Fò Miranda

By R C Ducantlin

The unkept crypts are swathed in lichen. The Spanish Mass blocks the pathways. On first new moon following Miranda's internment, the workers Albee hired were following her orders without complaint.

"That one. Slide it down, the long ways."

"Hey, Miss Albee, what is that guitar for? How come it ain't got no strings?"

"Never you mind that. Put your shoulder into it, move that cover down, I need to open the coffin."

"Hey, Miss Albee, is it true your mother was Marie Laveau?"

"Who told you that?"

"Everyone knows it, Miss Albee."

"If everyone knows it, why are you asking?"

The youngest of the three hired helpers spoke for the first time.

"Who is Marie Laveau?"

Using a prybar, she opened the coffin and pulled the wooden lid high enough to see the child's gray face.

She was a beautiful child.

-----

Miranda Everlasting is a collection of three short stories: Fò Miranda, Envie, and Gris-Gris.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R C Ducantlin
• Release date: Jan 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781949211207

R C Ducantlin

Fortunately, in secondary school, my interest in reading was sparked. A close friend and an instructor, who took interest in a boy he later called ‘The rebel without a clue.,’ were instrumental in my learning the value of a good book. Both piqued my interest in reading. My lifelong friend inspired me to read J.R.R. Tolkien and I became addicted to the fantasy genre. The instructor required I read interesting historical novels for academic credit. Frank Norris, Leon Uris, and Ken Follett are inspirations and fuel my love of history. Born to a military family, it was logical that I follow the military tradition. However, after four years of “yes sirs” and scraping the wax off floors I decided there must be more fun in a corporate career. Thirty plus years of work experiences across the globe, the corporate career landed me in Colorado, where I live with my wife and I can be close to my children and grandchildren.

Book preview

Preface

A person’s a person, no matter how small.

Dr. Seuss

I have been dead for more than 100 years. Not dead, dead. Not like you usually think of dead, but sort of dead. When I lost my Gris-gris, the Hoodoo put the evil flu on me. My friend Albee knew what to do. She knew how to make me live and become famous.

A Gris-gris is a voodoo charm. It is strong magic to keep off the evil and bring the good luck. Good luck on yourself or bad luck on another.

My father burned my Gris-gris.

My name is Miranda Marie LaLonde. My mother, she was giving birth to me when the Hoodoo got her. I was almost 13 when the Hoodoo deviled me.

Set in the late teens, a century ago, every American was affected by the Great War. The War to end all Wars. The deep south, way along in the southern tip of Louisiana, was not exempt from the economic and emotional impact of These United States entering the Great War.

Businesses suffered.

Communities suffered.

Families suffered.

Hardships do not last.

Hard people last.

Fifty years on, in the deep south, Emancipation was something people were learning to accept.

The Great War was a tragedy but was minor compared to the influenza pandemic of nineteen-eighteen and nineteen-nineteen.

Titled Spanish Flu, the influenza pandemic came in three significant waves, with the second wave being unusually deadly. Not unlike prior flu pandemics, the Spanish Flu pandemic was aggravated by the War, killing a disproportionately high number of young, healthy adults.

Prologue

I am better able to imagine hell than heaven; it is my inheritance, I suppose.

Elinor Wylie

Miranda Marie LaLonde loved the pond and bayou that fed her pond. The smelly water. The mosquitos. The constant cacophony of bird calls. She always avoided the cottonmouth and copperhead snakes, but the alligators did not bother her. The gazebo, down to the other side of the fishing pond, was her sanctuary.

The bullfrogs as long as your arm. Frogs sleeping under the shade of the Spanish Moss during the day and croaking fiercely under the bright moon. Miranda watched the egrets and herons wading in the muck and loved the aromas of lavender, gardenias, mold, and fertile earth. She adored the dragonflies, but the mosquitos were terrible on the days with no breeze.

Miranda may as well have been an only child. Her older brothers, Beau and Earl, left her alone. Beau was seventeen and spent all his time in his room reading. He focused on getting into Tulane University on a science scholarship. Earl was sixteen, and the only book he bothered to read was the football playbook. Earl was going to play football for Louisiana State University.

Geaux Tigers.

Miranda was not alone on the sprawling plantation. Her friend, her only real friend was Albertine Beaudry.

Called Albee by everyone, the household servant was almost six feet tall,