by Dan Foley
“Ms. La Pierre, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t ... “
“I know you didn’t, Ellen. I’m here to warn you not to. A young man may stop here looking for me. He’ll be driving a fancy, bright red car. I do not want him to find me. If he stops and asks, I want you to tell him you don’t know me. Do you understand?”
The woman nodded that she did. “Say you understand, Ellen.”
“I understand,” the woman whispered and Renee could tell she was having trouble getting even that much out.
“Good. You can tell him you’ve heard of me, the witch of the bayou, but that you’ve never met me and have no idea where he might find me. Do you understand?”
Ellen nodded and then the whisper came again. “I understand.”
“Good.” La Pierre told her and pointed to the dead cat. “And you understand what could happen if you don’t do as I tell you?”
“Yes,” the woman blubbered.
“Very good,” the witch told her, and then she, her familiar and the cat returned to her car. She had others to visit in Lavern. And when she was done with them, she’d go all the way down to the gulf.
12 – Crawdads
Wolf and Charlotte drove through Lavern without stopping on the chance that they might spot La Pierre or her car. They made one quick pass through town and then turned around to go back to Bayou La Pointe.
The town took Charlotte by surprise. It had been years since she had traveled south of Bayou La Pointe. There was just nothing down this way that interested her. “It’s smaller than Bayou Pa Pointe. How is that possible? Could La Pierre actually live here?”
“After living up north, I could say the same thing about Bayou La Pointe,” Wolf told her. “Big towns can be convenient, what with shopping, restaurants, movie theaters and the like within a couple of miles, but it’s too impersonal. I like these small towns, I feel at home here.”
“They don’t have any small towns up there?”
“Sure they do, but you have to be born there, or live there for at least twenty years, to fit in.”
“Wait! Stop here!” Charlotte demanded when they passed a small, makeshift shack at the water’s edge.
“What? Is it La Pierre?”
“No, that shack. They have crawdads. Didn’t you see the sign? I love crawdads.”
“Crawdads?”
“Yes crawdads. I love crawdads. Don’t you remember, we ate a ton of them on our weekend in the Quarter after graduation? When’s the last time you had crawdads?”
“I guess after graduation. They don’t have crawdads up north?”
“No crawdads? That’s terrible.”
“Well, they might not have crawdads up there, but they have lobster.”
“We have lobster.”
“We have rock lobster. They have real lobster.”
“What’s the difference?”
“It’s like night and day. Cold water lobsters are bigger, the claws are huge, and filled with the sweetest meat you can imagine.”
“Sweeter than crawdads? I find that hard to believe. I’m going to buy a bunch of crawdads and cook them up and we’ll see if you still think that Yankee lobster is sweeter than Louisiana crawdads.”
Charlotte was out of the truck as soon as it stopped moving. An old woman was sitting on a wooden crate in the shade next to a dilapidated shack. “Your sign says crawdads. Do you have any?”
“Course I do. How many you want?” the woman asked without getting off the crate.
“How many have you got?”
“Well I started with five dozen this morning, and I sold a dozen a while back. So, that means I’ve got still four dozen in that cooler right there.”
“Are they fresh?”
“Freshest you’re gonna find. I boiled them up this morning.”
“Fine, I’ll take them.” Charlotte told her.
“All of them?”
“Yes, all of them. I’m going to show that man in the truck just how good crawdads are.”
“What, he’s never had crawdads?”
“Not in a long time. He’s been living up north. They have lobster up there.”
“Well, there ain’t no lobster gonna hold a candle to these crawdads. You tell him I said so.”
Charlotte took the bag and waved it at Wolf. She started to walk back to truck and then turned back. “I almost forgot to ask, we’re looking for someone, Renee La Pierre. Do you know how we can find her?”
The change in the woman was dramatic — she went from being friendly to terrified. She was actually shaking when she blurted out, “No. No, I never heard of her.” Then she ran into the shack and cowered in a corner behind a row of wooden shelves.
“What the hell was that all about,” Wolf asked when Charlotte came back to the truck.
“Everything was going fine until I asked her about Renee La Pierre. The woman was absolutely terrified. She said she doesn’t know her, but she has to be lying.”
Wolf looked to where the woman was hiding in the shed. “Maybe I should talk to her.”
“No, I don’t think so. Besides, now we know that La Pierre must live down here. Why else would the woman act like that? And, I have to get to work.”
“Okay, but we’re coming back down here tomorrow,” Wolf told her as he started the truck.
“Why do you think she was so terrified when I mentioned La Pierre’s name?” Charlotte asked on the drive back.
“I don’t know. Maybe the whole delta is afraid of her. But, if she’s that bad, why haven’t you ever heard of her before?”
“Me? How about you? You grew up down here too?”
“Maybe we did. Did you ever tell ghost stories at sleep-overs?”
“Sure. Why?”
“Benny Deville always told stories about a voodoo queen who turned people into zombies. He swore they were real, but we all thought they were just made up stories.”
“We told stories like that, too. But I never believed them either. I don’t think any of us did. Ghosts and zombies were for the movies and the old folks. Now we find out they’re real.”
