Louisiana Loco-Motive

Chapter 12

The Remedy 1975

Now, as promised earlier on, let me tell you how Sarah Anne (that's me), became Remi's stepmother. Diane and I were the best of friends. Yes, i'm white and she was black. We were also the most curious. We'd heard the tale of an ol' winding dirt road just like everyone else. One that wound and wound and wound. Almost like the hands of a clock. How it just kept on winding and stretching down the lane and 'round the bend. As for how far,  we didn't know for certain, but it led us deeper and deeper into the dark abyss of another place in time, where the brush was thick and the ground was covered by marsh. The legend was that a lonely young widow sat guard under a bottle tree to protect the soul of her ancestors.  She stopped talking. By this time Marvin had learned better than to antagonize Sugar, so he waited. After about a  minute, she started again.

"Well, that was one version of it, but there's another version I'm gonna tell you 'bout, Marvin.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes Sugar, I'm ready."

"It goes like this..."

S'posedly, an old witch had been banished there by descendants of the Brown family to pay the penance of her uncle's wrongdoing. Either way, my best friend and I were dying to know if anything at all existed beyond the marshy borders of swampland that rested way out there in the dark abyss of wonderland, so we took it upon ourselves to investigate if the story was true or not. At the time we'd decided to embark on this adventure, Diane and Reggie had already been married three years and their baby Remi was just a year old. I had yet to marry, but Diane and I were brave souls and still liked to have our fun getaways of sneaking down to the railroad tracks on the edge of town to gossip, while enjoying soda pop and peanuts, waiting on the locomotive to pass through with the ear piercing loud chugging sound of its engine. I still remember the day we decided to find out the truth. We'd planned it the week before and worked out all, well most, of the details. The day it happened, we set out early. We didn't think we were gonna see anything, but sure enough, there was an old witchy looking woman sitting next to a bottle tree.

"Bottle tree?" Marvin asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yes Marvin, a bottle tree. They can be found throughout various parts of Louisiana. The bottles are oftentimes blue in color and hang freely from the trees. Y'know, it's said the bottles gobble up bad spirits that lurk among us and trap them safely inside the bottles."

"I didn't know that, but do go on."

We'd called out to her, "S'cuse us ma'am,  can you tell us where we are?"

The old witch spoke rapidly. Her tongue was sharp and moved quickly. Her words came out so fast it seemed she was speaking in tongues. She waved her hand at us in a shoo-ing fashion motioning for us to go away. She herself, then turned to go. After she left, Diane and I crept up to the tree and kicked over the bucket she'd sat on. She came running out from the little moss covered hut on the other side of the tree. Without hesitation, we took off running. She began chasing us and didn't let up. To be an old lady she sure had a lot of speed and stamina. She kept scowling at us and picking up speed as she chased us. We were running out of her reach, but also running out of breath, so Diane ran one way, and I the other.

"That was a good idea," Marvin interjected.

Yes, it was, cause the old witch couldn't decide fast enough who to go after, so still running as fast as she could go, she toppled right into the murky water of the swamp before her. The Marsh was so thick.

"What'd you do Sugar?"

Panting and out of breath, I turned from right where I had stopped to safely watch from a distance. The more she moved, the deeper she sank. She desperately called out for us to help her, but I stayed put.