Richard Rodriguez Diary

The nights were colder than usual; the wind pierced his very skin and etched his bones. He tossed and turned restlessly in his mahogany bed. There was nothing but silence; the usual orchestra of crickets were quiet tonight. “This is the coldest it has ever been since I moved to Trinidad” Chavez whispered to himself in anger. Frustrated Chavez crawled from his bed and walked out to the veranda. There was an unnatural stillness in the air, as the full moon’s light beamed along his house, and the trees stood stagnant as though they were frozen in place.
Chavez glared at the night sky which was clear of clouds and stars, he thought to himself; “Why can’t I sleep?”. His heavy eyes scanned the area, overlooking the canopy of trees, the tall bamboos,
The house had first belonged to his great great grandfather Hugo Alvarado who was a retired conquistador. Chavez however never truly wanted to come to Trinidad. He had always preferred the comfort of Spain over the untamed Caribbean.
He exhaled firmly and decided to retreat to his bed once more when suddenly a scream came from the barracks. He turned quickly. The scream grew louder and a stampede of slaves ran out of the barracks. Chavez ran inside and reached under his mahogany bed for his rifle, he thought it may be a revolt. He ran quickly down the stairs, out the house and into the dark outdoors. He approached his hounds with haste and released them from their cages. They followed him toward the barracks.
The slaves jumped in fear as the saw him approaching with his battalion of dogs. He stopped in front of the barracks and the dogs halted and remained still as they awaited his command. Chavez slowly moved towards the door, his stomach made a knot; sweat began to trail down his face. As he slowly opened the doors the dogs tensed. His eyes opened wide at the sight of a slave hunched over. He was dead, Chavez moved closer towards the corpse. His dark skin was pale and his face frozen in fear. His neck was burnt as though scorched with flames. Chavez adjusted his gaze from the corpse to the other slaves.“What happened here?!” he asked looking around at the