Ruby (19 page)

Book Two
.
10
An Unexpected
Friend
.
Annie Gray was so excited about arriving in

New Orleans during the Mardi Gras, she talked incessantly during the remainder of the trip. I sat with my knees together, my hands nervously twisting on my lap, but I was grateful for the conversation. Listening to her descriptions of previous Mardi Gras celebrations she had attended, I had little time to feel sorry for myself and worry about what would happen to me the moment I stepped off the bus. For the time being at least, I could ignore the troubled thoughts crowded into the darkest corners of my brain.

Annie came from New Iberia, but she had been to New Orleans at least a half-dozen times to visit her aunt, who she said was a cabaret singer in a famous nightclub in the French Quarter. Annie said she was going to live with her aunt in New Orleans from now on.

"I'm going to be a singer, too," she bragged. "My aunt is getting me my first audition in a nightclub on Bourbon Street. You know about the French Quarter, don'tcha, honey?" she asked.

"I know it's the oldest section of the city and there is a lot of music, and people have parties there all the time," I told her.

"That's right, honey, and it has the best restaurants and many nice shops and loads and loads of antique and art galleries."

"Art galleries?"
"Uh-huh."
"Did you ever hear of Dominique's?"
She shrugged.
"I wouldn't know one from the other. Why?" "I have some of my artwork displayed there," I

