More Than an Echo (Echo Branson Series) (6 page)

Bones was chuckling as he pushed away from the shore. “We don’t kill sometin’ dat  lets us live on de land. We’re de trespassers here. We leave dem be. It all works out.” Bones pushed off from the dock with his big stick. It was then I noticed this crappy boat actually had a motor. I wondered if it even worked.

“You gotta respect de Bayou,” Bones said softly. The only other sounds I could hear were insect noises and other wild sounds I knew nothing about. Our wildlife in Oakland were gang members howling at the moon during drive-bys.

I was a long way from home.

“Well, Jacob Marley, educate de girl.”

Jacob sighed and nodded. “Bayou comes from the French word meaning small stream and is used when talking about the delta of the Mississippi. It’s not a swamp, though folks call it that.”

I nodded. Swamp, delta, Bayou, it was all the same to me.

“The water’s got creatures in it that’ll kill you; ’gators and snakes mostly. Stay outta the water and you’ll be safe.”

“Um...don’t alligators and snakes come to land?”

“Sure, but not to get
you
. They come to land for other reasons, but if you go in the water, you’re in
their
home and could end up
their
dinner.”

“Respect de Bayou,” Bones said to no one in particular. “And stay outta de water.”

I looked down at the brackish water and cringed. It looked filthy, like a really muddy mud puddle. At least if an alligator was going to get you, you’d never see it coming.

 Looking up at the huge trees stationed near the bank, I saw weird mint-green colored string hanging from nearly every branch like a wedding veil. “What’s the green stuff hanging from the trees?”

“Spanish moss. The Cajuns used to use it to stuff their mattresses.” Jacob looked at me and sighed. “Don’t know what a Cajun is, either, I suppose.”

I looked away, suddenly feeling very small...or was it just that the world suddenly got bigger?

“Cajuns were the French speakers who came here from Nova Scotia and preferred the Bayou over the city. Cajun also means a type of cooking. You’ll see that a lot here.”

“Then what’s Creole?” I’d seen plenty of signs in town about authentic Creole cooking.

“Creole means different things to different people. Creoles down here were born in the West Indies or came from French descent. You
do
know that Louisiana is French, right?”

I knew something was French about it, but not exactly. “Yes, I know.”

“Creole is a language, a way of cooking and a people. Melika is Creole. Her family is from Haiti.” He looked hard at me and shook his head. “It’s an island in the Caribbean. There are tons of definitions for both words. Whatever you do, don’t confuse a Creole with a Cajun. That really pisses ’em off.” Jacob nodded to Bones. “He’s Creole. Call him a Cajun and he’ll dump you in the water.”

Nodding, I ducked my head as we passed under a long strand of Spanish moss. “What are you?”

Bones and Jacob both laughed. “Me? I’m from the Bronx.”

“New York?”

Jacob nodded. “Finally, something you
do
know. I’ve been here since I was eight. Not sure I want to go back to a city. My home is here, and if what I hear is right, I’ll probably die here.”

I nodded, not understanding what he meant. “And you like it here?” It was beyond me how anyone could like this foreign world with its dinosaurs and deadly snakes.

“Not like. Love. It’s my home. It’s gonna be yours, too. It may take awhile, but you’ll learn to love it, too. You’ll see.”

What I saw were metal shacks I thought were sheds dotting the banks of the river, and it took me awhile to realize they were actually people’s homes. Even in the worst foster home, I lived better than these poor people.  “People
live
there?”

“Yes. I told you. This place is unlike anywhere in the world, but don’t assume everyone out here is poor. As a matter of fact, don’t assume anything until you learn more about this place.”

Bones made a sound like he was sucking his teeth. “De boy got dat wrong. Always assume de ’gator is inna water and hungry.”

I shuddered and changed the subject. “Can you tell me anything about Melika?”

Jacob shook his head. “She’s not like anyone you will ever meet, but that’s all I’m gonna say about her. She hates being discussed. And trust me...she’ll know.”

