Big Easy (Cowboy Craze)

by Sable Hunter

  “Irma, don’t say that.”

  “Funny thing, Jewel, all the people I’ve known with cancer get super skinny before they die. They just waste away.” She made a choking sob sound. “I guess that’s one way to lose weight.”

  “Irma, what kind of treatment is the doctor recommending?”

  “Chemo and radiation. They may have to remove part of my stomach.”

  “How did they treat you, Irma? I mean the doctors and nurses, were they nice to you?”

  “Yea, they were. The only thing the doc said that hurt my feelings was that my weight might have contributed to the likelihood of my getting the cancer. And, I guess that’s probably true. It was more of a regret than an insult.”

  “Maybe so.” She was just glad no one teased Irma or shamed her. “I’m really sorry, Irma. But I am glad you’re getting help.”

  “Yea, I called to let you know the ruby worked.” Her voice dropped a bit. “But now I want you to give me something. Something to help. Make it so I don’t have to have surgery.”

  Jewel wasn’t surprised at the request. She’d known it was coming. They’d talked about it before. “Irma, I will help you. However,” she paused, wanting to make herself very clear, “I will only help you if you continue doing what the doctor recommends. If what I give you works, the doctor will realize it and regulate your treatments accordingly.”

  “Whatever you say,” Irma agreed. “I trust you. I trust you more than I do the doctors.”

  Jewel’s shoulders slumped with the weight of responsibility. “I will do my best, but we will work with the doctor – not in place of the doctor. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She sighed, then put her thinking cap on. “Stop by tomorrow and I’ll have you a basket of goodies.” Even as she spoke, she was thinking turmeric, magic guarri root, and blue scorpion venom. Fortunately, she had those things on hand.

  “All right. I’ll stop by after work. Is that okay?”

  Jewel knew she worked nights at the nursing home. “So, you’ll be here around seven in the morning?”

  “Yea, is that too early?”

  “Not at all. I’ll see you then.”

  Once that call was ended, Jewel prepared herself to see the next client, a new customer. All Jewel knew was that the woman was the mother of an autistic child. Some might think she’d do some psychic hocus pocus to know more before her client’s arrival, but since she didn’t plan to try and impress the woman – only help her – Jewel would just wait until she could read her needs face to face.

  Scurrying around, Jewel made sure the house was just so. Especially for new clients, she wanted them to get a good first impression. She strived to make her home cozy and welcoming. Good smells emanating from the kitchen, bright colors to create a happy zone, lit candles for warmth, and fresh flowers to celebrate life. While she had a moment, she also gathered the herbs and medicines for Irma, then made a few dinner preparations for the meal she planned on serving Easy.

  When the tap on the door came, Jewel hurried to answer it. Just before she turned the knob, she remembered Easy’s warning and took a moment to glance through a nearby window. Her view of the porch and the front entrance wasn’t perfect, but she could make out the figure of a young child. With confidence, she opened the door to find a young woman and a small boy.

  “Hello, my name is Jewel.”

  “Thank you. I’m Bernadette and this is my son, Rudy.”

  “Nice to meet you both. Please come in.” She stepped aside to allow them to enter, noting how tired the pretty young woman appeared to be. Walking close to his mother, the little boy clasped his hands together and glanced nervously around. Jewel was about to shut the door when she noticed someone else following along behind them. A little girl. “Well, hell…” She was about to make the tiny female welcome with a cheery hello, when the small child raised her head and looked at Jewel with bright red eyes. “Uh…hmmm.” Well, hell, indeed.

  * * *

  “How much trouble are these things to install?” Jed asked as he examined the box containing the camera Easy had purchased for Jewel.

  “Not much, I hope. This will be my first one.” He kept his eye on the road as he pulled his phone from his back pocket. “Excuse me a minute, I need to check in with my family.”

  “Go ahead,” Jed encouraged. “I’ll just rest my eyes for a minute.” He laid his head back against the seat.

  “It’ll be a short nap, we’re only fifteen miles from Belle Chasse.”

