by catt dahman
Amadee hugged her, despite her disgust for him, “Dis is a bad night.”
“My daughter….”
She didn’t have time to say more because he ran into the boathouse, calling for help and crying out to the house for help. Mike and Frank came running and everyone gathered, sleepy, but alarmed.
“I donna know what dey was up to, but dat gal, and Landry, our Belle and Lougenia…all dem fall off into dey water, and I were too late. Buford and me only pulled Lougenia up after Virgil here jumped in to save dem all. My daughter done been bit,” Amadee wailed.
“Who? Who was bitten?”
“Lougenia. Abagail and Leonie done helped her as for she was alive, but my goodness, she done lost dey leg. Bled fierce.” Amadee still wailed. He pointed to the blood all over the deck. It explained the blood, and it helped since they didn’t have time to propose this story.
“My, God, all the blood….” Mike stared. It coated the deck.
“She’s bleedin’ like a pig. Belle, oh, Lordy…poor Leonie, and I done lost Belle.”
Virgil shook his head, “Belle didn’t make it. She died in the water, and there was nothing I could do. I got out before they got me.” At least he was able to tell the truth, “I was in the water, but….”
Marie and Nita peered over the side where the men shined their flashlights and retched, almost falling backwards. Virgil caught Marie with a hand about her arm so she didn’t fall.
“That’s….” Marie’s mouth hung open.
“My little gal, Belle.” Amadee sat on the deck, head in his hands. Leonie went over to rub his back, feeling as if she were an actress who had not been given a script. The two held their heads down. Leonie cried hard for her child.
Buford took a deep breath, “Landry didn’t make it.”
“Landry,” Frank whispered. He made the mistake of shining his light over the mess in the water slower as he looked for details. Belle’s top half still floated tangled with legs and hands and hair that belonged to Holly’s head. Another round blob was Landry’s head. They looked hacked to pieces.
“Sharks….” someone said.
The fins rose and lowered as the creatures swam. They were no longer interested in the bodies in the water, but by swimming around, were a perfect alibi. Two fought over a leg, thrashing and spraying water until they both dropped it, but it was enough to leave no doubt that they had attacked five people and left three dead.
“I don’t know how we’d retrieve them,” Frank said.
“Me either,” Buford pretended to care.
“But that’s….” Frank didn’t know what to say. He felt bad for the little girl bobbing along, and he wondered what in the hell he would tell Emeline and Trish. He latched on to something else, “What about these damned fish? Are we going to let them keep doing this and killing people? What if they attack rescuers?”
“What ya want? Ya wanna go fishin’?” Amadee dully looked at Frank.
“Let’s discuss it when it’s light. There’s nothing we can do, and Amadee and Leonie need to tend to their daughter, and we need time to think. People need rest,” Mike said. He motioned his group to go back to the house and get out of the rain. He stood, rain soaking him, “I’m awful sorry.”
Amadee nodded.
Frank frowned, “You’ll have to tell Candy Lynn.” He went in to dry off and try to sleep, a dozen ideas spinning through his head. He knew when Leonie went in to tell Candy Lynn the news because the young woman’s screams were heart-rending. The two women cried together for a long time.
Frank felt his heart breaking as he listened to the women crying. Landry might have been a bad sort this past day, but Frank felt sad that the young man was dead. He cried for what might have been.
Despite the way Landry treated her and the baby, Candy Lynn was devastated that her husband had been attacked and killed by a shark. Besides the violence of his death, knowing he was gone ensured she would never get through to him or be forgiven. To her, he had died before she could fix everything, and that was terribly painful.
Amadee sat in the front in his place at the helm of the houseboat and thought about everything. The three little ones, well, he had hardly had time to know them, but Belle, even if she was slow and dull, was a hard worker; things would be more difficult without her help. Sixteen years had trained her well how to be an Audette.
He had been rather fond of her.
And the problem with Lougenia was heavy on his mind as well. They needed help and working hands, not an invalid to have to worry over. With all the floodwaters, devastation, and misery, Amadee had not one, but two children sick and in need of care; his luck was bad, indeed. Even if he got Leonie pregnant that very night, it would be ten years before the child would be useful.
