang.

“Give a hug to your mother boys,” Hector told them. I embraced them both and gave a kiss to Hector.

“Be careful,” I cautioned.

“Same to you, I know I will,” He chuckled. I walked off to go fetch master his wine. I burst through the front door and walked down to the wine cellar. I browsed the selection until I found the strongest one there was. I brought it back up and popped open the bottle. I filled his glass to the top and set it down in front of him. He didn’t say anything, just sipped at it until he was finished.

“Would you require another one, master?” I asked him.

“That will not be necessary,” he rolled his eyes.

“You really deserve it, for being such a successful man,” I cooed.

“I do,” he boasted. “Pour me two more,” he demanded.

“Yes sir,” I replied as I joyfully made him unaware of our escape plan. All the sudden the slave patrollers barged in.

“We just caught a group of slaves hiding out by a tree with stolen rations,” One of them grunted. I gasped in horror, restraining myself to burst out and demand for more information. I didn’t have to though, the rest of the story came by itself.

“They ran into the woods right when they spotted us. Luckily William had a lucky shot, he brought down all three of them,” he gloated. My heart ruptured in sadness with the news that my boys and poor Hector were gone. I fought back the tears trying to not show any sign of weakness to the master.

“Well that's a shame, we only had them for a couple months, we will have to go to the market and pick out some new ones that wouldn’t dare to escape so then we can get our money's worth,” he said carelessly. This man doesn't care at all I thought. His moral compass has deteriorated with his laziness. No man that has no care for human life deserves to be let loose. I must stop this tyrant, I decided.

I woke up to the emptiness of the lonely barn. I visited Hector and the boys final resting spot but I didn’t dare go anymore. The emotions couldn't be constrained seeing that sight and I mustn't show any indication of enfeeblement to the master. I walked out and started on breakfast. It was a simple one with just some eggs and bacon. I did not feel up to making anything fancy after the shocking news I had just received. The rest of the day I lazed around in shock not believing what had happened just the day before. With the master gone to the market I finally had time to think. All my ideas would not have worked with my resources. I could burn the house but he would probably make it out. Then I heard the master's daughters talking. 

“Daddy told me not to touch the white stuff in the cupboard under the sink. He said it was arsenic and it would kill the rats we are having problems with,” she warned her sister. “Daddy must be really sick of the rats to try and kill them,” the other one replied.

What mindless daughter's my master has, I thought. If I could acquire some of that poison my plan would be complete. I finally had hope of ending the monster that killed my beloved ones.

I was up at exactly sunrise to start preparing the masters feast. It was a yearly tradition of his. Every September 18th he celebrated the day he inherited his company from his father. He went all out and bought some of the finest foods in Louisiana. His favorite dish was the shrimp cocktail. And this year it was going to be extra special. I went right away to start prepping the pig for the main course. It took all day but eventually all I had to do was wait for everything to cook and whip up some appetizers. The master was already sitting at the table waiting.

“Where is the shrimp cocktail?” He commanded.

“Almost finished,” I giggled. Just one final ingredient and it was finished. I brought the shrimp and some cocktail sauce on a silver platter over to him. He eyed it suspiciously and then bit into a shrimp. He immediately spit it out.

“Why is it so cold?” He demanded.

“Shrimp cocktail is a dish best served cold,” I replied. “Plus you're supposed to try it with the sauce.” He took another shrimp and lathered it in sauce. He chewed for a little bit and then gulped it down. I walked back to the kitchen and stopped at the counter and grinned as a thud echoed across the floor.