by Harper Lin
Just then, the fire started to grow as if someone had doused it with a splash of gasoline. The flames licked high and snapped their long orange fingers up into the air before simmering. The wood crackled and popped, sending little red sparks off in all directions. The bonfire and the full moon made Becky suddenly realize this was probably the worst night on the calendar to face a hoodoo witch.
“Are you looking for me?” The same gravelly voice Becky had heard when she was underneath the window came from behind her.
She whirled around to find herself almost nose to nose with the woman with the scarf around her head. Leelee. She had a strange smell about her, as if she spent all her time in a root cellar. And Becky couldn’t help but notice the stringy but strong muscles that showed on her arms and up her neck.
Becky stepped back a few paces with her hands raised. “Yes,” she stuttered.
“Well, here I am. You are the one who has been on my property,” she said.
“Is it your property? I thought this was Mr. Tobin’s property. I guess if he’s working for you, it is yours.” Becky told herself to try and stop being sarcastic. It never helped her situation do anything but get worse.
“State your business, girl.” Leelee’s breath was hot and foul. She had a rotting cemetery of teeth in her mouth, and she continually worked her jaw like a cow chewing its cud. Her eyes looked red in the fire.
“You’re right. I’m the one that’s been on your property. You put something in my family’s tobacco fields. I want you to take it away.” Becky didn’t sound brave or convincing. In fact, she thought her speech sounded downright pitiful. “And the sickness at the Bourdeaux place. That too.”
“Ha ha,” Leelee hissed. Behind her, from the small shed with all the strange jars and statues and etchings, came a desperate clatter. “Do you remember my friends? From the cemetery?”
Becky had forgotten about the men with their mouths sewn shut. How could she have just put that out of her mind and forgotten about it?
“They’ve been missing you. I told them to be patient and that you’d be joining them soon. Trespassers. That’s what they were.” Leelee smiled happily. “Coming to steal my moonshine back when I first got started in New Orleans. When Earl was just a baby.”
“That’s impossible. They’d be old. Those men wouldn’t be able to run or…dig or…” Becky muttered.
“Ha ha ha! You see how much you don’t understand! Ah…but it’s too late. You and your friend are too late.” Leelee smiled innocently.
“You just hold your horses. If anyone was trespassing, it was you,” Becky said. “I caught you in my cemetery, digging up the graves of those people who were waiting to cross over. You were trespassing, and you were taking what I was there to protect. Now, I’ve come to make you a right fair offer.”
“Little girl, you really think you have anything I want?”
“I have the dirt where Mr. Ruthmeyer was laid after they found his body. You think I don’t have a clue as to what you’re taking my cemetery ground for? I know what it holds. That essence is stronger than that moonshine for you.”
Becky felt disgusted as she watched Leelee’s eyes become wide with desire.
“You’re lying.”
“No. I was there with my father. I heard Mr. Ruthmeyer screaming before Mrs. Tobin came running. I saw where they laid his remains. And I have that in my pockets.” Becky watched Leelee lick her lips. “But you have to do something for me.”
“Ha. You want me to restore your tobacco fields. Remove the decay that will consume the whole plantation within ten days. Is that it?” Leelee smirked.
“And Martha Bourdeaux’s mother. She’s ill. They had nothing to do with my trespassing. I dragged Martha along. She’s got no idea about what’s going on.” Becky took a deep breath. “If you do those two things, I’ll give you this dirt.”
Leelee looked Becky up and down. Becky didn’t know it, but Leelee could see her glow just like the little girl at the Old Brick Cemetery could. She envied it.
“I’ll do it,” Leelee finally replied.
“Leelee, that’s not what you said,” Mr. Tobin protested. “We can’t just let these two go. Not for the blood soil of a thousand men. We can’t do it. You said we’d wipe them out. Drive them crazy with despair. That was what you promised.”
“Hush, boy,” Leelee said, never taking her eyes off Becky. “Let me see it.”
Becky reached deep inside her pockets and carefully scooped out the dirt she’d collected. But before she could do anything else, a voice rang out. “STOP!”
