Bad Juju

by Dina Rae

  Jake and Henry carried a heavy tray and bongo drums while Lucien carried Mami, his snake. She rested around his neck with her body draped around him like a scarf. Only a few months ago, Lucien needed help in getting out of a chair. Now he moved with the ease of an athlete. The same chilly feeling swept over Jake as he watched the man power walk across the trailer park to the farthest side. The trail was at least a half of a mile. His sudden rejuvenation made Jake apprehensive.

  Once they arrived at the common area of the trailer park, it was obvious that Lucien had already made a few trips before Jake and Henry came over. There were piles of logs and kindling, stacks of newspaper, and a jug of rum sitting on the picnic table. Lucien had a tripod with a rack set up over the fire pit and a cast iron pot sitting on top of it.

  Once Lucien started the fire, he poured the bottle of rum into the pot. Esther Muddraker soon joined them.

  “Hello everyone. Jake, Henry, Lucien tells me what great bokors you two are becoming. I can’t tell you how proud I am. This is a profession that America needs more of. Lucien is nothing short of a miracle worker. Notice anything different about me?” Esther asked.

  “No cane. And you walked here,” Jake replied. He couldn’t help be happy for the old woman. Esther was glowing. He had always seen her in nightgowns and house dresses. Today she had her gray hair curled and lips red with lipstick. She wore a summery shirt with matching pants, looking relaxed and peaceful.

  “That’s right! I’ve been walking to the store as well. That’s why I haven’t had you over. My pain had gotten so bad that I just wanted to die. Now I have a second chance. Still some flare-ups, but its bearable. I feel good enough to have my grandchildren over this weekend.”

  “Our fet will soon begin. I’m cooking up a healing potion for all of us. Esther, you will drink most of it. I think the potion will erase most of the pains that you still have left.” Lucien reached for the ingredients on the tray, naming each one before he dropped them into the boiling kettle. “Worms, houseflies, tulip petals, lavender, datura plant, wolfsbane, graveyard dirt, and then we need a few drops of your blood, Esther, to finish the recipe.”

  Mrs. Muddraker slit her arm as if she had done this numerous times before and allowed the blood droplets to drip into the boiling elixir.

  “Good. That will be enough. Henry, take that rag and wrap it around her arm. We will finish with a pinch of my gris-gris for good fortune. Jake, stir the pot while we worship. Esther has agreed to be mounted. Simply put, she wants a loa to possess her. She acts as the loa’s horse and the loa rides her during our little ceremony. This loa will stay with her and protect her.” Lucien began playing his drums and sang a song in French, Spanish, and English. As he sang, everyone else echoed the verses until they all learned the song and could sing it together. The potion continued to boil with the aroma lingering through the air. Jake thought it smelled like perfume.

  After the song, Lucien poured Esther a big stein of the mixture, and then poured himself and Henry a small Styrofoam coffee cup of what was left over. Jake got to drink the potion from his new skull. “To Esther. May the loa closest to your heart show itself to you,” Lucien toasted.

  Mrs. Muddraker slammed down the concoction with the same fervor of a college student at a kegger party. “I’m ready! I’m committed! Oh loa, show yourself to me!” she yelled with passion as she bowed down to the ground.

  Lucien quit singing and drummed a faster, more complicated rhythm. Mami slithered off of his shoulders and approached Esther as she stayed on the ground. Jake felt drowsy. He looked over at Henry, surprised to see the boy’s eyes blaze with excitement. Mrs. Muddraker wrapped Mami around her neck, dancing to the beats like a younger and thinner woman. Was this possession? Jake wondered.

  “Esther, do you feel tingly?” She nodded. “Terrific. Grab the sack of cornmeal. Your loa will reveal itself.” Lucien continued to drum.

  Esther swayed over to the picnic table and took the sack of cornmeal. Slowly, she poured it out in a large area before the fire, making a curly, loopy design.

  “Boys, that’s a veve, a symbol of sorts. It represents the loa who has taken possession of her body,” Lucien yelled over his drums. “When she’s finished, I can tell you what loa is inside of her.”

  While Esther outlined the symbol, Lucien stood up to watch. Without the drum beats, Esther still gyrated and held Mami around her shoulders. Her dance struck Jake as inappropriate as she grinded her crotch onto the snake that slithered between her legs.

