The Boudreaux Sisters

Chapter 15: The Big Payback

Desi and Bri were in the bathroom. As soon as they got in, Desi walked into a bathroom stall right away and locked herself inside. As she cried and talked to Bri from the stall, the tardy bell for 1st period rang out. Bri knew that after the tardy bell rang, this would only leave her and Desi 5 minutes to get it together before one of the coaches or administrators would come to check the bathrooms, to make sure everyone was in class and not skipping.

Fuck them. Family comes first, thought Bri to herself.

Desi continued to cry and wipe away her tears. Bri instantly thought about their older sister, Rez, who she knew would come to bail them out, especially in a situation like this.

“Desi, do you want to leave school early today?” asked Bri.

Desi agreed and said, “To be honest, I wouldn’t know how to make it through the day after this. I’m so used to Darren walking me to class and he knows where all of my classes are and so do I. It would just be hella awkward. I can’t do this, sis,” said Desi, as she began to choke up.

Bri agreed with her and made a phone call to Rez. Rez picked up on the first ring.

“What’s wrong and what happened?” asked Rez.

“I’ll tell you if you can pull up and come and get us out of school soon.”, said Bri.

“Ok, I’m 10 minutes away.”

Once Rez arrived to pick up Bri and Desi, they began to ride out to The Healing Center. Bri started to fill Rez in on what happened at school that morning. After Bri finished, Rez began to shake her head and said, “I had a bad feeling about ya’ll leaving out for school this morning. Not bad like something really bad was going to happen but, I knew that one of ya’ll was going to be upset about something.”

Desi, who was sitting in the backseat, directly behind Rez, leaned forward and popped her on the arm.

“Why didn’t you say something? We could’ve avoided all of this by not even going to school this morning,” complained Desi.

“One thing about having this ability that I’ve learned is that most people don’t want to hear about bad shit that’s going to happen to them, especially in the future. Nobody wants to hear shit like that, even if you try to save ’em. So, I try not to be the bearer of bad news. Even though, I technically am.” said Rez, with a slight chuckle.

Desi sat back in her seat, folded her arms and rolled her eyes.

“I just feel like you could’ve said something like, ‘Your boyfriend’s gonna break up with you.’ Or something like that. Could’ve saved me the trouble.” stated Desi, as she wiped a tear from her eye.

Rez looked in the rearview mirror at Desi. Then, she pulled into the parking lot for The Healing Center and parked her car. Before they all exited the car, Rez took her seatbelt off and turned around to face Desi. She lifted Desi’s head up to make Desi look at her.

“Listen, baby girl. This may sound cliche, especially coming from your big sister. But everything is going to be ok. So he broke up with you. He’s going to quickly realize what he lost and he’ll come running back soon. But by then, you’ll either have moved on or forgotten about him and only see him as a memory. God puts people in our lives for a reason or for a season. Remember that. You shouldn’t be putting all of your eggs in one basket anyways.” Rez then turned to look at Bri.

“And neither should you.” Rez said to Bri.

Bri flipped her cornrows and said, “Oh, girl please. You know I don’t love these hoes.”

All of the sisters bursted into laughter.

“I needed that laugh.” chuckled Desi.

“That’s what sisters are for,” said Rez. “We’ll always be here to pick you up and have your back, no matter what. You are so beautiful and so smart, Desi. You are literally a catch. Being an empath and part of a bonne magie Creole family is just a bonus.” The girls shared a laugh once more over this and exited the car to head into their family business.

When the three sisters walked in, Toni’s head popped up from behind one of the exhibit cases. She made eye contact with all of her sisters and cried out in a tell-tale voice, “Oooh.” Toni was about to ask them if their mama knew that they weren’t in school but there wasn’t any need. Eva Marie suddenly appeared, walking out from the back of the kitchen. She made eye contact with Rez first and continued to look at every one of her daughters. Eva Marie then asked, “What’s wrong?”

Bri and Rez began to fill Toni and Eva Marie in. After they were done, Eva Marie had tears in her eyes and turned to face Desi. She grabbed Desi’s face with both of her hands and said, “Mon cherie, I’m so sorry.” Eva Marie grabbed Desi into an embrace and held her tight for a few moments. As Eva Marie held on to Desi, she began to look into the past to see why Darren broke up with Desi. For a total of about five minutes, Eva Marie’s eyes remained closed as she saw the events that led up to that morning.

From Lady scrolling through social media on homecoming night becoming envious, as she watched Desi and Darren’s daily story to Michael’s birthday barbecue. She even saw when Lady had mixed the Onzancaire into Darren’s leftover food plate and how they were flirting with each other soon after Desi and Bri had left that night. The very last images that Eva Marie saw was Lady and Darren sharing that passionate kiss in the front seat of his car and from earlier that morning when they walked each other to class.

