by Alexie Aaron
They walked over the hill and spotted an oasis of sorts. “Do you get the idea that this place changes as we walk? Here is an oasis because I was thinking perhaps an oasis is where you would find a pool of sorrows,” Mia said.
“Or in a lagoon,” Murphy suggested. “Are those Gilligan Island trees,” Murphy pointed as they approached the oasis.
“Palm trees,” she corrected. “I wonder if you would do better to seek out your studies in a set of encyclopedias instead of Netflix?”
Murphy couldn’t resist touching the trunk of one of the coconut-bearing palm trees they passed as they made their way towards the noise of running water. Mia knew he wanted to take a swipe at it with his axe but feared they didn’t have much time.
They broke out of the undergrowth to see a pool of water, and sitting around it were dozens of people. Mia and Murphy looked at each other in confusion.
“Which one is Guillaume?” Murphy asked, sizing up the males who all looked deep in contemplation.
“Hello!” Mia called out. “I’m looking for Guillaume Bouché.”
They watched as a very handsome, lean man got to his feet and walked over. “I’m Guillaume Bouché,” he said.
“Come with me, you’re wanted in court,” Mia said.
“Judgement day?” he questioned.
“Of sorts,” Mia answered.
“You look familiar. I’ve seen your face before,” he said, reaching out and touching Mia’s cheek.
“I’m Mia Cooper. I may resemble…
“Little Beverly,” he said and sighed. “She was very upset last time I saw her.”
“Prepare yourself, she’s still upset. And so is your wife, Marie.”
“Ouch, you have cut me to the core…”
“Is that why you’re here?” Murphy asked, leading Guillaume away from the pond.
“Could be. I’ve not led a pristine life, but who has?”
“If you’ve lived your life to the fullest, you may have crossed into many shades of gray,” Mia observed. “But if these adventures are punishable in the eyes of God is another matter.”
“Repent and the kingdom will be yours,” Murphy repeated the words of a long dead pastor.
“But what if you feel responsible for the ones you’ve hurt, yet you don’t regret hurting them?” Guillaume asked.
Mia didn’t know what to say. Murphy fell silent. Guillaume went back to his contemplation.
The three of them walked through to the edge of the oasis, deep in their own thoughts.
Mia looked at Murphy and asked, “Which way?”
He looked in the distance and saw a wavering of light. “Perhaps there.”
The three of them headed towards the fluctuating beacon.
~
“I hear your arguments, Gerald, but it’s only money. Throw it in the right place and…” Roumain stopped arguing and raised his hand. This time, gray smoke billowed out of the chasm and out of the depths climbed Mia. After her, a tall willowy man emerged followed by Murphy.
“Guillaume!” Bev cried, running towards him.
He walked towards her, holding out his arms.
“Guillaume!” Marie scolded, stopping him in his tracks.
The confused man turned towards his wife and tried to look contrite.
“Welcome Bouché,” Roumain said. “You have been called to testify, nothing more.”
Guillaume turned to Roumain and raised his hands.
“Is there a problem?” the judge asked.
“This afterlife puzzles me. But so be it.”
“Maybe you should question things more, my friend, and you would find yourself enjoying the fruits that the universe has to offer, instead of sitting by the pool of sorrows for eternity,” Roumain counseled.
“Perhaps,” he agreed.
Roumain shook his head. “I, Judge Roumain, have asked you to appear to bring peace to Beverly Cooper and Marie Bouché. You will answer my questions truthfully to the best of your knowledge.”
Mia moved over to where Ted and Cid were standing, using sign language to communicate to each other. “He still won’t let you talk?” she asked in a whisper.
“No, and I’ll put you in a similar state if you don’t hush up,” Roumain warned.
Mia nodded. She looked for Murphy and found him examining the trees at the edges of the graveyard. He winked at her, acknowledging her watchful eye. Gerald stood by his sister, but his eyes were on Bev who had returned to the rock and sat down.
