Hour of the Witch

by Chris Bohjalian

She stood up as straight and tall as she could, and then, looking down upon him, said, “Thou art drink-drunk, and all I’m hearing is the hard cider and beer talking. If thou dost want the pewter, I will get thee pewter.”

A lot of the plot revolves around the three-tined fork, which the Puritans did not use. That led me to some of the most unexpected research findings: what was a Puritan meal like? Well, they didn’t use forks. They used knives and spoons and their hands. They had plates, but they were more likely to be eating out of a wooden trencher – a mini pig’s trough that two people would share. And they drank beer like it was spring break in Miami. Finally, they ate a lot of lobster because it was so common. Lobster was their bologna. So, imagine the scene: a bunch of drunk European immigrants eating lobster from trenchers without using forks. It was a party.