Chapter 21 Revenge of a Petty man
Jeb Clarke, Aaron Gant, Benjamin Carouse, Clive Meek and Kendrick Toup were meeting at the end of a dusty track. Mr Toup was not a normal attendee but every once in a while he would be needed and he was scheduled to arrive in two hours. This meeting was being held just off of the Lousianna State highway 10 / US Highway 167, some four miles south east of Ville Platte. It was as they all liked it, secluded, quiet and well away from any prying eyes. Clive was the last to arrive, as usual he was late and the three other men were leaning up against the side of Jebs car, deep in conversation. As he approached bumping along the dusty track they looked over in his direction, Aaron held out his wrist and tapped his watch.
“Late again.”
He said in a sarcastic voice as both Jeb and Benjamin looked down at the ground nodding their heads from side to side.
“That boy sure is fulla himself .”
Jeb said with contempt in his voice.
“Head stuck firmly up his own ass……..”
Agreed Benjamin.
As the car rolled up along side them, Jeb was the first to start the verbal assault.
“Well hell if that ain’t the most turquoise faggot car I’ve ever seen in my life.”
He jeered, smiling at his two friends as he spat out his first venomous comment.
Aaron joined in immediately.
“I bet that must do almost 100 miles an hour…. You know pedal to the metal…. A sure speed machine.”
Clive bristled as the jibes flew in through his window, an unstoppable barrage of abuse, he clenched his hands tightly around the steering wheel and ground his teeth together. Clive’s tormentors giggled like schoolboys at his unease, spurring each other on with each comment.
“Agh-hum.”
Benjamin cleared his throat, stepped slightly away from Jeb’s car and straightened his tie, in a very calm and somber tone he continued,
“Can I please kiss your ass sir?”
Jeb burst into a roar of laughter and Aaron raised his right hand to his mouth and tried to stifle his laugh but his heaving shoulders gave the game away.
“You what!!…… You what!!”
Continued Jeb, stoking the fire with another well aimed verbal blow.
By now all three men where holding their sides and laughing uncontrollably.
Clive’s knuckles turned white as his grip tightened on the cheap plastic steering wheel, his cheeks flushed red and his mind was gripped by a spasm of hatred.
“Why don’t you three mother fuckers go fuck yourselves?”
He shouted at them through his open window. That just poured petrol on the fire as they all laughed even harder at Clive’s response. They had achieved just what they had wanted to do by messing with his head, they had thrown the bait out and he had bitten and bitten well, they had caught a big one and reeled him in good and proper.
Clive Jumped out of his car and kicked the dust at them.
“Fuckers!!……..bunch of big pricks!!…… Fuck off!”
He shouted as if he were suffering from an attack of Tourettes syndrome.
“Hey Clive ca-alm yoursel we is only havin some fun with yuhClive.”
Said Jeb in an overdone redneck dialect of a mock apology.
Clive looked down and scuffed his shoes backwards and forwards in the dust.
“Cain’t you jus let it go now.”
He said in frustration still scowling at the ground.
Benjamin looked at his two co-conspirators.
“That’s enough now ….. We’ve all got business to attend to……, haven’t we Clive?”
Clive looked up from the ground and answered.
“Spoze so.”
Were the only two words that came from his lips before he stared, scowling at the ground again like a scolded schoolboy.
“Well then lets get to it.”
Said Jeb opening his car door and climbing into of the interior. The other three joined him, Jeb started the engine and turned the air-conditioning up to maximum. It was still relatively early but already the temperature was rising fast.
There was much to be discussed, they ran it like a formal business meeting, an agenda, outstanding issues, financial matters, a to do list with names and dates appointed, and with notes being taken by Aaron. They discussed three current zoning applications that were being eased through the approval process using their knowledge and skills to subvert the process to their own ends aided and by the extortionate amounts money provided by the applicants.
They also discussed the Anderson Corporation project and this took up nearly an hour of discussion. Jeb told his colleagues two key facts, the first had been relayed directly to him by Curtis Langford himself only two days earlier in a long telephone call that explicitly forbade him or any of the others to divulge to anyone and he had stressed anyone any connection or knowledge of the Anderson Corporations involvement with the project. Curtis Langford reminded them all via Jeb of the non–disclosure contract that all attendees of the initial site meeting just outside Ville Platte had signed and of the legal consequences that would befall anyone who even hinted at a possible Anderson Corporation link.
From now on the project was being financed, managed and run by a new business called the Akendo Corporation. Curtis had briefly explained that it was for financial and competitive reasons that they were pulling out of the deal and Akendo Corporation was going to deliver the project. Curtis had also stressed that the Akendo Corporation had no connection with Anderson Corporation and any earlier involvement by the Anderson Corporation was to be discounted from all of their thoughts.
Jeb told them that their new contact would be a man called Donald Chadwick who was the CEO of the the Akendo Corporation and that he would be contacting them all soon.
The second key fact Jeb told them all was that his boss, Herbert Mouton had had a lengthy telephone conversation with J.C Kellar, founder and CEO of Latham, Kellar and Bond, who had informed him that he had just been asked by a corporation called Akando to act as legal counsel for the delivery of a very large industrial and residential building project within Evangeline. He had told Jeb that over the course of the coming months Mr. Kellar and his team would need to work closely with the Zoning team based in Spicebridge. He was given Mr Toup’s name as the local lawyer who would be the day to day contact but informed him that a large team was being put together inBaton Rougeto provide all the legal services required for such a large and prestigious project. Jeb also informed them that Herbert had said JC Kellar was going to be personally involved.
They all took this to mean that the project was still on although it was being delivered by a different corporation but that was of no real interest to any of them. As long as it was still going ahead there was a huge amount of money to be made. They all clearly understood that discretion was paramount because none of them wanted to be the one to upset anyone from the Anderson Corporation by talking of their earlier involvement and that they had pulled out.
They all wondered what the real reason was for the Anderson Corporation pulling out of the deal.
Aaron suggested that maybe they were in financial difficulties; Jeb thought that due to all of the differing issues concerning the large area of land that he had already discovered for himself that the Anderson Corporation wouldn’t want to get bogged down and tie up multi millions of dollars having to battle hard to overcome so many land issues to deliver the project.
