When Lila and I were young girls, we were among the last students to get off the school bus. We walked a half mile from the bus stop and were always ravished by the time we got home. It seemed that Lila always beat me to all of the best left over food. One day, I got to the house before she did and spotted a small bowl of luscious looking cooked sand plums on the table. I immediately devised a plan to get even with Lila for eating all of the left over food before I had a chance. I was one that never wasted food, but my senses were over powered by wanting revenge on Lila. Mama and daddy were not in the house so I had full range to put my plan in motion. I got a bottle of hot pepper sauce from the kitchen and poured a few drops of the fiery hot liquid into the dish of plums. I felt smug about my mischievous deed.

I waited for what seemed ages for Lila to come get her payback, but before she came into the house, daddy entered. I was a bit worried as to what would happen if he ate some of the altered fruit. My fears were well founded as he lifted up the bowl, then scooped up a heaping spoonful and took a bite. In an instant, many thoughts flooded my mind, most were of how ashamed I was about what I had done.

The look on daddy’s face was one I had never seen before. I am sure the look he saw on my face was the same for him too. Daddy spit and sputtered for a while before he could take a good breath and demanded to know who had “doctored” the plums. Shamefully, I admitted I did and tried to explain why. He was most angry that I had wasted good food than what had happened to him. Of course Lila came in behind him and witnessed the whole thing, grinning from ear to ear. I got a good verbal threshing from mama later too. My getting revenge on Lila certainly backfired.