Bad Juju (13 page)

Lucien amassed a fortune.  Other
bokors
and
houngans
of a lesser stature became both jealous and suspicious. 
H
e became a scapegoat for a multitude
of crimes ranging from petty the
ft all the way to zombification, some accusations true. 
Eventually murder charges were brought against him. 
Although the
charge
was
trumped up,
Lucien
wasn’t exactly innocent. 

Predicting his own execution,
he
moved
his fortune
to the U.S.
and
shape-shifted
into a rodent.  The tiny size allowed him to crawl through the bars of his cell.  A guard
witnessed the transformation. 
Some refused to believe
the
outrageous story
, claiming the guard was bribed and let him escape. 
This worked to Lucien’s advantage.  He shortly
regained his body and ran into the sea,
leaving his family nothing but his legend.

Once in America, he floated around like
a
gypsy until feeling the effects of age.  He visited Hayward for a weekend ten years ago and never left. 
Chippewa Park
had everything he needed-peace, quiet, modern day conveniences
, and a cemetery next door
. 
He planned on living out the rest of his days
with other elderly neighbors
and
die.
  Then he met Jake, a gift from the
loas
. 
If properly mentored,
the boy
could continue his life
’s work
. 
The idea gave
the old man a
new reason to live. 
If he could just hang on a little bit longer
…

The Voodoo doll lesson was a mistake.  Jake had carelessly taken
taglocks
belonging to T.J. instead of his uncle. 
The last thing
Lucien
wanted for the boy was the
loas
to dislike him
;
they hated
being arbitrarily used.  But Jake was not all to blame. 
Lucien wasn’t clear enough
with his instructions
, forgetting Jake was
a boy not a man
.

For Jake’s next lesson, Lucien planned to
teach
him
how to counter
act
a spell that went wrong. 
Lucien sat back on his porch
and smoked
his pipe in the dead of winter.  T.J.’s death could have some benefit to the old man.  Maybe Jake’s mistake wasn’t a mistake after all.

Born into generations of
bokors
, Lucien was trained from a little boy on how to tamper with the
dead
.  His grandfather taught him about the two parts of the soul, the
ti
-bon-
ange
and the
gros
-bon-
ange
.

The
gros
-bon-
ange
left
the newly deceased’s body
and
travel
led t
o a reservoir of other souls somewhere in the
C
osmos.  To ensure its natural journey, the
houngan
or, at times the
bokor
,
stuff
ed
cotton up the corpses’ nose and ears, and then
bound
the extremities
together.
 
A rock or brick
was
placed inside of the corpse’s mouth. 
If the corpse
wore
pants with
pockets, the
pockets were
turned inside out.

When one died
an unnatural death,
problems occurred.  The
gros
-bon-
ange
of the victim didn’t ascend like the others.  Maybe unfinished business, maybe the Cosmos wasn’t prepared, whatever the reason, it would hover and haunt whoever was responsible for its death. 
In order to
gain back earthly balance between the spiritual and physical world,
the
houngan
or
bokor
coax
ed
the
gros
-bon-
ange
into its
natural course.
  This usually involve
d
a ritual and spell backed with a powerful concoction. 

Lucien wasn’t
especially
worried about the
gros
-bon-
ange’s
passage into
the afterlife
, and maybe he should have been
. 
I
t was the
ti
-bon-
ange
that most interested him. 
This part of the soul
made
a person unique via personality, characteristics, appearance, and temperament.  This was
also
where evil hid, patiently
awaiting its
freedom. 
If manipulated correctly, t
he
ti
-bon-
ange
was the
most powerful
weapon
in all of
sorcery.

Houngans
, mambas, and other high priests
tried preventing a fresh
ti
-bon-
ange
from getting in the wrong hands by performing the Nine Day Ritual.  This act buried and sealed the
ti
-bon-
ange
with its body in
to the grave.  The name of the ritual
referred to the time period
in which a
ti
-bon-
ange
would hover outside of its corpse.  As a young man, Lucien discovered a loop hole.  Through his own blend of incantations, he could trap the
ti
-bon-
ange
into a
govi
or jar, and
then use it for his own purpose
. 
This
discovery proved most useful decades later, enabling
him to keep on living despite his cancer and old age. 
M
ultiple side
effects
began to
show. 
He prayed
to the
loas
for more time
, promising to
quit feeding off of the dead once Jake was fully trained.

