by Ju Ephraime
The staff at Le Jardin consists of a housekeeper who will cook for you (you provide the groceries) and a resident watchman/gardener who lives in an apartment under the kitchen wing of the house. His entrance is outside the villa, and he comes into the yard to do pool work early in the morning. Yard work is done when residents are away. Staff is included in rental. They are eager to make your stay enjoyable and understand you want privacy.
The placed sounded delightful, and she was actually looking forward to moving in. The other advantage was they did not have to sign a month-to month-lease as they’d planned on doing. The place was rented by the day. So it worked perfectly for them. Also, because it came with its own staff, it eliminated the need to hire a staff to run the property. So they would not feel bad when they had to leave without much notice. She hated having to lay staff off. Everything about this seemed ideal, too good to be true.
So, all they had to take with them were their clothes and a few personal items, just as she’d wanted. This would make the flight over much easier on them.
They were booked on an American Airline’s flight from Sydney, and they had two stops. She spent quite a bit of time searching for non-stop flights, but she couldn’t find any. This made for a long flight—forty-two hours when it was all done.
Todd already had his visa through his job, but she would have to pick hers up at the airport upon her arrival in St. Lucia. All this had to be arranged. It was a daunting task, but she was up to it.
It took her an entire week to arrange everything, and nothing was left to chance. She also needed to have all their monthly financial obligations in New South Wales paid up for at least a month. If they needed to remain in St. Lucia longer, she would deal with that then.
She fell into bed exhausted every night. Some nights she was too tired to even pay much attention to her husband, but he understood these things had to be done if they wanted to avoid the inevitable problems. She was only trying to reduce the number of problems they would most likely encounter without such planning and preparation.
They had five more days before they left. Todd appeared to be getting tenser and tenser by the minute. He only relaxed at nights when they came together. He had always been an insatiable lover. Now his need for sex appeared to have increased three-fold. She was usually able to keep up with him, but for the last three days , she had to beg off. She was not up to it this night either. She was mentally and physically exhausted. She knew Todd was exhausted too, but he seemed to relieve his exhaustion through sex. She, on the other hand, needed a full night’s sleep. The one positive in all this was there had been no visits from the witch. But the new moon was approaching fast, hence the reason she was working like a demon to get everything in place before the fateful day. She intended to be settled in the home in St. Lucia before the next new moon. And nothing short of sickness would stand in her way.
The day of their departure had finally come. It dawned bright and clear. Todd was in a somber mood, and she didn’t blame him. But she was looking forward to the trip. She tried to hide her excitement from Todd, but sometimes she forgot herself, and she would turn to find him looking at her strangely. When she tried to question him, he would clam up. She wished he would talk to her.
***
Todd was nervous and anxious about the task ahead of them. He didn’t share Simonia’s enthusiasm for the trip. The task her papino had set before them may prove to be difficult. He hadn’t told Simonia this because he tried not to dwell on it too much. But in everything he did, and in every waking moment, the task ahead was at the back of his mind. Where she was busy planning and organizing, he was busy trying to build up the courage to tell her the things they’d have to do when they got to St. Lucia, if they were to stand a chance of destroying this witch. She had no clue. As a matter of fact, he didn’t know what she was thinking. When he thought about the way he had to trap the witch to destroy her, he would have given anything to avoid the task. He broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Todd was relieved when the flight finally landed at Hewanorra International Airport in Vieux Fort. The airport was located in the far south of the island of St. Lucia, next to the Caribbean Sea and directly south of Castires. Hewanorra Airport contained a single terminal, which serviced all sixteen of the airlines operating there.
So they had to take a taxi from Vieux Fort to Castries.
The drive from Vieux Fort to Castries was an adventure, and he was happy to note Simonia’s fascination with the island. The one and a half hour drive along the East Coast Road twisted through the villages of Micoud and Dennery and some other smaller coastal villages. It then wound up, down, and around mountains, crossed Barre de l'Isle Ridge, and sliced through the rain forest.
Much of the scenery was breathtaking and hair-raising at the same time. The Atlantic Ocean pounded against rocky cliffs, and acres and acres of banana and coconut palms blanketed the hillsides. Everything was so green and fresh that it captivated the senses. It was his first trip on this side of the island. On his prior visits, he’d always flown in via the Vigie Airport, on a smaller commuter plane from Puerto Rico, which was quite convenient to him as far as his work and his residence were concerned.
Now seeing the entire thing through Simonia’s eyes, he had to admit the south of the island was more pristine, more natural. However, it was a bit too rural for his taste. But he promised Simonia, if all went well with their trip, they would take a trip around this part of the island.
***
Simonia was taken up with the beauty of the island. She loved listening to the singsong accent of the islanders and the way they hollered at each other in their Creole as they drove by.
“Darling, this place is almost as beautiful as home. Don’t you think so?” she asked.
“No place is as beautiful as home, sweetheart,” he responded. “The place is beautiful, I’ll give you that, but as beautiful as New South Wales? I don’t think so.”
