Eagle's Destiny (32 page)

We heard excited voices rumbling through the crowd as we stepped out of the truck.  Nancy pulled me aside and whispered, “I hear the banjo music from the movie
“
Deliverance
.”

“Oh stop it Nancy.”  I looked at her shaking my head.

“No, I really hear the music.”  She said.

She was right, the music started up louder.  It was not the music from the movie, but a small band on the corner of the porch, they started playing Cajun/Zydeco music.

Marie was instantly in front of us giving Nancy and me hugs and dragging us along to the crowd that had gathered at the bottom of the porch.  Marie introduced us to her husband Tommy and then proceeded to introduce us to the entire crowd.  There was no way that I would remember everyone but I tried my best.  Most of Marie’s friends had my books, and they kept me busy for the first half hour signing them all.  Nancy caught the eye of the very attractive and single New Orleans city attorney, and as the music started in earnest, they started dancing.

Tommy came over to the crowd of women sitting with me.  He looked at his wife, “Now y’all, are we going to keep Elizabeth all tied up with you gaggling hens?”  All the women tittered.  Tommy was a good-looking dark haired man with a soft southern drawl and a sweet smile, which he turned on for all the women.  “You know it’s my job to make sure Elizabeth has a good time.  I’m going to take her out and dance for a while.  I’ll bring her back and she can regale you with more stories from her books.”  He bent down and kissed Marie.  He took my hand and lifted me to my feet.  “Com’on chère let’s dance.”

I tried to protest and said, “Really I’m not a very good dancer.”

“Oh go on Elizabeth, Tommy is a great dancer.”  Marie said.  “We’ll join you out on the floor in a bit.  Oh, and Tommy don’t forget you need to take Elizabeth out to see the alligators tonight, Michael wanted you to show her.”

Tommy had my hand in his and he looked over his shoulder at his wife, “Don’t worry chère, we’ll do that right after dinner.”

All the songs were sung in French and in a dialect that I had a hard time following.  The first song was a fast one and Tommy was a good dancer so I was able to fall into step with him quickly.  The second song was a slow song and danced as a waltz.  It allowed us to spend some time talking.

“We sure were surprised when Michael told us about you during his visit.”  Tommy said in his southern drawl.  He did not have as heavy a Cajun accent as Marie did, but it was still there.  “You look a lot like the picture Michael showed us.”

While we danced, I was able to take a better look at him.  He was just a tad taller than I was, probably putting him at six feet.  His hair was dark almost black and
wavy
with a sprinkling of gray on the sides.  Since he and Michael had been college friends, I guessed he was the same age as Michael.  Tommy was bulkier than Michael was and a little heavier, due most likely to the fantastic food in Louisiana.

“Which picture did Michael show you?”  I asked thinking it was the one on the back of my book cover.

“It was a cute little number with you in a bikini
taken
with Katy and Tammy.”  Tommy smiled and winked.

I started blushing remembering the photo Michael had taken of us clowning around on the dock. 

“Oh that one.”  I looked down willing the blush not to creep up any further on my face.

Tommy laughed, “Michael was right, you are beautiful when you blush.”  He paused for a moment and when I didn’t answer, “I’m sorry chère, I shouldn’t have embarrassed you.  Blame Michael.”

The dinner bell interrupted our dancing.  There were long tables set up on the porch.  I sat with Tommy and Marie on either side of me and Nancy sat next to her new best friend, Marcus, the cute city attorney.  They seemed to have hit it off and appeared to be enamored with each other.

The women I had signed books for earlier started to bring out food, and it was a nonstop progression.  Some of the dishes I recognized like jambalaya, barbecued shrimp, and red beans and rice, but there were also fried catfish, crawfish etouffee, deep fried okra, Cajun white beans, Creole lima beans, and an amazing cabbage dish.  They passed around huge baguettes to soak up the wonderful sauces that went with each dish.  The bread also helped temper the spiciness of the dishes too.  They expected me to try everything and piled my plate high.