“Beverly Cooper has gone to great lengths to secure your release from death. This included binding her niece against her will to a birdman who does not love her. How do you feel about that?”
“I am touched to be certain, but to enslave this little girl to a birdman for my release, I am most disappointed.”
“You died too soon. I love you and want to be with you!” Bev pleaded.
“We had our time,” Guillaume said. “It is over.”
“You are lying!” Bev spat. “You are lying because of Marie.”
Guillaume turned to where his wife stood. “Hello, Little Flower, Gerald, you’ve aged since we last met.”
“Time passes,” Marie said softly. “How have you been?”
“In a holding pattern. You?”
“Living life, large as you instructed.”
“Good.”
“Ahem, I do hate to break into a conversation, but I have other disputes on my calendar,” Roumain explained. “Marie didn’t want you disturbed. Beverly wants you alive walking this earth.”
“How can this be? I am dead.”
“There are ways, the birdman promised her…”
“Zombie?” Guillaume asked horrified.
“No!” Bev argued. “No, you would be with me, as you once were, never to die, never to leave me.”
“Tell her, Guillaume, tell her,” Marie ordered.
“My little Beverly, if your birdman would have brought me back, I would have returned to Marie. After all, I am her husband. I would not wish for her to have any more heartache than I’ve caused already.”
“I don’t understand. You told me you loved me. That you wanted me,” Bev argued.
“I do love you, but I love Marie too…”
“And?” Marie urged.
“Cynthia and Mary Jane.”
“And?” Marie asked again.
“Others,” he said, not sure he could remember all their names. “I do love them all, but Marie, she is my wife.”
Mia looked at her aunt and pitied her. She had been living under a lie most of her life. She sat there heartbroken.
“But you said…” Bev started to say.
“I would have said anything to make you love me. You were so interesting, so alive, so full of joie de vivre. But I love my wife, no matter how she treats me I love her, it is a curse.”
“There’s that word again,” Roumain said. “Tsk tsk, a curse is something you can’t stop. Beverly Cooper and many in her family cannot stop loving once they have given their heart. It is a genetic curse that goes way back to… Well that’s not to be discussed here. You sir, love your wife, and it seems you genuinely love Beverly too. We have established you love pretty much any female you want. But the question I put to you is this. Do you want to live again? You would not be young. You would not be healthy, but you would not die. You would live with Beverly, and she would spend the rest of her natural life taking care of you because she loves you. Marie isn’t interested. She believes in till death do you part. And if memory serves me, you died.”
“Do I want to live a waking death with Beverly but not be with Marie? No.”
Bev gasped before convulsing in heartbreaking sobs. Mia rushed over to her and held her crying aunt.
“I excuse you to go back to your pool and contemplate what you have caused here. Heartbreak is a mild sin, but you have sinned many times. You may say your goodbyes.”
Guillaume walked over to Marie and reached for her. She shook her head. “We’ve said our goodbyes, G
uillaume. Go in peace.”
He turned to Bev and raised his hand. “Do not think of me cruelly, we had our time. Goodbye, little Beverly.”
Bev pushed Mia aside and ran to him. He did not lift an arm to hold her and seemed irritated that she made such a display of herself in front of his wife. Bev fell sobbing and held onto his legs. He stood over her. He was embarrassed for her but did not touch the weeping woman. Mia walked over and gently pried her arms away from Guillaume.
“Say your goodbyes, Beverly,” Roumain instructed.
Bev looked up at the man she had clung to moments before and began to feel her heart drain of life. “Goodbye, Guillaume, may you find peace,” she said, meaning it.
“Thank you, little Beverly. Marie, if you see Cynthia…”
“Don’t push it,” Marie scolded.
Guillaume smiled a wide easy smile. He nodded to Mia, lifted a hand to acknowledge the rest, walked into the gray smoke, and vanished from their eyes.
Judge Roumain waited until the smoke cleared before speaking again. “If there isn’t any further business…”
Ted waved his hands wildly to get the judge’s attention.