  “I excel at cat naps,” Jed mused as he shut his eyes. “Wake me up when we get there.”

  Placing the call, he waited to see if Benjen would answer.

  “Easy?”

  Easy smiled when he heard his brother’s voice. “Hey, compadre, how are you?”

  “Good. We’re great, in fact. Our adoption of Nita was approved.”

  “Excellent!” Easy knew how important this was to his brother and his new wife, Apple. Nita was actually the daughter of Apple’s ex-husband and a woman he met on duty in Central America. Not many women would want their ex’s love child, but Apple was not most women. “That little girl loves you dearly.”

  “Rest assured, the feeling is mutual. How are you? Daniel told me you’d rented a house?”

  “I’m good,” he said a little too loudly. Damn, he was a bit nervous. Clearing his throat, Easy gave Jed a glance to see if he was awake. He didn’t appear to be, but Easy lowered his voice out of respect anyway. “Listen, I just wanted to give the family a head’s up, in case this story made the news.”

  “What story? What did you do?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t do anything. We just happened to stumble onto a dead body in the woods at Belle Chasse.”

  “Seriously? Damn! I take it this wasn’t one of Philip’s archaeological finds.”

  “No. Definitely not. This woman was alive only a few hours before.”

  “Was it an accident?”

  “No. Oh, hell, no.” He remembered the gruesome way the lady died. There were a billion ways one person could hurt another, but Easy knew he’d never forget the sight of that rough, gnarly branch sticking out from between the woman’s legs. “She was murdered. Brutally.”

  “Shit. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  “Well, it wasn’t pleasant, that was for sure – but nothing like what she…” He stopped talking and shook his head, dispelling the thought. “I just wanted to let you know in case the news story or the pictures they took of us at the crime scene make it to central Texas.”

  “Thanks, it would’ve been a shock, I guess. I’ll let everyone know.”

  “How’s Sam?” Easy felt the need to change the subject.

  “Well…he’s fine.”

  Benjen’s hesitation concerned Easy. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with him.”

  “Oh, nothing. He just hasn’t been himself lately. I’m not sure what’s wrong. I think it might be a woman, to tell you the truth.”

  “Huh. Well, maybe. I think he’s been seeing somebody, but he’s been completely noncommittal about it. When I asked him if he was dating someone special, he told me all women were special.”

  Easy laughed. “That sounds like something I’d say.”

  “Yea, but he’s not the man-whore you are.”

  Even knowing Benjen was kidding, the name his brother called him shocked Easy somewhat. “Yea, no one is as bad as me.”

  “Hey, I didn’t mean anything by wat I said.”

  Easy didn’t need to hear any more. “No problem. I know what I am.” Or maybe what he used to be. One of these days, he might ponder the situation. Until now, he’d always hesitated to look at himself too closely. There was something inside of him almost as unsightly as the image of that poor dead woman he couldn’t un-see. “How’s the Big Chief?”

  “Oh, he and Sara are good as gold. They’re still enjoying the new house. He went in for a checkup the other day, received a clean bill of health.”

  This was good ne
ws to hear. “I’m glad.” Daniel’s scare with cancer was something they’d never forget. “Well, I’m going to let you go. I’m driving up to Belle Chasse now. We’ve been out placing an order for farm equipment.”

  “All right. Don’t work too hard. Let us hear from you, Easy. Take care.”

  As he ended the call, Jed opened his eyes and stretched. “I wonder what the afternoon will hold.”

  Easy slowed down as he neared the office. “By the look of the vehicles parked around, I’d say Philip is busy interviewing.”

  “Looks like he could use some help.”

  Once they were parked, Jed climbed out and Easy followed him in. “Hope there’s some good candidates in there.” He glanced around at the entrance to the once grand plantation. “We need all the help we can get to bring this place to life.”

  * * *

  “Autistic children have their own ways of seeing the world, communicating, you know?”

