“Fine, I guess.” Luc watched a guy playing an alto sax. The right side of his head had a bullet hole, the left side was a pulpy mess. After they’d passed him, he said, “I had a couple of interviews, but mostly I filled out applications.”
“Did you get a good sense about any of the places?”
“There was one, a record store. The manager was a girl in her twenties, all done up in punk garb. She looked pretty freaky with her pink hair and multiple piercings. I think she liked me though,” Luc said.
“Liked you as in she wanted to jump your bones? Or she wanted to hire you?”
“Does it matter?”
Jake laughed. “I suppose not.”
As they crossed the street, Luc spied five black male slaves hanging from a makeshift gallows by the neck. A wave of sadness engulfed him.
They came to The Voodoo Emporium and walked inside. The sales girl was helping a customer so they got in line. After the customer left, Jake took the lead. “We have some questions about something we think might have to do with Voodoo. Can you help us?”
The young girl looked from one to the other. “You aren’t tourists, are you?” It was more a statement than question.
“No.” Luc answered, hoping his accent would convince her.
“Then I think you should talk to Madame Lulu. I can answer the typical questions, but something tells me that’s not what you’re here for.”
“You’re right,” Jake said. “Is she here?”
“She’s doing a reading.” The girl looked at her watch. “She should be done any minute now.”
“Great. We’ll wait.” Jake glanced at Luc, who nodded. They moved out of the way so she could ring up a customer. They stood at the back of the store out of way. Luc looked around, the shop was larger than it appeared from outside.
Shoppers were milling about, picking up items and setting them down. A pair of ladies chatted in front of a display with tiny voodoo dolls. The brunette selected one dressed like cupid. “This is just what I need. It’s for your love life. I’m buying it.” Her friend giggled.
Just then a man came out from behind a curtain. He locked eyes with Luc and quickly averted his gaze as if embarrassed. Jake pulled back the curtain and Luc followed him into the room. A black woman in a colorful dress sat at a table with a bunch of tiny bones strewn on top. She collected them with one hand and dropped them one by one from her palm into a cup.
“Madame Lulu?”
She looked toward them. “Yes. Are you here for a reading?”
“No. Actually, we have an important question to ask. Do you have a minute?” Jake said.
“Sure. Come in and close the curtain.”
They did as she requested, but remained just inside the room.
She pointed to a couple of chairs opposite her. “You may sit.”
Once Luc was seated, he realized she was much older than he’d first thought.
“My friend here had a vision and we were wondering if you could tell us what it means. We think it has something to do with voodoo, because a friend of ours got upset when he told her about it,” Jake said.
Her attention zeroed in on Luc. “I’m intrigued. You have visions, you say?”
Luc fidgeted in his seat. “Yeah.”
“Okay, tell me about it and I’ll see if I can figure out the meaning.”
Luc told her about the boy. Afterward she appeared troubled. “That sounds like black magick.” She made the sign of the cross. “I can’t help you.” She stood abruptly, so they followed her lead.
“Do you know of someone who can?” Luc asked.
“There’s a woman over in Algiers who is a Voodoo Mambo. If anyone can help, it would be her.” Madame Lulu scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Jake. “Now you must go.”
“Thank you for your time,” Jake said.
“Yes, thank you.” Luc turned around.
But the woman had disappeared.
They obviously didn’t leave fast enough for her.
FIVE
They found a parking spot in front of the address they’d been given in a dodgy part of town. “There must be some mistake,” Luc said.
Jake handed him the slip of paper. “This is the address all right.”
“No, I mean maybe the shop went out of business or moved. This is a liquor store.”
“Well, maybe they can tell us where the shop moved to,” Jake suggested.
They got out of the car and glanced around. A homeless man sat against the building drinking out of a paper bag. Another dug through a trashcan next to the curb. Jake grabbed the handle of the glass door and a bell tinkled when he opened it. The man behind the counter set his paper down and stared at them. His gaze was threatening. Surely he thought a couple of underage kids were entering to buy booze.
Jake was twenty-one, so he strode right up to the man. “We were looking for a shop that used to be here. Do you know where they’ve moved to?”
The man continued his menacing glare. After Jake didn’t back down. “Who told you about this shop?”
“Madame Lulu in the Quarter.”
He took their measure through slits for eyes. “You from around here?”
“We live in New Orleans, if that’s what you mean.”
Luc stepped up to the man. “I’m from Louisiana.”
The man focused on Luc. Finally, he pointed his head to the left. Luc turned and noticed a set of stairs that led to a beaded curtain. “Thank you.” They made their way up and through the curtain. The beads clinked behind them as they fell back into place.
Luc found himself in a tiny shop. The entire ceiling had things hanging from it: stuffed alligators, dolls, masks.
The wall behind the cash register was filled with large glass containers, the counter itself held jewelry made with semi-precious stones. Then Luc raised his head to the person standing behind the counter and his gaze locked with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He was mesmerized. Her skin was the color of café au lait, her eyes the most amazing shade of lavender. Her cornrows cascaded down to her waist, colorful beads decorated the strands.