Because of
T.J.’s
good health and youth, his
ti
-bon-
ange
was especially desirable. 
Lucien’s
personal
hoard was down to two
ti
-bon-
anges
, both
captured
from deceased senior citizens
, each with a weak
life force.  Coupled with Lucien’s
own
physical restrictions
,
his stash of
ti
-bon-
anges
gave him another month
or two
to live
.  T.J.’s
ti
-bon-
ange
was much more robust.  Lucien estimated its strength
would last
at
least six month, maybe
even
a year.

Jake had told him the funeral would be at Shady Oaks Funeral home the following Saturday.  Lucien knew the place well.  T
.J. would then be buried in St. Mark’s
C
emetery adjacent to Chippewa Park so that Leah and her mother would be close enough to visit. 
T.J.’s
ti
-bon-
ange
would stay close to his corpse for a two week maximum
. 
Lucien had some time. 
He would wa
it until after the funeral to capture the life force of the soul.

Chapter 1
6

Between her women’s intuition and Virginia
Halloway’s
fear of Haiti, Jessica opposed going on the church’s summer mission.  She hoped her family’s interest would wane, but Tom would not let go.  He
spoke of the mission s
everal times throughout the week and continued to up his game
by talking
about
the
trip in
front of Henry.

Jessica loaded the dinner table with her famous meatloaf and all the fixings.  Natalie fast-forwarded through prayer
, and then e
veryone loaded up their plates.  Dinners could be silent or full of conversation.  Tonight was
the latter, even
animated.  Tom commanded attention by talking the loudest.

“Jess, did you sign us all up for the mission yet?”  She obliquely gave him the dirtiest look she could muster.  He
was manipulating her through their kids, knowing they
were her biggest weakness, especially Henry.  “Got lots to prepare for.  Maybe we’ll need immunization shots.  And then passports.  I’ve rearranged my schedule to get all of June and
maybe even
part of July off,” Tom blabbered.  As she fumed,
he
wouldn’t look her in the eyes and piled more food onto his plate.

“No, Tom…And you know my feelings about going,” Jessica said.  She wanted to smash his face in the mashed potato bowl for bringing the subject up.

“It’s okay, Mom.  I didn’t want to go anyway.  Spending my summer working my butt off doesn’t sound too fun.  I’d rather spend more time with
Allie
and Nikki on their boat,” Natalie confessed.

As Jessica feared, Henry had a much different reaction.  “That’s not fair!  Dad and I really wanted to go!  I even told my friends that I was going!”

“Right, like you have friends,” Natalie sneered.

Then
World War III erupted at the dinner table.  Jessica could no longer contain her composure.  “Listen, I never promised anyone I would sign us up for this.  As I told your father, my gut is telling me it’s not safe to go there.  The violence at the refugee camps, the Voodoo, disease…Let’s skip it!”

“Jess, their Voodoo is really a combination of their African roots and Catholicism.  They’re officiall
y Catholic.  The perfect group to
evangelize to.  This is an opportunity to preach good words after doing good works,” Tom debated.

Tom could be so
controlling
.  No guilt in using their pastor’s words to influence her decision. 
He brilliantly reasoned the mission would be no less than a
virtuous, righteous, even
saintly thing to do
, refusing to give her omen any credence
.

“The news doesn’t show you what really goes on inside of the refugee camps,” she mumbled.  Her resolve was beginning to falter.

“Our campsite will be miles away.  The Haitian police want us there.  They are even giving guns out to those who will be volunteering for the camp’s
guard
duty.  And Keith says the police are promising constant patrol.  C’mon.  We’ve never left Wisconsin,” he added.

“Mom, those people need us.  Look at the island, the homes, the way they are living.  Dad was going to show me how to build things,” Henry tearfully interrupted.  He usually didn’t cry unless he was f
rustrated.  He looked so dejected.  Even Natalie was warming up to the idea.  Je
ssica could
no longer stand the pressure.

“Alright.  I’ll go
to church
once
we’re
done eating.  Someone should still be there.  But all three of you are cleaning up and doing the dishes.  Didn’t know it was so important.  One week.  Maybe two if things go well.”  Henry stopped crying and smiled.  “
No more sad faces.  Now
Henry, what happened to Jake? 
I haven’t seen him all week. 
Did you have a fight?’

“No.  He’s had to watch his step-sister.  Some relative named T.J. died,” Henry answered.  He grabbed the last piece of meatloaf off of the platter and continued eating.

“Died?  How?  Was Jake close to him?’ Jessica asked.

“His head was bashed in
with a baseball bat
.  And no, Jake wasn’t close to him.  He’s not too sad about it.”