Benjamin came straight to the point.
“Doesn’t matter the why’s or why not’s cos they’re not involved anymore so lets forget all about them.” The others all nodded in agreement.
It was of interest to them all that the project now being delivered by the Akendo Corporation was having significant legal support to help push it through and their man Kendrick had been named as their liaison, they all concluded that it was to good to be true.
Jeb was just finishing telling them all he had been told so far when he noticed in his rear view mirror dust rising up from back down the track, this must be the arrival of Mr. Toup,’good, right on time’, he thought to himself.
“Kendrick is just arriving it looks like, now lets all forget about the Anderson Corporation or you’ll be in shit soup….. It’s the Akendo project from here on in.”
Jeb said as he got out of his car to welcome Kendrick.
“Akendo it is then.”
Benjamin repeated as the others nodded in agreement.
Kendrick Toup got into the rear of the car alongside Benjamin and Clive, he greeted everyone in turn before saying.
“I believe I am here to discuss the Akendo project, is that right?”
“Sure is.”
Confirmed Clive and Jeb in unison.
“Well lets get down to it.”
Aaron said, eager to have this business finished as he wanted to get back to Spicebridge and prepare for an evening meeting. They discussed the outline details of the Akendo project between the five of them and identified a number of issues that were likely to cause problems for the project. They listed them as they thought of them and decided that they must priorities them and agree how to deal with each one in succession.
The first and most obvious was the issue of connecting development to the Interstate 49, via the Louisiana State highway 29, the next would be local objections from the inhabitants of Ville Platte who would see their town grow by almost seventy five percent, an influx of approximately six thousand people and the associated increase in local traffic congestion would not be wanted. Then there was the Evangeline Parish Zoning plan that ran through to 2019 which identified development areas and the large area of land to the south east of Ville Platte, either side of the Louisiana State highway 10 / US Highway 167 was not one of them. Sitting almost slap bang in the middle of this piece of land was the Targat Plantation house which used to sit on the edge of twenty eight thousand acres of cotton fields. It still had its slave’s quarters which were two roomed wooden cabins with dirt floors, these were not raised up on brick piers like some where, each had a front and back door and a window in the side wall of the cabin with wooden planks for beds raised above the floor by some eighteen inches. These buildings were significant because they are the very rare surviving examples of a once common antebellum building style which has all but disappeared from the state. The main Plantation house with Italianate and Gothic influences was finished in 1828 the smaller but still impressive overseer’s house in conjunction with the slave’s quarters and an assortment of stables, smith’s yards, barns and other outbuildings formed an important piece of local history that was a conservation site of state importance. They all agreed this was a significant problem, not only the plantation buildings themselves which now resided upon only eleven acres of land, but also its setting in the landscape. Aaron announced that he had already discovered information that three endangered species had been identified by the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service as having habitats in the area and therefore were protected by the Endangered Species Act. The animals in question were the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, the Louisiana Pine Snake and the Pallid Sturgeon. The edge of the proposed site also encroached into the edge of a long leaved pine forest which made up part of the LABlack Bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) corridor which was a statewide effort to establish bear travel corridors connecting remnant bear populations from northeastLouisianato central and southern Louisiana.
Jeb scratched his chin and let out a sigh
”Gentleman I think we have got our work cut out on this one, I propose that we await the call from Donald Chadwick then arrange to meet again to specifically discuss this project…. If we play our cards right we could make a heck of a lot of money here….. This is big and I mean big business and if we can ease the wheels with our wit, knowledge and contacts then we will be paid handsomely for doing that.”
They all agreed and Clive asked if that was all, his attention span had never been that great and he was tiring of all the talk.
“Yes everything that concerns Mr Toup”
Aaron said.
“Ah yes…. Well I’ll be on my way then, thank you gentlemen and I look forward to working with you all again soon.”
With that he opened the car door and got out, he closed the door behind him and walked over to his car.
Aaron cleared his throat,
“It’s just one more item but very interesting and will need all of us if it is to succeed.”
He paused while he retrieved a file from his briefcase and then continued.
“This came to me, I mean us only a day or so ago and it looks like a really profitable deal.”
He continued as he withdrew a plain manila coloured file from his highly polished leather brief case and opened it on his creased lined pants to read.
It contained all of the notes he had take during his meeting with Billy-Bob, Mary-Jo and Cuzn Luke, including the contract and his estimation of what they could squeeze from the three of them before delivery of the approved zoning application and certificate. He ran through all of the details and between them they identified potential issues that they would have to deal with. Aaron noted them down in his file and a name was assigned to each issue. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as the application went, none of the issues seemed insurmountable, the one area of intense interest was the amount of money they could each make from this one deal. They subtracted the ten percent cut of the profits that they always paid to Herbert Mouton then estimated that they would probably each earn about eight thousand dollars. With the three current applications they discussed earlier that took their takings to thirteen thousand dollars each for just four applications. They did not even bother to consider the amount that they could gain from the Akendo project; Clive had estimated that it could be fifty thousand dollars each to which Benjamin had commented sarcastically that that amount would probably be the barest minimum. This was not the total of their elicit earnings as they all had their own individual lines in corrupt practices that brought in a steady but smaller stream of money. On these occasions they would engage none, some or if needed all of the others to help at an agreed fee to get they outcome their “clients” wanted. As with all of their Clandestine meetings they conducted their business efficiently, there was little idle chat or gossip and with all of the current matters concerning the four of them discussed, they ended the meeting. As Clive, Benjamin and Aaron opened their car doors and left the cool shade of the air conditioned interior of Jebs car for the heat of the late morning sun, Jeb could not contain himself and opened his window to direct another Barbed comment at Clive.
“Hey Clive…. Clive.”
He said trying to control his laugh, Clive stopped mid stride and turned to answer Jeb.
“Yeah Jeb, whats up?”
He enquired thinking he had forgotten something or that Jeb had something else important that he needed to tell him.
“Now don’t you go an wreck that fancy turquoise faggot car of yours now will you … one wreck in a month is enough for any man.”
He replied now openly laughing. Benjamin who by now was standing besides his own car swigging from a bottle of cool spring water nearly choked, spitting out a fountain of spray all over the back of Clive’s head.
