Mary Lynn Plaisance  

At the Tomb of Maurice

Betty Lou arrived at the swamp shack of Marie La Vie. The wharf that led to her front porch was still lit up, so she knew that she must be rocking on her front porch.

"Marie La Vie," yelled Betty Lou, still sitting in the pirogue shaking like a leaf. "Help ME!"

Marie walked to the end of the wharf. "What happen for you, child?"

Marie helped Betty Lou out of the pirogue and brought her into the swamp shack. When she had her settled down with some of her homemade tonic, she started to tell Marie what had happened to her at suppertime.

"Child, you talk is mo broken up dens mine is," was Marie's first observation of Betty Lou's condition. As Betty Lou told Marie everything that happened to her, she came to the conclusion that something awful was going to happen, causing her to lose her mind.

"Lose my mind?" Betty Lou managed to say the three words without skipping sounds. "What to do?" she asked, showing the most worried look on her face that she had ever worn.

"I got to gives you some of des salve. Show me you brow, child." Betty Lou raised up the brown curls that were hanging over her forehead. "I got to rub des on you brow, now. When you gets home, rub it on you brow all nights for nine times. Des will do you good."

Marie's native language was French. The English words that she spoke came out in broken sentences, because she still hadn't mastered the English sounds. She and Betty Lou talked for an hour. Marie had a positive affect on everyone.

When Betty Lou felt a little better, she thanked Marie for her help, gave her a hug and told her goodnight. She walked steadily back to the pirogue to go back home.

While she was paddling back to the bayou landing behind Plume's house, something beckoned Betty Lou to go to the tomb of Maurice on this night of the full moon. She wanted only to speak to Maurice before morning. Her trip to Marie La Vie was not the best of news, but things could be worse. Although, she didn't know how much worse it could get.

She could hear her mama's words echoing loudly in her mind for even thinking that things could be worse. "Betty, don't you ever ask how things could be worse, because sometimes the Cajun angels come along to show you how much worse things could be."

She quickly got that thought out of her mind. She had to go to Maurice's tomb to talk to him, because in her mind, this was the only place that would bring her comfort at this time.

In the magical doll land of Sha Bebe, even with all of its splendid enchantment in the sugarcane fields, there were some occasions when a doll was destroyed beyond repair and had to be buried or burned.

As she kept paddling the pirogue to come home, Betty Lou thought of when she was a human, and about that horrible stormy night in October when she lost her Maurice. The hurricane winds came in quickly as he was on his way to visit her in human land, from the sugarcane fields. Maurice's doll body was tossed around so much that he became disoriented. As the winds blew stronger he was blown into the land of humans. Landing against a vehicle that was parked along the street, the thump of his body against the vehicle knocked all of the stuffing out of him. His insides were scattered along the streets. This is what ended his stay on Earth.

At that moment, Betty Lou accepted the Queen's last wish to become a doll and teach in the magical land. The Cajun angels found all the pieces of Maurice, and brought him back to the Queen in the enchanted fields after the storm was over.

Betty Lou pleaded with Madame Plume to fix Maurice with her magic wand, and not even Plume could POP him back to life. Plume explained to Betty Lou that all things must come to an end, and all of the magic she possessed could not be used at this time. It wasn't allowed, even though she could fix him.

Marie La Vie couldn't fix him either. She explained that everything on Earth, even dolls and humans have an end of existence. Both she or Madame Plume couldn't cross that line of endings. It wasn't right. So, Betty Lou decided to make a tomb for him in the graveyard under the oak trees in the land. This way, she could go and talk to him when ever she needed comfort. She didn't want to burn him. She buried him.

When Betty Lou returned the pirogue behind Madame Plume's house, she pulled it on land. Walking quietly to her house, she picked a hand full of red roses along with a few gardenias and mixed them with some wild fern that was growing near her front steps. Placing the flower arrangement in a tall, white vase that was on her porch, she went to the tomb of Maurice in the graveyard.

"Oh, Maurice," she sighed at the tomb. "I miss you so much."

She talked to Maurice about what the healer Marie La Vie said about her state of mind. As the teacher in this enchanted land, she had to have a clear mind to teach the dolls what they needed to know about good manners, common sense, and the ways of the humans.

She continued her woes to Maurice on this night of the full moon, telling his spirit that she didn't know how she would cope with this ordeal coming her way. She placed the flower vase ever so gently on the step of his tomb.

"I still love you, Maurice. Stay with me in my time of need," she said to his spirit.

The few words she spoke at the tomb of Maurice came out of her mouth with no effort. She thought that she was getting better because she talked to Maurice, or maybe it was the salve that Marie La Vie put on her brow. Whatever it was, she was thankful, and thought this was a sign that her mind would be back to the way it was. She turned around to go back to the school house.

As she started her walk back home from the tomb, she felt a sprinkle of water, squirting on top of her head. She thought that she would be in for a brief drizzle of rain on this moonlit night, and she covered her head with the hood of her black cape and continued to walk home. The sprinkle of "water" continued to fall on here head in squirts. She turned around and saw no water. She placed her hands out, with her palms up, and she felt no rain.

"What is this water that squirts on me in the night?"

"It's not water that I squirt on top of your head. It's magic fairy powder that I squirt upon you," said the fairy in a squeaky voice that sounded like she had just swallowed some helium.

