Ruby (Landry 1)

"No," I replied. "Why?"

"Fixin'," she said angrily. "I'd cast a spell on

him for you. My great-Grandmere, she was brought

here a slave, but she was a mamaloa." Voodoo queen,

and she hand me down lots of secrets," she whispered,

her eyes wide, her face close to mine. "Ya, ye, ye Ii

konin tou, gris-gris," she chanted. My heart began to

pound.

"What's that mean?"

"Part of a voodoo prayer. If I had a snip of your

grandpere's hair, a piece of his clothing, even an old

sock . . . he never be bothering you again," she

assured me, her head bobbing.

"That's all right. I'll be fine now," I said, my

voice no more than a whisper either.

She stared at me a moment. The white part of

her eyes looked brighter, almost as if there were two

tiny fires behind each orb. Finally, she nodded again,

patted my hand reassuringly and sat back.

"You be all right, you just don't lose that black

cat bone I gave you," she told me.

"Thank you." I let out a breath. The bus

bounced and turned on the highway. Ahead of us, the

road became brighter as we approached more lighted

and populated areas en route to the city that now

loomed before me like a dream.

"I tell you what you do when we arrive," Annie

said. "You go right to the telephone booth and look up

your relatives in the phone book. Besides their

telephone number, their address will be there. What's