Amadee realized that his bad times were just sticking around. It was as if he were cursed.
Clovis slipped past his father, hardly noticed, and crawled back into his bunk; he had been unnoticed sitting high above, watching the events with a glint in his eyes.
Chapter Eight: Don’t Hate the Messenger
“I hate to bring this up, and I know you’ve suffered terribly, but Amadee, I need to let Landry’s mama and sister know what happened.”
Frank was amused to see that Amadee wasn’t worried or angered by the request and agreed at once to drive the boat over to his house. He dreaded the chore but knew he had to take care of this immediately. It was better to get it over with and not wait.
Virgil and Beau wanted to remain at the house and play a game of poker with some of the others. Frank nodded his permission. “How are your patients?” Frank asked.
Abagail sighed, glanced at Amadee, but told them Candy Lynn was weak and listless. As soon as a rescue party came, they had to get her out of the swamp and flooded city as she feared for Candy Lynn’s life. She said, “That little boy’s arm was lookin’ bad, too. The poison’s settled into his arm, and it was turning colors. The bite wound had gone all mushy and open…just looked awful bad.”
“Dat’s bad, yeah, Leonie? He lookin’ bad?” Amadee wanted to be sure his wife agreed with Abagail since he didn’t know her very well yet. She seemed capable and knowledgeable, but he didn’t trust anyone outside his family. Letting Abagail treat his children was a hard thing for him when he would have preferred a woman of the swamp, but Abagail’s parents had come from the swamp, he knew.
“Buford’s bite looks all right. It didn’t seem to sicken him,” Abagail said.
Abagail and Theo had both left their roots in the bayou to work in housekeeping, cooking, and estate keeping, but people still spoke of Abagail’s grandmamma, saying she had been of the greatest healers in the swamps, and Abagail’s mama was just about as respected; she had followed some modern medical ideas as well as bayou herbal treatments and magic.
Abagail knew Amadee had worries, “I been using some herbs and poultices made with ‘em. Eloi’s got a fever, and we been using something from the medicine cabinet for that which is fine ‘cause I also brewed him some tea, and that can help. I have been using salves I have, as well as stuff from that cabinet.” She let him know she thought herbs and modern medicine combined was good.
“Dat sounds fine.”
“And I burned some herbs, said my prayers, and did a few spells I learnt from my mama.”
Amadee grinned. That made him feel better. All bases were covered.
“And Lougenia? How’s she?” Frank asked as Amadee didn’t seem inclined, which puzzled Frank a little since she was Amadee’s blood.
“Oh, Mister Frank, that poor, poor little girl,” Abagail shuddered, “She’s in more pain than I can begin to help with, and I can’t say that she lost too much blood or that dirty water didn’t cause some infection. She’s feverish and in a lot of pain.”
“Pain is bad, but it won’t kill her. That blood loss or infection….” Frank shook his head. “Amadee, after we tell Emeline, we need to go toward where we can find help for them. We have no choice. We should have gone last nig
ht.”
“We couldn’t go blundering in de dark,” Amadee said, “der’s yer house. Still standing. I know you be hating to have lost dat Toby.” He snickered, making a point what he thought of Trish and Emeline.
Frank ignored him, “Toby?”
“Mister Frank….” Toby barely waited for the houseboat to come along side before he jumped over the railing and shook his head, “I thought you’d never get here, and I was about to swim.”
“You stay outta that water, Toby,” Theo said.
“No, Daddy, I was just joking. I know better, but I was about to mean it…almost.” Toby’s face was set in frowns, and he rubbed his temples.
Frank grimaced, “You’re a better man than I am. You deserve triple pay this month…remind me.”
Toby chuckled, “Thank you, but, Sir, ten times wouldn’t make me stay here with those two again.”
Frank smirked, “I know what you mean. I kind of want to turn tail and leave right now, but….”
“You want me to go with you, Daddy?” Marie asked.
Frank nodded, and Remy, and Marie, and he walked to the house from the balcony. Emeline and Trish met them outside.