Nodding once more, I put my hands in my lap just as I heard something kerplunk into the water. I sat up straighter. “What was that?”

“’Gator. Get used to the sound.”

“Is it coming toward us? Can you see it? Is it hungry?” Every stupid nature horror movie I’d ever seen flashed through my head.

“Nope. Relax, missy. Bones ain’t never lost one a Melika’s students, ’specially wid Jacob Marley on board.”

I looked over at Jacob. “He’s kidding.”

I spent the remainder of the time in awe of the human beings living on the Bayou. There were some shacks that made Bones’ house look palatial. Each shack had a short wooden dock and a boat even more rickety than the last. As we floated on, the shacks became fewer and fewer  until some actually looked like nothing more than  lean-tos and I realized there were no more electrical lines.

“How do they get electricity out here?”

“Dey don’t.”

“No electricity. No plumbing. Nothing like you’re used to,” Jacob said.

Oh, now I
knew
I was out of my league...maybe even out of my planet.

Unbuttoning my shirt, I fanned myself. The heat, the odd odors, the sounds, all of it made me uncomfortable. “Please tell me you’re just messing with me.”

“Look around you. You see any telephone poles out here? The Bayou is as primitive and as wild as it gets. You don’t come out here for luxury or even rest. Tourists get the nickel ride to see a few ’gators, but the livin’ out here is hard.” Jacob looked hard into my eyes. “You’re here to learn, and you’ll learn from the best. Trust me. You’ll be really glad you came.”

I sat in silence. I could handle alligators, poisonous snakes, mosquitoes and crawdads better than I could the thought of turning into that drooling, rocking nightmare of a girl back at the psych ward. My greatest fear of being burned alive had been replaced by the fear of turning into
that
.

The remainder of the trip was spent in silence, with only the lapping of the water communicating with us. Bones never used the small engine or the oars, preferring the big pole like those guys in Italy. Occasionally, Jacob would row a bit, but not often.

I was missing Danica already. When she asked me when we would see each other again, I honestly didn’t know. My friends were my  life and I had left both behind under cover of darkness. I didn’t just leave them behind…I left the old me as well, and I couldn’t think about her going on without me. She swore we would be best friends forever. I had to believe her. She was all I had.

“We’re here,” Jacob announced after what felt like hours.

Looking up, I saw a tiny woman standing on the end of a dock that looked newer than the other docks we had passed. “That’s her?”

Jacob nodded. “She always comes to the boat to greet the newbies. She’ll get a feel for you right away.”

As we approached the dock and the older woman waiting for us, I was mesmerized by her gorgeous flawless caramel-colored skin. She was wearing a black sundress with big black galoshes. In her right hand was a walking stick that had intricate carvings whose detail I couldn’t distinguish from the boat. Though I knew she was Big George’s mama, she didn’t look a day over forty. Her black hair had no gray in it and hung down to her shoulders in a single, thick braid. Even as the boat pulled alongside the dock, I saw eyes like topaz shining and they were locked intently onto mine. Like Jacob, I felt nothing from her and realized this was the first time in days I hadn’t had to deal with others’ emotions.

“Afternoon, Madame,” Bones said when the boat came to rest at her feet.

Melika smiled knowingly as she reached into the front pocket of her dress. She withdrew a little baggie and handed it to Bones. “Try this on it and make sure you heat it up nice and good, you hear?”

I looked at Jacob and started to ask a question, but he shook his head at me.

“Now, Jacob, just because we have a pretty one doesn’t mean you can go and forget your manners.” She turned her smile at me and warmth ran from the top of my head to all my extremities. Whether it was from me or her, I couldn’t tell. “I’m Melika, dear. You must be Echo.”

Jacob scurried off the boat and helped me out.

“Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Melika reached for my hand and held it tightly as she gazed deep into my eyes. I felt like I could stand there forever. “Oh my,” she said softly.

“What?”

