Tara

01

Paul Brighton seemed like a decent man. At first.
Now, I've referred to him as Paul not Mr Brighton because he told me to do so himself.

But I certainly didn't anticipate or even think that that was the kind of person he was.

I've been working for the Brightons since mama died when I was 17 and I hadn't had any trouble til now.

Miss Shirley Brighton made sure I understood my place when i first started. She was my boss, I was here to serve her family. To make sure that everything was in order before any house parties or brunch with her friends.

She was superior to me, not just because she was did my boss. But because she was white and I was black, a fact she strongly always brought up.

Coloured.

I didn't hold nothing against her, after all, this was the environment I was born and raised in. I had already accepted my place in society, just like any other African American in Mayville.

My work at the Shirleys was decent, as long as I kept my head down, kept myself in check and did my daily duties.

Which included washing, cooking, grocery shopping, ironing and cleaning up the house. I was good at my job so I never had any trouble.

Especially because Miss Shirley didn't have any children. So my duties only applied to me being the maid.

My days started off at 5am when I woke up and got ready for work, but only after I had finished my own house chores. Then I'd walk ten blocks from the compound to the Shirleys' house.

By 8am, I'd have my apron tied neatly around my waist and would be getting breakfast started.

Today, however, was different. When I arrived, Miss Shirley wasn't home and Mr Shirley was surprisingly not going to work.

I barely interacted with him, mainly because I had nothing to say to him, but also because Miss Shirley did all the talking for the both of them.

He was a tall  lean man, Mr Paul Brighton. With blonde hair, which was as yellow as the hay, eyes a calm blue that reminded Miss Brighton of the sea.

He worked closely with the sheriff, a police officer himself and a feared one in Mayville too. But he wasn't mean to me or his wife.

Back home, Mr. Paul was calm and collected. Which made me wonder why everyone in town feared him so much.

I carried on with my duties as usual, made him breakfast and then went on to do the laundry.

It was then that everything went sideways, everything went horribly wrong and that sickening feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.

If I hadn't hated white people, the social setting and atmosphere of Mayville......the treatment we got, I started in that very moment.

       
        
                               ***

It had been a year since I stopped working for the Shirleys and no white family was interested in hiring.

Everyone had a maid or a nanny already so there was nowhere for me to find work.

Martin, my brother understood this and he offered for me to stay with him and his family on Evergreen Plantation until I found another job.

It was pointless for me to continue staying at my house when I had no income and had no job, I couldn't sit around all day so I  decided to stay with my brother for a while.

And so my days went from making breakfast, doing the washing and cleaning, to teaching and playing with my brothers little twin girls.

I didn't mind, but it also didn't distract me long enough from my own thoughts and fears. I was afraid that Miss Shirley had told off ever white house to not hire me after she had fired me.