The sounds surrounding us were delightful too, aside from the continuous clinking of glasses for each new toast, music from a compact disc player played in the background, which went perfectly with the croaking of the swamp frogs.  The fireflies twinkling in the darkness and the chirping of the crickets made it almost feel like a Disney Pirates of the Caribbean moment, except that this was the real thing.

The women surrounding me told me the recipes for each dish.  Marie laughed, “Don’t worry Elizabeth.  I’ll email you some of Michael’s favorites.”  I didn’t bother telling her that I didn’t cook and that Michael would probably end up doing the honors.  “Michael doesn’t eat everything, since he’s a vegetarian,” Marie made the word sound like it was dirt in her mouth, “but he does love my vegetable jambalaya.”  A woman carried out a large platter and everyone clapped, “Oh you’ll like these.”  Marie put one down on my plate.

It looked like a deep fried lump, and she passed some sauce to me.  I poked it with my fork hoping that it wasn’t somebody’s road kill.  I popped it into my mouth and it tasted of chicken.  Everyone was looking at me for my reaction.  I so loved to be the center of attention when I ate. 

“It’s good.”  I swallowed it almost whole.  Actually, it tasted good, although I couldn’t get the picture of a raccoon out of my mind.  Not that I
really thought it was one, but some confirmation would have been nice.

Tommy laughed loudly, “I think she likes gator.”  Everyone clapped.

I just smiled and silently thought, “
Oh my god, I just ate alligator
.”

Marie put her arm around me and hugged me, “We certainly don’t make this for Michael!”

I kept smiling, “Yeah, I bet you don’t.”

Even though I was completely stuffed and thought I could not eat another bite, desert came out of the house next.  Put in front of me was bread pudding with the most marvelous bourbon sauce I had ever tasted.  I could have sat in the corner with a big bowl and a spoon and eaten it the rest of the evening.  The sauce had to be one hundred proof even though I assumed the alcohol content evaporated during the cooking process.

I was wrong.  The alcohol was added to the sauce after cooking, so it was completely full strength.  I sat at the table like a happy clam eating big spoonfuls of bread pudding and sauce while the grin on my face got wider and wider. 

The band start
ed
the music again and Tommy called out to them, “Play something in English for our guests.”

One of the guys yelled out, “How about
My Toot Toot
?”

My ears perked up, “Hey I know that one!”  I waved my arms around like the crazy drunk woman I was.

Tommy pulled me to my feet.  “Well get on up there girl, show us what you’ve got!”

Before I could say no and declare that I had consumed too much bourbon sauce, I was up in front of everyone singing along with the band.

Even Nancy had a surprised look on her face when I finished.

Tommy called out again, “Looks like we have our very own Queen Ida right here!” 

Everyone tried to have me sing another song, but I strongly refused.  Instead, one of the guests whisked me off to the dance floor.  I had a steady stream of partners.  Several times, I looked over and Nancy was dancing with Marcus and only with Marcus.  She seemed only to have eyes for him this evening.

Finally, after the ninth or tenth song I held my hands up in surrender.  I couldn’t dance anymore.  My feet hurt and I was getting dizzy from twirling around.  I joined the ladies up on the porch to cool off.  There were huge fans scattered around in the ceiling of the porch.  The fans moved the air effectively but it was still humid and hot.  I did not think I would be able to adapt to weather like this easily.

I discovered that the ladies on the porch were all relatives of some sort.  Marie and Tommy’s mothers, grandmothers, and a few assorted aunts, and they all knew Michael.  All of them were very interested in the new woman in his life, namely me.  Both Tommy and Marie joined us shortly
afterwards.

“So chère, are you ready to go and meet some alligators?”  Tommy asked. 

I quickly nodded, “Oh yes!”

Marie asked the ladies if they’d like to join us but none of them decided to be adventurous.  Nancy also was not interested in checking out the alligators either.  She pulled me aside as we were walking away from the house.