“Good shot.”
Aaron shouted over as he climbed into his own car and watched Clive kick dust first in the direction of a departing Jeb before turning his attention to Benjamin and scuffing a shower of fine yellowy, grey dust up in the air over Benjamin’s windshield. Benjamin tipped Clive a cheeky wink through the swirling dust and sliding his transmission into drive pulled away down the track. The situation became even more comical to Aaron as the dust swirled in the eddies caused by the departing car and settled on and around Clive’s wet head and shoulders. This gave him the appearance of having either severe golden-grey dandruff or being a nuclear holocaust survivor staggering through the fine fallout of total annihilation.
“I’ll give them faggot car.”
Clive muttered to himself as Aaron’s tail lights disappeared around a bend in the track as he headed back towards the highway. He climbed into his little car and followed his three so called friends out onto the highway and headed for home. As Clive approached Rooster Browns diner his stomach gurgled and his attention turned to food, ‘Well nothing to do for an hour or so, so I’ll just take a bite to eat and have a see who is in there today ‘, he thought to himself as he turned into the uneven parking lot and pulled up around the back. Recently Clive had taken to visiting Rooster Browns at least four times a week and whenever he did he always seemed to be on the look out for someone. Out of view of anyone in the diner he parked his car and got out, he causally put on his lightweight suit jacket and patted its jacket pockets to check their contents,
”Yep everything accounted for.”
He said out aloud to himself as he strode purposely out of the shade at the rear of the diner around to the front. He walked past the windows at the front checking his tie in the reflection as if in a mirror at home and in two bounds was up the steps and opened the door. He surveyed the room from one end of the diner to the other before walking in and taking up a stool at the counter. He took up a menu and slowly read it to himself. As he did he slowly glanced sideways in both directions, seeing who was there, weighing things up in his mind. He also glanced in the long mirror that ran along the wall behind the counter to see who was seated in the window seats eating their meals.
There were a lot of people eating today, it was busy and waitresses scurried between tables with plates laden with all manner of delicious looking and smelling food. A babble of voices filled the air, with the occasional order being shouted back through the hatch to the cook beyond in the kitchen. The random sounds of coffee machines hissing, spluttering and gurgling accompanied by the sound of cream being squirted and knives and forks chinking and clattering against each other and onto the china plates that the food was served on added to the general hubbub of the diner. None of the voices were discernable. Clive caught the odd part of a sentence from the couple who sat next to him at the counter or the occasional laugh that pierced through the background noise. As he listened he continued surveying his surroundings. He ordered his food, a large burger with jalapeños, extra cheese, large fries and a black coffee before his attention was caught by a man who entered the dinner and took up the last remaining window seat, he watched as the man gave the waitress his order who giggled and curled her hair behind her right ear as she chatted then jotted down his order on her pad.
Clive watched as they chatted for a few moments, before the waitress turned and with a final giggle half skipped back to the serving hatch with his order. Clive’s attention was interrupted by the arrival of his meal which was placed in front of him on the counter with a bottle of Ketchup and a pot of Mayonnaise. He smothered his fries with a thick glutinous layer of mayonnaise and added a swirl of ketchup to the top of the melted cheese before replacing the top of the bun and taking a huge bite out of the delicious burger. The babble of his surrounding disappeared from his consciousness as he was engrossed with eating. Halfway through he ordered another coffee and a coke to go, as he knew only to well that these type meals always had a very high salt content especially the fries and five miles down the road he would be grateful of a drink to quench a growing salt driven thirst.
With a contented smile and a pat of his stomach he finished eating and with the paper napkin provided wiped a smear of ketchup from the corner of his mouth. He then called the waitress over and asked to pay the bill; she took his money and a generous five dollar tip and thanked him as he walked away from the counter.
Clive walked slowly towards the door his belly full with a Coke to go in his left hand. As he approached the door he stopped by a window table where the man he had seen smiling and joking with one of the other waitresses sat. Reaching into his right hand jacket pocket Clive pulled out an innocent looking can that he brought in a single flash of movement into line with this man’s face. Holding it only some eight inches from the mans nose and before the man even knew what was happening he depressed a small trigger and a gushing spray of choking pain filled foam squirted into the mans face, penetrating his lips, nose and eyes. The man screamed as the searing pain coursed directly to the pain sensors in his brain, he clawed at his face as the fiery foamdilated the capillaries of his eyes causing him temporary blindness, he leaped up from his seat sending his table crashing sideways and scattering his food over his neighboring diners. He started to cough, choking as he gasped for air,the super hot Habanero chili extract that was one of the foams main ingredients was dragged deep into the mucous membranes of the sinus cavities of his nose, throat and lungs causing them to swell up which prevented all but his most desperate life supporting gasps for breath. He collapsed in a two hundred and eighty pound heap on the floor as a crowd gathered around him. Rebecca was in tears, shrieking at the top of her voice.
”Someone help him!!… Please someone help!! Jerome what up hun?… What you choking on?” Jerome could not answer, his beetroot face gasped for air, his beard and hair clogged with spit and snot and his eyes felt as if they had been pierced by white hot pokers that had scorched their way into the depths of his skull.
Clive was at the door and out of it before anyone had time to register the man’s first agonized scream. He had acted with such speed that not even Jerome knew what was happening to him until the first molecules of Oleoresin Capsicum and super fine ground black pepper penetrated his defenses and entered his body.With a calm air Clive descended the steps and walked back along the front of the diner, as before he straightened his tie, only momentarily peering through his semi mirrored reflection to view the commotion on the other side of the glass. He walked briskly back to his car, got in, stated the engine and drove back around to the front of the diner and left the uneven surface of the car park for the smooth surface of the highway. He chuckled to himself as he replayed every second of his brief encounter back through his mind, openly smiling to himself and hammering on his steering wheel with delight as the man’s screams echoed in his ears. “That’ll teach that mother fuckin dumb fuck, all six foot seven of you and you ain’t shit to me.”
He shouted out to himself in triumph as he drove along in the sunshine, he had got his vengeance and he liked how he felt, he felt power,
” Nobody fucks with me.”
He shouted.