“You may speak.”
“Thank you. May I approach the bench, Your Honor?”
Roumain looked around him amused. “Come forward.”
“I was given this by a soul that has been trapped in this world. He gave it to me to send Guillaume back if he was forced from his slumber.” Ted opened his hand and showed the gold medallion to Roumain.
“Hand it to me, please,” Roumain ordered.
Ted laid the gold piece in the outstretched hand of the judge. Roumain closed his hand around it and sighed. “Poor Henri, where is he? Who has done this to him?”
“He is in the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois in the United States…”
“I know where Chicago is, young man,” Roumain said dismissively.
“I don’t know who bound him.”
CRACK!
Roumain looked over at Murphy. “Do you know?”
Murphy approached the judge and said, “He told me, while we were battling the Aztecs and Mayans, that someone named George Duffaut did him this injustice.”
Roumain nodded. “Duffaut has a list of crimes he will never work off.”
“Is there a way this can be undone?” Mia asked. “Henri helped save me. I owe him.”
Roumain looked at Mia and encouraged her to come closer. “These matters are tricky, and the payment for them is high. You would help Henri when your life still stands in turmoil? You forgive your aunt even though she enslaved you? It is no wonder you carry the love of the living and the dead.”
“I’ve learned that all things are possible, but they aren’t always meant to be. Just because Bev wanted and could bring back Guillaume, it wasn’t what he wanted. This consuming love we Coopers have doesn’t have to be a curse. Angelo didn’t have to die for there to be a resolution. Nothing is written in stone, and perhaps some things should have been.”
“The traveler perhaps?” Roumain said and laughed. “Henri was made a zombie after he lived out his life and wanted his rest. Do you think I have the power to undo this?”
“I think you have the power to set the wheels in motion. After all, you are the judge,” Mia said sagely.
“What will you give me for this favor?”
“What do you ask?”
“Careful, Mia,” Gerald warned, “Favors have to be repaid.”
“He should know, the man who knows a man who,” Roumain pointed out. “In this case, I would like you to forgive the birdman. Toss out the stone in your heart that bears his name.”
Mia opened her mouth to speak but was silenced with a look from Roumain.
“I know what he took from you. Henri will have to forgive George for what he did to him,” Roumain said.
“You ask a lot, but if it will give Henri the rest he deserves, then I forgive Angelo Michaels for stealing my emotional memories.”
Roumain raised an eyebrow. “Don’t think that I didn’t notice the other crimes against you weren’t on the list, Little Bird.”
Mia winced at the name.
“See, Roumain sees all. Try again.”
“I forgive Angelo Michaels for stealing my emotional memories, for abducting me with the intension of wiping away all of my memories, and binding me to the Brotherhood of the Wing.”
“Thank you.” Roumain stood up. “I take this medallion of gold. Toss it into the air,” he said, mimicking a magician. “Death, life and death again,” he chanted.
The hair on Mia’s arm raised as electricity filled the air. She looked at the others and saw that the static had affected them too. A sudden crash accompanied a blinding flash of light. The medallion was hit square with a lightning bolt and burst into flame. As it fell to earth, Roumain reached out and caught it. He palmed it, squelching the flames. He handed it to Ted who tossed it from one palm to the other until it was cool enough to hold.
“Make a chain of fresh picked thyme and thread the remains of the pendant through the chain and knot it thrice. Once for death,” Roumain said.
“Once for life,” Marie Bouché added.
“And once for death again,” Mia heard herself say.
“Tell him I will wait for him, and we will discuss getting him to the front of the line,” Roumain said with a wink. “Now, my friends, it is well past time for me. I have much to do. Those rascals will mutiny without me to scare them back to their contemplations. Beverly, if I see you here again, I will send you straight to hell. Marie, be tolerant of those too immature to understand what real love is. Gerald, put your favors to work here. It’s needed. The rest of you, happy hunting…”
Roumain clapped his hands and was gone. The only telltale trace was the deep rumble in the ground that sounded like his laughter.
