Water is Thicker than Blood (3 page)

“
Praise Jesus!” shouted a
woman from the back.

“
Amen!” shouted several
others, included Rue. Lula clutched her hand in
agreement.

“
It is with elation in my
soul that I can tell you that our perseverance has bore fruit. Our
engineers have achieved a breakthrough at the Algiers Power Plant.
A breakthrough that will finally restore electricity to the entire
city!”

A collective gasp of
excitement flowed over the audience. The Baron offered a summary of
the plan. Phase one would launch in two months with the restoration
of the power lines through the Algiers district. Once the power
grid was confirmed for Algiers, the efforts would expand to each
district until the entire city had power. The Baron estimated that
the complete project would take five years. He then asked Chevalier
du Os to explain the process in detail.

Rue’s mind was racing.
Electricity! It sounded like a fantasy. No more burning candles for
light at night or having to fill a generator to operate the water
purifier. In five years or less, she’d be able to flip a switch
just like in the days before the war.

Hank would find fault. He
always found fault with Baron Samedi. Hank took a disliking to the
Baron the first day he saw him. Said the Baron was up to no good
and would turn Nola into his own little dictatorship. And each time
the Zombi Court announced a new initiative, Hank would go on about
how it would fail or turn out to be bad. And the more times the
Baron proved Hank’s suspicions wrong, the worse Hank’s hatred
grew.

Rue always suspected Hank
just hated on Samedi because his brother had been killed by ferals,
and the Baron being a zombie himself reminded him of that. But it
wasn’t Christian to hate on people just for sharing the same
affliction as those who did something wrong. Even the Voodoo Queen,
for all her venom-spitting in the Baron’s direction, still
respected his good works for Nola. Rue supposed Lady Rae just put
on airs to keep Samedi on his toes. Way he gave as well as he took
from her; it wouldn’t surprise Rue if there wasn’t in fact some
affection between them even with him being a zombie. Stranger
things have happened.

Joseph bought them all
sweetened drinks from a street vendor after the session ended. It
was close to midnight by the time they left the courthouse, but
lots of folks stayed in the street socializing and buzzing with
excitement about what had happened.

“
You know, Ms. Rue, Mr.
Hank could profit from this if he up for it,” said
Joseph.

“
He ain’t gonna look for no
work at the power plant.”

“
No, no. I mean a man of
his skills could scav up all those old appliances that got left
behind and that nobody ever bothered with all these years for want
of electricity. I didn’t see no for any other scavengers in the
assembly, so word will be slow reaching them.”

“
Oh, that’s a good idea!”
said Lula. “Hank could go find all those things maybe even still in
the boxes, and you could sell them for a fortune to
people!”

“
Archmage Hex paid a man
$200 for a microwave oven, and it needed additional repair for it
to work. Imagine what people will pay for working ones don’t need
no repairs once power is restored.”

Rue nodded in agreement,
but then tilted her head in confusion. “Why your Archmage be needed
a microwave? Amount of fuel it take to run a generator to power it
just as for cook on a fire.”

Joseph looked around for
eavesdroppers before leaning in to Rue. “We’ve had electricity at
the Circle for the last year.”

Lula slapped her son on the
shoulder. “You ain’t told me that!”

“
I’m telling you now!” He
rubbed his shoulder. “Ain’t known yet. Archmage want to keep it
that way until we’re for sure it’s stable.”

“
How you all get
electricity? Ain’t none of you engineers, are you?” asked
Rue.

“
Engineers? No, ma’am. But
we have alchemists been working on a special generator that don’t
need fuel. Runs on crystals.”

“
Oh hush your mouth!” said
Lula. “Now you are telling stories.”

“
Mama! You gonna say
something like that before Ms. Rue knowing what you’ve seen?
Besides, it ain’t all that strange. A quartz battery is made from a
tiny little quartz crystal. Same principle just on a bigger scale
is all. So far, the generator’s been stable enough to power lights
inside so as no need for oil lamps and candles. You know this been
a concern for the Archmage after that fire few years back damaged a
bunch of books. And we’ve been doing more and more with it to see
how much power it can output. Archmage got big plans.”

“
And what you all gonna due
with this crystal generator?” asked Rue.

“
Well, Archmage is hoping
we can get enough power make Bywater its own local water purifier,
so we don’t has to wait on the Court and all. We know the Baron
means to get around to citywide plumbing on day, but one day is a
long ways off. So the Archmage, he got to figuring be good to take
care our neighbors while we wait.”

“
Well bless his heart,”
said Lula. “But…this probably ain’t the time…but don’t you just…”
she waves her hands around wildly as it casting a spell.

“
Mama, hush.” Joseph looked
around again, and then motioned for them to start walking home.
“Ms. Rue don’t want to be hearing this.”

“
No, it’s fine,” said Rue.
“I was sort of wondering what you meant before ‘bout conjuring
water.”

Joseph took Rue’s hand in
his and gently squeezed it. “Ms. Rue, I know you been disapproving
of me practicing magic. But as I explained to mama, magic just
another talent. Like being able to do math without needing for
scratch paper or running fast or being able to lift heavy things.
Or like getting an old power plant up and running, like they doing
now. Talents are just talents. It’s what you do with them decide
whether it’s good or bad.”

Rue nodded. “Well true that
I suppose.”

“
He just conjure a tub full
of water at a time,” added Lula. “He ain’t Moses parting the Red
Sea.”

“
Still, a tub full of water
out of nothing is something!”

“
That’s how I been taking
care of mama. I conjure water then sell it to folks in Bywater.
It’s good for everyone ‘cause I sell it for less than the market in
the Quarter, and folks don’t have to go out their way to get it.
But I can only conjure so much a day before I start to tire.
Otherwise, I’d probably just give it away for free.”

