by Frankie Bow
Thelma Rose Laval reached over and gently squeezed her daughter’s hand.
“I’ve missed you every day, darling. Every day I’ve said a prayer for you.”
“Then why did you leave, Mama?”
Thelma-Rose sighed. “Seventy years of being a perfect lady was all I could manage. I simply couldn’t do it another day. And I suppose I wanted to leave you with that perfect memory. Of the lady I was. Not the woman I am now.”
“Mama, you saved my life. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the woman you are now. Nothing could make me think less of you.”
Mary-Alice’s mother smiled sadly.
“Mary-Alice, I dress up in outrageous costumes and tell bogus fortunes for the entertainment of tourists.”
“Oh Mama, that’s just harmless fun.”
“I’m living in sin with a Chinaman young enough to be my son. Mind you, he’s still pretty old.”
“Oh. Well, Mama, you deserve to be happy. Although I don’t believe they’re called Chinamen nowadays. Anyway, you’re still going to confession, so that fixes it.”
Thelma Rose gently pulled her hand back and placed it on her lap.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve joined the Baptist church. I’ve not been to confession for twenty years.”
Mary-Alice was quiet for a few moments. The only sound was the speeded-up beeping of her heart monitor.
“So those prayers you were saying for me, Mama. Those were Baptist prayers?”
“Yes, Mary-Alice. Baptist prayers.”
Mary-Alice took a deep breath. The beeping slowed back down.
“Well you know something, Mama? When the fire started in my house, Celia and I were inside. It went up real fast, and it looked like we weren’t going to get out of the house in time. And you know who broke into the house and risked their own lives to save us? Fortune, Ida Belle, and Gertie. And every one of them attends the Baptist church. So if you’ve gone and decided to be a Baptist, I believe the Almighty will understand.”
They were quiet for a moment.
“Will you be able stay and visit for a while before you go back home?” Mary-Alice’s mother asked. “Your friend is welcome as well. We have two guest rooms. One looks out on the mountain, so you can see the snow at the top, and the other has a lovely view of the bay. We’d be honored to have you.”
“I believe I’d like that, Mama.”
Chapter Seventeen
Fortune and Mary-Alice stayed on another week. They enjoyed the company of Thelma Rose Laval and her husband Anson Lee, a wiry, intense man who taught political science and Hawaiian history at the community college. (Thelma Rose and Anson were “living in sin” in the sense that they had been married in the Baptist church.) Mary-Alice briefly wondered whether Anson Lee’s surname indicated he was related to Sheriff Lee back in Sinful, but decided he probably was not.
Mary-Alice enjoyed all of the attractions of Hawaii Island, but she loved the planetarium most of all. She enjoyed lying back and gazing up at the stars. Only it was better than really gazing at the stars, because a professional astronomer was explaining all about the constellations, and she wasn’t getting bitten by mosquitos.
On the last day of their visit, Mary-Alice was sitting with her mother in the kitchen, enjoying a cold glass of iced tea and the view of the ocean.
“Mama,” Mary-Alice said, “I have to ask you something. Was this postcard from you? I’d been keeping it in my glove box, and it’s a good thing, too, because I lost everything inside my house when it went up…anyway, I still have it.”
Thelma Rose took the yellowed postcard from Mary-Alice, and turned it over.
“Well, if that doesn’t…Anson, darlin’!”
Anson came shuffling into the kitchen.
“You remember this, sugar?” She held it up. He shook his head.
“Anson and I were just settling in, weren’t we darling, and I was so happy here, I wanted to let you know. I sat down to write you a postcard. But after I began, I changed my mind. I figured hearing from me would upset you, and I didn’t want your father to find out and ruin everything. So I got up and went about my business and when I came back I didn’t see the card again and I assumed it got thrown away.”
Anson was staring at the card, frowning, and then the light came on.
“I mailed it, Thelma. I thought you’d just forgotten. I put a stamp on it and put it into the mailbox with the bills.”
