The Soul Compact (Now Free on Amazon)

Chapter 8

Robert and Betty were not what Heather envisioned.  Betty was tall, while Robert was short.  Betty wasn’t pretty, but she was charming with a bewitching laugh that captivated people around her and made her the center of attention.  Robert, on the other hand, was bald with a handsome face.  Both were nice and easy going.  Although they were rich and powerful, they didn’t show it. Betty wore a colorful flowery Caribbean dress, while Robert wore a sports jacket.  You would never have known that Betty wasn’t born in Haiti.  She spoke Haitian Creole fluently and seemed to know more about Haiti’s history than even her husband, which made Heather think that maybe Betty was the one who had started practicing voodoo first.

“Heather, Jackie told me that you wanted to learn about voodoo in order to better understand Haitian culture,” Betty said.  Both Betty and her husband were standing under one of the portable tents.  Betty was talking to Heather, while Robert was talking to Linda and Heather’s father.

“Yes, Mrs. Jean-Francois. Some people think it’s superstition, others say it’s devil worship, and I wanted to learn about it to understand.”

“What do you think?” Betty asked. 

The question surprised Heather.  She didn’t anticipate it.  Heather was not a rude person, so she wasn’t going to reveal that she thought of voodoo as something being used to manipulate superstitious poor Haitians.

Heather felt cornered. “I think it’s just a religion that is different.”

“How?”  

Although these were innocent questions, they made her feel uncomfortable. Heather wanted to get away and talk to Jackie instead of answering probing questions about her views of voodoo.

“Each religion has their own bible, but voodoo doesn’t have one,” Heather managed to say, content that she had thought of an answer that would not insult her hostess.

Betty’s eyes were smiling. “Do you think we have to have a bible to practice voodoo, like other religions?” Although she seemed genuinely interested in what Heather thought, her questions kept putting Heather on the spot.

“I don’t know,” Heather admitted.

Betty’s mouth turned up slightly in a gentle smile. “Many books have been written about voodoo beliefs and practices.  To write these books, these writers must have learned about voodoo somewhere.  Maybe our bible is our knowledge that comes from the spirits, and that has been passed on to us through generations of voodoo practitioners.”

Heather remained silent.

Betty waved at one of the kids who just entered the patio before turning back to Heather. “Jackie told me that she talked to you about Rada and Petro voodoo.” 

“Yes. She was telling me the difference between the two,” Heather replied.

Betty’s smile widened.  She seemed to enjoy talking about the voodoo religion. “So here we have two different worlds of spirits.  And even without a bible, we know that to access a Rada spirit, we have to go to a spirit at the gate of the Rada spirit world, called Legba.  He's like a switchboard operator who connects you to the Rada spirit you want to talk to.”   When Heather didn’t respond, thinking the conversation was getting too deep, Betty added, “Like the Rada world, in the Petro world, there is one spirit to go to, to get in.  I guess what I’m saying is that maybe we don’t need a bible like other religions because we learn what we need to learn at the voodoo ceremonies.”  While Betty was talking, a maid approached to ask Betty something, prompting Betty to say to Heather, “I kept you long enough.  Go have fun and make some new friends.  Jackie will introduce you.” 

 As Heather was walking toward Jackie, who was talking to two other girls, Heather thought that she might have to change her views about Betty.  At first, she believed that Betty and her husband were simply using the Haitian people’s own superstitions against them to help the President rule the country.  Now, after hearing Betty’s enthusiastic description of the voodoo religion, Heather felt that Betty really believed in this stuff.   The only conclusion Heather could reach from her talk with her was that Betty had become as superstitious as the poor Haitians, and it might be her husband who was behind all of these pretenses.