“
If you working, even if
it’s conjuring, you should be paid,” said Rue.

“
That’s kind of you, Ms.
Rue. Very kind. Archmage doesn’t like the idea of charging people
for something they need to survive, but he understand that when
something hard to get those that got it need to make something for
it. But that’s why he hopes to get a purifier up and running. We
got so much water up and around here in Bywater but it just needs
cleaning. If we can clean it all nobody ‘round here ever need to
pay money for water again.”

“
And too that be helping
the whole city, ‘cause if Bywater is self-sufficient then Baron
don’t need to put resources into it and can help others quicker,”
added Lula. “That’s a fine thing he’s doing. A fine
thing.”

“
Lawd, child. Lawd,” said
Rue. “You need be apologizing to that man for me, seeing how I had
so many bad thoughts about him.”

“
Oh, never you mind that,
Ms. Rue. Archmage Dex got himself a thick skin and don’t worry none
what people think in the privacy of their own heads.”

“
Just the same, you let him
know I said he doing God’s work.”

They approached Rue’s house
to find Hank on the front step drunk.

“
Where you been,
woman?”

“
Hank, get inside and go to
bed. What wrong with you drinking in public like a
fool?”

“
I ain’t drinking in
public. I’m on my own porch.”

“
Mr. Hank, the public can
see you, sir. Might do well to go sleep some.”

“
Shut your mouth, Devil
boy!”

“
Hank! That’s about enough!
Get inside. Folks around don’t need to hear your
bellowing.”

Hank stumbled off the front
step toward Joseph. “You think you man enough to take me, Devil
boy? You trying to come between me and my lawful wife?”

“
Oh Lawd!”

“
Hank, stop being a mule’s
butt,” said Lula.

“
I ain’t got no want to
fight with you, Mr. Hank,” said Joseph. “You and Ms. Rue always
been good to me and mama. I just showing proper respect is
all.”

“
Respect? Taking a man’s
wife out on the town is showing respect? That what they teach you
up at that Devil tower?”

“
Hank, that is enough. Get
inside. Carrying on like you ain’t got no sense.”

“
I’m about tired of your
mouth!” Hank pulled back a fist.

Joseph stepped in from of
Rue and stared Hank in the eyes. “
Ego
te
impediendum motum.” Hank froze in place mid-swing. The only
thing that moved on Hank were his eyes. They were wide in horror
and moving rapidly back and forth. Tears started streaming down his
cheeks.

“
Lawd, what did you do to him?” asked Rue.

“
He’s fine, Ms. Rue. I didn’t hurt him. Just gave him time
to calm himself before he done something he’d regret. It’s a little
thing I learned at the Circle for those times want to end a
confrontation peaceful.”

“
Sweet Jesus,” whispered Lula.

“
Mr. Hank,” said Joseph as he looked into Hank’s eyes. “You
are a good man. You been on some hard times and you under stress.
Ain’t no shame in feeling like you do. But Ms. Rue don’t deserve
what you were thinking of doing. I ain’t gonna fight with you. But
I ain’t gonna stand aside while you strike a woman,
either.”

Joseph waved a hand at Hank, who almost collapsed to his
knees before finding his footing. He stagged backwards away from
Joseph. His entire body was shaking. He pointed at Joseph and his
mouth moved, but no words came out. He then turned and fled into
the house.

“
I’m sorry you had to see that, mama,” said Joseph. “And I
am sorry it came to that, Ms. Rue.”

“
It’s alright, child,” said Rue. She managed a weak smile.
“Something tells me if you were a bad man, you could have done
worse things to him.”

* * *

Hank no longer slept in the same room as Rue. Sometimes, he
didn’t even sleep in the house. His body was covered with mosquito
bites from sleeping outside in a hammock. Rue would try to put an
ointment on the bites to keep them from getting infected, but he
would push her hands away. She’d try to warn him about the recent
cases of malaria and how the mo
s
quitos
spread it, but he would just shrug.

He ate, but never at the table with her. He’d take his meal
out on the porch or the back stoop. If Rue came outside, he would
go back inside. Rue would wake up each morning to yet another empty
liquor bottle either on the front step or next to the sofa in the
living room. Hank hadn’t done any more scavving since Paul died.
Rue wondered where the money was coming from to buy liquor. Then
she woke up one morning to find their broken water purifier
missing. She didn’t ask Hank what happened to it. She already
knew.

Rue took to hiding the water Joseph brought her. She had
come in from gardening one day to find Hank pouring it down the
sink.
When
she asked him why he did it, he just stared at her with the eyes of
a dead man.

She returned hom from visiting with Lula one day to
find
the
dress she had worn to the courthouse torn into pieces and left on
the bedroom floor. Hank stood in the hallway and watched her gather
up the pieces. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her
cry. She walked passed him and out the front door. Lula cried with
her.

Other items started to disappear from the house to pay for
Hank’s drinking. Twelve years of marriage sold off bit by bit in
exchange for liquor. Rue took to hiding her most precious things at
Lula’s house.

Rue couldn’t stand being in the house anymore. She expected
to wake up one mo
r
ning to find Hank taking the roof
apart to sell the planks. She took a job at the bookbinder’s shop
cleaning and fixing meals for him while he made paper and worked on
his book restorations. Since he was a mute, they didn’t talk. Which
suited Rue fine. It was only a few hours a day, but it gave her
some money to stash away in the event Hank finally left her for
good.

She left the shop one evening to find Joseph heading
inside.

“
Good evening, Ms. Rue. Didn’t expect to find you
here.”

“
Oh, I been helping Mr. Max around his shop.”

“
That a fact? Mama said you found a job, but didn’t tell me
you were working for old Maximillian. He been treating you
fair?”

“
Oh yes. Been real fair. I even learned a little of how to
prepare the pulp for his paper.”