King Cake

Siren Song

Nich and Anna woke up to the tinkling sound of old windchimes outside the safehouse. Ruby was draped over the chaise snoring and Chief was asleep on the floor on some old quilt she had in her trunk. Baby Je'sus was sleeping soundly in the travel bassinet. His brown eyes bright and wide in the first rays of sunlight seeping in the window. The raging storm had left damage everywhere. Large limbs were all over the cars and ground. The roof tiles on an eave of the house across the street flapped in the wind. Things had come in with vengeance. But they were in relative safety. The congregation of the Nazarene church was good to them and would keep them warm and housed until they could return to the Quarter. Nich had talked to another priest and found out that there was a family who could help foster him as they went back and forth to Lousiana. Ruby would stay here and get adjusted. She had an early morning meeting with the Ad Lidem from the court here to determine what she needed to do next for temporary fostering n case Nich and Anna were too old or God forbid something happened to them before his 13th birthday. Her name was Elsabeth Montgomery. Her son Johnathan had been a great help to Nich when he was looking for handymen to reshingle the orphanage after the hurricane. He was muscular and stout and had bright red hair and preferred to be outside than doing anything else. Which was great because as a contractor that was the perfect combination. She was sort of struck by his personality. Abrupt but warm as he stepped into the room. Sort of vaguely commanding of a space. Maybe like Chief without all the vibratos. She snickered to herself and went to search for coffee for herself and her guest. She had two hours until she was to meet with Elsabeth and after the drive here, she needed to caffeinate and pray for the best. 

Her phone rang it was Elsabeth. She was smiling as she spoke a warm sentimantal alto tone to her voice asking about a boy child found in gutters and glimmering with cake frosting on his face. She was hopeful to see him for herself and to know who he might become to them. She wanted the best for Nich and Anna and her and that made things a little easier. No one had known who his mother was but standing there clutching him to her chest in the dark of that old church she felt like maybe her Gran had been telling her something. Something clear. He would do great and mysterious things. He came from ancient lines powerful and strong. The baby needed care. The court would likely agree as her background and the knowledge of his family of origin but she was unsure if she could tell of them or let the dead lie still. For there were some skelatons that should stay well buried. 

Chief woke up to the sound of the doorbell with a start and reached for his empty holster. They had all been a little jumpy since the Exodus. His dreams were always so fitful lately since he was called to take charge of this tiny boy. His Orisha was powerful but there was a limit to his resolve cop or not. He was outside of his element and jurisdiction, and had it not been for Ruby and a shaky promise one long ago Fat Tuesday night he would likely not be sitting here in the ramshackle house waiting on an omen and at the precinct fighting bad guys you could see instead of hunting ghosts.  Speaking of ghosts in the doorway stood a tall red headed man. A man he had not seen in three years. A man who had given him a choice and he had chosen to stay and protect his home instead of going out on their own into uncharted business deals. John was like a brother to him once. His grandmother's soda bread and Killian's beer wafting through the wind between their houses. His father Ivan shouting at the Notre Dame games and Saints to kick one toward the gates of Heaven. How if ever there was someone who knew his deepest darkest secrets it was John and yet he seemed to always care about him anyway. How had he found his way here? Was Ruby part of some grand elaborate plan? Did this baby connect them all like threads in a great quilt or was it more like rooks on a chess board. No one really knew which move to make next they just had to tilt the board.  As he waved sheepishly, he wondered what his mother was thinking...what had she been up too since he last saw her...what would she think of his badge and gun and saint in his back pocket as a woman who had spent her whole life fighting oppression for a free state?

Meanwhile in NOLA : 

In the Quarter sat a crypt holding Namie and Baffoe's bodies. Ancestorial secrets now unburied. Ruby and her descendent were in deeper waters. Horatio was here in this sacred city. Frazzled. Greedy as a snake in a chicken house. Saturday whistled so did the southern winds. Swampy dank air blew up from the runoff of the storm that blew overnight.  Namie smiled as she traced the stone saddle of yellow roses left by some church member she never knew to thank. Someone was remembering her and keeping it safe. Someone she least expected. A streetsweeper waited at the lobby of the Beumont Inn for a wedding interview. She played blues but this couple wanted something festive.

Horatio woke up to the sound of whistling in the hall outside his room. Jazz marches on trumpet came from below. He was to wait and stay put. The interview would be conducted in the hotel bar at 3. Just like always. In the meantime he opened the nightstand and took out a Gideon Bible. He creased it to a familiar passage and took out his rosary. As he kneaded the beads into his palm he felt the cold chill on his face like an icy wind. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a faint outline. A hat and snakeskin loafers. Like the cheshire cat in that childrens story....it appeared only in stages. Nobody ever saw him all at once and lived to tell the tale. It was time to gather dirt and lay claims and give a paupers dream to the watchman...but first he had to find that baby and the old hag in the swamplands she would know what was going on in this place far from the promised land he had come to know and love so very dearly...a land where nothing would bloom until he made this deal... he rolled dice in his hand and blew on them as he went in to meet the proprietor at 3. He had never lost a bet before...he wouldnt now either. Someone had something he was after...

In a Buloxi Courthouse far away: 

Je'sus curled up against Elsabeth's yellow sweater and cooed as they began to fill out forms. He always seemed so happy. His little eyes fixated on the ornate ceilings as if he could see beyond them into the great wide cosmos. Maybe he could she smiled to herself. 

John Doe was given a surrogate surname. Ruby a sign. A temporary address was provided, and the chief was an escort. The babe was becoming a citizen to a strange land. He was delighted and Elsabeth cradled the miracle in her arms all fresh and new and warm and for a moment had this strange warm feeling crash over her. This baby would be someone and give more love and kindness than he had been given and she would be able to help him. She smiled at Ruby as she signed a tiny line and affixed something else to the cover sheet. Nich and Anna needed to sign the other side, but it had begun. The exile was but a steppingstone to the rest of the story.