Releasing my hand, she picked something from my hair and tossed it into the water. “It appears George got to you not a moment too soon.” Melika continued looking in my eyes, searching for something. I could barely feel it, but I knew she was there.

“You can barely feel it, my dear, because I am virtually unreadable to any but the strongest of us. Try as you may, you will
never
know what
I
am feeling, just as a telepath will
never
know what I am thinking.” Melika took my chin in her hand. She smelled of mint and oranges. “But you
do
have a great gift, to be sure.”

“It feels more like a curse every day.”

She released my chin and patted me on the shoulder. “Every gift can become a curse and every curse, a gift. It is how we choose to use it that makes the difference.”

And so, without taking another step, lessons began that would change the course of the rest of my life.

I met Tiponi Redhawk next. She was sitting on the stairs to the porch of Melika’s cute little cottage that looked like something a Keebler elf might have lived in. Unlike so many of the other shacks lining the Bayou that were made out of thin pieces of wood and sheet metal, this cottage was fashioned out of stone. A small wisp of white smoke curled from the chimney, and I wondered if there was a trail of breadcrumbs somewhere. A covered deck wrapped around the front of the house and had a wooden swing hanging at one end and a set of green plastic Adirondack chairs at the other. Quaint.

That was when I noticed Tiponi sitting on the stairs with her arm draped around a bloodhound. I was immediately struck by her exotic and out-of-place looks. Unlike the black folks I’d met or seen so far, Tiponi’s perfect complexion was that of a Native American; a golden hue  with a slight reddish tint. Her hair was black tar that hung well past her shoulders. Her light hazel eyes looked at me with such intensity, I had to look away. She was at least twenty...maybe older. It was hard to tell. I’d never been good with ages.

“Stop it, Tip,” Melika admonished. “Please bring her things to the blue room, Jacob. Tip, please take Zeus for a walk, will you? I don’t need you underfoot right now.”

Tip rose and seemed to keep rising for several seconds. She was enormous; legs like the trunks of some of the trees we had passed, shoulders that stretched her shirt to the tearing point, and arms that said she did a lot of heavy lifting all made her quite an imposing figure for a woman. “I thought—”

“I know what you thought, Tip, but not now. Can’t you see she is a fish out of water? Scoot. Come back when you can be useful.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tip and the wrinkly dog strode away, leaving tree branches and leaves bending in their wake.

“Don’t pay her any mind for right now. You’ll be working closely with her later, but this trip has made you weary. Jacob will take you to your room. Take a little nap before dinner and get your energy back up. My son explained what happened to you in the hospital, but I’ll need to hear every single detail of your life from the first moment you felt what that boy was going to do to you. So, rest, my girl. We have a lot of work ahead.”

Nodding, I took two steps and then just started bawling. I’m not talking crying and sniffling; I mean an all-out meltdown. I sobbed uncontrollably until Melika put her arms around me and pulled me closer. She was right about me being exhausted. The horror of the hospital, the fear of the escape, the awful goodbye to the only person who loved me, not knowing when I would see her again hit like an elephant kick to my chest. Add to that, feeling all of the emotions of every person on the plane and entering a land as foreign as Ethiopia, and I was ready to collapse.

By the time I got to the blue room, I was more than ready for a nap. I needed to just close the world around me and just sleep.

I did.

“Welcome back,” came Jacob’s voice from a rocking chair in the corner of the small room.

“What time is it?”

“Two fifteen.”

I frowned, trying to remember how the times changed from one time zone to the next.

“Of the next day,” Jacob said, smiling. “You’ve been asleep almost twenty-four hours.”

“What?” Sitting up, I looked out the window at the bright sunlight. “It’s tomorrow?”

“That’s one way of looking at it. Melika has lunch on the table.”

Inhaling deeply, I rose and stretched. The smell of something baking hit my nostrils making me instantly hungry. “God,” I said, slowly putting my feet on the cold floor. I hadn’t slept that well in ages, but twenty hours? Sheesh. “I didn’t know I was so tired.”