Authors: Terri Reid
“Who gave you this map?” the mother
asked.
“Big Al,” Eloise answered.
“He’s not a good man,” she replied.
“Yeah, we got that feeling too,”
Sally said.
The woman looked at Eloise and
Sally for a moment, and then said, “You look like nice ladies. What you doing
messing with hoodoo?”
“We’re trying to protect some folks
we love,” Eloise said. “We need to find out as much as we can as fast as we
can.”
The woman studied them once again
and then she nodded. “Well, the place you going is the right place – but the
way he sent you, I think he was figuring on you not making it back,” she said.
“Here, let me show you the right way.”
She took a marker from the counter
and marked the correct path through the bayou.
“I’ll be waiting on you,” she said.
“If you’re not back in two hours, I’ll send my husband for you. He’s strong,
he’s not afraid of hoodoo.”
Eloise smiled. “Thank you. We
really appreciate your help.”
The woman shrugged, “I can tell
you’re good people, I like helping good people.”
Sally smiled. “You know, that’s the
nicest thing I’ve heard all day.”
The girl led them to the dock and showed
them the old aluminum canoe. It’s once bright green hull was worn and
scratched, but it still looked like a sound craft. She helped them push off
into the murky waters of the swamp. Sally sat at the front of the canoe, with
the map open in her arms, watching for the landmarks that had been carefully
pointed out by their new friend. Eloise sat in the back, rhythmically moving
the paddle to either side of the canoe, moving them noiselessly down the
waterway.
Spanish moss dangled down from tree
limbs to float in the water. Vegetation covered the top of the water, so you
felt like you were rowing through a field of grass. However, occasionally a
ripple would appear near the paddle and then a sinuous body of a water snake
would follow.
“So, do you think we’d be gator
grits by now if we’d gone the other way?” Sally asked.
Eloise chuckled. “I’m thinking I’d
be grits – but with the crap you eat, no self-respecting gator would even
nibble on you.”
Sally laughed. “I’ve always been
told that eating healthy would add years to my life, now I understand why.”
Eloise looked around the large
channel that they were traveling down. She saw large hollow logs that floated
slowly down the river and dead Cyprus trees that housed nests for the water
birds and eagles.
“You know, swamps are not very
friendly places,” Eloise commented.
“That was brilliant, El,” Sally
said, “Sure you’re not pushing for my job?”
Suddenly, from a small island in
the middle of that channel, Eloise observed a rustling in the high grass and
heard a soft splash. Instantly, the birds took flight and the swamp seemed to
become silent.
“Sally, look,” Eloise whispered, “an
alligator.”
Sally turned her head and watched
as a seven-foot alligator started to swim in their direction. Sally turned
back to Eloise, “So, what do we do now?”
Eloise shrugged. “Nothing,
alligators don’t attack canoes, they stay away from humans.”
“That’s good news,” Sally replied.
Eloise heard another soft splash
coming from the other side of the bank and turned her head. Two more
alligators entered the water.
“El,” Sally called, “Don’t want to
mess up your theory or anything, but I could swear these alligators are coming
right towards us.”
Eloise looked around. Sure enough,
there were five large alligators all bearing down on their canoe from different
directions.
“Sal, there’s a paddle at your
feet,” she said. “Why don’t you pick it up and help me paddle for a little
while. Let’s see if these guys are in for the chase or if this is just a
coincidence.”
With Sally and Eloise both
paddling, the canoe picked up speed and quickly cut through the swampy
vegetation. Eloise steered the canoe so it performed a slalom course through
the large Cyprus trees, slowing down the alligators.
“Did we lose them?” Sally asked.
Before Eloise could answer, the
side of the canoe was knocked by the body of an eight-foot alligator. Eloise
and Sally grabbed tightly to the sides, making sure they also kept hold of
their paddles. The canoe rocked back and forth in the water.
“I’d take that as a no,” Sally
answered her own question, “What do we do next?”
“Keep paddling,” Eloise said,
“Unfortunately, we’re not even safe on dry land. Alligators can sprint nine
miles an hour on land.”