“Nobody fucks with me!!”
Back at Rooster Brown’s an ambulance soon arrived and took the quivering heap of a man straight to the emergency department at Ville Platte hospital, Rebecca accompanied him, sobbing as she held the hand of this gentle man mountain who continually screamed in agony as his eyes nose and mouth all swelled and reddened.
Chapter 22 The Blue Heron Totem
SJ had had a good day, Samuel had been very happy the last few days, ever since his successful hunting expedition and the atmosphere in their home was relaxed and joyful even fun at times. She sat in the cool of the kitchen at the table reading a magazine, expectantly awaiting the arrival home of Jason. It was the day of his driving test and she was eager for him to return with good news. She was confident in his driving abilities and had been pleasantly surprised by her calmness and the ease at which she had sat as Jason’s passenger while he was learning to drive. His driving lessons that he had paid for himself with a little bit of help here and there from his dad had given him the skills and confidence he needed, which he had then topped up with expeditions out along the local highways and back roads with either SJ, Samuel or both of them coming along for the ride. For a change SJ had the day off, she had started her day with her normal end of week early training session with her friends at the gym. They were all a good bunch and a very welcome distraction from the confines of Lokchapi and the tedium of her salon work. It was not the work itself or even her clients that were tedious but the never ending cycle of clients entering her salon hour after hour day after day week after week as if on a conveyor belt. She would admit to anyone that at the end of a long day when she had been talked at by some clients non stop and had all of their worries and concerns dumped on her shoulders that her job was tiresome and monotonous, but on shorter days when her clients engaged her in proper two way conversations, and were interesting or funny she would quite enjoy herself and the day’s work would go past in an instant.
Just after she had arrived home from her gym session and showered the’ boys’ announced a visitor to the house, Pooh started the warning barks and Moo joined in besides his dad barking at the front door, SJ leaned out of her bedroom window and saw Jean standing there waiting patiently.
”Hi Jean.”
SJ called.
“Be with you in a moment.”
“Bonjour, Mon ami.”
He replied in a cheery voice as he wandered back to his pickup that was parked in behind SJ’s car on the driveway. While SJ quickly finished dressing and wrapped her wet hair up in a towel, twirling it around in a tightening knot on her head, Jean stated to unload a number of boxes and an assortment of black plastic bags onto the lawn from the back of his pickup.
SJ ran down the stairs and ushered both her ‘boys’ quickly away from the door and through the kitchen where she opened the back door and let them out into the garden. Moo charged around to their side fence and gave out a couple more barks and raised his nose to sniff the air and Pooh came ambling up besides him and did the same. Their delicate noses detected something being carried on the light breeze and their tails wagged. Moo stood on his hind legs with his front paws on the uppermost wooden rail of the picket fence and craning his head slightly to the left. With his eyes just about the top of the fence he was trying to see who had arrived on their drive and what was causing the smell. Pooh fired off a couple more barks as he heard Jean moving around and making a noise on the driveway, he again sniffed the air, this time his sense of smell registered a friend, a friend that he knew and had always taken time to play with him and his tail wagged even harder.
With her ‘boys’ safely out of the way in the garden SJ opened her front door and walked over to Jean, smiling broadly she opened her arms and gave him a big hug,
”Thanks Jean, Samuel had a great time and it has done him the world of good……….in fact its done us all some good, Samuel is more relaxed at the moment, he’s talkative and I’ve heard him laugh more in the last few days that I have in the last six months.”
“Ah C’est Bon.”
Jean replied as he lifted the last cardboard box out and placed it on the lawn.
“Is all this for us?”
SJ enquired, looking at all of the boxes and bags that Jean had placed in separate piles on her lawn.
“Oui, Samuel Ce’st unchasseur tres bon…. he is a very good hunter SJ, and theese is his fare share……maintenant.”
And with that Jean leant back into the rear of his pickup and said with a flourish
“Voila.”
As he pulled into full view a gutted and de-haired hog that weighed in at about one hundred and fifty pounds.
“What’s this Jean?”
SJ asked with a puzzled look on her face.
“Samuel didn’t mention anything about anyone shooting a pig, where’s it come from?”
Jean laughed out loud as he swung the carcass up onto his shoulder with a well practiced swing.
“Cest un cadeau pour Samuel…. A present from all of us for brining us all luck and also for his shooting skills that matched ours.”
“Oh Jean that’s so nice of you.”
She held out her hand and gently squeeze Jeans right forearm that was held aloft supporting the carcass on his shoulder.
Jean blushed slightly and quickly asked,
“La Cuisine… the kitchen?
“Oh of course …. I’m sorry…..please follow me.”
She said as she bent down and picked up one of the cardboard boxes, it had mixed scribbled across the top and was much heavier than she had expected.
With Jean in tow, SJ, laden down with the weight of her box walked as fast as she could back across her lawn, in through her front door, along the hallway, and kicking her kitchen door open with her foot into the kitchen were she dumped her cargo with a sigh onto the kitchen table, she then quickly made space on one of the kitchen work surfaces so Jean could unload his right shoulder. They made four similar trips back and forward carrying boxes and bags of different sizes and shapes into the kitchen until the lawn was clear.
“Are you sure this is all for us?”
SJ asked again as she surveyed her kitchen table and work surfaces that were all covered in parcels of one kind or other.
“Bien sur…. Of course, of course, it has all been skinned, plucked or de-scaled and butchered, apart from le porc. … the hog that is preparde ready for spit roasdin.”
Jean started opening the boxes and bags and showing SJ what was in each.
A huffing sort of gruff snort came from under the door to the garden and then Moo’s happyLabradorhead appeared at the back kitchen window.
“I think the “boys” can smell something good.”
Laughed SJ as she looked over at Moo’s face peering in from the veranda. As if in answer, Pooh, who all SJ’s family said had probably, in a past life had been human and could understand what they said, barked a couple of pleading
“arrouuff…, arrouff’.”
Barks at the back door, waited a few seconds and tried again with another
“arrrouff.”
And a more pleading
“Arrrooou…oou…ooueeeer.”
