Oppressed (19 page)

Justine was torn as she looked at the door
then at me. I shook my head and silently pleaded that she wouldn’t
open it.

I quickly lit a black candle and gathered
the ingredients I needed to make Goofer Dust. Goofer Dust was a
very reliable powder that could be used to severely distress, harm,
or even kill your target. Depending on which ingredients you used
you could get your target down on all fours howling like a dog,
purring like a cat or simply cause their legs to swell up to the
point where they had to crawl and could no longer walk. I had no
intention of killing Edmond, I only wanted to cause him severe
discomfort so that he’d leave me in peace. Maybe a bit of
humiliation would be good for him.

I would have to make the dust strong
enough so that I could use it as a Hot Foot Powder as well and
sprinkle it outside my doorway and onto Edmond’s foot tracks. If
the powder was thrown over someone’s foot tracks they wouldn’t be
able to re-cross the path, meaning that Edmond would not be able to
ever come into the house again.

“
Justine you
unappreciative slave! I will sell you back into the market if you
don’t open this door right now!”

Justine trembled at his words and I
could see her yearning to reach for the door handle.

“
Don’t be afraid, Justine.
He can’t harm you.” I gave her a reassuring smile even though I was
unsure of the words that were coming out of my mouth. She
reluctantly stepped away from the door.

I quickly mixed Graveyard Dirt,
powdered sulphur, salt, powdered snake skin, red pepper, black
pepper, some powdered bones, a dash of sage and a few drops of my
blood for good measure. I happily hummed while I mixed together the
mess and tried my best to ignore Edmond’s incessant ranting on the
other side of the door.

I began to feel bad, worse
than I ever before

I began to feel bad, worse
than I ever before

Lord, I was out one
morning, found black dust all round my door

I began to get thin, had
trouble with my feet

I began to get thin, had
trouble with my feet

Throwing dust about the
house whenever I tried to eat

Black dust in my window,
black dust on my porch mat

Black dust in my window,
black dust on my porch mat

Black dust's got me walking
on all fours like a cat

Justine stood in a far corner as she
watched me with her mouth agape and eyes full of fear.

“
CECILE!” Edmond’s shouts were
getting louder, but lucky for me the dust was complete. Now I had
to play the part of sick, tragic victim.

I placed all of the ingredients into a
cloth sachet and took a deep breath. “Oh Edmond!” I gasped, as I
opened the door and fell to the floor. “You’re right! You’re so
right, this illness has made me delusional to the point where I no
longer know what I’m saying. Please forgive me if I’ve said
anything to offend you.” You stupid sadistic idiot.

He stood above me with a smug and
knowing look on his face. “I knew it. It’s the illness you caught
from the opera. Let me take you to bed, sweet Cecile.” He extended
his hand.

I looked up at him with pleading eyes and
reached out for his hand; all the while I was using my free hand to
spread the mess all around the floor where I knew he would walk. I
let him pull me up off from the ground and then with a swift and
unexpected force pushed him directly into the path of the
mess.

Edmond’s feet made contact with the
powder and a tormented expression filled his eyes. For a few
seconds he swayed slowly in the upright position before falling
onto his hands and knees. “I feel... I feel as if...”

“
Ms. Cecile! Have you gone
mad?” Justine rushed up behind me and clicked her tongue
disapprovingly. She was about to rush to Edmond’s side when I
stopped her.

“
No. Don’t step in that powder
and don't touch Monsieur because he’s so very ill,” I said sweetly,
as I watched Edmond wither and gasp under the dim light of the
single gas-lit lamp that hung overhead. “Keep an eye on him. I’ll
be right back.”

I ran out the front door and scoured
the muddy earth for Edmond’s footprints. After a few moments of
blindly stumbling around in the dark I found them and sprinkled the
Goofer Dust on them while skipping backwards and
singing:

I began to feel bad, worse
than I ever before

I began to feel bad, worse
than I ever before

Lord, I was out one
morning, found black dust all round my door

I began to get thin, had
trouble with my feet

I began to get thin, had
trouble with my feet

Throwing dust about the
house whenever I tried to eat

Black dust in my window,
black dust on my porch mat

Black dust in my window,
black dust on my porch mat

Black dust's got me walking
on all fours like a cat

After I was done I took a moment to
catch my breath and mentally scolded myself for having so much fun
but I felt alive and free so gloriously free! A warm wind kissed my
face and I knew Bade was happy.

“
Finally Cecile, finally!” he
hissed.

I jumped up and down like a two
year on a praline high. “I know! I know! You were right, Bade! I
finally understand what you were trying to tell me! Thank
you!
Je
t'amie!”

I ran back into the house and at this
point Edmond had started to meow and purr like a little cat while
Justine watched him in dismay.

“
Ms. Cecile! I can’t!” She
covered her face with her hands, but I could still see her eyes
peering out through the cracks between her fingers in grotesque
wonder.

I kneeled down on the ground in front
of Edmond and gently stroked his hair and ran my fingers over his
bow-shaped lips.

“
Meeeooow,” he purred, as he
looked me in the eyes.

“
Meeooowww!” I purred
back. I was on a very specific mission and that was to get him out
of the house in any way I could. It didn’t matter what I had to
do.

“
Meeeoooow!” he purred
again.

“
Ms. Cecile!” At this point
Justine was on her knees muttering prayers and confessionals while
furiously making the Sign of the Cross. “I’m praying for your soul,
Ms. Cecile. May the Lord have mercy on your soul! What you’re doing
is not right, it’s not of
Dieu!”
Her eyes were wide with conviction and her full
lips trembled as she muttered prayer after prayer.

