VooDoo Follies (5 page)

I looked around my room wondering what he
meant by that. I think he noticed my puzzled expression because he
started to explain himself further. "You know, there's a lot of
pink in here for a girl who goes around raising zombies in
graveyards."

"I don't go around raising zombies, okay, well
just the one time." At his arched eyebrow look I amended my
statement, "well, you can't really count the second, because
technically Adrianna created him, not me. And just because I come
from a long line of voodoo practitioners doesn't mean that I can't
have taste. You know we don't all hunker down in some dark, back
alley looking recess." I was a little offended by his statement and
it showed in my tone. Although, now that I thought about it, Auntie
Perrine's shop was quite literally located in a seedier part of
town with a side alley entrance.

"Sorry," he apologized to me as he walked over
to my dresser and looked at the various things I had spilled across
its top.

"It's okay, I guess I would have thought the
same thing after what we went through. Sorry, I snapped. We need to
figure out what to do about this zombie-bum problem though. I mean,
I need to figure it out, but I sure could use the help." I watched
as he smiled up at me and I wondered how Adrianna had ever been
this boy's friend and nothing more. More importantly, I wondered
how I never noticed him in French class. 'Mental note,' I thought
to myself, 'pay closer attention to classmates.'

"About that," he was saying before I realized
he was speaking, "I was thinking. Where do bums usually hang out? I
mean, this bum probably had a place to go somewhere nearby. Maybe
he went back there?" He shrugged his shoulders, "sorry, probably a
bad idea."

"No!" I think I might have yelped the word, my
excitement was getting the better of me. "I mean, I think you may
be right. The first thing Adrianna did was go back home, like she
was on auto pilot right? So, maybe the bum went somewhere familiar
to him too." There was that smile again. Once more, it was aimed at
me and I felt my knees growing weak at the thought, so I sat down
on the edge of my bed, sinking into my fluffy pink comforter. "I'm
gonna call my Auntie Perrine and let her know what's going on. She
may have some ideas too."

"Auntie, I need to know something. When I find
the zombie-bum will I be able to control it like I did with
Adrianna? I just don't know how else I will be able to get it to
hallowed ground." Her answer wasn't exactly the reassurance I was
looking for. For once, she didn't seem to know much more than I
did. If the situation wasn't so serious I would revel in the fact
that I was setting the bar so high. I shrugged so Stephen would
know that my aunt didn't have the answers either. "Auntie, we're
going to get some rest and go check out some places where the bums
normally hang out. I think that maybe we will have better
luck..."

"Seraphine Rose LaLande!" My mom's shriek
pierced through the room. I nearly dropped my cell phone and
watched as Stephen jumped up from the chair he had been sitting
in.

"What?" I asked it innocently enough, because
I had forgotten all about having a boy in my room. In that moment,
Stephen was my zombie hunting partner which seemed entirely more
important than the fact that he was a boy sitting in my
bedroom.

"What?" Oh no, things never went well when she
began mocking me like that. "You have a boy sitting in your room at
one o'clock in the morning and you have the audacity to ask me,
'what?'"

"But mom, you don't understand."

"I understand you better get up and out of my
house, right now!" She was looking at Stephen now, who kept his
cool and walked over to my door. He sheepishly waved good bye to me
while my mother walked him to the front door and let him out. I had
followed behind them, which probably wasn't the best idea. As soon
as the door closed behind Stephen my mom turned on me and smacked
me right across the face. That smack stung more than she would ever
know. I couldn't remember the last time my mom hit me and here it
was over something so innocent, but she couldn't see
that.

"I was sixteen when I had you and here you go,
sneaking boys into your room like this is a hotel. And you, sitting
there trying to be cute and pretending every thing’s all
innocent!"

"It's not like that."

"No, then do tell, what's it like?" Roger came
around the corner when he heard my mom yelling even
louder.

"He saw us walk in the house." I was pointing
at Roger now. "He waved at us when we came in." If I thought my mom
turned on me quickly I hadn't seen anything yet. She was turned and
facing Roger in the space of a heartbeat.

"You allowed her to bring a boy into this
house and take him back to her room?"

Roger's eyes were as big as saucers now. It
felt kind of good to have an accomplice. Maybe he could take some
of that wrath she had been directing at me.

"What?" He managed to stutter out. 'Great,' I
thought, he's going to sit here and lie about it so he doesn't have
to share in this with me.

"Is everyone else in this house confused
tonight? I swear to the both of you if I hear the word 'what' come
out of someone else's mouth tonight I am gonna loose my damn
mind!"

"Angelique, Seraphine didn't bring a boy in
this house tonight. At least, not that I knew about. I know how you
feel about that. Remember, we talked about it when we first moved
up here."

Damn, he was going to sit there and lie to my
momma. Another heartbeat and she was focused on me again. "So, not
only do you have a boy here, in your room, in the middle of the
night, but you're going to lie to me? Roger's been nothing but good
to you and you're gonna stand there and lie to me about him?" I was
shaking my head no. I couldn't believe she would take his side so
easily as all that. My own momma would choose to believe this man
over me. I think that hurt worse than the slap she had placed
across my face earlier. What could I do? I just hung my head and
listened as she raved at me about how irresponsible I was, how
disappointing. My momma believed in kicking people when they were
already down. It kept them from getting back up and she was
certainly doing a good job with me. I just nodded my head
periodically and kept my mouth shut. Finally, she was winding down,
but not before she snatched the car keys that were hanging out of
my front pocket. "You want to act like you lost your damn mind,
Seraphine? Well, you lost your car instead." I started fiddling
with the phone in my hand, which was not the smartest thing I could
have done, because it drew her attention to it. "Oh no, you don't
get a phone either." She snatched it out of my grasp and powered it
down. I wondered briefly if Auntie Perrine was still on the line
when she did it, or if she had the sense to hang up when she heard
my mom's ranting voice coming through the other end. The two of
them didn't get along that well, so it wouldn't have bothered my
mom to hang up on her sister anyway. "You, young lady, are on
restriction. Don't even think about going anywhere outside of
school for a long while!" I didn't even wait for her to finish, if
there was anything else, I just turned and walked to my
room.

