Chaos at Crescent City Medical Center (26 page)

Suddenly, the music sto
pped.  Alex moved closer and hid
as best she could.  The barge on the river had reached the shore.   Alex could vaguely make out some activity aboard the barge.  It was difficult to see through the mist.  She then noticed an old black man sitting on a cylinder made of thin cypress staves hooped with brass a
nd headed by a sheepskin.  Alex thought it was
a makeshift drum.  With two sticks the old man beat a monotonous ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta.  On his left, a large black woman sat on a low stool beating a
nother tone with two long
bones.  A third mulatto woman accompanied them on the other side of the drum
. She began
beating a higher, faster beat on some sort of steel instrument.
  It was an eerie sight
, almost supernatural
,
to see the trio banging on drums with animal bones.  The sounds that emanated from the
drum
s
were queer and frightening and unlike any Alex had ever heard.  It was spine-chilling.
 
Alex stared
,
beyond belief
,
at the sight,
as she became
captivated by the music and sounds. 
It sounded like a movie buil
d-up in a horror film.  The wome
n in white had formed a semi-circle around the altar table and continued to undulate suggestively to the rhythm.
Alex did not know who the women were, but they were
obviously important.  She remembered the camera in her cell phone and snapped several pictures of the sights.
The sounds continued, ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta, while a woman and two men descended from the barge and walked toward the altar.  The crowd
, in rapt silence,
paid homag
e to their Queen
. The crowd swayed back and forth to the ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta beat.
  The scene was
fright
en
ing
and sinister.

It was impossible to guess the age of the voodoo Queen.  She was ageless.  Alex, struck by the immensity of the power the Queen commande
d, was also awed by her magnificent
presence.
She was regal, majestic.
The Queen wore a full cotton skirt of many colors and a bright green blouse.  She had gold hoop earrings in her ears and numerous gold chains around
her neck and waist.  Her hair was bound up under a brightly colored turban which added height to her statuesque bea
uty.  The voodoo Queen was royal
, stately and beautiful in her presence
.  Her skin was a cross between the color of honey and
cafe au lait.  Alex was awestruck and
could hardly look away from the Queen's face.
  She was captivated in the moment.

Sounds of exultation broke from the crowd as the woman, the High Priestess of New Orleans, mumbled something and threw powders and liquid at the crowd from a calabash in her hand.  As sh
e continued to mutter and gestured
upward with her arms, the crow
d became more and more frenzied, ecstatic
and
euphoric
.

The Queen raised her hand to the drummer
as
he dismounted from his drum and withdrew an immense snake from the basket at his feet.  He
wildly brandished the snake
above his head.  The crowd roared with pleasure and began to chant.  He handed the snake to the Queen.  She talked and whispered to it.  At every word the reptile, wit
h an undulating body and darting
tongue, seemed to acknowledge
and relish
the power the Queen asserted over it.  The crowd
crossed their hands on their che
sts and began to moan, a long, sonorous, lament,
and moved
in unison from left to right.  It was with
out a doubt the most fearsome
sound Alex had ever heard.
She felt as if her face would burn up but her body was frozen in place 
The crowd chanted, "
Vou
do
u
.  Vo
u
do
u
Magnian," over and over again.  The Queen continued to flaunt the snake, finally compelling the reptile to stand upright exposing ten inches of its body.  The snake danced alone for several minutes. 

Alex was fascinated and
awestruck. 
The crowd continued to moan and chant as the Queen began to twirl the snake around her head and over the crowd.  She forced the snake to wiggle and writhe over and over, around the circle.  The crowd uttered the words, "Voudou, Voudou," repeatedly.  Suddenly, and without warning, the Queen twirled the snake aro
und by its head and with great skill
cast it into the blazing fire.  A yell
, that no words could truly describe,
arose fr
om the crowd
.
It was inhuman
…
feral
…
fearful.
The drums began again, and crude musical instruments played by the
V
oodoos contributed to the bedlam.
The sounds became louder and louder until Alex could hardly think.  It was as if he
r
brain and her body had been taken over. 
Chaos reigned.  
Alex thought she'd entered the chorus of Dante's Hell in the hear
t of darkness in deepest Africa but for the life of her, she could not move.
 

Suddenly, up sprang a magnificent specimen of human flesh - a beautiful, lithe, tall black
woman with a body
which waved and undulated
like the snake - a perfe
ct goddess
from the jungles of Africa.  The woman confined herself to a spot not more than two feet in space and began to sway on one and the other side.  Gradually, the undulating motion controlled her body from the ankles to the hips.  She tore a white handkerchief from her head, apparently a cue for the huge witch doctor to join her in the circle.  The two undulated together, in pure passion and ecstasy. 
Both were naked but Alex didn’t think that any of it was about sex, it was more about possession.  Maybe evil possession.  Nevertheless Alex remained
spellbound.  She couldn't have moved if she'd willed herself. 
She was so engrossed she didn’t feel the chill bumps all over her body.
The dance continued for what seemed an infinite length of time.  Finally
,
the Queen raised her hand.  The dancers disappeared. 