“Okay, it is beautiful though,” she insisted.
“Hmm, I’ll agree.
Todd couldn’t believe Simonia was so taken with the place. He acknowledged that the place was beautiful, but he would not trade his home for it. Not now. Not ever!
Simonia was almost on the edge of her seat as the driver went around those hairpin bends. There was not enough room for two vehicles to travel side by side on the narrow roads, and as one driver approached the bend, he would blow his horn so the other driver would know to pull over so he could drive by. It was an experience.
She was happy to see Todd was relaxed enough to joke around with the driver. He laughed at all the funny jokes the driver was telling them to make the drive less stressful. They were so caught up in talking and joking around with him that it seemed as though they were pulling into the driveway of their residence in no time.
The rental agency had assured her there would be a representative from their agency along with the staff to greet them when they got there, and she was impressed to see they were all there when she and Todd stepped out of the taxi.
To say her first view of the house were impressive would have been an understatement. The property was beautiful. The pictures didn’t do it justice. She had a beautiful home in New South Wales, but this property could hold its own next to hers, and that was saying something because her home was the envy of her friends.
Every room was designed for maximum comfort and to take advantage of the breathtaking views from the windows. She loved the house. For a moment there, she’d forgotten why she was there and the task that lay ahead of them.
Looking at Todd, she saw he was also taken with the house. He didn’t ooh and aah like she did, but she knew her husband; he liked the house.
The agency had placed fresh-cut flower arrangements containing birds of paradise, hibiscus, orchids, heliconia, anthurium, and other exotic, tropical plants in every room. Even the kitchen had a bouquet of flowers.
The scent from the flowers w
as heady. It perfumed the air in the house, putting her in mind of a hothouse. There was a welcome tray of snacks, coffee, and tea. There was also a bottle of champagne.
Actually, she could find nothing to fault their performance, and she looked, but much as they were slow to respond, they had done an incredible job in making the rental welcoming, and for that, she was grateful.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
After the staff from the agency left, including the house staff, she and Todd were left alone. Todd called the car rental agency to let them know he was on the island and gave them the address. They promised to have the vehicle over in less than thirty minutes.
They were still waiting an hour later, but they spent the time exploring the house. There was very little they had to get, except for groceries. She had already decided she would give the cash to the cook the agency had supplied them with so she could pick up the supplies they needed. She didn’t feel comfortable enough to go shopping for food.
“Darling, do you want to freshen up while we wait for the rental agency? I’ll let you go ahead while I wait.”
“That’s fine with me. I’ll take a bath. It will be a short one because I want to have an early dinner,” Simonia said.
Todd had put off telling her about the task ahead of them, but now that they were back on the island, the witch’s turf so to speak, he had to prepare her. He had no doubt the witch probably knew he was back in St. Lucia.
He had no plans of taking Simonia to Josephine’s. He didn’t want to make a bad situation worse. Tonight, he made arrangements for them to have dinner at the Halcyon Hotel. They had a decent restaurant there. He didn’t mind the food, but he preferred Josephine’s better. It had more of the local flavor and did not cater to the tourists.
He was just about to put in a call to the car rental agency for the second time when he heard a knock at the front door. Hurrying to answer it, he was pleased to see that they’d arrived with the vehicle. They’d brought him a black SUV, which was fine with him.
She walked out to the front room just as the agency was handing him the keys to the vehicle.
“Darling, I didn’t know you had company. Oh, is our vehicle finally here?”
“Yes, finally! I’m going to take a shower. Could you put a change of clothes out for me, sweetheart?”
“I’ve already done so,” she informed him.
“Thanks, sweetheart, I’ll be out in a jiff.”
After the shower, he walked into the master bedroom to see that Simonia had not only laid out his clothes, she’d also put their clothes away in the closet. Her toiletries and his were set up on the dressing table, so he didn’t have to look for anything. Everything was perfectly laid out. He had to admire her efficiency.
Walking to the door to get his wallet out of his other pants, he almost tripped when he happened to glance up and saw a huge silver cross hanging over the bedroom door.
Where did she get this cross?
It was much bigger than the one they had in their bedroom back home. Seeing the cross, he felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He was finally convinced she would stand shoulder to shoulder with him to combat this evil that was trying to take over his life. It was a funny thing. He felt like a kid with his mother’s approval.
He went to her and gave her a kiss, the first in quite a few hours. They hadn’t been alone for several hours now, and he’d missed the taste of her mouth.
“Are you okay, darling?”
“Yes, I am. Couldn’t be better. Why do you ask?” he wanted to know.
“I don’t know, but something about you is different. That’s all.”
“Maybe I’m just happy to see you,” he responded.
“Well, we’ve been together all day, my love. But I’ll take your word for it. Are we ready to leave?”
“Yes, let’s.”