Kind of bark that transformed into an almost pathetic whine. Pooh had always been a master of cunning and wisdom and knew every trick in the dogs book of how to manipulate humans, he had as Samuel always said been good at ‘Tactics’. SJ and Jean both laughed at the pathetic whining coming from the door and now Moo had joined in with a sort of low pitched sing song growling howly sort of noise.
“Oh be quiet boys.. this isn’t for you.”
SJ shouted through the door which just made Pooh stamp his front paws in frustration and shout an the door with twice in frustration.
”Waauff, Waauff’’”
“No Boys bed. Go on bed.”
SJ shouted again, all was silent outside as the two dogs slunk over to their beds in the shade of the veranda and lay down, Moo circled around and around a few times and pawed at the cushion in his bed, molding it into shape before dropping down with a disgruntled grunt of protest.
“I hope we have room in the freezer for all this Jean, there’s so much.”
SJ said in a nervous voice, slightly chewing her bottom lip.
“Pas de probleme je le gèlerai à la maison pour vous… I’ll freeze what you cannot at home.”
Phew I thought I was in trouble there for a moment Jean, we should be able to get it all in, the hog may be a problem though… but lets see.”
As jean started to explain each catch or cut of meat SJ soon realised that she would forget what was what and end up in a really confused state so she asked Jean to wait one second while she fetched a note pad and pen
“If I note down what you say then I will not get confused in weeks time when I fetch stuff from the freezer.”
“Bonne Idée.”
Jean replied as he waited for SJ to get her pen and paper and get settled and then he returned to the first box and started once more, he held up an example of each item for SJ to see and told her what it was.
“Les poisson… the fish… two bass, largemouth, three Bass smallmouth, one Bluegill an one white crappie, vingt.. twenty pounsa Blue Catfish fillets.”
He opened the next box and continued as SJ scribbled furiously.
“Ten pounsa Walle Pike, three six poun carp, twelve poun of Choupique, cinq..five crabs and a bago crawfish,” Cest les poisson.”
Jean waited as SJ finished scribbling on her notepad and then deposited a couple of pieces of paper in each box that described the contents.
The next two boxes Jean opened up didn’t sound that appetizing to SJ but she continued writing as he spoke,
“Quatre..four pairs a frogs leg, fouteen pouns a gator snapping turtle, six pounsa common turtle, mo crabs’n anuther baga crawfish.”
As before SJ wrote down a note of what each expertly prepared piece of fish or meat was and placed the note with it in the box. When she came to putting them in freezer bags she would make sure each bag was labeled but for now this would do. Jean opened the third box and continued.
“Un…One Muskrat, one raccoon, two squirrels…”
He laughed as he saw SJ’s face slightly contort as he announced this boxful.
“Sa toute la bonne nourriture …. it’s all good food.”
“I’m sure it is Jean but how do I cook these animals…. I know what to do with the fish and have even cooked turtle soup before but I’m not sure I will be able to do all this wonderful food justice.”
“Ahh Therese has le meilleur livre de recipies … the best book of recipies… de mon Maw-maw… it was my grandmomma’s.”
Jean said with a beaming smile, he liked to eat and both he and Therese enjoyed cooking.
“That’s great, I’ll pop down and have a good old read of it.”
“Therese would be pleased.”
Jean replied as he opened a large black bag.
“Ahh les oiseaux, the birds… let me see.”
He opened up the large black bin liner and rummaged through its contents,
“Seben duck, ana Woodcock, ana halfa turkey… about twelve pouns.”
Again SJ deposited her notes on the specimens as Jean proceeded to the next two big black bags that had been double bagged because of their weight. He knew what were in these as he had butchered the animal and filled these bags himself, so without opening them he said over his shoulder
“Each Bag thirty pouns a gator steaks.”
SJ didn’t even look up at the mention of the gator steaks, she had eaten gator so many times since moving to Lokchapi and it was a meat she really enjoyed especially Barbequed.
Jean glanced quickly into the last two boxes just to make sure the contents where what he thought they must be,
“Two boxes’a venison, each eight pouns and all butchered up inna cuts and joints and steaks…… an that’s that.”
Jean closed the lid of the final box and turned away from the work surface , he pulled out a chair and sat down, wiping a slight smear of blood from his left hand down the front of the left leg of his pants before pulling out his pipe and pouch.
SJ finished writing out her last note and stuck one on each of the two boxes of venison.
She then pulled out a chair opposite Jean and sat down. She watched his dark rough right thumb pull black oily strands from the leather pouch that sat in his left palm, working expertly to fill the bowl of the pipe he cupped in his right hand, then with a practiced movement his right thumb firmed the surface of the pipe’s cup while the left hand closed the leather pouch and deposited it into his inside right breast pocket of his jacket. Jean felt SJ’s gaze and looked up with a broad grin
“Vous aimez une fume… would you like “
He said as he reached into his breast pocket again.
“Oh No…no Jean thank you … I was just fascinated watching you fill your pipe… you seemed to be in a world of your own for a moment.
“True, true…….i’l est automatic…mes pouces…. My thumbs work on their own….avec mes tuyau…my pipe.”
He said as he held up his thumbs and wiggled them as if to demonstrate.
SJ smiled and got up from the table,
”Coffee Jean?”
She asked as she switched her kettle on.
“Oui, le noir aucun sucre………black no sugar.”
Came his reply as he got up from the table and walked over and opened the back door, he was greeted my both Pooh and Moo who leaped up from their beds and frantically searched around the veranda for a toy to bring Jean. Pooh found an old bone and Moo found his toy banana, with presents in their mouths they raced over to him and with tails wagging furiously, they circled around his legs vying for his attention and gentle pats and rubs of their shiny coats.
Jean took a seat, made himself comfortable and lit his pipe, he puffed it up a couple of times so that the uppermost layer of tobacco glowed orange, tilted his head back slightly and exhaled a long blue plume of dark blue smoke into the air. Pooh took up position sitting immediately to his right and was rewarded with a pat on the head and a scratch behind his ear, he leant into the scratch and let out a gentle low pitched purring noise. Moo continued to circle wagging his tail, always happy, always full of energy.
