Bad Juju (17 page)

Lucien grimaced.  He did not like having
his kill broadcasted on the news. 
The mortician was too familiar with his sorcery, as if it wasn’t the first time the mortician seen
bokors
using the newly dead.  In hindsight, the man posed a real threat.
 

Lucien prayed
. 
Oh Great One, Baron
Samedi
, Lord of Death, please make this incident go away.  I do not have time for this distraction.  May no one connect the mortician
’s death
with T.J.’s grave
site.  Please Baron, let me finish
mentoring Jake and Henry
.  My work is almost done.

***

The deep freeze of February
led into March with no
signs of thawing.  Lucien wanted to
conduct his ritual with the boys
in the common picnic area of the trailer park.  The
private clearing was
far from the residents and
surrounded by trees. 
There were an enormous fire pit,
tables,
grill
s
,
restrooms, and a shed
under a pavilion
that contained outdoor picnic games. 
H
is plans changed after checking the area.  Everything was
encased with ice and buried with snow. 
I’ll get to use it in the spring,
he tho
ught.  He would have to settle on his
kitchen and living room for their initiation.

Before the boys arrived, Lucien converted his kitchen table into an altar by covering it with a white table cloth and crystal vase filled with flowers.  He set down one of his most cherished possessions, a human skull he had used for decades as a chalice.  The skull was sentime
ntal to him.

Lucien f
illed the skull with a mixture of white wine, green tea,
and
boiled toad skin bits.  Then, lighting
the
camphor incense, he
set down
a fresh
wooden
platter of graveyard dirt from the cemetery next door.

Lucien
soon
forgot about the mortician and whistled an old Haitian song.  He dressed in
the traditional
bokor
attire of
a white linen tunic and matching pants.  For
additional ambience, he lit
molded
candles
in the shape of
serpents.  The candles reminded him to feed
Mami
and let her out of her aquarium.

His bird feeder had a trap door.  Two
brown doves
were inside of it, pecking away at a honeyed-
seedstick
he used for a lure.  He effortlessly pulled down the door of the feeder
, making it a cage,
and
then
carried it inside.  The boys would be using the birds during the ritual.

He
sat on his porch and smoked his pipe, waiting for Jake and Henry.  Jessica dropped them off and got out of the car for a quick and polite conversation.  She ask
ed
him a few questions about Haiti in preparation for her family’s mission.  He found her one of the most beautiful and
charming
women he had ever met.  A pity she had no idea what
he was teaching her son.
 
He
assumed
that his Voodoo lessons would equate to Satanic worship with the young mother.  H
enry
must not have mentioned a word.  Lucien was impressed on how good the boy was at keeping secrets.  Maybe Henry
was capable of doing
him a personal favor once in Haiti.

The boys appreciat
ed
the atmosphere Lucien had arranged. 
Mami
slithered up the table leg of the newly converted altar.  Both boys laughed at the snake’s exuberance.

“Is this a real skull?” Jake asked as he almost picked up the chalice.

“Yes, but don’t touch it.  At least not yet.  I’ve started part of a potion,” Lucien explained.

“Are we
gonna
make another poppet with Pete’s things…or
Pete’s
taglocks
?  Maybe a spell to curse him with?” Jake asked.  Lucien saw Jake’s
blue
eyes burn with anger.  Revenge still had its hold on the boy’s heart.

“Pete will get everything he deserves, but not today.  I’ve been a terrible teacher.  Voodoo dolls are a very advanced hex.  I showed you both
much
too soon.  Today I will begin with an initiation of sorts.  Jake, you will pledge to become a
bokor
, and Henry, you will pledge to become a
bokor’s
assistant.”  Both boys anxiously nodded.

Henry looked at the
doves
inside of the bird feeder.  “Are those new pets of yours?” he asked.

“No.  They will be used for our ceremony.  You both
must
pledge an oath of secrecy to the
loas
before our training begins.  I have so many things to teach you…things mambas would kill their babies for.  When I lived in Haiti,
I belonged to the
Bizango
Society.  It was like a brotherhood or a fraternal order. 
It’s v
ery secret
,
and not anyone c
an
join.  We were very important in our community and
also
feared.  Today we will start our own chapter in the tradition of the
Bizango
Society.  First, you will make a pact with Baron
Samedi
.  This doll represents him,” Lucien said as he took the skeleton doll out of his curio and set it on the altar. 

“I like his tuxedo and top hat. Who is he?” asked Henry.

“He is the chief
loa
of the dead
,
and
he
heads the
Ghede
family.  They are spirits of the afterlife.
These
loas
and the
deads
’
souls are the most powerful of all of the
bokor’s
tools.  The Baron stands guard at the
Cr
ossroads where one’s soul needs to pass into New
Guinee
.  He was the one Jake asked to uncross his hex he brought onto T.J.  He can do many things, even change
a man
into an animal,” Lucien said.