They walked out of the house, hand in hand, and drove to the hotel. They had a wonderful dinner, which was authentically St. Lucian. To start off, they shared an appetizer of chicken satay accompanied with green papaya slaw and peanut sauce. She had a bowl of creamy, spiced pumpkin soup flavored with ginger and cinnamon and painted with crème fraiche. Todd had sweet corn, lemongrass, and chicken chowder.
For the main course, she settled on a grilled red snapper fillet served with a local fruit salsa. Todd had a brandy-flamed, New York strip steak topped with Rodney Bay shrimp. For dessert, she had a sweet dough tartlet with vanilla custard, covered with fresh local fruits and local chocolate. Todd had rich chocolate ganache between layers of rum-flavored chocolate sponge cake, covered with chocolate shavings and served with raspberry coulis.
She was grateful to sit through the comedy show the restaurant had on as an after-dinner engagement. It allowed time for her food to digest. Everything was wonderful, from the atmosphere to the service and then the meal itself—out of this world.
It was 11:30 P.M. before they left the hotel and made it back home. As they approached the house, the light from the gardener’s cottage lit up the walkway.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
They entered the house and went into the kitchen to brew some coffee, and it was while they were sitting enjoying the pungent local coffee that Todd told her the task they had ahead of them if they were to get rid of the witch.
In order for the witch to enter the house and do the things she did to him, she had to strip off her skin and put it in a mortar. She then took on the form of a fireball and flew through the darkness and entered the home of her victim through the keyhole or any crack or crevice. After having her way with her victim, she sucked the blood of her victim, tying herself to the victim. If she developed a partiality to a particular victim, she would allow the victim to catch a glimpse of her during her time with him. The more frequently the witch visited the victim, the more control she developed over the victim. In the end, her blood and the victim’s would become so intermingled she could track him anywhere. No mountain, no river, no ocean could keep the victim from her. The witch was inherently selfish and would not give up her victim without a fight. The witch had been known to trade the victim’s blood for more evil powers.
In order to expose a witch, he would have to heap rice around the house or at the crossroads leading to the house. In the fireball form, the witch would be obligated to gather every grain, grain by grain—an almost impossible task to do before dawn—thus being caught in the act. In order to destroy the witch, he would have to search for the mortar that contained the witch’s skin and sprinkle it liberally with coarse salt. When the witch finally returned, she then could not put the skin back on and would perish.
“Todd, this is an impossible task. Where are we going to get the coarse salt, and why coarse salt? Forget about the salt. Where are going to find this mortar with her skin?”
“I asked your papino that same question. He told me the coarse salt does not melt like fine salt and is much saltier than regular table salt. And to answer your other question, coarse salt is sold in any food market, so it’s not difficult to come by.”
“The part about exposing the witch isn’t so difficult, but how do we know where the crossroads are?”
“Simonia, I didn’t tell you about this before because I knew somehow you’d pick exposing the witch. I’m not interesting in exposing the witch. I will destroy her.”
“Todd, are you sure about this? I don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”
“Yes, I’m sure. The reason your papino couldn’t destroy her from the reservation was because he needed her skin. This is the main reason why we had to come back here.”
“Todd, I’m scared.”
“I know this is a lot all at once, Simonia, but I desperately need your help if this is to succeed. Do you want to allow her to make use of my body until she kills me?”
“No, don’t talk like this, Todd.”
“It’s either her or me. One of us will have to die, and since I have a whole lot of living to do with you, it most certainly won’t
be me. Well, I’m telling you like it is, like your papino told me.”
“I’ll help you, darling. That’s what I came for, but we have to plan this carefully. I don’t suppose we’ll get a second chance, if we fail the first time. When are we supposed to do this?”
“We have ten days before the new moon. During that time, we have to prepare mentally and physically. I’ll keep using the things your papino gave me. They should still work, but I know they won’t work during the new moon.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because your papino said so, and I’ve seen that witch in action. She is very powerful. Don’t be scared, sweetheart. We have our love for each other on our side, and love conquers all.”
“I know, Todd.”
“Well, prepare yourself. We’ll have to go dance in the devil’s playground. Hopefully, we come out unscathed. I intend to anyway. I’ll be doing the dangerous stuff, and you’ll be my lookout. I’ll tell you more as we get closer to the new moon.”
He knew she was nervous, even though she was trying hard to hide it, because every time she called him by his given name, it was because she was nervous and/or scared. Not that he blamed her.
He’d yet to tell her the final thing he had to do to bring this about. He’d saved this bit of information for the last, meaning the last day before the new moon. He hoped she wouldn’t hold it against him. But for tonight, he was going to bed with his wife and make sweet love to her.
“Let’s go to bed, sweetheart. I’m beat.”
“I’m beat too,” she said.
She was feeling foolish that her papino hadn’t seen fit to share the details of this adventure, because it was an adventure, with her. She also had a feeling that there was something more Todd wasn’t telling her. Whatever it was, she knew it was big. There was nothing she could do about it at this late stage, so she was going to put it away for now.