A Hiss Before Dying by Rita Mae Brown

Author:Rita Mae Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2017-05-30T04:00:00+00:00

March 3, 1786 Friday

“B. See. Butter.” Eudes pointed to a small crock of freshly churned butter.

Mignon, standing next to him at the long, clean preparation table, stared down at the ABCs she had written and rewritten over the last two weeks.

Eudes thought the best way to teach Mignon how to read was through cooking. So for a, he had her write out a for apple, b, butter. Each time he would place food on the table, he would tell her how to write it down. She’d search through her letters, then put them together.

Eudes also taught her the sounds for each letter. She pleased him being a quick study.

“It’s magic.” She grinned.

“What?”

“That scratching on paper means something. Magic.”

“Mignon, that magic goes back thousands of years. I can hear a man’s voice from ancient Athens.”

“You can?” She was dazzled.

“I could if I read Greek, which I don’t, but I have some translations.”

“Eudes, you are a learned man.”

“And why am I a cook in a whorehouse, pardon me, a place of relief and renewal?” He laughed. “Money. If I taught Latin to that handful of boys, free black boys, who wanted to read I would starve. Not a penny in teaching, plus I would be curt with a child who didn’t want to learn.”

“How did you learn?”

“First off, I’m a free black man, as is my family. I asked my father, a joiner and a good one, would he send me to school. Instead he hired a tutor. No distractions. No other boys. Just old Mr. Disston and me. I learned. When I began to shave, my father declared it was time to learn a profession. I liked his work but he said it relied on whether men were making money or not. Pick a trade that people always need. Well, they need to eat.”

She looked at him admiringly. “I wish I knew how to think like that.”

“Honeychild.” He patted her forearm. “Where you were, what good would it have done? You did what the master told you to do.”

She nodded. “But people learned things. Mr. Selisse had coopers, and barrel makers, he had men who could plane timber so you could see your reflection in it. And the boys and men in the stables, they knew a lot.”

“Guess you’re right. What did you learn? You don’t talk much, Mignon. I’m a deep well. You can tell me anything.”

She felt she could. “As a little one, I was in the kitchen, where I learned to make and cut out cookie dough. When I was bigger, I could knead it. The cook, she knew a lot, but she was jealous. I had to watch her and there were older girls above me. But I learned a bit.”

Georgina blew through the double swinging doors. “Friday. We’ll have our afternoon crowd and it’s bitter cold out there. What do you have planned?”

Eudes smiled. “Black bean soup with a little pork fat. I’m roasting capons and I’m experimenting with a hot spiced wine. Mignon gave me the idea.

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