  “Ah…That’s Baron Kriminel. He is from the same family as my loa, the Ghede family. He’s fierce, a headhunter, a cannibal, a spirit of the dead.”

  Mrs. Muddraker became more energetic and vulgar, now lying on the floor, thrusting as the snake continued to slither between her legs. The scene was grotesque, but both Jake and Henry could not look away.

  “Boys, sing after me. Baron has a sack. Baron wears a belt. Baron likes the dead and likes to wear their skulls…” Lucien sang. His voice was hypnotic. Jake could not help but obey and sing the morbid song while Esther rolled around with Mami. As he watched the kind, old woman act out in her haze, he felt nauseated. Unnatural and frightening feelings returned, but he still would not leave.

  Looking around, Jake noticed no one else from the trailer park had come to watch the grotesque show in spite of the perfect weather. The area was too much of a hike for the elderly residents. Reluctantly participating, Jake couldn’t wait for the ritual to end. And then Lucien abruptly stopped singing and beating on drums.

  Mrs. Muddraker’s face became contorted as she rose off of the ground. Whipping the snake off of her body, she flung it at Lucien. Violently, she twirled in circles, until stopping in front of Jake. In a voice not her own, she shrilled, “He knows. He knows. He knows what you’ve done. Both in death and in life.” Esther then fainted. Several minutes later, bewildered, the woman awoke with the boys and Lucien knelt by her side. Her facial characteristics returned. Jake told her everything that had happened.

  In disbelief, she responded, “I what? With the snake? Said what? Oh Lucien, my hands! My legs! I don’t care what I’ve done! I never felt this good when I was in my twenties! No pain! It’s a miracle! How can I ever thank you?”

  “Enjoy it. At our age, it doesn’t last. Your loa is the Baron Kriminel, a Ghede. He’s watching out for you. Make sure you go home and make him an altar. He likes black and purple, hot peppers, and rum. And cigarettes, lots of cigarettes. Now go home. The boys will help me clean up. You will need lots of sleep after a possession,” Lucien advised.

  Esther looked drunk with exhilaration as she skipped home from the common area. As Jake and Henry gathered Lucien’s things, Jake asked what Mrs. Muddraker’s last comments were about.

  “Henry, drop all of this off on my porch. Your mom will be here any second.” Henry went ahead of them lugging some of Lucien’s belongings. Once Lucien and Jake were alone, he somberly looked at the dying fire and picked Mami up, putting her around his neck. “You told me about a dream you had. T.J. was in it. In Haiti, we believe the ti-bon-ange part of your soul travels while you are asleep, allowing you to interact with the loas and even the dead. Dreams are really messages from the spirit world. That dream was a warning just like today is a warning. I’m so sorry. You have unfinished business that needs to be dealt with.”

  Chapter 27

  Jake left the common area of Chippewa Park confused. Lucien, his friend and mentor, had just cured Esther Muddraker from her disabling arthritis. He, in fact, had witnessed a miracle. What he couldn’t understand was why he did not feel divine. Instead, his flesh moved like a bucket filled with frenetic worms. For the first time in their close relationship, he questioned who Lucien Nazaire really was.

  Jake recollected Lucien once telling him Voodoo was both good and evil. These two opposing forces were, in fact, bonded together, impossible to separate. Was Lucien both good and evil? What about himself? And Henry? His Uncle Pete wasn’t. He didn’t have a drop of g
oodness in his body.

  As Jake walked home from Lucien’s, he kept hearing the monstrous voice from Esther’s lips. That voice and its words would haunt him indefinitely. He knows…both death and in life… All Lucien did was answer him with ambiguity and silence. Jake deserved better. He deserved an explanation.

  As Jake approached his home, he saw his family outside, setting up for dinner. Pete manned the grill while Leah went in and out, preparing the table with condiments and paper plates. Rhianna played with a soccer ball, kicking it to Pete while he watched the grill. Father of the year, Jake bitterly thought. This happy bunch was quite a performance.

  “Hey Jake, happy birthday,” Pete announced as Jake approached. His welcoming appearance made Jake suspicious. As Jake moved in, Pete’s eyes looked sincere. They were clear for the time being. There was a beer bottle on the side of the grill which Jake assumed to be his uncle’s first one.