“Elizabeth, Marcus and I are going to leave now.  Is that okay with you?  He lives in New Orleans, in the garden district, and has invited me to see his house.”  She whispered.

I raised my eyebrows and said dryly, “Oh really Nancy, is he going to show you his etchings?”

Nancy actually blushed, which she did not do often.  I laughed and hugged her, “Go have a good time.”

“We’re probably going to spend the day together tomorrow, so I’ll call you tomorrow night when I get back to the hotel.”  She said quietly.

“As long as you make the flight Monday morning,” I joked.  “Try not to miss the plane, okay?”

She nodded and went off to find Marcus.  I caught up with Marie and Tommy and we walked down the dock to the boat.

“Are Marcus and Nancy going back to New Orleans?”  Marie asked as we walked out
and
passed through a large gate.  The entire dock was protected by fencing.

I nodded.  “Marcus has invited Nancy to see his house.”

Marie smirked, “He has a very nice house.  It’s a big old restored mansion.  We were glad that Katrina didn’t damage it too badly.”  She chuckled softly, “That Marcus.  He knew he wasn’t allowed to get to you.”

“Now Marie, don’t you go telling stories.  You know Marcus is a gentleman.”  Tommy added.

I laughed, “Nancy is a big city girl.  I’m sure Marcus will have his hands full with her.”

Marie laughed with me, “Yes I’m sure he will.”  She said and the double meaning of my sentence went over my head.

They helped me step onto the smallest of the three boats.  Tommy had locked the small gate behind us.  “Why do you have the gate and the dock fenced in?”  I asked.  Tommy moved his large flashlight over the shoreline and I saw quick movement in the water and gasped, “Oh!”  I said.

Tommy laughed, “The gators will pull you right off the dock, and you’d make a tasty little evening snack for one of them.”

“Are we safe in the boat then?”  I asked.

Tommy chuckled, “Oh sure chère, as long as you don’t drag your feet or arms in the water.”

“Alrighty then, I’ll be sitting in the middle of the boat.”  I said.

After securing me in a life vest,
Tommy started the engine.  As we moved from the dock, they
explained their alligator conservation program.  Tommy,
who was
a professor of conservation biology at the University of New
Orleans,
was in charge of the doctorate program.  He also worked with the state of Louisiana on their alligator conservation program.

My eyes started to get used to the blackness surrounding us.  Even with the light from the boat, I could barely see the low hanging moss from the trees.  Tommy warned me not to panic if a snake dropped into the boat.  Panic?  I almost panicked at the mere mention of a snake.  Snakes and spiders were not on this girl’s most favorite things list.  You bet I would panic!

Tommy
explained
there were an estimated one million alligators in Louisiana.  Taken off the endangered species list in the late seventies, the alligators were still on the protected species list in all eight states where they lived.  The alligator was considered a natural renewable resource, and the conservation effort encouraged the private landowners to maintain the alligator’s habitat in a productive and natural environment.

Tommy slowed the boat down to a crawl and then cut the engines.  At first, there was complete silence and then the first cricket chirp echoed.  All of a sudden, a calliope of sound surrounded us.  Tommy turned the
boat’s lights to the shoreline. 
Marie tapped me on the shoulder and pointed.  Several alligators slipped quietly into the water, I could
barely
see a ripple of the water’s movement.  I gasped.  Tommy moved the light again and I could see several pairs of eyes peering out from the water. 

“Alligators normally hunt at night, that’s when they are the most dangerous.  During the daytime, they like to lie out and sun themselves.  It helps them digest their dinner from the night before.”  He explained.

Marie added, “We’ll take you out again tomorrow.  It’s very beautiful during the day with the moss, and we even have a couple of eagles.  Michael was very interested in those.”

I nodded.  “It sure is spooky at night.”  Sure enough just as I spoke, there was a “plop” noise on the floor of the boat right next to me.