"Fairy powder indeed," grunted Betty Lou looking to see where the voice of the fairy was coming from. "I've heard of the Cajun Fairy creatures living in the oaks in the land of the Sha Bebe. We call them the Fee Folay, but in all of my time in this enchanted land, I have never seen one. I've seen angel's with wings of feathers. Are your wings the same as those of the angels?" Betty Lou continued to look, but she didn't see the Fee Folay that was speaking to her.

The fairy continued, "Our gossamer wings are what make the Fee Folay different from the Cajun angels. We have the reputation of being an evil spirit, who seeks out its victims and causes them to lose their way along the bayous and swamps, and the evil fairies do just that. They live to destroy anything or anyone who is good. This is all the evil ones understand in their realm." The Fee Folay was very soft spoken with her explanation.

"Then, other fairy creatures such as myself, a good Cajun fairy, help people who are lost. I am a creature of the night who roams the land to seek out souls who need to speak to me," she said as she flew down from the oak tree to be along side of Betty Lou.

Betty Lou was taken aback by the presence of the good Cajun fairy and her demeanor. She didn't have any fear, just a wonderful feeling of amazement passed through her veins.

"Can you see my wings better now?" asked the fairy.

"Yes, I can see your wings are much finer in structure than the wings of the Cajun angels, but why are you here in the night, and exactly where do you live?" asked Betty Lou, noticing how much better she was speaking and how good she felt. She didn't wobble when she walked along side of the good Cajun fairy.

"We live in the oak trees. We have always lived in these oaks since the beginning of time. We stay with the fire flies. They light our way in the dark, same as they light your way along the braided rug road when the dolls are going to their sugar shack for bedtime," answered the Fee Folay .

"How charming. Has anyone else ever seen you?" asked Betty Lou.

"Only the ones who we come to help see us. We see all of you here in your magical land of Sha Bebe. My name is Acadia, and I am ruler of the Good Cajun Fairy Realm. I live in the trees with ten other good Cajun fairies."

"My name is Betty Lou, but I guess you already know this."

"Yes, I do know your name," answered Acadia. "I was summoned to come to you by Maurice."

"You know of my Maurice?" Betty Lou asked with an excitement that swiftly jolted her head forward.

"Yes, I know the spirit of your Maurice. Good Cajun fairies can communicate with all spirits who have passed beyond the veil. He asked me to come and bring you healing, so I sprinkled silver fairy powder on you to make you feel better."

"Can you bring my Maurice back to me?"

"No," answered Acadia. "Once anyone goes into the spirit world, they can't come back as the person they were. They communicate with the good Cajun fairies, and we send out their message."

"Oh, I understand," said Betty Lou, lowering her head in disappointment. "Madame Plume and Marie La Vie couldn't bring him back either, but your presence makes me feel better. I'm not skipping words in my speech." She lifted her head up, "Thank you for coming to me. Now, I have to go back home. I need some sleep so that I can get the school room ready for tomorrow morning. I teach the dolls in this land, and I have to remember to place this salve on my forehead for nine days." She bid the good fairy goodnight and sweet dreams, and the fairy replied in like manner.

Betty Lou continued to walk along the braided rug road until she entered her school house. The full moon lit her way very well. She asked the fire flies to not give her a path of light again, because she didn't want to wake anyone up.

She didn't know that Plume and Poulette were gone from the land. The queen was still fast asleep as well as Dupre. He usually woke up for any little sound, but he didn't hear any rumblings from Betty Lou's night visit to Marie La Vie.

When she arrived home, she closed the door behind her and hung her cape on the coat rack behind the door. Turning around, there in the middle of the room on the top of one of the school desk, she saw a big box covered with Spanish moss. Not knowing what to do with this big box, she walked around it to get a closer look. Betty Lou was a smart lady and usually looked very carefully before she leaped. On top of the box there was a purple ribbon with a sign on the ribbon that said---Pull Me.

"Ah, now what?" she said as she walked around the box wondering what to do. "Maybe the Cajun fairy left me a present."

This time she leaped without hesitation, and decided to pull the ribbon.

The box lid exploded open. Purple ribbons popped out of the box, with each strand of purple flying into the air and taking aim at Betty Lou's head. Each strand began to wrap itself in a circle around her head. Long thin streams of ribbon kept spinning in a line from inside of the moss covered box going straight around her head like a weaver spinning yarn at a spinning wheel. The ribbons started to take on the appearance of a purple turban on the top of her head.

Betty Lou couldn't see the purple ribbon encircling the top of her head. She couldn't move! Everything happened so fast.

When the ribbons had ended their job of covering her head, Betty Lou was still in the middle of the room, but now she was frozen stiff with her two arms stuck to her side. She tried to walk over to the couch, but she couldn't. She was indeed frozen stiff with a two foot high purple turban covering her entire head. Not one strand of her beautiful dark brown curly hair was showing.

While she was in her frozen state, she was facing the front window, and she saw a dark shadow peeking inside. Not being able to see who it was at this time of the night, she yelled, "Help ME. I don't know what is happening to me!"

Her front door opened with a gust of wind, and in flew something that looked like a small buzzard. Just as quickly as it flew in, it flew back out the door, leaving it wide open. She didn't know what flew in her house, but it left with the salve that Marie La Vie gave her to put on her brow.

Still frozen with her two arms stuck to her side she yelled again for that thing to bring back her salve. "Bring salve. Need salve. Wait. Need help. La Vie, help me."

Her speech was back the way it was at supper time, and now her body was frozen stiff with a tall purple turban on top of her head.