“Go get Maple!” Master shouts to Willa and Annie.

I kneel down and put the cream to Master Thomas’s mouth. “This will help,” I say. “Roll it round your tongue.”

Master Thomas does like I say. I can see when it takes hold by the way he stops squirming. I leave him with the pouring cup of cream to sip on and go refill Master’s wineglass. He drains it down and I hurry over to get the water pitcher. As I’m pouring the water, Master Thomas picks up his plate and throws it on to the floor.

“I don’t want that,” he cries. The plate breaks in two and food splatters the rug.

“No,” his father says, pushing his own plate away. “Neither do I.”

As I set down the water jug, Maple comes in wringing her hands. “Miss Martha, I don’t know what happened,” she says. “It weren’t like that when I made it.”

“Even when Bessie was going blind, she never cooked this badly,” Master says. “If you don’t know what you’re doing we’ll get in someone else who does.”

“No, Master. This weren’t my fault.”

“You nearly poisoned my son,” Master shouts.

I crouch down to clean the mess on the floor. I could say it was Bessie who added the chili powder, but I don’t want to get in the middle of it. And I especially don’t want to wind up on Bessie’s wrong side, so I hold my tongue and pick up the pieces of broken plate.

“Matthew, sugar,” Missus says smoothly, “let’s not be dramatic. No laws were broken. I’m sure she meant no harm trying out a new dish. And now she knows never to make anything that spicy again.”

On Jubilee Plantation whippings are reserved for slaves who break the law. Man’s law or God’s law, is how Master talks about it. I don’t move in the silence that grips us all waiting to hear what he’ll say.

“No laws were broken.” He nods at his wife, biting down his temper. Then he turns to Maple with that controlled kind of anger, so cold it’s hotter than a prodding iron. “But you’re mighty fortunate Sarah was here to help my son.”

A tremor goes through Maple and she lowers her eyes.

“Yes,” Missus says, relieved. “We are all glad of Sarah’s quick thinking. I never would have thought to give the boy cream.”

She smiles down at me where I’m crouched on the floor picking up the food Master Thomas threw. By the door, Maple has stilled like a snake before it strikes. When she looks over at me, I can feel the venom in her stare.

Chapter 6

Maple

I pull the brush through Miss Martha’s dark hair, careful to hold it tight before I work through the snags. I got Sarah down in the kitchen house washing dishes by herself, and she deserve it too. I don’t care if it was Bessie who ruined my cooking like she says, she let me serve it without saying a word and stayed quiet while Master tongue-lashed me into next week, and nearly lashed me for real. She’ll be washing dishes by herself for a long time.