Wolf was silent for a while before asking about their old friends. “Whatever happened to Benny anyway?”
“He got drafted just after you left. He went to Vietnam and never came back.”
“He got killed over there?”
“Missing in action. No one knows what really happened to him.”
“Damn. What about Steph Berrand? She went to New Orleans with us after the prom. She and Benny were always a couple.”
“Steph got married and moved to Metairie. The last I heard she had two kids and another one on the way.”
Wolf shook his head. She had to be what, twenty-five, twenty-six? And she’s already got three kids. He couldn’t imagine it.
While they were talking, Charlotte had reached into the bag of crawdads and peeled one. “Here, try this” she told Melvin, handing him a tail.
“What? Now? It’s cold.”
“Oh, you don’t eat lobster cold?”
“Not really. Well, I don’t anyway.”
“Well, we eat crawdad cold, or hot with drawn butter, or in all sorts of dishes. Now try it.”
“Okay, okay,” Wolf told her and popped the tail into his mouth.
“Wow ... I forgot how good they are. How about another one?”
“Later. Stop at Grandmere’s and we’ll put these in her fridge. We’ll give her half.”
“What’s she going to do with two dozen crawdads?”
“Eat them, you foolish boy.”
At the mention of Grandmere, Wolf turned pensive. “What do we tell her about today?”
“We tell her everything, of course. But it will have to wait until I get out of work, or until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow I want to go directly to Lavern. We can tell her after you get off work if she wants to wait up for us.”
“Oh, she’ll wait,” Charlotte assured him.<
br />
Grandmere was on the porch looking out over the bayou when Wolf and Charlotte arrived. “What you two up to all day? You find out anythin’ ‘bout that La Pierre?”
“Yes,” Charlotte answered, “but we can’t tell you now. I have to get to work. We can tell you later if you want to wait up. I get off at eleven.”
“Course, I’ll wait,” Grandmere answered. Then she noticed the bag Charlotte was carrying. “What you got in that sack, girl?”
“Crawdads. I bought four dozen down in Lavern. Half of them are for you. Can I leave them here while I’m at work?”
“Course you can. I’ll cook up sometin’ good. We can eat an’ you can tell me ‘‘bout what you found out.”
Wolf looked at the two of them like they were crazy. “Eat that late at night?”
“Sure,” Charlotte answered. “You never ate that late at night when you were in the navy?”
Wolf thought about all the times he had come of the swing shift and scarfed down mid rats. “Yeah, plenty of times.”
“Okay then, we’ll eat when I get off work.”
While Wolf and Charlotte were driving through Lavern, Renee La Pierre was stopping at each place of business where the boy might inquire about her. She left a trail of terrified people in her wake. By the time she visited the last one, the dead cat had been reduced to a ragged, practically hairless bag of bones, but there was still one last thing she could use it for as she stood in front of the crew of the shrimper, Daddy’s Girl.
“If I find out if any of you tell this boy anything about me, this is nothing compared to what will happen to you.” With a dramatic wave of her hand and a hissing mumble of nonsense words, what was left of the cat stumbled over to the captain and rubbed against his leg. She then withdrew the small part of her consciousness she had used to animate the corpse from the cat’s mind. It immediately collapsed, its body falling across the captain’s boot. The man jumped back to get away from the corpse and crossed himself. La Pierre then looked each man on the dock directly in the eye before walking back to her car, her familiar running along behind her.
When she drove past Ellen’s shack, she wasn’t surprised to see the woman had locked up and gone home. Good, if she’s not there, the boy can’t talk to her. Now I think it’s time to talk to Bodie.
Billy Bodie was standing behind the counter when she walked in. It took a few seconds, but then she saw the recognition in his eyes. “Ms. La Pierre, how can I help you?” She could detect a slight tremor in his voice.
“I’m here to talk about Melvin Lobo and the woman. What did you say her name was?”
“Charlotte Arquette.”
“Yes, Charlotte Arquette. Tell me about her.”
Bodie looked everywhere but at her before he answered. “There’s nothing to tell, really. She’s a local girl, grew up here. She used to date Lobo back in high school. I guess they’re back together again now that he’s back.”
La Pierre knew there was more to it, but she’d get back to the woman later. “Now tell me about Lobo.”
“He grew up here too. He disappeared after high school. One day he was here, the next he was gone. I heard he joined the navy. No one saw him again until he showed back up a few weeks ago. I sold him a motor and gas tanks for his boat, so I guess he plans on staying this time.”
“And, what exactly did they want to know about me?”
“I don’t know. They asked me if I knew you and I told them I had never heard of you.”
“Really?” La Pierre asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Yeah, really,” Billy insisted.
“Ah, you disappoint me. I think you need to talk to my assistant,” Renee told him, and set the bag she had been carrying over her shoulder on the counter between them. Billy’s eyes bulged when the familiar climbed out and hissed at him.
“Now, I’m going to ask you one more time. What did they want to know about me? Think very carefully before you answer.”