Leelee whirled around and hissed. Her hands shot up like cat claws ready to swipe, and her shoulders hunched up to her ears. Becky followed the sound of the voice and saw Mrs. Stella Tobin standing on the porch. She looked like a rag doll that had been mercilessly tugged and tossed.
“Stella, this don’t concern you,” Mr. Tobin spat.
“It don’t? You’re talking about the man I love, and you say it don’t concern me?” She laughed bitterly.
In the firelight, Becky could see that Stella’s cheeks were wet with tears. Quickly, Becky slipped the dirt back into her pockets.
“I told you not to talk that way.”
“You told me a lot of things, Earl. You told me that you’d leave John be if I came with you. But you let her make the decisions for you.” Stella nodded toward Leelee. “All these years, I’ve been afraid of what you’d do to me. Don’t you see? You can’t do anything to me.”
“If you don’t get back in that house, I’ll…”
“You’ll what, Earl? Beat me? Lock me in my room? Make me deliver your hooch for you? Or should I say her hooch. Little girl, you’re right. She is the big boss here. This ain’t the home of no man. Just a boy who can’t give up the teat.”
Becky gasped and looked to Stephen, who was still on the ground as Edward continued to hold his shotgun on him. Edward was just staring at what was happening.
“That’s it!” Earl Tobin shouted. His voice gave away his embarrassment. He took two steps toward the porch then froze in his tracks.
“Don’t you move.” Stella raised a pistol in her hand and cocked the hammer like any gumshoe on the beat might. “None of you.”
Becky held her breath. Now what was she going to do? She was caught with the ground Stella’s lover had died on and was looking to make a trade to save her family and friends. It didn’t look good. Had she been in Stella’s place and had the dirt been the ground Adam had been laid on, how would she feel toward the person looking to make a swap? Not very favorably, to say the least. Becky felt she was no better than Leelee.
When she looked at the old hag, she caught her calculating something. The woman was up to no good as sure as Becky was standing there. Without thinking, Becky raised her hands high and marched up to Stella.
“I remember you,” Stella said.
“This doesn’t belong to them.” Becky reached into her pockets and pulled out the dirt, placing it in a small pile at Stella’s feet. “Maybe it’s not right what I’m doing. My whole family will be ruined. My best friend’s too. But we’ll be together. This belongs to you. I’m sorry.”
“No! That’s mine!” Leelee grunted angrily. “You come here, gal! You get over here and…”
“Becky!” Stephen jumped up, only to get the butt of the rifle to the back of his head. He groaned and fell back to the ground with his eyes closed as he put his hand to his skull.
Suddenly, the air shifted. The fire began to shrink as the wind picked up. The doors to the shed began to shake violently, and Becky was afraid those two goons were going to break out and charge her any minute. From the woods, she could see lights approaching.
“No! This ain’t possible!” Leelee shouted.
“What? What is it, Leelee?” Mr. Tobin cried nervously. He looked around and squinted into the woods, but he didn’t see anything.
“You all get back! Get back!” Leelee shouted. “What did you do?” She whirled around at Becky, reache
d out, and wrapped her bony hands around her throat. Becky scratched at her arms, which were powerful for a woman her age and size. “You broke my jars! You broke my jars and let them go!”
“I didn’t!”
Becky looked at the ghostly figures quickly approaching. Only Leelee and herself could see the spirits. There were dozens of them. And they were advancing. Edward was looking toward the woods, the barrel of the shotgun visibly shaking as he tried to see what Leelee was seeing. He let off one shot and then another and another, but he didn’t hit anything.
“Stop shooting!” Mr. Tobin ordered. “There ain’t nothing there. Leelee, what’s the matter? I don’t see anyone. Who’s out there?”
“You broke my jars! You broke my jars!” Leelee stuttered with spit rolling out from between her rotted teeth and coating her chin. She was like a rabid dog.
“I didn’t do it,” Becky hissed as she twisted and tore herself from the woman’s grasp. Becky stumbled to the ground, and before Leelee could pounce on her, Stella jumped from the porch and slapped the old woman across the face.