The other alligators joined the
first and soon the canoe was being barraged with alligator attacks. The
aluminum hull was strong enough to take the battering, but with each attack,
the canoe rocked further from side to side, the murky water almost lapping into
the canoe.
“So, what happens if we get
tipped?” Sally asked.
“Let’s not think about that,”
Eloise responded.
“That bad?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, so let’s just paddle a
little harder,” Sally said.
They paddled harder, their arms
aching and sweat glistening on their foreheads. Eloise steered them between a grouping
of Cyprus trees that stood only a few feet apart.
“This should give us a breather,”
Eloise said, wiping the sweat from her head.
Sally turned around to speak with
Eloise and saw a massive alligator climb up on the roots of the nearest Cyprus tree. “El! Paddle now!” she screamed.
Eloise shoved her paddle into the
water and connected with one of the ancient tree roots; she pushed off the root
and shot the canoe forward just before the alligator dove toward the canoe.
The residual splash the alligator made sent the canoe rocking forward and the
adrenalin from the scare, prompted Eloise and Sally to paddle even faster.
The canoe continued forward, Eloise
trying to use the ancient trees as barricades from the attacking reptiles.
Finally, Sally called out, “That’s the cove on the map. We’re supposed to go in
there.”
Eloise tried to steer the canoe
into the cove, but the alligators seemed to be working together to keep them
out of the cove.
“What are we going to do?” Sally
asked.
“Paddle backwards,” Eloise yelled.
Putting their backs into the
movement, they were able to reverse the movement of the canoe and put some
distance between themselves and the alligators. The canoe sat, bobbing in the
water fifteen feet away from their destination.
“Sal, you ever watch football?”
Eloise asked.
“A couple of times,” Sally
admitted. “Why?”
“We’re going for a Hail-Mary,”
Eloise said, “There’s a sandbar just to the side of the canoe. If we both push
the paddles into it at the same time, we might just have enough momentum to squeeze
past the alligators.”
“Okay, El, you’re the quarterback,
tell me what to do.”
“Keep acting like we’re paddling
back, but don’t bring the paddle into the water,” she said. “On the count of
three, push with all your might.”
“Ready,” Sally whispered.
“One...two...three,” Eloise called.
They jammed the paddles against the
sand bar and forced the canoe forward. Eloise used her paddle as a rudder, and
they cut sharply to the right and were able to enter the cove before the
alligators could react. A curtain of moss hung over the entrance to the cove
and blinded them momentarily. “Whoa, did we just enter the twilight zone?”
Sally asked, as they paddled into the secluded area.
A thin fog hovered over the water,
reflecting the green and grey of the moss and the water itself. Ancient Cyprus trees formed a circle around an old wooden dock that jutted out into the water.
Eloise steered the canoe over to
the dock and threw the docking line over a protruding piling. She pulled it
tight and tied it off.
“Let’s get out before our escorts
figure us out,” she said, scrambling out of the canoe.
Sally shook her head. “You were too
busy to notice,” Sally said, “But our escort service dropped away once we
entered the cove. That could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing.”
“Well, let’s find out.”
“I knew you were going to say
that.”
They walked across the dock to the
marshy bank. There, fifty feet or so from the swamp was an old cabin. In
front of the cabin, clotheslines were strung from ancient trees in a spider’s
web of white nylon. As they got closer, they could see that on the clothesline
hung drying herbs, animal skins and some dead chickens.
“Remind me not to stay for dinner,”
Sally whispered.
They walked up to the cabin and
knocked on the wooden door. They could hear someone moving around inside and
then the door was thrown open. A withered and slight woman with long white
hair answered the door. She wore a long grey dress and had a crucifix hanging
around her neck. But her most apparent feature was her white clouded eyes, she
was blind.
“So, you’ve made it to my cove,”
she said. Her voice held traces of a soft Irish brogue and sounded younger than
her appearance.
“Yes, we were sent here,” Eloise
said, “But we are not sure whether it was by a friend or an enemy.”