“Frank, it’s just been miserable. I hope you’re here to tell us there is a rescue boat on the way.”
“Emeline, sit here with me.”
“I will not sit out here in the humidity and vile smells. And you all look raggedy. What have you been doing?” Emeline wrinkled her nose.
“Honey….” Frank felt a sudden sadness, and his eyes filled with tears. Emeline, for all her Southern Lady talk, was child-like and pretty as a doll. But that was how she looked; how she thought and acted was another matter. She behaved more as a viper than anything, but she was his wife.
“Frank Theriot, you’re scaring me.”
“Emeline…Trish…there was an accident….”
Emeline’s face turned red, “Oh, there was not, and I won’t hear it. I won’t listen.” She covered her ears with her small, white hands. It was her way to avoid and refuse to believe something that she didn’t particularly like or accept.
Trish slid her mother into a chair and then rested at her feet, her head in Emeline’s lap as she sobbed, “What happened? Is Landry hurt badly?” Trish was worried about her brother, one of the only three people, including her, that she cared anything for.
Taking Emeline’s hand, Frank looked at her with his own red, wet eyes, “Em, it was an accident, and Landry went over the side of the houseboat last night with Virgil, Lougenia, Belle, and another girl we met.”
“And? Landry’s a fine swimmer…and who was this odd girl they were with? Did she cause it, or did one of the Audettes? I swear, Frank, I don’t know why you wanted to go with them when they cause trouble all the time.”
“It wasn’t a girl or the Audettes…Landry….”
“Landry what?”
“It was…”Frank stopped and looked out at the flood waters. Only one fin had followed them, but the rest might be close; why the sharks always kept close to them, Frank didn’t know. He wasn’t yet sure how much he should tell them, at least right now.
But she had seen his eyes look to the fin, and Emeline was horrified, “They got my son? You let sharks get my child? What was he doing with those people and outside at night around those things in the water? Was he bitten? Is he okay? Frank, where did Landry get bitten?”
“They got all but Virgil. Lougenia, she’s Amadee’s daughter, lost her leg in the accident.”
“Why, I don’t give a damn about all that, Frank Theriot. Landry….”
“Emeline, Landry was killed.”
She howled all at once as the reality hit her and jerked her hand away from her husband to rip at her hair, like women of olden times did, “Oh, no.”
“Frank….” Amadee called to him. Frank thought Amadee might have heard that and taken offense, and he might be angry, but Frank could only do so much.
“Get on the boat,” Remy shoved Marie, “You all need to come along. Now.” Remy, usually calm, was like a big cat, unwinding with action and nerves. Marie obeyed.
Frank wondered why Remy was acting this way and thought it was something to do with Amadee. Maybe the swamp-man was angry about something. Sure enough, the boat was untied, and Amadee was ready to move away from the house. Frank sighed. He saw Marie was back on board, so that was a positive sign even if they were left here.
But that wasn’t the problem, not Amadee or his anger; Amadee had yelled as a warning, and only Remy heard or understood. Along the currents of the floodwaters was a half-submerged barn, only recognizable by the smashed cupola and red paint since it was heavily splintered, but it was a massive barn. It was built of heavy beams and sturdy planks, meant to withstand hundreds of years of abuse even if it hadn’t.
And it was headed on target to smash into the house.
With the house already canted….
Frank yanked Emeline to her feet and grabbed Trish’s hand.
On either side of the big barn was a fin, as if the fish escorted the oncoming wreckage that was big and heavy enough to knock the house off the rest of its foundation. Everything slowed for those trapped on the remains of Frank’s home.
Amadee yelled, but no one could make sense of what he called out. Ghislaine took the helm as Amadee grabbed his hook and prepared to try to fish them out when they hit the water; he would if the sharks didn’t eat them first.
Frank and Remy dragged the women away from the edge, and that was good because the barn hit with a solid smack of thunder that sounded as if a bomb had gone off. Frank expected it, and it still shocked him at how loud the noise was and the amount of energy the impact caused. Planks went everywhere, the house shivered, and like a slippery house of cards, everything began to fall into the water.