“I know you.” Her voice came out like a song.
“Me?” Luc was astonished.
“Yes. You were here with your maman.”
He shook his head. “I’ve never been here.”
“So says you. I know better. What do you want?”
Jake appeared. “We were told to ask for Mama Arelia.”
“Who told you this?”
“Madame Lulu in the Quarter.”
“She’s busy.”
“Can we wait?”
“Suit yourself.” She turned and disappeared through a fabric curtain. Not a minute later, a woman in a purple shift with long dreadlocks came into the room and strode right up to Luc, reaching for his hands. “Jon-Luc Boudreaux, you come visit dis old lady.”
He couldn’t believe his ears. How did this woman know him? Panicked, he glanced at Jake, whose brows were raised with questions that Luc couldn’t answer. He shrugged and focused on the petite lady before him. Her warm hands came to his cheeks.
“You look good.” Her face scrunched and she pulled out the rooster foot from under his shirt. “You have trouble.” She shook her head. “Follow me.” She grabbed his hand and led him to the back. Nervous, he made sure Jake was following.
The room was similar to the attic where Clara kept her altar. The walls and floor were painted red, the altar itself was grander, but held the same items: candles, religious icons, flowers, a lace tablecloth and fruit.
The floor had one of those intricate designs in yellow like Clara’s. Luc stared at it. “That is a veve made with corn meal,” Mama Arelia said. She pushed on his shoulders. “Sit.” He plopped down on the floor. She pointed to Jake. “You too.” After he complied, she pulled up her colorful caftan and crossed her legs on the floor opposite them. “Tell Mama de trouble.”
Luc told her everything, starting with Charlotte and finishing with th
e boy. She listened intently to his story; her face betrayed nothing. Her gaze was one of love, and Luc could feel it warming him down to his toes.
“Hoodoo,” she said.
“Excuse me?” Luc said.
“Ders good hoodoo and bad, dis person bad. Stay far away. Dey practice evil magic. Bad juju.” Her head shook back and forth slowly.
“I don’t have a choice. These things follow me. Charlotte wouldn’t leave me alone until I promised to help her.”
Her eyes got big. “Promise?”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he explained.
“Dat frien’ Charlotte always persist.”
“You know Charlotte?” Luc was shocked.
“Never mind dat. Evah’ thin’ dat’ chew do is de plan of God. God have somepin to do wit evah’ thin’ good or bad. Chew git what chew spose ta git.” The quicker she spoke, the heavier her accent became. Luc concentrated on every word, but missed about half. Then a voice behind him made him turn around and he saw the shop girl.
“Everything you do is the plan of God. He has something to do with everything whether it’s good or bad. You always get what’s coming to you.”
“You mean like karma?” Luc asked.
Mama stood. “Celestine, chew help dees boys. Dees old bones can not be running around no more.”
“But Grandmere…”
Mama came around and took the girl by the shoulders. They had a lengthily conversation in Creole. In the end, Mama said in English, “We go where needed.”
Celestine nodded slowly and turned to Luc. “You go now. Come back tomorrow at six, after the shop is closed. I have some research to do.”
They were almost out of the shop when Celestine got their attention. “Knock on the back door and I will let you in.”
Once in the Jeep, Jake turned to Luc. “Now that was weird. You truly don’t remember being here?”
“I’ve never been here, nor have I met these people.”
“I don’t know. I can’t see Mama Arelia making a mistake like that. Besides, how do you explain her bringing up Charlotte?” Jake said.
“I can’t. Unless Mama Arelia is psychic, you know as well as I do it isn’t so far-fetched. Especially a woman in her line of work, it would almost be expected.”
“True. But she doesn’t seem like a woman who would lie.”
“No. She didn’t. She mentioned a couple of things about Charlotte; she never actually said she had met me or her. The really strange thing is that when Mama Arelia said her name, I had a sudden flash. It was either a dream or a memory, I’m not sure which.”
“What did you see?” Jake asked.
“I was a child and I was visiting my grandmama. We were in her backyard when she told me to go play with my friend and pointed toward the cane fields. Charlotte was standing there.”
“So you knew Charlotte as a child. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Luc shook his head, and then stopped. “Okay, yeah, I guess that’s true. But the point I was trying to make was that Charlotte died in the 1800’s. That means my grandmama could see her too. Not only that, but she was encouraging me to play with her.”
Jake gave him a funny look. “I don’t understand why you’re surprised. You knew the gift was handed down through the family. You told me about your aunts.”
“True, but if my mama’s mother had the gift, then why was she so surprised when I told her I could see dead people?”
“Maybe her mother kept it to herself. You did say your father claimed that everyone in the parish called the aunts crazy. She might have feared the same prejudice so she was more careful of whom she told.”
“You’re probably right. But in that case she was taking a big risk by telling a kid. I mean, I could have revealed her secret to just about anyone.”
“Maybe, but from what you’ve told me, you didn’t know you were seeing dead people. You probably just thought Charlotte was another kid from the neighborhood.”