“And yet you ventured in,” she
said, “You must be very brave or very desperate.”
“I think that desperate is the
correct description,” Sally said.
The woman laughed – a youthful
laugh that made both Eloise and Sally feel at ease. She stepped to the side
and invited them into her cabin.
The cabin was tiny, but neat and
clean. There were several chairs situated around a rough hewn table. A tiny
cot and an old bureau that held antique photos from the late 1800s sat in the
far corner. Sally and Eloise sat at the table and the woman joined them.
“I am Mary Margaret Ebenezer,” she
explained, “I came here many years ago, as a missionary. I lived with these
wonderful people and I learned their ways and taught them some of mine. Now, I’m
too old to do much – but I still remember many things. How can I help you?”
“We work with the United States
Government. We do... unusual work for them, we help those who have died find
their way to the other side,” Eloise explained, “We are here to help those affected
by the hurricane but we ran into a problem.”
Eloise and Sally explained the
situation while Mary Margaret remained silent. Finally, when they were done,
she shook her head.
“If she calls Yemanja you must call
someone even stronger,” she explained, “Someone who can drag Yemanja back to
the depths of the sea.”
“How do we do that?” Eloise asked.
Mary Margaret stood up and walked
to one of her shelves. She took down a canister and opened it. Inside was a
yellow powdery substance.
“This is simple cornmeal, but you
must follow my directions perfectly.”
She slowly poured the cornmeal out
on the table in thin lines and circles, creating an intricate design. She
closed up the canister and then walked over to the bureau, there she opened the
top drawer and pulled out a leather rattle.
“After you draw with the cornmeal,
you shake the rattle and you dance, calling on the name of the Vodoun god you
wish to contact.”
“Dance? What kind of dance?”
Eloise asked.
Mary Margaret smiled, “It’s a very
simple, primitive dance – two steps forward, turn in a circle from east to west
and then two steps back. Then you just shift slightly to the west every time
you complete the main steps.”
Eloise watched her carefully,”
Okay, I can do that.”
Mary Margaret nodded, “Then all you
have to do is offer your sacrifice.”
“What kind of sacrifice?” Eloise
asked.
“The greater the sacrifice, the
greater the power you have over your enemy.”
“That doesn’t really give me an
answer,” Eloise said.
“When you call upon the god, he
will often make a request,” Mary Margaret said. “If not, offer him something of
value.”
“Who should I call upon?”
“Call upon Agwe,” she said. “He is
the spirit of the sea and is stronger than Yemanja. He can help you.”
“And then it’s over?” Sally asked.
“Oh, no, you must still destroy
Lalaurie. Until she is gone, she will still have the power to try this again
and again.”
Mary Margaret walked over to where
Eloise sat and put her hands on her shoulders. “You have a great power,” she
said, “You can conquer her.”
Mary Margaret stepped back, then
packed all the equipment into a black satchel and walked to the door.
“Now, you must go back,” she said
urgently, handing Eloise the satchel. “There are others who wish to have you
fail. They are closer than you think. Go back the way you came and you will
be safe.”
“How can we thank you?” Eloise
asked.
Mary Margaret laughed. “You risk
your life to save the people I love and ask how you can thank me. Go, be safe,
and have courage. God speed.”
They walked down the wooden dock
and placed the satchel in the middle of the canoe before climbing in. Sally
took a deep breath. “So, do you think we’re going to have any escorts on the
way home?”
Eloise shook her head. “I don’t
know why, but I feel safer knowing that Mary Margaret is on our side.”
Sally smiled. “She’s pretty
amazing.”
Eloise untied the canoe and pushed
off from the dock. The canoe glided softly through the cove and out into the
main channel. They both looked up and down the waterway.
“I don’t see anything,” Sally said.
Eloise nodded. “Me either, but we
should hurry.”
They started their trip back down
the river, watching for landmarks to guide them back to the little store. About
half-way back they heard a motorized whirring coming from further down river.
“I don’t like the sound of that,”
Sally said.