The Soul Compact (Now Free on Amazon)

Chapter 4

They only knew each other by their first names.  To the man from the bar, Peter’s father was simply Dimitri. He similarly had introduced himself to Peter’s father as Lionel.  Dimitri doubted that it was the man’s real name.  In their first meeting the year before, at a luxurious bar in an affluent section of Miami, the man had said that he was born in Haiti and had lived in Fort Lauderdale ever since he came from Haiti more than a decade ago.   

During that encounter, Dimitri, who had been distracted by thoughts of his wife deserting him, had gone along with the man’s offer to help him get back at his wife.   After the man had dropped Dimitri off at the voodoo priest’s house in Miami and Dimitri had participated in a voodoo ceremony, several weeks later, Dimitri’s wife was dead.

After his wife’s death, when Dimitri began to believe that the spirit was real, he had gone back to the house of the voodoo priest who did the initial spell seeking to break up his agreement with the voodoo spirit. However, the voodoo priest had passed away. Then, he had gone several times to the Miami bar where he first met Lionel hoping to see him and to convince him to find him another voodoo priest. But all his efforts were unsuccessful. It has been several months now since Dimitri had met a well-known voodoo priestess in Haiti, but she was not able to help him either.

Locating Lionel proved to be an awesome task. He had never given Dimitri his last name nor talked much about himself.  After an exhaustive search, when Dimitri finally saw Lionel again, he was sitting on a stool at another bar of an exclusive hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Dimitri was baffled that Lionel could afford drinks at a place where one shot cost more than most people’s hourly wages.  Since Lionel never asked Dimitri for money and had refused to even let Dimitri pay for his drink, Dimitri was content not to ask too many questions.

“Five souls?” Lionel had repeated, surprised, when Dimitri had told him about what had happened at the voodoo ceremony. “Why didn’t you bargain with the spirit?”

“I thought it was a joke.”

“I see.” Lionel said, scratching his day-old beard.  He seemed to be in his mid-thirties and was wearing a blue blazer, which slightly covered his gold Rolex watch.

When Lionel spoke again, Dimitri felt relieved to know that all of his problems would go away.

“Okay, I’m going to help you,” Lionel said, as he took one  sip of what was left of his rum and coke drink.  “I know of a voodoo priest who can help people in your situation. Meet me here tomorrow at the same time and I will take you to him.”

After Lionel departed, Dimitri remained in the bar. At least all of my problems will now be solved, he thought, as he ordered a round of drinks for everyone.

##

     When Linda came to pick Heather and her father up that Friday, Heather had just woken up from an afternoon nap. She was tired for the long trips she had taken the past couple days and felt more refreshed. After her conversation with Peter earlier during the week, she also had spoken to her mother and got her mother very upset when Heather told her that she wanted to know more about voodoo and to write about it.

“Can’t you learn something else?” Her semi-religious mother had asked. “Getting into voodoo is not something you want to do because it’s devil worship and not what God would want.”

“I cannot talk about the Haitian culture without talking about voodoo,” Heather protested. “What you’re thinking about is what you see in the movies. My dad told me of a proverb that says that Haiti is ninety percent Catholic and one hundred percent voodoo.  So if I have to write about my experience in Haiti, I have to write about voodoo as well.”