Billy looked at the familiar and then back at La Pierre. Then he swallowed and told the witch what she wanted to know. “They asked if I knew where you lived.”
“And what did you tell them?”
Billy looked at the familiar again and swallowed before answering. “I told them I wasn’t sure, but I thought that you lived down near Lavern.”
“So, they walked in here, just asked you where I live, and you told them?”
“No, no. Charlotte said she was pregnant and they had heard you could help with things like that. They wanted to know how to find you.”
“Anything else?”
Bodie looked nervously at the creature sitting on the counter and said, “I gave them your phone number.”
“Go ahead, my pet, taste him.”
Billy jumped back when he heard this, but the creature was already at his neck. He grabbed at it, but it had already ripped a claw across his throat and was licking at the blood.
“Now that she’s tasted your blood, she will always be able to find you. The next time you disappoint me, we’ll come back here and I’ll let her bite you. If she does, you will die a very unpleasant death.”
Bodie was shaking when she left the shop. La Pierre didn’t start shaking until she reached her car. The difference, was Billy was shaking in fear ... the witch was shaking in anger.
13 – Witch Hunting
Wolf pulled into the Seven-Eleven just in time to drop Charlotte off for her shift. “Little Wolf and I will be out here until you get off.”
She leaned over and kissed him before she got out. “Don’t pee outside. Come in if you have to go. Just leave him in the car if you do.”
“Yeah, yeah, but I don’t see the problem,” Wolf answered.
Charlotte didn’t rise to the bait; she just shook her head at him and headed toward the store. A few minutes after she entered, a tall, lean guy came out. Instead of turning and walking to the other car in the lot, he walked straight toward Wolf.
“Get down,” Wolf told the familiar when he realized the man was heading toward them. Little Wolf jumped off the back of the seat and crawled under it just as the man reached Wolf’s open window.
“Hey, you must be Melvin. Charlotte’s told me about you. I’m Benny Marsh, I work with her. She says you were on subs in the navy.”
Up close, Wolf could see the guy was younger than he had thought at first. “Yeah, why?”
“I can’t afford college, and I sure as hell don’t want to get drafted and head to Vietnam. And, even if I don’t get drafted, I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. Charlotte said I should ask you about subs.”
“When do you graduate?”
“Next year, I’m a senior now.”
“Can you give up all this?” Wolf asked.
“What, working here? Living in Bayou La Pointe?”
“No this, the sky, the stars at night, a cool breeze of the water. Can you live for months in a steel canister under two hundred feet of water?
“I don’t know, but I’d be willing to try.”
“How are your grades? Competition for subs is tough. If you want to be a nuke, you need to score high on the entry exams and then be either a machinist mate, an electrician or an electronics technician. After that you need to go to nuke school and sub school. And, it’s a six year enlistment.”
“Wow,” the kid said. “I’m going to need to think about that.”
“You do that, and then we can talk.”
“Sure,” the kid answered, and walked away.
Would I have gone nuke and subs if I had known what it was all about before I joined? Wolf thought when the kid was gone. Probably. There had been mystery and romance attached to the idea of submarines. The promise of extra pay and one hell of an education didn’t hurt either. The education wasn’t doing much for him here in Bayou La Pointe, but if he really needed a job, he could probably get one at the new nuke plant, Waterford 3, they were building up in Kilona. But for the time
being, he wanted nothing to do with shift work and nuclear power. But would I recommend it to someone else? Yeah, I guess I would.
Around seven, Wolf’s stomach started growling. “I wanted to wait to eat until Charlotte gets off work, but screw that, I’m hungry,” he told Little Wolf. “You coming in or do you want to wait here while I go inside and get something.” For an answer, the familiar jumped up on his shoulder. “Okay, but you keep out of sight if anyone comes in.”
The door buzzed and Charlotte looked up when they walked in. “You can’t have him out like that in here. What if someone comes in?”
“He already knows he has to hide if anyone does, and we’re only going to be here for a minute. I just need something to eat. I’m starving.”
“Fine, but don’t eat too much. Don’t forget, Grandmere’s making dinner.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Wolf told her as he opened a cooler door and grabbed a pre-made cold cut grinder. He was halfway to the counter when he started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Charlotte demanded when he set the grinder on the counter.
Wolf held up the grinder. “This, it’s horse cock. I can’t tell you how many times I had horse cock for mid-rats.”
“It’s what?”
“Horse cock, that’s what we called cold cuts. I was talking to that kid, Benny, about being on subs, and here I am having horse cock for dinner. I just thought it was funny.”
“Is this going to happen a lot? Are you going to come out with something like that and I have no idea what you’re talking about?”
“Probably, at least for a while, I guess. You’ll get used to it.”
When they were back in the pickup, Wolf was unwrapping his sub when he realized that he had never seen Little Wolf eat anything. “You want some of this, buddy?” When the familiar turned his nose up at the offering, Wolf was perplexed. “What do you eat? Do you even eat? Mose never told me.”
Little Wolf couldn’t answer, and Wolf was left to ponder the question. There was still a lot he didn’t know ... about everything.