The only sound was the continuous ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta, ra-ta-ta of the drums.  The Queen moved herself into position behind the altar.  Alex watched, fascinated, as a large cauldron was put into the fire; it was filled with water and powders
which
were put in by an old man, who jabbered something in
a strange dialogue Alex couldn’t understand
.  A young quadroon girl moved to the center of the altar behind the cauldron and sang a mournful song in an unknown tongue while
she put
seasonings in the cauldron.  Then a box was placed on the table from which a black snake was removed and i
mmediately cut in three pieces to represent
the black Trinity.  The Queen, the old man, and the young quadroon girl each threw a piece of the snake, still writhing, into the pot.  Steam, or the snake, made a
horrific
hissing sound.

Immediately a new chant began: "Mamzelle, la Queen chauff ez ca."  The crowd continued the chant until the Queen brought forth a cat wh
ose throat she immediately slit.
Blood spurted
out from its neck arteries over the white cloth on the table and on the ground.  Blood also spurted onto the watchers.   The crowd we
nt wild with the sight of blood
,
and they reached out to touch it and spread it
over their naked bodies.
  The queen cast the cat into the cauldron.  Again there was a terrible cry and a great hissing sound.  Next a white woman, dressed in white, danced towards the altar
.
She carried
a black rooster.  T
he black rooster was dazzling
against her white gown.  The woman danced with the rooster in the firelight.  The crowd
, chanting,
continued to sway b
ack and forth
.  After another repetition of the chorus, the Queen tied the feet and head of the rooster together and tossed it
alive into the pot
.  Another hissing sound.  A second rooster was bought forward and immediately beheaded - its headles
s body moved
awkwardly as it bled profusely on the white cloth.  The roos
ter's awkward body
movements gave
the illusion of a dance and it seemed to keep time to the chant.  The crowd continued to sing until the rooster finally died.  Sounds of exultation emanated from the crowd.  The voodoos raised th
eir hands to the heavens as the
rooster, too, was cast into the pot by the witch doctor.

The Queen then ordered the
remaining
crowd to undress.  Her follo
wers stripped off their clothes.
Some
of the women dan
ced
with large white handkerchiefs which they raised towards the sky as they moved from head to toe like snakes.  A select group joined hands
and danced around the cauldron. They began
singing and chanting the chorus, "C'est l'amour, oui Maman c'est l'amour," over and over and over.  The sight wasn't human.  The music, the drums, the blood, and the chanting created a macabre sight as
two hundred
bodies, men and woman of every color writhed
erotically
and g
estured to each other
.  Alex was gruesomely fascinated.  She couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight below her.

Finally the chant slowed and the dancing ceased.  The crowd formed a semi-circle around the cauldron and again began
to moan and hum simultaneously and watched
the approach of the witch doctor with his final gift to the Queen.  He came dancing naked into the firelight, the light from the
flames glistening over his body.
Firelight
danced off his gold chains and reflected his ebony color.  He was carrying a white sack.  His hair hung to his buttocks
,
and his enormous erect phallus was clearly visib
le as he raised the sack toward
the heavens in ultimate sacrifice.  The crowd continued to chant and moan incessantly in rhythm with the drums.  After a period of time, the witch doctor placed the white sack on the altar for his Queen.  She unwrapped it, and held up a new born baby.  The crowd went wild with
ecstasy
.  The Queen smiled in approval and held the infant up for all to see while the little old man handed her a clean, glistening knife. 

That was it.  Alex was jerked back into reality.  She screamed in terror and started running toward the altar to save the infant. 

As she made her way through the dancing bodies, a hard arm grabb
ed her around her neck, stifled
her screams,
and caused
her to lose consciousness for a few moments.  The man was large, his body completely covered in black.  His grip paralyzed her.
She couldn’t breathe.
Alex gasped for air.  She tried to fight him, but his intense strength made her efforts useless.  She kicked at his legs and grabbed at h
is head as she thought
briefly that he had a ponytail under his hood.  As her assailant continued
to drag her up the hill toward
the clearing, Alex fought
frantically.  The man never said a word, but increased his grip around her neck.  After what seemed to be an interminable length of time, the grip on her neck relaxed.  Another man, also dressed in dark clothes, had attacked her assailant from behind,
and knocked
him down with a large tree limb.   Alex felt a severe blow to her shoulder and arm as she was tossed down.   She heard a long string of curse words as th
e two men began to fight
.  She watched, dazed, as the men circled each other repeatedly.  Finally, her assailant fled, with two other men in pursuit.  Only then did Alex turn to her rescuer.  She was incoherent with fear.  Her rescuer also wore a long cloak and his face was hooded.  Was she to be exchanged as a gift?   All sort of ludicrous possibilities ran through Alex's
mind.  Was she to be the next
ritualistic sacrifice?
  The hooded man came toward
h
er, grabbed
her,
and hurled
her forward.

As Alex's eyes adjusted to the darkness and mist, she saw the small, furious eyes of Jack Francois.

"What in the fuck
are you doing here?"  Francois hissed at her.  His face was livid.  "This place is dangerous
, a hell hole
.   You almost got yourself killed.  You were stupid to come out here alone.  These people are all drugged up and crazy, not to mention that man who's been eyeing you
all night --  You are a dumb, crazy bitch
,” he uttered under his breath.