“I’ve been waiting three years to do that to you. I broke your jars. Your prisons!” Stella screamed through tears. “I broke nearly every one of them!”
“That’s it. I’m going to kill you!” Leelee said, her voice wild and raspy.
“You?” Stella laughed loudly and from deep inside. “You won’t lay a finger on me. Who will you have do it? Edward? If he can recover from wetting himself, maybe he’ll have enough wherewithal to load the shotgun. But I don’t think his nerves will be steady enough to hit the side of the house.”
Edward didn’t hear a word. He knew there were spirits around. Only that could make the hair stand up on the back of his neck. He dropped the shotgun and took off running into the woods. Becky watched as several ghostly specters gave chase.
“I’ve lived through worse than this. You think you can beat me? I have been protecting him for years.” Leelee jerked her thumb at Mr. Tobin and smirked. “I am his only family. Sadly, Earl will become a widower tonight.”
“Do you think I’m afraid to die?” Stella asked. “Do you think you can get Earl to do your dirty work? He’s never done it before.”
“He’ll do as I say. Earl, take that shotgun and end this!” Leelee commanded.
By now the ghostly spirits were at the edge of the firelight. They were watching and waiting as if something had to happen before they could strike. What was it?
Mr. Tobin stood stone-still. “I’m not a murderer,” he muttered. “I’m a small-time bootlegger at best. Even at that, all I did was stir the gin. I’m no better than any dandy on the street.”
“Shoot her!” Leelee screamed.
“She’s my wife,” Mr. Tobin all but sobbed.
“She doesn’t love you! Shoot her! Shoot her dead or I’ll…”
The gun went off!
Becky looked down at herself, afraid maybe she’d gotten the worst of it and didn’t notice. But there was no blood, no smoke. She looked to Stella, who was just a few feet from her. She was swaying, but she didn’t have a mark on her either. Her face was frozen in shock.
Then Becky looked at Leelee. The bitter old hag clutched at her shoulder. Mr. Tobin had shot her. But as with everything he had tried to do on his own in life, he’d missed the mark. Blood ran down her arm, but Leelee emitted a shallow, vicious laugh.
“You’re damned, boy!” she said, raising a knotted, bony finger and pointing it at him. “I curse you and the next generation and the next…”
“You can’t do that, Leelee,” Stella said sweetly. “There won’t be any future generations of the Tobin family. The name dies with him.”
Leelee screamed like the wounded animal she was. The blood continued to run from her wound. She wouldn’t be able to stand on her feet much longer, let alone work any of her hoodoo. Stella’s words were like a blow, knocking the woman to the ground.
The spirits that had been waiting, their faces silently shouting, all grinned and laughed at once as they slowly began to advance.
“No! No! Get back!” The old woman swatted with her one good arm as she tried to crawl away on her knees. But she didn’t get far before she ran into Stella.
“Why, Leelee? Why did you have to kill him?” Stella asked.
Leelee’s face, which had been contorted by fear and pain, shifted into a sadistic grin as she stared up at Stella.
“Because you loved him.”
That was all Leelee said before the spirits gathered around her. Stella couldn’t see them. Mr. Tobin, who had dropped the shotgun and was staring at his own hands as if they weren’t even his, was also blind to the spirits. Stephen was slowly coming around but was unaware of what was going on around him.
Only Becky and Leelee could see the spirits. They crept forward as Leelee attempted to crawl toward the shed. She scratched and clawed at the dirt, her sinewy legs kicking behind her as she struggled to get away. But it was no use. She’d lost too much blood to focus. The pain from her wound made her head swim. And for the first time in a long time, Leelee was afraid. Terrified.
The first spirit reached her. It was a man in a respectable Confederate uniform and dashing goatee. He’d been laid to rest many, many years ago in the Old Brick Cemetery and was waiting to be called home. How dare this witch disturb his final resting place? He took hold of her limp, wounded arm and held her fast while he swung his other arm like an ax overhead and plunged it into her chest. It wasn’t her heart he was after. He wasn’t hurting her physically. He couldn’t; he was just a spirit. But he could reach the one thing that was in her heart. Her soul resided there.