said proudly.
"Really? Well, ain't that somethin'? You're an
artist." She looked impressed. "And you say you ain't
ever been to New Orleans before?"
I shook my head.
"Oh," she squealed, and squeezed my hand.
"You're in for a bundle of fun. You've got to tell me
where you'll be and I'll send you an invitation to come
hear me sing as soon as I get hired, okay?"
"I don't know where I'll be yet," I had to
confess. That slowed down her flood of excitement. She pulled herself back in her seat and scrutinized me
with a curious smile on her face.
"What do you mean? I thought you said you're
going to visit relatives," she said.
"I am. . . I . . . just don't know their address." I
allowed my eyes to meet hers briefly before they fled
to stare almost blindly at the passing scenery, which
right now was a blur of dark silhouettes and an
occasional lit window of a solitary house.
"Well, honey, New Orleans is a bit bigger than
downtown Houma," she said, laughing. "You got their
phone number at least, don'tcha?"
I turned back and shook my head. Numbness
tingled in my fingertips, perhaps because I had my
fingers locked so tightly together.
Her smile wilted and she narrowed her
turquoise eyes suspiciously as her gaze shifted to my
small bag and then back to me. Then she nodded to
herself and sat forward, convinced she knew it all. "You're runnin' away from home, ain'tcha?" she
asked. I bit down on my lower lip, but I couldn't stop
my eyes from tearing over. I nodded.
"Why?" she asked quickly. "You can tell Annie
Gray, honey. Annie Gray can keep a secret better than
a bank safe."
I swallowed my tears and vanquished my throat
lump so I could tell her about Grandmere Catherine,
her death, Grandpere Jack's moving in and his quickly
arranging for my marriage to Buster. She listened
quietly, her eyes sympathetic until I finished. Then
they blazed furiously.
"That old monster," she said. "He be Papa La
Bas," she muttered.
"Who?"
"The devil himself," she declared. "You got
anything that belongs to him on you?"
"No," I replied. "Why?"
"Fixin'," she said angrily. "I'd cast a spell on
him for you. My great-Grandmere, she was brought
here a slave, but she was a mamaloa." Voodoo queen,
and she hand me down lots of secrets," she whispered,
her eyes wide, her face close to mine. "Ya,
ye, ye Ii
konin tou, gris-gris,"
she chanted. My heart began to
pound.
"What's that mean?"
"Part of a voodoo prayer. If I had a snip of your
grandpere's hair, a piece of his clothing, even an old
sock . . . he never be bothering you again," she
assured me, her head bobbing.
"That's all right. I'll be fine now," I said, my
voice no more than a whisper either.
She stared at me a moment. The white part of
her eyes looked brighter, almost as if there were two
tiny fires behind each orb. Finally, she nodded again,
patted my hand reassuringly and sat back.
"You be all right, you just don't lose that black
cat bone I gave you," she told me.
"Thank you." I let out a breath. The bus
bounced and turned on the highway. Ahead of us, the
road became brighter as we approached more lighted
and populated areas en route to the city that now
loomed before me like a dream.
"I tell you what you do when we arrive," Annie
said. "You go right to the telephone booth and look up
your relatives in the phone book. Besides their
telephone number, their address will be there. What's
their name?"
"Dumas," I said.
"Dumas. Oh, honey, there's a hundred Dumas
in the book, if there's one. Know any first names?" "Pierre Dumas."
"Probably at least a dozen or so of them," she
said, shaking her head. "He got a middle initial?" "I don't know," I said.
She thought a moment.
"What else do you know about your relatives,
honey?"
"Just that they live in a big house, a mansion," I
said. Her eyes brightened again.
"Oh. Maybe the Garden District then. You don't
know what he does for a living?"
I shook my head. Her eyes turned suspicious as
one of her eyebrows lifted quizzically.
"Who's Pierre Dumas? Your cousin? Your
uncle?"
"No. My father," I said. Her mouth gaped open
and her eyes widened with surprise.
"Your father? And he never set eyes on you
before?"
I shook my head. I didn't want to go through the
whole story, and thankfully, she didn't ask for details.
She simply crossed herself and muttered something
before nodding.
"I'll look in the phone book with you. My
grandmere told me, I have a mama's vision and can
see my way through the dark and find the light. I'll
help you," she added, patting my hand. "Only, one
thing must be to make it work," she added.
"What's that?"
"You've got to give me a token, something valuable to open the doors. Oh, it ain't for me," she added quickly. "It's a gift for the saints to thank them for help in the success of your gris-giis. I'll drop it by
the church. Whaecha got?"
"I don't have anything valuable," I said. "You got any money on you?" she asked. "A little money I've earned selling my artwork,"
I told her.
"Good," she said. "You give me a ten dollar bill
at the phone booth and that will give me the power.
You lucky you found me, honey. Otherwise, you'd be
wanderin' around this city all night and all day. Must
be meant to be. Must be I be your good gris-gris." And with that she laughed again and again
began describing how wonderful her new life in New
Orleans was going to be once her aunt got her the
opportunity to sing.
When I first saw the skyline of the city, I was
glad I had found Annie Gray. There were so many
buildings and there were so many lights, I felt as if I
had fallen into a star laden sky. The traffic and people,
the maze of streets was over-whelming and
frightening. Everywhere I looked out the bus window,
I saw crowds of revelers marching through the streets,
all of them dressed in bright costumes, wearing masks and hats with bright feathers and carrying colorful paper umbrellas. Instead of masks, some had their faces made up to look like clowns, even the women. People were playing trumpets and trombones, flutes and drums. The bus driver had to slow down and wait for the crowds to cross at almost every corner before finally pulling into the bus station. As soon as he did so, our bus was surrounded by partygoers and musicians greeting the arriving passengers. Some were given masks, some had ropes of plastic jewels cast over their heads and some were given paper umbrellas. It seemed if you weren't celebrating Mardi
Gras, you weren't welcome in New Orleans. "Hurry," Annie told me as we started down the
aisle. As soon as I stepped down, someone grabbed
my left hand, shoved a paper umbrella into my right,
and pulled me into the parade of brightly dressed
people so that I was forced to march around the bus
with them. Annie laughed and threw her hands up as
she started to dance and swing herself in behind me.
We marched around as the bus driver unloaded the
luggage. When Annie saw hers, she pulled me out of
the line and I followed her into the station. People