Remy easily caught himself as the house shifted, and he slid down an incline towards the water. He could pull himself up with no difficulty, but Trish slid down, next to him, and was all but lost, except Remy grabbed her arm with one of his strong arms and yelled he had her. He told her, “This will work so be ready, and don’t be afraid. Trust me.”
“Okay, please don’t drop me.” Trish was afraid but tried to hold on to her emotions.
Swinging her, Remy arced her back and forth, hoping he could hang on long enough to swing her to safety. Trish wasn’t fat, and she wasn’t even particularly heavy except for some baby fat she still had; she was of average height and weighed a hundred and thirty-five pounds. That was enough stress on Remy’s arm muscles as he swung her to tear ligaments and stretch the muscles improperly. Besides, it was an old football injury.
Remy groaned with the pain and knew he would be in a cast because of this, but he heaved Trish up and over and let go, almost afraid to watch. Amadee timed the houseboat’s movements, telling Ghislaine how to steer, and Trish landed on the deck, bruising her tailbone, but safe. Theo and Toby made sure she was okay and waited for the rest.
Toby wanted to get the rest over to the boat quickly. “Come on, Remy, send Miss Emeline over,” Toby called, “I’ll get her if you toss her, Brother.”
“Can’t, T-Dog.” Remy didn’t grab the wall with his other arm to hold himself up; the arm was too damaged to hold any weight. He cradled the injured arm against his side.
Theo set a hand on Toby’s shoulder to keep him from trying to leap an impossible distance to help.
Emeline slid. Frank actually froze a second, wondering if he should save his wife or his blood-born son. He tried to do both.
Nita screamed; her voice echoed in the emptiness.
Frank held Remy’s arm on the wall with one hand and held Emeline’s arm with his other hand; Frank managed to look up and over to the boat, and his heart fluttered uncomfortably. Nita looked hysterical, and it wasn’t common worry over a cousin that Frank saw on her face. She was in absolute pain, and in a panic, Frank felt gut-kicked. It wasn’t legal, appropriate, or proper for them to have more of a relationship than just being cousins.
> But Nita’s face was terrified. It saddened Frank with worry. He understood the closeness between cousins had been more, but right now, he couldn’t judge. He had to save his family.
Remy looked at Nita and looked down after a sad shake of his head. The water was dark and deep, and the fins moved along lazily in the flood. His blood ran cold.
“Remy,” Frank yelled, “don’t you dare quit on me.”
“Try to get me out, Amadee,” Remy yelled, “be quick, right?”
“You bet,” Amadee yelled ready to fish the young man out of the water.
Frank lost hold of his son.
Amadee motioned Ghislaine to swing the houseboat over, but the girl was young and not quick with directions or with ability to steer the boat. Amadee almost danced on the deck, trying to find a spot so he could hook Remy and pull him out of the water, but the fins moved in unison, causing Amadee to twist his head back and forth to keep an eye on both beasts. They were clever monsters, but Amadee was damned if a fish would beat him, “Keep de boat steady, Ghislaine.”
The sharks heard the splashing and recognized prey; they smelled him, and they felt Remy’s electrical impulses. Even if they hadn’t had a mission, they would have been interested and curious. As he splashed, he sounded like a wounded fish or prey on the surface.
The pressure of the barn finally helped slide the house loose, and the rest crumbled to drift away in the current in huge chunks, debris falling: boards, a wardrobe, and a bed. Frank and Emeline hit the water. Amadee leaned out to snag Frank but got Emeline, and he grudgingly pulled her up, sorry he had saved her. She was the closest and easiest to grab.
Ghislaine got the houseboat between the fins, and Frank kept calling for his son. The girl set her jaw, fighting to steer, to watch the fins, to watch for wreckage, not to run over the people in the water, and to do what she was expected to do. Her face turned red with the effort as she concentrated and chewed her bottom lip until it bled. She was trying her best.
“Remy? Remy, swim this way. Amadee, go get Remy,” Frank heard a splash and Nita screaming. Everyone was yelling at once.