Chapter Thirty
When the smoke had cleared, everyone was silent with the exception of Cid who hadn’t spoken a word since they arrived in the small graveyard. He was testing out his vocal chords. “Me me me…”
“Sounds like Bev’s theme song,” Mia said dryly.
“You cut me to the quick, infant,” Bev complained. “Let’s get out of here. I’m starting to itch.”
“Hells bells, I can’t leave,” Mia realized.
“Why?” Ted asked.
“You all came to this island with passports. I snuck in via bird woman. Murph too, but no one’s going to ask him for his passport.”
CRACK!
“That’s right!” Mia said, not really knowing what she just agreed with.
“Actually, you can leave here,” Gerald said. “Beverly, hand Mia her passport.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bev said, putting a death’s grip on her backpack.
“I know why you ransacked Mia’s house. You needed her passport in order to enter Haiti. The Haitian government has had you on a watch list since ninety-five.”
Mia turned and took a good look at her aunt. She remembered Guillaume saying they had the same face. Bev’s was an older version, but passport pictures could be at the most ten years old. Perhaps they did look alike enough to fool a busy official.
Murphy yanked the backpack off of Bev, not caring that Bev lost her balance and fell off the rock she had been resting on. He tossed it to Mia.
Mia opened it and found her passport. She also found a nice pair of expensive designer slippers. She ignored her aunt’s shrieks as she jammed her soiled feet into them. She handed the pack back. “Even.”
Bev narrowed her eyes. “Even. But now I’m stuck in a place that I don’t belong.”
Gerald tossed her an envelope. Inside it was her passport.
“How did you get this?”
“Benito used to work for TSA. He can rob a suitcase in seconds. He didn’t know about you having Mia’s passport. He was only trying to stop you in Miami so I could catch up,” Gerald explained.
“The little creep, and to think I split my
blackjack winnings with him!”
“How much was that?” Cid asked curious.
“I won seven thousand,” Bev said proudly.
“That’s some tip,” Cid said and whistled.
“That’s two new eyeballs in Cid speak,” Ted explained.
“Speaking of which - not eyeballs but my head - who do I sue to get some plastic surgery?” Cid asked Bev, showing her the mar on his otherwise perfect brow.
“Angelo, he can afford it. I suggest you go after that penthouse…”
“You never change,” Mia said, shaking her head at her selfish aunt. She turned to Gerald. “Can Murph and I hitch a ride back with you guys?”
Gerald nodded. “There’s room. Bev, you want a ride or are you swimming back?”
“Brother, you’ve got it bad,” Marie sniffed. “After all the trouble she’s caused.”
He shook his head. “Come on, Marie, remember how Guillaume’s first mistress tried to poison you?”
“With a god damned chicken salad sandwich!” Marie growled. “Cynthia thought Guillaume would fall into her arms at my funeral, but I pulled through. Mary Jane was more original; she had me deported. That man, why did I ever marry him?”
Mia put her hand on Bev’s shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve wasted my fucking life. Mia, he made me feel special and told me he wanted to be with me. I spent my last dime on doctors, shamans and witchdoctors. I nursed him in his last days. He called my name out when he died.” Bev got up and walked over to Marie. “I’m sorry, he misrepresented you to me. I had you all wrong.”
Marie was uncertain of how she should respond. She just nodded and grabbed her brother’s arm and hissed, “Let’s get out of here before we all get dragged into hell.”
“Good idea. Now if my guides haven’t taken the SUVs, I’ll give you a lift to your car.”
“Thank you. It’s up on 47 at the scenic lookout, unless my guides have hotwired it, and in that case, I’ll accept a ride into Jimani.”
Gerald led the way, and Cid helped the older ladies find their footing. Murphy moved quickly through the trees, scouting ahead for any of the gentlemen that Judy stole the clothes from. Ted slowed his steps and stopped, letting the others walk ahead.