While SJ made two coffee’s and quickly threw together two short po-boy sandwiches filled with Louisiana hot sausage, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mayonnaise with a dash of hot coarse grained Creole mustard, Jean relaxed into his chair, puffing away on his pipe. Leisurely he gazed out across the lawn to the sparkling waters of the lake and a movement in the upper right periphery of his vision made him look up into the crown of the grand Cypress that stood at the water edge. Two large wings flapped together as a Blue Heron took off from its perch, in silence with extended neck and dangling legs, it flapped for eight or ten yards, after which it drew back its neck, extended its feet in a straight line behind, and with an easy and measured flapping continued its course, flying low over the water as if suspecting danger. It continued to flap its wings lazily as it carried itself out across the lake to its hunting grounds.
As he peered up into the canopy he saw through a gap in the foliage a large dark area which he instantly recognized as a nest . There standing on its edge was another Blue Heron, bigger than the one that had just taken flight, so a male Jean assumed and it was bobbing its head and neck up and down into the nest. He knew at once that it must be feeding its young, it could have two or three chicks and by this time in the summer they would be between three and six weeks old with voracious appetites. The Male normally guarded the nest during daylight with the female going off to hunt and once darkness fell they would switch roles but what Jean didn’t know was that Mr. Heron and his partner shared day and night feeding duties between them. The nest was a large flat mass about three feet across, constructed of dry sticks and twigs with a top covering of matted weeds and mosses that was of considerable thickness to give some comfort to the young Herons.
He thought it unusual to see a pair of breeding Blue Herons here as they are shy birds that normally nest in colonies within a wooded area a couple of miles from their fishing or hunting grounds, and almost never close to human habitation. This grand old Cypress stood alone at the water’s edge, there were other smaller trees about, some Tupelo and just back from the water, dotted here and there were Red Oak, Maple, some Ash and the occasional Elm but the lone Cypress towered majestically above them all. As he watched the father feeding his chicks he suddenly remembered what Nitushi had once called this area that ran along the eastern shoreline of the lake and bayou mouth.
He had called it Wakokai, which Nitushi had followed by saying Blue Heron breeding place, he hadn’t explained why and Jean had never asked. Jean had thought it strange as from his experience this was not a location that a Heron would choose to nest, what he didn’t know was that before the first Spanish then French explorers ended the prehistoric Native American era, it had had a reasonably sized Blue Heron colony. This colony had been huge before this first Spanish then French invasion, which led to rapid and devastating changes in traditional Choctaw life. Whereas the Choctaw lived in harmony with nature and respected all of the beasts of the swamplands, forests and grasslands, the ever growing and noisy, bustling village of ‘White and Black’ Lokchapi posed a danger to these naturally shy birds. They slowly sought refuge in the depths of the swamplands, finding places far from any human habitation and decade by decade the colony’s size had reduced until finally and this area of land by the sand stone outcrop and where the church and SJ’s house now stood was cleared of its Cypress woods in 1765 by a certain Maurice Fontenot.
“Here we go.”
SJ announced as she pushed the kitchen door open with her right foot and walked out into the heat of the day holding a tray with two steaming coffee’s and two po-boys that stood almost four inches high, packed with a delicious mouth watering filling that SJ had carefully constructed layer by layer.
As SJ lay the tray on the table in front of Jean he rubbed his already over generous stomach.
“Merci SJ……Well don’t that just take the cake, Je n’ai pas mangé pendant longtemps déjeuner ……..I have not eaten lunch in a coon’s age…. Or had such a nice one prepared pour moi.”
He picked up his po-boy and took a large bite.
” Magnifique.”
He continued through a mouthful of bread, meat, salad, mayo and mustard.
“Don’t mention it, I was feeling a little peckish myself anyway.”
Came SJ’s reply before taking up her po-boy and taking a bite. Both Pooh and Moo maneuvered for position, the best position to hopefully be given a scrap of food or two. They sat intently watching both of them take bites from their po-boy’s, they watched the po-boy go up to the mouth and they watched it come back down to be placed back on a plate. Wise old Pooh didn’t hold out much hope as he knew SJ was reluctant to give them scraps and he never knew with visitors. Moo on the other hand always the optimist sat their silently tail wagging, hoping that something would come his way.
A click of the latch on the side gate diverted their attention away from their silent begging, both heads turned towards the side of the house, ears raised, listening. A voice then two confirmed what they had heard, there was someone at their side gate. They raced off of the veranda, down the steps and across the lawn, barking as they went, Moo was gone in a shot with Pooh brining up the rear, he wasn’t the young dog he used to be and took things at a more leisurely pace now. Their barks were barks of welcome as they had both recognized the voices, it was Jason and Jenny-Ray and they were greeted with a lot of tail wagging and circling around. Once safely in the garden both dogs ran off to find a toy each then they came bounding back over, toys in mouths, tails wagging they escorted the two youngsters as they walked across the lawn towards the house, Jason dragged his college bag along the grass besides him and walked with his head down and shoulders sagging.
Jason and Jenny-Ray greeted both dogs and rewarded them with pats on their head and strokes of their backs as they excitedly circled around.
“Hi Mom….. Hi Jean.”
Jason said in a low monotone voice, as he stepped up the stairs into the shade of the veranda.
“Hi SJ … um.. hello there.”
Jenny- Ray said to SJ and Jean as she followed Jason up out of the glare of the sun and took up a seat next to Jason.
“Bonjour.”
“Hi Jason, Jenny, how are you both, would you both like a cold drink?”
SJ asked starting to get up from her chair.
“No Mom I’ll get one in a bit.”
Replied Jason as he sat staring at his feet with a scowl impressed across his face.
“No thank you”
Replied Jenny-Ray in tandem with Jason’s reply, and like Jason sat looking down at the planking of the veranda, neither of them made any eye contact with SJ or Jean and sat quietly like two sullen school children. SJ looked across at Jean and raised her eyebrows, she knew what was coming and started to feel upset for Jason.
“Well how did it go then?… your test, I’ve been sitting here waiting for the last half an hour before Jean came round with dads share of their hunt,….. I thought you would have called or maybe sent me a text.”
“Wos the point, I past my written test, did my six hour pre-licensing course and look what happens.”
Came Jason’s reply as he kept his stare firmly fixed on the toe of his right sneaker.
“Oh I am sorry Jason…. never mind you can always put in for another test… was it bad?”