“He sounds like the devil.  Is he evil?” Henry asked.

“No, not at all. 
In Voodoo there
is no good and there is no evil
.
  Both are very much part of all of us and all of the
loas
,
too.  They cannot be separated.  Henry, I know you
r parents are religious and you attend
church every Sunday.  If you want out of this, let me know.  I don’t want to force my Haitian ways onto your
Christian
beliefs.”

“I go to church because my parents make me.  This is much more interesting. 
M
ake me a
n assistant
bokor
and
I won’t talk about the devil again,” Henry
answered
.

“Very well.  Let us begin with the initiation.  I have amulets for you boys.  Jake
,
t
his one is made with an alligator’s tooth and white crystal.  It’s a
bokor’s
charm that wards off evil spells.  And Henry, this is an amethyst blessed with goat’s blood.  It is worn by an assistant to show prominence inside of the
hounfour
or temple.  It is also said to bring good luck.”  Lucien hung the amulets around their necks.  “These used to be mine
,
and now I’m passing them on to you both. 
K
neel before this a
ltar, before the great baron!”

The boys
readily
obeyed.  Lucien began beating his drum and singing a one verse song.

Simbi
en
Deux
Eau

Why don’t people like me?

Simbi
en
Deux
Eau

Why can’t they stand me?

Because my magic is dangerous

I will drink so that I can fly

I will be able to walk in the night

Of the secret society

The boys’
eyes became droopy.  Lucien kept beating and singing.  He insisted they sing along.  They echoed each phrase of the song dozens of times until it was memorized.  Their singing
slurred into a tired chant as their
heads hypnotically bobbed.  Their trance-like mannerisms suggested to Lucien it was time to begin.  He quickly wrapped up the song and prayed.

“Baron
Samedi
, accept these apprentices as brothers of
the
Bizango
Society.”

The camphor incense plumed smoke in every direction
.  W
hite rings of smoke blew off of the candles.

“The Baron is ready to receive his sacrifice.  Jake, you will go first, so Henry, pay attention.”  Lucien handed Jake an old dagger with an
iridescent
handle
and
then handed him a pigeon.  The bird tried to free himself from Jake’s cupped hand by frantic
ly squirming a
nd pecking on his fingers.  He shrieked in pain, almost letting go of the bird.

“Kill it
,
Jake!” Lucien yelled.

Clumsily, Jake sawed through the bird’s neck with the dagger and let the blood drip onto the altar. 

“Get some of the bird’s blood in my chalice,” commanded Lucien.  Jake clenched the dead bird and let its blood drain into the skull
chalice
.

“
Here.
  We’ll boil both birds once Henry is done,” Lucien said as he held a cast iron pot filled with water next to Jake.  “Henry, you remember the steps?”

With the ease and experience of Haitian
bokor
, Henry performed the same sacrifice in a fraction of the time.

“I’m impressed, Henry,” Lucien said.  He placed the pot on the stove.  “Back in Haiti, we used black cats for this, but birds will do.  Once the birds are cooked, you’ll suck on each bone until you find one that sours
inside of
your mouth.  We will crush it up
in my mortar
and add it to
the
potion. 
“
Repeat after me.  I swear on my soul…on my family’s souls…that I will adhere to complete secrecy as a
Bizango
brother….If I shall
quit this order, then the Baron may invoke the proper consequences.”  Both boys repeated the oath several times until memorized.

“There is no turning back.  Our pot of pigeons is boiling.”

Mami
slither
ed
around the table in a frenzy
with her mouth open
ed
for food
.

“You can give some of the meat to her for a treat.”  Lucien pick
e
d up the boa constrictor and wrapped her around his neck.  He set her head on the table
and allowed the
boys to
feed her pigeon
.  The snake greedily gulped down the food.

“Lucien, why do you like snakes so much?  Your candles, glasses, knick-knacks, and
Mami
…Got a theme of snakes
going for the interior design of this place
,” Jake asked while sucking on the pigeon bones.

“Snakes are symbolic in Voodoo.  According to Haitian legend, there was a great serpent
who
held the world up with his endless coils.  One day he decided to rise.  His coils were
s
o long that he reach
ed above the heavens.  He lived by a waterfall and met a r
ainbow.  She became his wife and they gave birth to the spirit that circulates blood.  He’
s called
Damballah
.”

“Yuck!  This is disgusting!” screamed Henry.  His eyes
stung as
he coughed
up the bitter taste of the bone
.  He
placed it in Lucien’s mortar and crushed it up. 
Jake soon found a
n acrid
bone and did the same. 
Mami
slithered into the living room
and
neatly coil
ed
her green and white body up for a nap.