A Woman of Endurance by Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

Author:Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa [Llanos-Figueroa, Dahlma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

15

Tiempo Muerto

Hacienda las Mercedes, Carolina, Puerto Rico, June 1854

Most of the cane is gone, taken to the train yard by oxcart for transport to la central, the local processing plant. The fifth harvest since Pola’s arrival has gone well for the patrón.

He has sold the entire crop and lost no workers. No lives are lost on Las Mercedes, but as in all haciendas, injury and maiming are common nonetheless. The backbreaking work of cutting the cane is replaced by the grueling tasks of tiempo muerto. There is the sticky melaza to be made, strong ron to be distilled, table and cooking sugar to be refined.

Months of cutting, chopping, and hauling are replaced by secondary, but no less grueling, tasks of grinding, boiling, and processing the cane that is reserved for plantation use. Men and women, who are still exhausted from the harvest, are sent to clear the fields for future planting. Weary women and children harvesting fruits in the orchards fall out of trees. Bruises and sprains abound. One distracted girl loses a limb as she gets caught in the trapiche as they squeeze out the cane juice in preparation for molasses. Those boiling the juice must be especially careful. Unfortunates who doze off tending the fire that keeps the vats bubbling pay for their drowsiness with serious burns. But the work continues, the trapiche chewing the cane stalks in its metal jaw, the blazing furnace that never goes out.

Their few hours of rest between shifts are spent in coma-like sleep that may refresh but never restores. The plantation is a machine that never shuts down. It merely shifts from one phase to another. Consistency is paramount. The owners must reap the gains and the workers must shoulder the physical burdens. No matter what.

* * *

For the amos, it is a time of celebration. Each hacendado spends lavishly, wanting to outdo the next in putting on display the abundance of his crop by throwing the grandest fiesta. Ladies plan one harvest feast after another. Their new outfits will be on display—afternoon dresses, evening gowns, ball gowns, and accompanying accessories—all befitting the wives and daughters of affluent plantation owners. These women, in all their finery, housed in large homes full of exquisite furnishings, are the embodiment of their husbands’ success. Their homes are transformed into luxurious backdrops of fresh linen and newly purchased appointments for the admiration of the county gentry.

Field hands work the fruit orchards, metal shops, and repair sheds; indoors, house slaves are equally pressed. The embroiderers and seamstresses work all day and into the night, producing dozens of new frocks, underpinnings, draperies, and table linens for their customers. The house negras clean and polish hundreds of pieces of china, crystal, and silverware. The woodwork, mirrors, and tiles must gleam in the lamplight, reflecting a life of wealth and leisure.

This year, la familia is all aflutter because, even though theirs is one of the smaller haciendas, the governor and his entourage have chosen to attend its seasonal celebration. It

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