I had to get some sleep. I would worry about
how to find a zombie-bum with no car tomorrow. For tonight, I
needed sleep to come take me away from my world of
troubles.

***

Truth Be Told

I woke up later in the morning thankful for
the dreamless oblivion I had fallen into. I listened as Roger left
the house for work. My mom must have been getting ready still
because as I walked into the kitchen I found my cell phone sitting
on the counter. I snatched it up and left the house just as
quickly. I wasn't really sure where Stephen lived and I couldn't
remember getting his phone number. I was wondering how in the hell
I was going to find him when he popped up beside me scaring me
nearly to death. "Holy crap, Stephen!" For his part, he looked
sorry that he had startled me. "You nearly scared me to
death!"

"Sorry," he mumbled under his breath, "I
didn't mean to."

"It's alright."

"Did you get in a lot of trouble last
night?"

"Yeah," I held up my cell phone, "and I'll be
in more trouble later when she realizes I grabbed my phone before I
left. We're gonna be car-less as it is, I didn't want to go without
a phone." It suddenly occurred to me that Stephen might have a
phone of his own and I could have saved myself the trouble. "Do you
have a phone? I keep forgetting to get your number."

"I don't have one." He shrugged at me again.
It was his thing, he seemed to shrug when he was unsure of things
and sometimes just because he was a little nervous.

"Well, I don't have my car either and not
enough cash for a cab, so we're gonna have to walk." I shuddered at
the thought. It was bad enough I was skipping school today to get
this done, but now I would be walking through downtown Baltimore
with a back pack full of voodoo supplies, just begging to get
caught.

"So, how long are you grounded?"

"Till forever, or until I move out of the
house at 18, which ever comes first." I rolled my eyes as I looked
over at Stephen who was grinning back at me. His smile was
infectious and I couldn't help but smile back. "What hurt the most
last night was that Roger denied knowing you were there. He said I
came in by myself last night, and my mom took his word over mine."
The smile quickly dissolved from my face as I remembered my
mother's betrayal. "My mom and I have always had this thing between
us. You know? It just hurts to have her treat me like a liar when I
know he waved at us when we came in the house."

"Seraphine, I need to tell you something." The
look on Stephen's face had gone sour. That gorgeous smile was now
hidden behind a wash of his light brown hair. He seemed pained by
something and I hoped he wasn't about to tell me that we couldn't
be friends anymore, because I wasn't sure I could handle any more
betrayal at the moment. Not that it would be betrayal on his part.
I figured it might be coming. What kind of sane person wanted to
hang out with a girl who brought kids back from the dead and then
had to chase down zombie-bums? Even I would run away from myself
this week, if I could.

"Stephen," before I could say anymore my cell
phone began ringing. I picked it up without even checking to see
who it was and then was thankful when I heard my Auntie Perrine on
the line.

"I'm so glad it's you." I said into the phone
without thinking.

"Yeah, well, as soon as you find this bum you
might want to see to it that your mom gets the cell phone back. Put
it in a drawer or cabinet or something, so when she accuses you of
having it and you don't, she'll go searching for it and think
either she or Roger moved it absent-mindedly."

"Thanks Auntie."

"Don't thank me, if it weren't for this zombie
business I would be on your mom's side. A boy in your bedroom at
that time of night..." she paused for a moment, "girl, you're lucky
you can still walk. I can't imagine Angelique not flipping out. I
heard her screaming through the phone all the way up until she hung
it up."

"Yeah, well, then you know that Roger is a
liar and she took his side."

"Love does funny things to people, little one,
but I didn't call to talk about your mom. I have news."

"Please, let it be good."

"It's not." Auntie Perrine didn't mince words,
so softening the blow of bad news never really occurred to her.
"infected zombies can definitely infect more people and create more
zombies by feeding on humans. Seraphine, I can't tell you how
important it is for you to find your bum and anyone else he may
have infected."

"Oh, great." It was all I could manage. I
looked up at Stephen and he seemed to know just by the look on my
face, he nodded his head and picked up the pace a bit.

"If you haven't found him by tonight, I will
be on a plane first thing to come help. The longer he's out there,
the more potential victims and those victims can create more.
Things can get out of hand really quick."

When I hung up with my aunt I explained to
Stephen what she had been saying. It wasn't good news and we found
ourselves planning our route. We would start over by the Bohemian
Cemetery again. He had been lurking around there to begin with, so
we figured we would spread out in the area and hope he was still
hanging around.

When the area around the cemetery didn't pan
out we took off for Patterson Park. We split up to cover more
ground, checking for unusual bums. Yeah, I know, with all the
mentally ill people running around the streets you would think that
unusual and bums went hand in hand, but with the economy's
downturn, you could find perfectly normal looking and acting people
on the streets. Zombies could never be accused of acting
normal.

Patterson Park ended up being a bust too. So,
we took off for Broadway. If you want to find a bum in Baltimore,
your chances are pretty good down there. We were walking down
Eastern Ave. headed for Broadway when Stephen started talking
again. At first, I was so lost in my thoughts, I wasn't paying
attention.

"We never did get to talk, because we keep
splitting up or the phone rings."