Chapter Eighteen
Fortune Morrow excused herself from the festive group gathered at Francine’s Diner. She didn’t answer her phone until she was sure she was alone, standing in the brutal bayou heat in Francine’s parking lot.
“Hey, Harrison. So whaddaya know. It looks like Gertie and Ida Belle cleaned up our mess for us.”
“Yeah, I have to admit it worked out pretty well. I don’t think Ahmad’s bounty hunters are gonna be visiting Sinful again any time soon. Word’s out that there’s nothing there but some ornery old ladies with shotguns.”
Fortune climbed into her Jeep and turned on the ignition. She had privacy here, and also air conditioning.
“Hey, just out of curiosity,” she asked, “what exactly happened in Hawaii? Because I seem to remember that our safe-house contact tried to poison us, and then some nice old fortune-teller with a Southern accent saved our lives and invited us to stay with her and her husband for a few days. Care to catch me up?”
“Look, we thought Nadia Nygaard was reliable. She’s been managing our safe house for decades. But a ten-million-dollar bounty can make people do strange things.”
“How did she know about the bounty?”
“By now everyone with any connection to intelligence knows about it. Ahmad’s doing whatever he can to get the word out. You killed his brother, Fortune. He’s not gonna let that go.”
“So Nadia Nygaard and Jodie Gordon were both planning to turn me over to Ahmad?”
“Nadia cooperated with Jodie long enough to get the contact info for Ahmad, and then she got rid of him.”
“Whoa. Ruthless. Poison salad?”
“No. Jodie Gordon was highly allergic to bee stings. All she had to do was stir up the hive and let nature take its course. So aside from the attempt on your life, how’d you like Hawaii?”
“It was nice. I’d actually like to go back some day. For a plain old vacation, though, not while I’m fleeing for my life. Listen, I’ve gotta get back inside. I had to duck out in the middle of breakfast. Everyone’s come out to hear about our real-estate-buying trip.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
“I’ll tell them I saw some interesting properties, but I’m not going to buy anything. We’re content with our current situation. No, better than content. I’d say we’re happy.”
Fortune slipped her phone into her pocket, and went back inside to join her friends.
Recipes
Blueberry Cheesecake Squares
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (softened)
1⁄2 cup white sugar
1 dash vanilla extract
1 dash lemon extract
1 cup heavy cream
1 ½ cups blueberry preserves or 1 can blueberry pie filling
For the crust:
1 ½ cups finely crushed graham crackers (24 squares)
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
Heat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, stir the crushed crackers, melted butter, and 3 tablespoons of sugar until well mixed. Press the crust into a jelly roll pan or deep baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, and let cool.
In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, lemon and vanilla extracts. Mix well.
In a medium bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks form.
Fold 3/4 of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.
Spread onto the crust.
Dot with preserves or pie filling, and smooth with spatula to cover.
Chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours.
Ga
rnish with remaining cream.
Bread Pudding
1 loaf stale bread
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 quart milk
3 tablespoons melted butter or oleo (margarine)
3 eggs
1 cup raisins
2 cups sugar
Soak bread in milk; crush with hands till well mixed. Then add eggs, sugar, vanilla and raisins and stir well. Pour oleo in bottom of thick pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Let cool; then cube pudding and put in individual dessert dish. Serve with bourbon sauce.
Bourbon sauce
1 stick butter or oleo, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Bourbon to taste
Mix the butter and sugar until creamy. Cook sugar and butter in double boiler till very hot and well dissolved. Then add well-beaten egg and whip real fast so egg doesn't curdle. Let cool and add bourbon to taste.