“Ha, you’re right. Then how come she stopped coming around?”
Jake started the engine. “I don’t know, but we’d better get home before Clara has a hissy fit because we’re late for supper.”
Luc cringed. “Good idea.”
SIX
Ten Years Ago…
Marlene Leclere Boudreaux watched her nine-year-old son, Jon-Luc, on the swing in the backyard. As he swung back and forth, he seemed to be carrying on a conversation with an invisible person. This was becoming more and more common. Last week when she’d asked, he said he was talking to his friend, Charlotte. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Marlene had not been born with the gift, but many of the Leclere family had. She knew full well the cruel hatred, shame, and prejudice that came with this so-called gift. She would not have any of that for her son. Nothing good comes from communing with the dead. When he was five, Jon-Luc pointed to a photo on the piano. “Who’s that, Mama?”
“Those are your great-aunts, Minnie and Maude,” she answered.
“I like them very much.”
She shuddered as if an icy wind had enveloped her body. “What do you mean, baby?”
“They sing to me at night when they tuck me in.”
“But.” She swallowed hard. “They passed away before you were born.”
He looked at her funny and walked away.
After that day, she kept a close watch, but years went by without incident and Marlene chalked it up to just a phase. Kids went through them all the time. That was until his ninth birthday when Jon-Luc started talking to himself.
When she first noticed it, she was walking past his room. She heard him talking and stuck her head in. There he was sitting on the floor playing with his cars while carrying on a one-sided conversation. She tried to ignore it, but it happened more and more frequently.
The seed of dread she’d been carrying had grown into full-blown terror for her son. She prayed it would go away, even lighting countless candles at church, but nothing she had done made a bit of difference.
That’s why, as she stood at the kitchen window watching her son on the swing talking to dead air, she knew it was time to seek help. She snatched the phone off the wall and called her big sister. Only two years her senior, Delphine had the answers for everything.
After the fourth ring, Delphine picked up. “Hello?”
She sounded out of breath.
“Del, it’s Marley. Do you have a minute?”
“You bet. The twins are running me ragged today, I could use a break.” Marlene heard the sound of a chair scraping across the floor and imagined her sister sitting at her kitchen table.
“Okay, what’s up?”
“I’ve got a big problem.” Marlene kept her eyes glued to her son.
“Is it Bill?” Delphine asked.
“Not this time, but if I can’t fix this, I’m afraid of what he might do.” Marlene tucked her hair behind her ear.
“Tell me.”
“I think Jon-Luc has the family curse.”
Delphine gasped. “No.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“How do you know?”
“I see him talking to the air more and more lately. He told me it’s his friend Charlotte.”
“Lots of children have invisible friends. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”
Marlene took a deep breath. “There’s more.”
“Okay, out with it.”
“A few years ago he pointed to a picture of the aunts and said they visit at night and sing to him.”
“I loved it when they used to tuck us in.” Delphine’s voice sounded dreamy.
“Del, focus!”
“Sorry. I just wish the aunts would visit me. I miss them.”
“I do too, but I need to know what to do about Jon-Luc. If Bill finds out, he might leave us. You know how important image is to him.”
“How well I know,” her sister answered.
Marlene didn’t like her tone, but Delphine’s
animosity toward her husband went way back and there was nothing to be done about it today.
“What do I do?” Marlene pleaded.
Her sister was quiet a moment. “I’ve heard of a woman in Old Algiers who may be able to help.”
“You mean voodoo? Mama would skin us alive.”
“I wouldn’t tell her if I were you,” Delphine warned.
“Fine. When can we go?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll get a sitter and pick you up at eleven.”
That evening, Marlene’s husband continued to ask her what was wrong throughout dinner. She said nothing and forced a smile. Finally, he dropped his fork and huffed off, and then closed himself up in his study. She didn’t get a wink of sleep.
The following morning, Delphine picked her and Jon-Luc up at exactly eleven. Normally a quiet boy, he’d been trying to guess all morning where they were going. Her reply was that it was a surprise.
They parked along a street filled with storefronts and got out of the car. She searched the shops, but couldn’t find one with a sign that read Voodoo. “Where are we going?”
“It’s just over there. Allon’s. Let’s go.” Del grabbed her arm and hurried her along.
They entered a small convenience store and Marlene looked around. “What are we doing here?”
“Shhh,” her sister warned.
A man sat behind the counter reading a newspaper. He barely looked up as he said, “Bonjour.” Then went back to his paper.
“Bonjour,” Del answered while she dragged her sister along past him up some stairs and through a curtain. Jon-Luc stumbled and righted himself.
Marlene turned back. “You okay, mon petit?”
“Yes, Mama.”
The mother held the beaded curtain back and waited for her son to enter the shop before she let it fall. When she turned around, she was mesmerized by all the paraphernalia. The small place was crowded. Things hung from the ceiling, the walls, and filled all the shelves. Jon-Luc gravitated to the stuffed baby alligators and frogs. He raised his hand.
“Don’t touch, Jon-Luc,” she scolded and smiled when his hand returned to his side.
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