  “Leah showed me your new car this morning. Whewey! I’m impressed. A lot nicer than mine. Maybe you can take us for spin around the park later on.” Jake nodded. “Quite the entrepreneur around here. Old fucks must pay you well.” Pete smiled again as he kicked Rhianna the soccer ball.

  Pete’s congeniality made Jake paranoid. It wasn’t that long ago he was accusing Jake of stealing from the trailer park’s elderly, and now he was an entrepreneur. Jake looked to Leah for answers, but she just shrugged.

  Jake went to his room to set down his backpack, hiding the skull cup Lucien gave him. He went to the refrigerator to get a Coke. Inside the refrigerator was a store-bought birthday cake. Three of Jake’s birthdays took place under Pete’s roof, and he had never acknowledged a one. Leah always remembered and made him a homemade cake. She wasn’t much of a cook, but the thought was there. Looking at the pretty yellow and blue cake with roses and his name written with white icing made him want to cry. Could his uncle have any redeeming qualities?

  He sat down on a flimsy lawn chair at the old card table used every summer.

  “See the cake? Me and Rhianna picked it out at Super Target this morning. And we got you a present, too,” Pete said as he reached into the backseat of his car. “Here.”

  Jake opened the plastic Target bag and took out a gift box of Brut cologne. “Wow. Thanks. Much appreciated.” He opened the bottle and took a whiff. It smelled appealing, manly.

  “Gotta smell nice for the ladies. You have a girlfriend? She’s welcome to come over. Do you bring her to Lucien’s? I see a girl dropping you off there all of the time, you and that boy that you run with,” Pete stated.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend. And that girl you see is Henry’s mom,” Jake explained.

  “Pretty little thing. Don’t look old enough to have a boy in high school. You like the older ones? Cougars? Or MILFs? Gotta wish you were tapping that! Just kidding, man-to-man. Since you’re practically grown, how ‘bout a beer?” Pete suggested as he gently grabbed Jake’s shoulder.

  “Pete, he’s in high school. Not a good…” Leah protested.

  “Oh, shut the hell up. C’mon now. ‘Member what we were doing when you were his age? He’s gotta car, a license, almost graduated. Just one round,” insisted Pete.

  Pete had never been so kind, even when Jake was little. The gifts and attention were a first from his uncle. Pretty special moment. And now he was invited to share a beer and a shot. His gratitude was plagued with guilt.

  “To Jake, my nephew, my foster son, and almost a man,” Pete toasted. They clanked beer bottles and each downed a shot of Early Times. “Just want you to know that you are family. And I know your mother would be so proud. Next year, after you graduate, you don’t have to leave.” Pete’s heartfelt speech was slightly slurred.

  Leah was getting irritated. “The food’s gonna burn. We’re starving and it’s almost dark out. I’ve gotta work in an hour.”

  “Okay, I get the hint. Get me a platter. Great. All of you go ahead. Me and Jake are going to have one more,” Pete announced.

  “You know, Uncle Pete, a hot dog sounds really good about now,” Jake declined.

  “You promise me one after dinner?” Pete asked. Jake nodded.

  “Then we can sing Happy Birthday,” Rhianna squeaked.

  Jake was humbled by the dinner and birthday celebration. All he ever wanted was a home where he was loved and wanted, where his family would remember his birthday. Tonight he had all of those things.

  The food put an end to the dizzy feeling that had crept up after drinking Lucien’s rum mixture and then Uncle Pete’s shot and beer. He wasn’t a drinker and lacked a physical tolerance for alcohol.

  After everyone had cake, Leah left for work. He missed her as she pulled away. Now it was just him, Pete, and Rhianna. The little girl wasn’t much of a buffer. Awkward silence filled the air.

  “Beautiful night. Not ready to go inside yet. How ‘bout that drink you promised me? Rhianna’s playing so nice with her baby dolls. Let’s sit out here for a while longer,” Pete reminded as he poured.

  Hesitantly, Jake agreed. The food cleared his head. He racked his brain for conversation. Pete’s eyes were glassy and his cheeks were reddened. Without eating, his uncle continued filling his coffee cup with more Early Times. The new bottle he had opened before dinner was halfway gone. Unlike some of his drunken outbursts, he had a jovial, talkative way about him, making Jake think he was lonely.