  “I don’t have that much experience with children at all,” Jewel confessed as she listened to Bernadette, yet kept an eye on the two children – one living and one dead. The little boy sat on the floor, rocking back and forth, his eyes intently trained on the spirit child who seemed much more interested in her surroundings. At the moment, she was climbing onto a chair next to one of Jewel’s cabinets so she could peer into the glass jars on the shelf.

  “In his own way, Rudy is very talented, he can draw very well. He’s also taught me many things, especially patience.” The mother laughed sadly.

  “You love him very much, I can tell.” Jewel hesitated to say anything about the ghost child, not until she knew why Bernadette was here. “So, how can I help you? Do you need a reading?”

  “No. Not really.” She shook her head embarrassed, spreading her fingers, and studying the tips intently. “I guess I need advice…or reassurance. I know you have insight into people, reading their palms, whatever.” Bernadette glanced over at Rudy. “He’s been having problems. For the past year, he’s been looking at things I can’t see and talking to people who aren’t there. Rudy can’t lie, I don’t think he knows how to lie. So, all I could assume is that something is wrong.”

  Jewel bit her tongue, wanting to let the woman finish her explanation. At this point, not wanting to do undue damage, she didn’t know what to say or how to say it. “I understand.” She spared about half a second, cutting her eyes to the girl who was now squatting in front of Rudy, just staring at him. Rudy was staring right back. She could certainly see why this would be unnerving to a mother. Of course, actually seeing the little ghost would be a whole other kind of unnerving for someone who wasn’t used to this type of thing. The thought went through her mind how weird it would be to most people to know such things were normal for her.

  When Jewel’s attention turned to Bernadette, the mother was also watching her child. “See?” She let out a sigh. “He’s been doing drawings of a person too. Detailed drawings. He points to the picture, then to a spot on a chair or whatever, and says, ‘she here’.”

  “Do you have one of those drawings with you?”

  “Yes. I do.” Bernadette picked up her shoulder bag to open it.

  When she took out a folded piece of paper, Jewel nodded. “Just hold on to it for a bit. What did you do next?”

  “Well, I grew so worried, I made an appointment with a neurologist who found nothing wrong but referred Rudy to a psychiatrist.”

  “What did the psychiatrist say?”

  Bernadette clasped the paper in one hand and rubbed her forehead with the other, as if she had a headache. “He said that even though Rudy showed no signs of psychosis, other than seemingly seeing things in our home, he was diagnosed as being psychotic. I have to tell you, this was hard to hear. I feel helpless. Devastated.”

  Jewel wanted to help, she just needed to know more before proceeding. “Tell me specifically how this began and how Rudy has been reacting.”

  “Well, let me see…” She swallowed and sat up straighter, reaching around to fiddle with the feather like curls at the base of her neck. “It was a Wednesday night the first time I noticed anything. We were eating dinner in front of the television and Rudy stood up from his spot by the coffee table and came over to climb in my lap. I thought he just wanted to snuggle until he looked up to me and said, “Little girl is sad.”

  “I thought he was talking about some television show he’d seen, so I told him the little girl wasn’t real, that she was an actress acting in a program.” Bernadette lowered her voice, stealing a glance at Rudy who was now speaking intently to what she perceived as the blank space in front of him. “Next, he told me, ‘No, Mama, the little girl who sleeps in my closet. She has red eyes.”

  Jewel could feel the concern coming off of Bernadette in waves. “I guess that scared you.”

  “I’ll be honest, I wanted to pick up his creepy little butt and run.”

  Jewel couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, let me ask you this,” she said the words evenly.

  “Okay.”

  Not speaking right away, she weighed her words. “Do you think Rudy is hallucinating?” While waiting for Bernadette to answer, Jewel rose slowly, casually. She moved to one of the cabinets in a very smooth, nonchalant way. Without turning to look at the small spirit, she stood on tiptoe to remove a cannister from the top shelf. Inside the container was a powdery substance the color of cinnamon and sugar. Peeping over her shoulder, she could see Rudy’s gaze still locked on the semi-transparent specter who seemed to be taken with the progress of a housefly walking across the living room floor.

