User:Ppetriy/sandbox

1893. Aunt Lindy: A Story Founded on Real Life
A fire in Fort Valley, Georgia, decimates half the town despite the townsfolks best efforts to extinguish it. The towns physician, Dr. Bronson, has his hands full with the victims of the fire. He seeks the help of an old black nurse who lives on the outskirts of town. Aunt Lindy and her husband Joel are a kind and devoutly Christian couple. Their busy lives keep their sorrows away by day. At night, they mourn the children that were ripped away.

Aunt Lindy tends to her patients as if they were her own children. A critically hurt victim of the fire is placed in her care. Upon a closer look, Aunt Lindy recognized in him her former master. She gets transported back in time to when she labored as his slave. A thirst for vengeance clouds her Christian morals. She contemplates killing the source of her pain while he's hurt and at her mercy.

"Marse Jeems" wakes up disorientated. When he blurrily makes out her dark features he too goes back in time. While she relives the worst years of her life, he remembers the most pleasant years of his. Aunt Lindy passionately demands to know the whereabouts of her scattered children. Her anger is getting the best of her when an ongoing sermon a couple houses down steals her attention. The words of the preacher wash over her and she remembers herself. The rage recedes and she emerges determined to save her tormentor. Freshly healed, James cannot fathom how Aunt Lindy tolerated saving his life. In appreciation, he buys the couple their cabin and confirms the identity of one of their sons. He was the new preacher whose words saved Aunt Lindy from falling into sin.

1892. Eugenie's Mistake: A Story
Adele Van Arsden grew up in France under the care of Mme. Charmet. With her fathers passing she inherits his planation in Louisiana, a place as foreign to her as her fathers embrace. Adele finds a friend in Eugenie St. Noire, who delights in acquainting her with country life.

Royal Clifford, master of Clifford Hall, is enjoying the sights in Van Arsden Park when he comes upon Adele peacefully sleeping in a grotto. He is instantly taken with her and saves her from a reptile. The pair fall in love and get married; happily oblivious to the hatred that fills their friends heart. Eugenie is obsessed with procuring the means for disgracing Adele and taking her place at Royal's side. She takes note of the obscurity surrounding Adele's past, her mother dying in childbirth and her father shipping her off abroad.

When Royal is away, Eugenie orchestrates a scene at the grotto the lovers first met. Adele is presented with a correspondence of her late fathers where he reveals that Adele's mother was a mulatto. Adele is distraught. Her ignorance has surely condemned her loving husband to a future of shame and ridicule. The thought of him looking at her with contempt instead of love and adoration proves too much. She flees to France, unable to face the man she unknowingly deceived. Royal is inconsolable. He accuses his widowed mother of being responsible for what has happened.

Five miserable years pass as Old Mammy keeps the letter that ruined her mistresses life hidden. Upon discovering the letter, Royal's heart swells with hope. He hurries to France and pleads with Mme. Charmet to let him see Adele. Their reunion consists of passionate pleas for forgiveness. Royal reveals that his mother was an octoroon. All these years he had thought Adele had somehow learned the truth and left him for it. The couple reconcile and decide to leave the toxic Louisiana terrain behind and start anew in France. Eugenie was mistaken, Adele's familial lineage did nothing to demean her in the eyes of her husband.

1892. Zelika- A Story
Zelika is a slave on the Claiborne plantation, in Atlanta, Georgia. Her fair complexion and the favor of her mistress earns her the privilege to learn to read and write. Zelika enjoys liberties like reading to her old master. Here, at master Claiborne's bedside she forges a connection with a fellow slave, King George.

With Zelika's patient guidance, King George learns to read and write. His new found literacy is a blessing and a curse. He grows aware of his own ignorance, his crippled manhood, and the need to break free from the shackles of slavery. On her way back from an errand, Zelika falls into step with King George. The cadence and tenderness she see's in his features fills her with dread. This was goodbye, he was escaping into the night, hoping to join the Union army. Zelika weeps and pleads with him to stay. King George's heart swells, her tears are the push he needed to reveal his own love for her. Zelika bids him goodbye and promises to wait for him.

As General Sherman makes his way to Atlanta, Zelika sits at her old masters deathbed. All the other slaves are long gone. Mr. Claiborne makes Zelika promise to abide by the contents of a letter he gives her. Zelika puts off reading the letter, fearing it might somehow come between her and her love. Ever day at dusk and dawn she lingers by the road, waiting for her King George to return to her. The day finally comes when she embraces her limping, one handed, starving, and exhausted George King, as is his free name. They cry in each others arms in happiness. When they read master Claiborne's letter, it is revealed that Zelika is a Claiborne. He gives them the location of a flowerbed that sits atop buried riches that now belong to her. Zelika is elated. George King's health will be taken care of and they can live out their days together, far away from Atlanta.