Eva Marie’s eyes popped open and she released Desi from their embrace. She stared off into space for a while and then looked at her daughters. She began to tell her daughters everything that she saw.

Desi immediately stood up after Eva Marie was done and exclaimed, “I knew it! I knew I had a bad feeling about her being there after I left! Bri, you remember, right?”

Bri nodded her head, in agreement with her sister.

“Yeah, I remember that, sis.” stated Bri, matter of factly.

“Desi, calm down,” said Eva Marie calmly, as she motioned with her hands for Desi to sit back down.

Desi turned to look at Eva Marie and quickly dismissed her attitude. She sat back down next to her mother.

“Yes mam.”, Desi mumbled.

“Now… You girls know that we only practice bonne magie in this family, no?” asked Eva Marie to her daughters.

All of them responded in unison, “Yes mam.”

Eva Marie nodded her head and then looked at Desi.

“I’m going to ask you this one time and you need to give me a solid answer, do you understand me?”

Desi looked at her mother and replied back, “Yes mam.”

“Do you want to reverse what Lady has done? Now, remember… things like this never happen for normal people. But you are not normal. You’re from a Creole family. Do you want to reverse this nonsense and get your man back?” asked Eva Marie.

“Yes.”, stated Desi.

“Ok. Go over to the gris-gris wall.” Eva Marie directed Desi.

Desi did as she was told and stood before the wall. Eva Marie began explaining to Desi what gris-gris is and how she needed to carry it on her, everyday while she’s at school and to any other place she may go outside of The Healing Center and home. “The gris-gris will keep you protected from any evil forces or energies or people of any kind.” said Eva Marie.

“For the next two weeks, you need to carry the gris-gris on you for protection. It doesn’t matter whether you hide it in your purse or your bookbag. But you must keep it on you everywhere you go. Understand, mon amour?” stated Eva Marie, as she grabbed Desi’s face in her hand.

Desi smiled slightly and nodded her head yes. She loved when her mother spoke French to her and her sisters.

Eva Marie smiled back at her.

“Now, while you’re doing your part by carrying the gris-gris on you, I will be creating a reverse mixture called Le Blanc Serpent à Sonnette.”

Rez’s face instantly frowned up, in confusion, as she attempted to translate in English.

“The White Rattlesnake?” questioned Rez.

Eva Marie turned in Rez’s direction, smiled and nodded in agreement. She then began to explain the meaning of the mixture called Le Blanc Serpent à Sonnette.

“Le Blanc Serpent à Sonnette is derived from an old New Orleans voodoo practitioner by the name of Monsieur Danny. Or Blanc Dani, as some older spirits would tell you. He always walked around with a white rattlesnake who’s venom he’d used to defeat enemies and even make people fall out of love or grow extreme hatred for a human being or thing. I need to go back home to New Orleans to collect some white rattlesnake venom. I’ll also need to call on the strength of our dear ancestor Marie Laveau, your granddaddy, Dr. Aggie and even maybe Monsieur Danny myself! But nevertheless… anything for my babies.” stated Eva Marie, matter of factly.

Rez and Toni walked over to where Eva Marie stood and embraced her. Eva Marie smiled at her daughters and hugged them back.

“You know, y’all granddaddy made a promise to himself to never practice noir magie again after the death of Mama Tine Fòtin. I myself, was never taught noir magie. But just because I wasn’t taught, doesn’t mean I don’t know of a couple of tricks of my own.”, Eva Marie said this, with a slight chuckle.

Then, she looked at Desi and touched her face, lovingly. “My child is in love and I know what that feels like.” Eva Marie said proudly.

Rez stood up and volunteered saying, “Well, I’ll go with you, mama. So you won’t have to travel alone.” As Rez stated this, she proceeded to walk out to her car, to grab her laptop.

Then, Toni spoke up and said, “I’ll hold the fort down here while y’all are away.” Eva Marie immediately stood to her feet and sternly stated, “No. The Healing Center will be closed until we come back. Toni, you take a break from work and be here for your sisters.”

At first glance, Toni seemed upset by this. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and walked over to Desi and Bri. Eva Marie then turned to the three of them and said, “Desi and Bri, y’all will continue to go to school and carry the gris-gris on the both of you. Rez and I shouldn’t be gone for no longer than a week–”

“A WEEK?! MOM–” exclaimed Toni, as she cut off Eva Marie.

Eva Marie looked at Toni sharply with her eyes. Toni instantly got quiet.

“While I’m away, you two will continue to go to school, like I said. Toni and your dad will be here so, you’ll be ok. Keep your heads down, stay out of trouble and protect each other. Do you understand?” said Eva Marie to her daughters.

“Yes mam.” stated Toni, Desi and Bri, in unison.

Rez came back from getting her laptop out of her car. She sat down at a nearby table and began looking up plane tickets for her and her mom.