  Bernadette seemed to ponder her answer. “I don’t know.” She teared up. “I so want him to get better. He’s shown some progress over the last year. We have more interaction. More conversation. And then this…” She bowed her head. “I’m sorry. I’ve just had a hard time for the last few years, raising Rudy alone.”

  “Don’t apologize. Please.” Slipping the lid off the cannister, Jewel walked as she talked, moving steadily. When she was about four feet from the two children, she dipped her hand in the container, and drew out a fistful of the contents. As casually as possible, she began dropping a steady stream of the mixture on the floor. Her actions drew the attention of Rudy and the small girl, but neither moved. With fluid determination, Jewel finished her circuitous route. When she was through, the autistic child and his ghostly companion were enclosed in a makeshift circle.

  “What did you just do?” Bernadette asked, finally waking up to Jewel’s unexplained action.

  Jewel returned to the cabinet, replacing the lid, and setting the jar in its proper place. “I laid a circle of salt mixed with red brick dust.”

  “Around my son?” There was a bit of shock and horror in her voice. “Why? I didn’t come here for you to…to…”

  “You came for help and I’m going to give it to you.” Despite the fact she didn’t have a fully formulated plan.

  “Explain.” Bernadette wiped her tears, glaring at Jewel as she came to the table.

  “When you came to me, you must have had some idea of the real situation.” Jewel was fishing for information.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You must have some suspicion that your child is really interacting with something you can’t see.”

  “No. I…” Bernadette’s eyes were wide with panic. “What? Are you talking about a ghost?”

  Jewel pressed her lips together. She was a bit surprised to see a black woman from Louisiana questioning the existence of spirits. “Yes. There is the ghost of a small girl shadowing your son.”

  “You’re only saying that because of what I said. I don’t believe you!”

  Her attitude stung Jewel somewhat. “Open the drawing and I’ll tell you what I see.”

  Bernadette did so, eyeing the drawing, then Jewel with suspicion. “Okay.”

  “The little girl is white. She is wearing braids that are wound in a circle over her ears. She has blonde hair and a small birthmark on her right cheek shape
d a little like a fleur de lis. She’s also missing her two front teeth.”

  Bernadette stared at Jewel like she had suddenly sprouted a second head. Placing the drawing on the table, they both stared at it. Even though the rendering was rough and child-like, the details that Jewel had described were clearly present.

  “That’s her.” Jewel, her attention captured by a movement, jerked her head around to find the little girl standing on the very edge of the circle with her arms crossed, looking accusingly toward them. With no more need to hide her existence, Jewel crossed to the child and knelt in front of her. “What’s your name?”

  “Eliza.”

  Jewel could hear her voice clearly in her mind. “Why aren’t you with your parents, Eliza?”

  A sad look came over her face. “I don’t know where they are.”

  “All right. I’m going to see if I can help you.” Standing to her feet, she turned to Bernadette. “I’d like for you to take Rudy home and observe him. See if the actions you described to me cease.”

  Bernadette looked shell shocked. “Is she a demon?”

  “No.” Jewel stated emphatically. “She’s just a lost little girl.”

  “What about the red eyes?”

  Jewel shrugged. “I think she was angry. They’re blue now.” Holding out her hand, she invited Rudy to exit the circle. “Come. Go to your mother.”

  Bernadette met her son halfway. “What do we do now?”

  This was the part that Jewel wasn’t as clear on. “Well, first, I’d like you to go home and watch Rudy, like I said. Next, I want you to do a little research. Find out who lived in your home before you. Go as far back in time as you can. See if you find an account of a little girl who might’ve lived and died in the house by the name of Eliza.”

  “Eliza,” Bernadette repeated. “Okay.” She stared at the circle. “What happens to Eliza now?”

  “Well…” She didn’t know. Exactly. “Let’s wait and see what you find. Do this as quickly as you can. For now, Eliza can stay with me, but I’d love to be able to reunite her with her parents. To do that, I need more information.”