were dancing everywhere, and everywhere I looked,
there were pockets of musicians playing Dixieland
Jazz. "There's a phone booth," she said, pointing. We
hurried to it. Annie opened the fat telephone book. I
had never realized how many people lived in New
Orleans. "Dumas, Dumas," she chanted as she ran her
finger down the page. "Okay, here be the list.
Quickly," she said, turning back to me. "Fold the ten
dollar bill as tightly as you can. Go on."
I did what she asked. She opened her purse and
kept her eyes closed.
"Just drop it in here," she said. I did so and she
opened her eyes slowly and then turned to the phone
book again. She did look like someone who had fallen
into a trance. I heard her mumble some gibberish and
then she put her long right forefinger on the page and
ran it down slowly. Suddenly, she stopped. Her whole
body shuddered and she closed and then opened her
eyes. "It's him!" she declared. She leaned closer and
nodded. "He does live in the Garden District, big
house, rich." She tore off a corner of the page and
wrote the address on it. It was on St. Charles Avenue. "Are you sure?" I asked.
"Didn't you see my finger stop on the page? I
didn't stop it; it was stopped!" she said, eyes wide. I
nodded.
"Thank you," I said.
"You welcome, honey. Okay," she said, picking
up her suitcase. "I got to get me going. You be all
right now. Annie Gray said so. I'll send for you when
I start singing some-where," she said, backing away. "Annie don't forget you. Don't forget Annie!"
she cried. Then she spun around once with her right
hand high, the colorful bracelets clicking together.
She threw me a wide smile as she danced her way off,
falling in with a small group of revelers who marched
out..the door and into the street.
I gazed at the street address on the tiny slip of
paper in the palm of my hand. Did she really have
some kind of prophetic power or was this incorrect, an
address that would get me even more lost than I
imagined? I looked back at the opened telephone
book, thinking maybe I should know where the
addresses for any other Pierre Dumas were, and was
shocked to discover, there was only one Pierre
Dumas. What sort of magic was required for this? I
wondered.
I laughed to myself, realizing I had paid for my
company and entertainment. But who knew how
much of what Annie had told me was true and how
much wasn't? I wasn't one to be skeptical about supernatural mysteries, not with a Traiteur for a
grandmother.
Slowly, I walked to the station entrance. For a
moment, I just stood there gaping out at the city. I
looked around and floundered, filled with trepidation.
Part of me wanted to march right back to the bus.
Maybe I'd be better off in Houma living with Mrs.
Thibodeau or Mrs. Livaudis, I thought. But the
laughter and music from another group of revelers
coming off a different bus interrupted my thoughts.
When they reached me, one of them, a tall man
wearing a white and black wolf mask paused at my
side.
"Are you all alone?" he asked.
I nodded. "I just arrived."
A light sprang into his light blue eyes, the only
part of his face not hidden by the mask. He was tall
with wide shoulders. He had dark brown hair and a
young voice causing me to think he was no more than
twenty-five.
"So did I. But this is no night to be all alone,"
he said. "You're very pretty, but it's Mardi Gras. Don't
you have a mask to go with that umbrella?" "No," I said. "Someone gave me this as soon as
I got off the bus. I didn't come for the Mardi Gras. I
came--"
"Of course you did," he interrupted. "Here," he
said, digging into his bag and coming up with another
mask, a black one with plastic diamonds around its
edges. "Put on this one and come along with us." "Thank you, but I've got to find this address," I
said. He looked at my slip.
"Oh, I know where this is. We won't be far
from it. Come along. Might as well enjoy yourself on
the way," he added. "Here, put on the mask. Everyone
must wear a mask tonight. Go on," he insisted, resting
his sharp gaze on me. I saw a smile form around his
eyes and I took the mask.
"Now you look like you belong," he said. "Do you really know this address?" I asked. "Of course, I do. Come on," he said, taking my
hand. Perhaps Annie Gray's voodoo magic was
working, I thought. I found a stranger who could take
me right to my father's door. I took the stranger's hand
and hurried out with him to catch up with the group.
There was music all around us and people hawking
food and costumes and other masks as well. The
whole city had been turned into a grand
fais dodo
, I
thought. There wasn't a sad face anywhere, or if there
was, it was hidden behind a mask. Above us, people were raining down confetti from the scrolled iron balconies. Columns and columns of revelers wound around every corner. Some of the costumes the women wore were scant and very revealing. I feasted visually on everything, turning and spinning at this carnival of life: people kissing anyone who was close enough to embrace, obvious strangers hugging and clinging to each other, jugglers juggling colorful balls,
sticks of fire, and even knives!
As we danced down the street, the crowds
began to swell in size. My newly found guide spun
me around and threw his head back with laughter.
Then he bought some sort of punch for us to drink and
a poor boy shrimp sandwich for us to share. It was
filled with oysters, shrimp, sliced tomatoes, shredded
lettuce, and sauce piquante. I thought it was delicious.
Despite my nervousness and trepidation on arriving in
New Orleans to meet my real family, I was having a
good time.
"Thank you. My name's Ruby," I said. I had to
shout even though he was next to me. That's how loud
the laughter, the music, and the shouts of others
around us were. He shook his head and then brought
his lips to my ear.
"No names. Tonight, we are all mysterious," he said in a loud whisper. He followed that with a quick kiss on my neck. The feel of his wet lips stunned me for a moment. I heard his cackle and then I stepped
back.
"Thank you for the drink and the sandwich, but
I've got to find this address," I said. He nodded,
swallowing the rest of his drink quickly.
"Don't you want to see the parade first?" he
asked.
"I can't. I've got to find this address," I
emphasized.
"Okay. This is the way," he told me, and before
I could object, he seized my hand again and led me
away from the procession of frolickers. We hurried
down one street and then another before he told me
we had to take a shortcut.
"We'll go right through this alley and save
twenty minutes at least. There's a mob ahead of us." The alley looked long and dark. It had ash cans
and discarded furniture strewn through it, and there
was the acrid stench of garbage and urine. I didn't
move.
"Come on," he urged, and pulled me behind
him, ignoring my reluctance. I held my breath, hoping
now to get through it quickly. But less than halfway
through the alley, he stopped and turned to me. "What's wrong?" I asked, a chill so cold in my