Sazerac Cocktail
1 cube sugar
1½ ounces (35ml) Sazerac Rye Whiskey
¼ ounce Herbsaint or Absinthe
3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
Lemon peel
Pack an Old-Fashioned glass with ice
In a second Old-Fashioned glass place the sugar cube and add the Peychaud's Bitters to it, then crush the sugar cube
Add the Sazerac Rye Whiskey to the second glass containing the Peychaud's Bitters and sugar
Empty the ice from the first glass and coat the glass with the Herbsaint, then discard the remaining Herbsaint
Empty the whiskey/bitters/sugar mixture from the second glass into the first glass and garnish with lemon peel
St. Charles Hotel Chicken Gumbo (original 1920 recipe)
For five gallons of Creole Gumbo use: Three gallons of chicken broth; two pounds of chicken giblets; two pounds knuckle of ham. Cut both in one inch pieces and fry them brown in some good lard. Add to them four or six large crabs, cut up; two dozen of lake shrimps, two dozen of Bayou Cook oysters. Cut ten dozen of fresh okra pods, half-dozen of Spanish onions, two dozen of green peppers, cut up in dices. Add one gallon of peeled tomatoes, one tablespoonful Creole file, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on slow fire for about one and one-half hours. Serve with Louisiana steamed rice.
Cajun Scrambled Eggs
2 teaspoons oil, bacon fat, or butter
1/2 teaspoon garlic - minced
2 Tablespoons onion - chopped
1/4 cup green pepper - chopped
1/4 cup tomatoes - chopped
1/4 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend
1/4 pound Andouille sausage - cooked and diced
4 large eggs beaten with 2 teaspoons milk
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese - optional
Note: You can replace the Andouille sausage with Portuguese sausage or smoky breakfast sausage links.
In large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the garlic, onions and green pepper in oil or butter. Stirring often, cook until the green peppers are softened and the onion starts to become translucent. Toss in the tomatoes and sausage and reduce heat to medium. Season with Cajun seasoning.
Add the beaten eggs. As soon as the eggs begin to set, start stirring (scrambling) all ingredients. Continue until eggs are completely set. Turn off heat.
If desired, sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Wait one minute for the cheese to start melting.
Serve and enjoy with hot sauce if desired.
Hawaii Style Potato Mac Salad
½ lb. macaroni
8 hard-boiled eggs
3 red potatoes, cooked and cubed
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 cups mayonnaise
½ tsp. ground allspice
½ tsp. pepper
1 package frozen peas, thawed and drained (10 oz.)
Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. In a small bowl, mash yolks and chill. Chop egg whites; put into a large bowl with macaroni and potatoes. Stir in salt and vinegar; chill overnight.
Add egg yolks and remaining ingredients; gently mix into macaroni mixture. Chill.
Spam Fried Rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces Spam, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen diced carrots
3 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 green onions, sliced
Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add eggs and cook until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side, flipping only once. Let cool before dicing into small pieces.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and Spam, and cook, stirring often, until light golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.
Add corn, peas and carrots. Cook, stirring constantly, until vegetables are tender, about 1-2 minutes.
Add rice and gently toss to combine.
Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
Stir in green onions and eggs.
Eggplant Fritters
Aubergines en Beignets ou au Natural (From The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, published 1910)
2 Young Eggplants. 1/2 Pint of Milk.
Salt and Pepper. Flour.
Slice the eggplants nicely and thin. Roll them in milk in which you have put salt and pepper to taste. Pass the eggplant in flour, dusting lightly, and fry in boiling lard. The eggplant must float in the lard. Drain on brown paper in the mouth of the oven and serve hot.
Loco Moco
Per serving:
4 ounces ground beef
Salt and pepper to taste
1⁄2Cup brown gravy
1 large egg
2 cup steamed Calrose rice or your favorite fried rice
Press the ground beef into a patty, season with salt and pepper. Grill or fry to desired doneness.
Place rice in a bowl. Place the burger on the rice and keep warm.
Fry the egg sunny side up. Just before the egg is done, pour the warm gravy over the burger so it glazes both the burger and the rice.
Slide the sunny side up egg over the burger. Serve immediately.
From the Author
Thank you for taking the time to read Aloha, Y’all. If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends or posting a short review. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.
Frankie Bow teaches at a public university and writes Miss Fortune Kindle Worlds novellas as well as The Professor Molly Mysteries. Unlike Professor Molly, Frankie is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, and a perfectly nice office chair.
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Find more Miss Fortune and Mary-Alice Adventures on Kindle Worlds.
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