Jason slowly looked up from his sneakers glumly raising his head to look at the two adults seated across from him and Jenny-Ray.
“Bad…Bad…. What a waste of forty seven dollars fifty, I drove around the test route as I had been practicing, did all of my maneuvers, stopped, started, checked my mirrors every 10 seconds…… everything seemed to be going well and we pulled back into the test center and I answered the questions and I was sure that I got them right, then the examiner pulled out his pen and scribbled something on a piece of paper on his clipboard and handed it to me……”
His voice trailed off, his head dropped and he returned to scowling at his sneakers. Jenny-Ray fidgeted in her seat uncomfortably, head down still staring at the floor.
“Oh Jason I am sorry, what did you get wrong?…. What do you need to do now?.”
Came SJ’s comforting voice, she got up from her seat and went over to Jason, bending down, she put her arm around Jason’s shoulders to console him, he shrugged her arm away and maintained his gaze.
SJ returned to her seat, now Jean was looking rather uncomfortable and shifted uneasily in his chair.
”C’mon Jason what do you need to do now shall we book another test?.”
“Well.”
He said slowly looking up from the floor.
“….. I spose I’ll have to…… um…. rip up my learners permit an chuck it in the trash!!!!.”
He shouted leaping to his feet and jumping up and down,
I’ve passed…I’ve passed”
Jenny-Ray, jumped up as well and the two of them jumped and danced around the veranda., Jason shouting.
“Yeah, Yeah I’ve done it.”
And Jenny-Ray with a broad grin across her face cheering Jason on. Both Pooh and Moo joined in the commotion with both of them jumping up against Jason’s legs and barking with excitement.
SJ sighed with relief and jumped up to hug the cheering pair which further excited the dogs, causing Moo to leap off of the veranda and go charging around the lawn with his tail between his legs, round and round he went, then back to the top step of the veranda where he halted, freezing on the spot, then like a spooked horse jumped back down onto the lawn and went charging around and around again.
“Bon pour vous Jason.”
Jean said as he stood and clapped his hands in celebration,
SJ, Jason and Jenny-Ray jumped up and down and round and round until they fell over in a giggling heap on the wooded planking of the verandah, this was all to much for Pooh who seized the opportunity to clutch at the nearest leg and mount it. Jenny-Ray roared with laughter as she tried to get Pooh off of her outstretched leg, but Pooh had a good muscle bound chest and front legs and had a firm grip. Never one to miss out, Moo came bounding over and in an instant had mounted Pooh.
“Jean, Jean please pull the boys off.”
Shouted SJ in a breathless half laugh from the bottom of the heap.
Jason struggled free and got to his feet just as Jean first pulled Moo off of the back of Pooh gently but firmly by his collar then did the same with Pooh, this took a little more care as Pooh had his front legs firmly clasped around Jenny-Ray’s leg and wasn’t going to let go that easily. Finally Jenny-Ray’s leg was released from the panting, salivating grasp of an over excited Pooh and Pooh slunk off to his bed in the corner. With tears of laughter still streaming down her cheeks, Jenny-Ray and SJ helped each other to their feet.
“Eww.”
Jenny-Ray exclaimed as she wiped a big globule of dog dribble and spit off of her jeans and smeared it along the top of the veranda railing.
“I am sorry dear, he does get excited.”
SJ said apologetically.
“It’s ok.”
Jenny-Ray replied grinning from ear to ear.
Jean held out his hand and shook Jason’s firmly,
“Congratulations Jason.”
Jason thanked him and picked up his college bag.
“C’mon Jenny lets go an chill for a bit.”
He said as he opened the back door and walked into the cool of the kitchen, Jenny followed with a skip,
“Bye.”
She said as she disappeared into the house.
“ils sont bon enfants .. good children.”
Jean said as he watched them disappear into the house.
Both SJ and Jean sat back down and were silent for a moment. Jean pointed out down the garden to near the top of the Cypress and asked.
How long has the Heron been nesting there……?……Il n’est pas habituel… not usual …près des maisons et des humains… near houses and humans…. You are very lucky such a beautiful bird.”
“Oh they have been there ever since we moved here, they nest, bring up their young, normally three or maybe four of them then once the chicks are all grown up they leave……..the male is our Mr. Heron the same Blue Heron that comes back and maintains his nest each spring, he was born in that nest and fell out when he was a chick and hurt his leg….If you look his right leg is slightly bent between his foot and ankle….. I don’t think he ever really goes that far away because we always see him sitting up in the branches looking out over the lake…Any time of day or night he may appear and in a loud flapping of wings descend down onto a branch, we don’t think the female is the same though each year.”
“You are probably right SJ they don’t mate for life but the male does like to use known nesting sites or return to previously built nests”
“Oh…, well Mr. Heron has been with us for years.”
SJ replied as she watched the smaller female Heron return with a bill full of what looked like silvery fish.
“I have never seen Herons here…jamais…jamais…in all the years I’ve driven past here never….,… you an Samuel should be honored by their presence.”
Jean told SJ that his good friend Nitushi had told him that his people had called the area right where SJ’s house now stood ‘Wakokai’ or ‘Blue Heron breeding place’, and that he had also told him of all of his people’s traditions and myths regarding the Blue Heron. It hadn’t been that long ago really, four or five years Jean thought after considering it for a moment.
“According to Nitushi the Blue Heron signifies self reliance an self determination…., he said they symbolize any creature that has the ability or capability to evolve an make progress”.
“Oh.”
SJ said listening intently.
“Yuh see the long an thin legs of the Blue Heron mirrors the ability of an individual to stand on their own without the need of the support from great sturdy legs….Unemétaphore….having an inner strength of character to mentally an physically stand on their own.”
Jean paused to take another bite of his delicious po-boy.
“Well that is interesting…., do you know any more?”
SJ said, wiping away some mayonnaise from the corner of her mouth with a napkin before having another sip of her coffee.
“Oui.., oui.., yes he tol me that Blue Herons have the instinctive ability to move freely an maneuver through life an forge their own opportunities an circumstances….., People who have the Blue Heron as their Totem have an intrinsic need to follow their own particular wisdom that is exclusive to themselves an determine their own path in life………..”
