A Noble Endeavor
The linen room door slammed open, and Mariette nearly dropped the towel she was folding. She tried to be very still and didn’t turn around. The stump of her left knee ached inside the leather cup of her peg leg.
“You!” The plantation foreman Zeke sounded annoyed and worried. “Girl! Go on up to Doc Bronson’s lab.”
Her heart beat faster and her vision seemed to go dark at the edges. She focused on folding the towel just so. Told herself that it was only the sharp odor of the lye soap that was making tears rise in her eyes. There were four other girls working shoulder to shoulder with her–the Master had seven legitimate children and it took nearly that many slaves to handle all their laundry–so he could have meant any of them. Couldn’t he? But deep down she knew that since