For a moment I froze and wondered if
Bon Dieu was truly going to damn my soul because I was defending
myself. I brushed off the ridiculous thought and continued to purr
like a hungry little kitty.

I started to slowly crawl away from
him and prayed that he would follow me. Thankfully, Edmond crawled
behind me and I crawled faster and faster until I kind of felt like
a real cat.

“
Cecile.” His voice was raspy
and almost animalistic when he spoke and I could see that he was
trying to fight his way out of his Goofer Dust-induced stupor, but
I wouldn’t let that happen as long as he was under my roof. “What
has the savage done to us?”

“
We’re in a dream, Edmond.
We’re in bed dreaming. Won’t you dream with me?” I rolled my eyes
and continued to purr and crawl faster and faster until I was out
the front door. I saw Edmond right behind me and let out a giant
sigh of relief.

Once outside I got up off from the
ground and quickly ran inside. I watched Edmond purr and meow like
a wounded cat for a few minutes until he finally stopped and became
quiet and deadly still.

After a few minutes he
spoke.
“Cecile. My sweet, Cecile. My legs feel as if they have
been trampled on by a thousand wild beasts.” He dramatically
grabbed his legs and despite his obvious pain he rose and started
to limp towards the door.

I crossed my fingers and prayed that
the powder had worked and he was no longer able to cross the
threshold between the outside world and my home.

I backed away from the entrance
and braced myself as he stumbled closer and closer. Once he reached
the entrance he abruptly stopped as if he had run into a glass
door. “What in the name of
Dieu?”
He tried to inch closer but every attempt was met
with an invisible backwards push. The foggy haze had lifted from
his eyes which meant the immediate effects of the Goofer Dust were
quickly wearing off. “Cecile?” He blinked a few times before he
realized where he was. He reached out to touch my hair but I
snapped my head back before he could lay a finger on me.

“
Go away,” I whispered.
“There’s nothing left for you here. I have nothing left to give
you.”

His eyes narrowed and I could now see that
the Goofer Dust had completely worn off. He let out a low breath
and there was a strange strangled silence before he spoke. “It’s
him, isn’t it?”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
Your friend from the opera;
you’re in love with him, aren’t you? You were waiting for him
tonight, weren’t you? You were going to let him come into my home!”
He said in complete disgust. “You were going to let that colored
boy into my home! The home that I’m paying for! The home I’m
keeping you in!”

The ridiculous accusation almost made me
want to break out in wild laughter at the irony of the whole
situation. Protectors like Edmond were perfectly fine keeping and
having sex with colored girls but heaven forfend that a colored man
ever stepped foot under their roof. He repulsed me and I didn’t
want to waste another second of my life arguing with him. “Go away
Edmond,” I said calmly. “You can visit Maman in the morning and you
two can discuss the best way to end the contract, but I am no
longer your property.”

His face grew bright red and his voice
came out in a vicious and unsteady stream. Even from where he stood
I could feel his wine-infused breath on my skin. “Oh, but that’s
where you’re so very wrong, my dear Cecile. I say when you are no
longer my property, not the other way around. I’m not done with
you.”

“
Sure, Edmond, whatever will
help you sleep tonight.” I slammed the door in his face and let out
several short breaths. I knew that the battle was only
beginning.

Chapter
Nineteen

Murder at the French
Market

Cecile LaNuit’s Home/Vieux
Carré

New Orleans, 1853

I stretched and let
out a little yawn.
It was a miserably cloudy day and the wind was relentlessly howling
and bringing gusts of wind that reeked of dead animals and decay
into my bedroom, but I was absolutely ecstatic. Today would be an
Edmond-free day and it would be the first official day of my new
life, even though I had no clue as to how I was going to support
myself now that I was no longer under Edmond’s
protection.

I jumped out of bed and the first thing I
did was take all of my altars and various offerings out of their
hiding places and rearranged them on my dresser. I took a deep
breath and caught my reflection in my mirror. The skin under my
eyes was puffy and my skin was an unsightly shade of sallow yellow,
but I felt wonderful.

“
Cecile, run to the market! Run
and say good-bye.” A cool wind rippled through my loose hair and
sent an overwhelming sense of alarm through my veins.

“
Say good-bye?” I
whispered. “Say good-bye to who?”

“
Go! Go to the market!
There isn’t much time left and if you don’t go now you won’t have a
chance to say good-bye!” Bade hissed.

Wasting no time I grabbed a thick
velvet cape, threw it over my thin satin gown and ran out the door
without remembering to put on a pair of shoes.

“
Ms. Cecile!” Justine
cried after me but I ignored her and made a mad dash towards the
market. “You look like a heathen! What if they stop
you?”

I knew it was dangerous leaving the home
looking the way I did and without my freedom papers but I didn’t
care. Had something happened to Maman or Tante Celeste? The air was
thick and smoky to the point where I found it hard to breathe,
while the sensation of mud, dirty water, and manure under my bare
feet was so revolting that I had to repress the waves of nausea
that were threatening to make me vomit.

I ran through the muddy, cobbled streets
as fast as I could until I reached the market. Around me the
sights, smells, and sounds that I loved so much seemed so vivid and
alive that it was impossible to imagine that there was anything
wrong. The French Market with its mounds of fresh, sweet fruit of
all imaginable colors, heaps of green produce, dangling cuts of
beef, wild turkeys, pink, grey, yellow rows of seafood that catered
to every palate under the sun, was thriving and carrying on as
normal.