He paused again to take another bite.
“C’est Bon.”
He said through a mouthful of food, savoring the tastes, he finished his mouthful then continued.
“These people follow their hearts, knowing what is best for them as individuals an the best course of action to take without the need to follow the direction of others………., The Blue Heron may stay still an immovable while everyone around looses patience but when they choose to follow the path that their hearts have directed then they are one of the most magnificent to behold especially when they soar upwards……. Herons are symbols of good luck an patience an are often portrayed as a restless loners as they are normally solitary except when breeding an rearing young.”
“That’s amazing Jean…, such a reflection on human characteristics.”
Jean nodded, finished the last piece of his po-boy, and picked up his mug of coffee that SJ and put on the table earlier had a sip replaced it then took out his pouch and stuffed the bowl of his pipe full of dark sticky tobacco. While he did this, SJ, still eating her po-boy heard the all to familiar rustling then flapping of large wings and looking up into the crown of the Cypress tree at the bottom of the garden saw Mr. Heron take fight and head off out across the lake.
“Une tella belle spectacle…., such beauty.”
Jean said as Mr. Heron tucked his head and neck back and settled into his flight across the water.
“The Blue Heron is said to be steady, clever, intelligent, wise, having good judgment an being self reliant…….The native tribes of these parts used to say that he was the one who picked himself out of his shell without the help of the wind.”
He continued as Mr. Heron disappeared out of sight. SJ sat silently staring out over the lake, momentarily lost in her thoughts.
“People with the Heron as their Totem seek solitude, seaming to enjoy their own company and if left to their own devices love to explore, having an affinity for nature and the natural world. Nitushi said these people have the ability to evolve, gain new talents and skills quickly and become quite adept at them.
SJ laughed.
“That’s funny, I just remembered in history class we were studying ancient cultures, it was the Celts if I remember right of north Western Europe that called the Blue Heron Rihanna….., No, no not Rihanna she’s a singer….um, it was.., Riahann and or Rihanno or something like that and she was a goddess, ‘The Lady of The lake I think, who’s characteristics were self determination, self reliance and guidance and she protected the beautiful sparkling waters of the lakes for everyone to enjoy in the future………..Rather like our own Mr. Heron don’t’ you think?…down their in the Cypress tree guarding the lake for us all.’
Jean nodded his head in agreement.
“I’ve never heard that story SJ but it is very similar to some of what I have just told you…., I’l est étrange.., strange…, thousans of miles apart an these ancient peoples had the same myths and legends about the heron… must be something in it I’m sure.”
“Must be something.”
SJ replied.
Finally Jean told SJ that Nitushi had said that his father had always told him that if the blue Heron nested nearby then fishing would be good and the family would feed well and grow strong, a good omen.
“Well that for one is true.., Samuel and Jason only have to drop a hook in the water down there and they catch a fish………, and I Iike the sound of a good omen…, Mmm good omen…….……..”
She said of as her voice tailed off wistfully, she turned her head slightly and once again stared out over the glistening lake. Jean flowed her gaze for a moment then took his lighter out of his pocket, flicked the lid open and in one move a purply blue flame rose up spilling soot into the air as it flickered, he held the lighter sideways over the bowl of his pipe and puffed a few times, then clicked the lighter shut and placed it on the table next to his tobacco pouch
“I had never even considered it out of the ordinary to be having these beautiful birds here with us.”
SJ replied as she watched Mr. Heron return towards his nest with the next meal of the day glinting silver in his beak.
“A deep, thumping base sound reverberated from Jason’s room, it was not easy to discern the words of the track being blasted out of the speakers of his I-Pod player, only the thudding base rhythm of some dance track or other that both he and Jenny Ray liked vibrated its way through the house out into the garden.
SJ got up and made another cup off coffee for them both while Jean puffed away on his pipe. Looking out across her lawn from her kitchen window at the happy Heron family high up in the Cypress she wondered what the attraction to that spot was.
It had been adopted by the Blue Herons to raise family after family, stretching back hundreds possibly thousands of years. It was Samuel’s favorite spot to sit and gaze out across the lake, it was not uncommon for a huge Brown Pelican to alight on one of its lowest branches and it was frequented by an untold number of smaller songbirds in the evening that all came to roost. There were two squirrels drays half way up in its canopy, a Raccoon had also taken up residency last spring and brought up its family there. Often it was out at night scavenging which set both Pooh and Moo off barking at the back door warning all of these night prowlers.
There were other trees down near the water’s edge and within her garden, that of her next door neighbor and the churchyard but none were frequented so often by such a mixture of wildlife. ‘I suppose Jean is right we should be honored by all these creatures that have taken up home with us or come to visit.’ she thought. She poured the coffee’s and returned back into the heat of the day
“Here we go Jean.”
She said as she placed his mug on the table and sat back down. They were both silent for a while, SJ sipping her coffee and staring of across the lake into the distance and Jean puffing on his pipe in between sips of coffee. Jean broke the silence and spoke first.
“You know SJ it’s a funny thing but I have often thought that Samuel is like the Blue Heron, ever since Nitushi told me the Blue Heron stories an traditions of his people it has entered my mind every now an then.”
SJ’s jaw dropped open in an almost comic fashion
Oh my god!….Oh…my.., god.., I was just thinking exactly that as I walked back with our coffees….., nearly every thing you have been saying seemed to describe Samuel…it’s him down to a ‘T’ isn’t it?”
She asked Jean.
Oui that is Samuel alright, at least what I know of him”.
Jean confirmed. SJ sat speechless for a while before saying.
“I think I’ll look up the Blue Heron on Google later on and see what it has to say…., Oooh I’m really intrigued now”
Jean tilted his head slightly to one side and looked quizzically at SJ letting a wisp of blue smoke curl out of the corner of his mouth and meander upwards.
“Google,… the internet.., I’ll search on the internet.”
“Ahh oui.., vie moderne…, the internet…..,bonne idée…, let me know what else you find out.
I hope you enjoy your reading. It is available on Kindle and a free copy can be borrowed for download at https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blue-Heron-Howard-Moore-ebook/dp/B00KK6BWLK..
Howard Moore
