Ruby (Landry 1)

the line and I followed her into the station. People

were dancing everywhere, and everywhere I looked,

there were pockets of musicians playing Dixieland

Jazz. "There's a phone booth," she said, pointing. We

hurried to it. Annie opened the fat telephone book. I

had never realized how many people lived in New

Orleans. "Dumas, Dumas," she chanted as she ran her

finger down the page. "Okay, here be the list.

Quickly," she said, turning back to me. "Fold the ten

dollar bill as tightly as you can. Go on."

I did what she asked. She opened her purse and

kept her eyes closed.

"Just drop it in here," she said. I did so and she

opened her eyes slowly and then turned to the phone

book again. She did look like someone who had fallen

into a trance. I heard her mumble some gibberish and

then she put her long right forefinger on the page and

ran it down slowly. Suddenly, she stopped. Her whole

body shuddered and she closed and then opened her

eyes. "It's him!" she declared. She leaned closer and

nodded. "He does live in the Garden District, big

house, rich." She tore off a corner of the page and

wrote the address on it. It was on St. Charles Avenue. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Didn't you see my finger stop on the page? I

didn't stop it; it was stopped!" she said, eyes wide.

I

nodded.

"Thank you," I said.

"You welcome, honey. Okay," she said, picking

up her suitcase. "I got to get me going. You be all