  Pete poured another cup full of booze for Jake. They watched Rhianna stroll her dollies around the trailer with her toy stroller. He still could not think of anything to talk about, realizing that he barely knew Pete.

  “Another toast to your birthday, Jake. Here. I got one more beer left. You have it. You seem like you need it to wash down the Early Times. It’s kinda harsh until you get used to it. So…you drink with your friends? Girls? Lucien?” Pete asked.

  “No. I don’t smoke pot either,” Jake added, wondering if Pete was trying to set him up. His answer was almost a hundred percent true, only dabbling in alcohol and marijuana a few times throughout his life.

  “Whatta I look like? The fucking cops? You know my stance on them assholes. I got some weed if you want,” Pete offered.

  “No thanks.”

  “Jake, you’ve really matured this year. You’re shaving, much taller, filled out. I apologize for never having a sex talk with you. You know, father son type of thing. Any questions?” Jake shook his head. “Okay then. Let me put Rhianna to bed, and you can take me for a quick spin,” Pete said.

  While Jake waited for Pete, he played back the wonderful birthday in his mind, savoring every sweet morsel. He had never seen Pete’s softer side despite Leah’s claims of its existence. It all came back to what Lucien had taught him: good and evil were one, or as Jake liked to think, they were two sides of the same coin. Words to live by.

  “She’s practically asleep. Now show me your ride,” Pete said.

  As they sat inside of the Dodge Intrepid, Pete went on about how nice the car was, interjecting his own stories about his own first car which paled in comparison.

  “I know that you know a lot about cars. Do you want to drive? To see how it runs?” Jake politely offered.

  “I will, but you first, Jake.”

  They cruised around the trailer park like two old pals with Jake showing off every feature the car came with. Pete flipped through the manual book and assured Jake he had worked on similar vehicles. He even promised to fix the car if something broke down.

  “Uncle Pete…”

  “You’re a man now. Call me Pete,” he interrupted.

  “Pete, do you think it’s dumb to get pinstriping or spinners put on?” Jake asked.

  “Well…this is a four door sedan. Don’t really think this kinda ride would look good all pimped out.” They were on the second lap of the trailer park by the common area Jake had been to earlier that day. “Hey, you think I could give it one more spin around ol’ Chippewa?” Pete excitedly asked.

  “Yeah, sure. The gas pedal is really sensitive,” Jake said a
s they both got out of the car and walked around the front hood to trade seats.

  Just as Jake passed Pete, his neck was caught between Pete’s hands, and then slammed to the ground. He could only see the gravel road, but knew Pete was standing over him. His uncle’s foot dug into his back, yanking his arm so hard that it almost snapped. Jake lay still on his stomach, unconcerned with his arm. It was his life that had him worried. Pete raged. Jake could only process bits and blurbs of his rantings. What a fool he had been. The whole night had been nothing but an act, and now Pete had him right where he wanted. How could I have been so stupid.

  “You honestly think we could ever be friends…You think you can just fuck my wife…She spent all of our money on you…This car…Am I a bitch? You fucking me like a bitch…I should kill both of you…”

  The car engine was running and the headlights illuminated the common area, but Jake knew no one would be around to save him. It was late, at least late by elderly residents’ standards. He was stuck in the most secluded area of the park. Next to the common area was nothing but a vacant, wooded lot.

  Disorientated, Jake’s arm was sharply released and Pete’s uproar was quashed. With all of the courage he could muster, he turned around to see what had stopped his uncle’s torture. He had to blink twice before his mind could register the macabre scene only feet away.

  Illuminated by a headlight, Jake watched his uncle get mauled by a wolf. Jake slowly rose as the content animal stared him down while greedily chewing up one of Pete’s arms.

  Jake was too afraid to move, yet his instinct forced him to inch closer to the passenger side door. The animal’s eyes never left him as it ripped off one of Pete’s legs and continued to feast. The animal was huge, gray and white, and the most beautiful creature Jake had ever seen. Something about the wolf’s eyes had calmed his nerves. They were hazel, flecked with golden brown, hypnotizing, magical, and even familiar. As Jake lurched closer to the car door, he no longer feared the creature. The wolf got up once again to gorge on what was left of Pete. Jake hustled into the car and peeled away.