By this time, a few more of the souls she had disturbed had come to take their revenge.
The last thing Becky saw was Leelee’s own glowing spirit being torn from her body, screaming and kicking as it faced the court of its peers before her final judgment.
It was too much, so Becky turned her attention to Stephen. She scrambled over to him, raising him slightly to look into his face. There was no blood on the back of his head, but a giant goose egg had developed that would be pounding away the Anvil Chorus by sunrise.
But before Becky could get his arm around her shoulder and pull him to his feet, Mr. Tobin came out of his shock. Perhaps it was Leelee’s screaming—or the fact that it had suddenly stopped—that snapped him out of it. Becky froze, fearful he was going to grab the shotgun and finish a job for once in his life.
“What have I done?” he stuttered with tears in his eyes.
At first, Becky thought he was talking to Stella. She watched as his body began to shake and tears rolled freely down his face. Any second now, he would confess to her that he had been so wrong, had been so blind, and that he was sorry. He’d beg her forgiveness, and she would grant it. Or at least that’s what Becky thought would happen. She couldn’t have been more wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Look what you made me do!” Mr. Tobin cried to Stella as he pointed at Leelee’s lifeless body.
Becky didn’t dare move. She didn’t even blink as her eyes bounced from Mr. Tobin to Stella to what was left of Leelee lying on the ground. To the naked eye, she had been shot and bled to death. But Becky could see the justice the ghosts had obtained as they dragged her spirit into the darkness.
“So kill me, Earl. I’m already dead to you on the inside. I’ve never loved you. If you kill me, I’ll be with John. Do you think I’d be scared of that?” Stella stared and stood straight.
“You did love me! She said you would learn to. Leelee said she’d make sure of it!” Mr. Tobin sobbed like a child.
Had he not had a shotgun at his feet, ready to use it at the slightest provocation, Becky would have slapped him across the face. She was embarrassed for him. There was no pity here. No compassion. All the fear he had instilled in people all over town had been just a mirage. Mr. Tobin wasn’t even the schoolyard bully; he was the sidekick to the bully. And now that someone bigger and badder had taken care o
f that bully, Mr. Tobin was left all alone, unable to fend for himself.
“Leelee lied to you. She’s been lying to you your whole life,” Stella hissed. “And you shot her because you’ve always known that. Her black magic didn’t keep you safe. It kept you prisoner. Only you were too stupid to figure it out.”
Mr. Tobin clenched his teeth tight, dropped to his knees, and in a flash had the shotgun raised, ready to shoot. But Stella shot first. She’d had a pistol in the folds of her skirt. She shot straight and true. It was no accident that the bullet pierced Earl Tobin square in the heart.
Becky ducked, burying her head in Stephen’s chest as she pulled him to her. His arms were limp, but they circled her, too, holding her close until the deafening silence made them both peek up just in time to see Mr. Tobin fall to his stomach. He dropped the shotgun and crawled on his hands and knees to Leelee’s dead body.
Stella looked at Becky and Stephen. Without any expression on her face, she turned and went back into the house.
“Come on. Get up,” Becky ordered Stephen. “We have to get out of here.”
“My head is swimming,” he groaned.
“Of course it is. You got conked on the noggin with the butt of a Winchester. You’re lucky I’m here to help,” she whispered.
“Am I? As I see it, you caused all this.” Stephen got to his feet, but his knees were shaking beneath him.
“What? Let me tell you something, Buster. I didn’t need a third wheel coming to glue up the works. I had a plan, and it didn’t include you,” she whispered. “Now come on. I don’t want to be here when…”
Just then, Stella reappeared on the porch with a hammer in her hand. As she descended the steps, she began breaking every statue, jar, vase, and plaque that had been placed around and attached to the house, grunting and crying as she did so.
“What do we do?” Becky whispered to Stephen.
“I don’t know.”
