Oyster Island lies off the coast of Louisiana, about fifty miles from New Orleans. Lighthouse keeper Jack Wiesinski and Atakapa Indian Grogan 'Chief' La Tortue are its only inhabitants. Things are about to change.
Chapter 1
Grogan La Tortue had never spent an entire night in a bed, at least not
alone. The man everyone called Chief was an American Indian and quite literally
the last of the Atakapas. Native American blankets and animal skins covered the
straw pallet where he slept. His Chihuahua Coco didn’t seem to mind.
The rain and a gentle breeze had created almost perfect sleeping weather in late spring. Light
rain beat a gentle cadence on Chief’s teepee. It didn’t matter because the
distant howl of some creature he didn’t recognize kept Chief awake. It bothered
him his dog Coco hadn’t also heard it.
Chief brushed
his shoulder-length gray hair out of his eyes, got up from the pallet, and
relieved himself in the privy behind the teepee.
Chief’s property
sat on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. The moon was full, damp clouds
partially cloaking its yellow luster. When the moon burst from the shadows, he gazed
across the island. Chief could smell the storm moving in from the Gulf. The
warm rain felt good on his bare back.
A hulk of a man,
Chief’s shoulders rippled when he drew a bucket of water from the well. The
water was cool and tasted good. Chief’s grandfather had lived more than a
hundred years, attributing his long life and good health to the mineral water
from the well. His grandmother had touted the water as having magical
restorative powers. Chief had no doubt her words were valid. Before returning
to the warmth of his pallet, he again heard the howl. It was closer this time.
Chief’s chickens
were in their coop and safe for the night, at least from foxes. The howl he’d
heard wasn’t a fox. Before pulling the covers up, he grabbed his old
double-barreled shotgun and rested it beside him on the dirt floor.
Chief’s cat
Buttercup was out tomcatting, and he worried about her. He knew she didn’t like
the rain and wondered why she hadn’t joined him and Coco on the pallet. Though
he closed his eyes, sleep resisted his efforts. Finally, he descended into the
gentle rapture of a vivid dream.
Dark smoke engulfed the island. Chief stood outside
his teepee. Somewhere in the distance, someone cried for help. The cries grew
louder as Chief floated down the hill. Though he sensed the crackle of flames,
he couldn’t smell the smoke.
When the smoke cleared, he was standing in the sand,
looking out at the vast cove where boats and yachts once docked, their
occupants gambling inside the casino set on stilts over the water. The old
wood-framed building, flames spewing from open windows, was on fire. A young
woman’s head and upper body protruded from a third-story window.
“Help me,” she screamed.
The scream
awakened Chief to another sound: a howl outside the teepee. He saw a black claw
from the glow of the fire pit as it tore through the animal skin. Rising into a
sitting position, Chief pointed the shotgun at the claw and pulled both
triggers, the ensuing blast waking his Chihuahua.
Coco bounded off
the pallet, growling as he raced through the flap of the teepee.
“Dammit!” Chief
said.
After grabbing a
handful of shells, he followed the tiny dog through the flap. When he stepped
on a sand burr, he realized he’d forgotten his moccasins. Coco’s distant growls
reinforced that he had no time to return for them.
The moon had
temporarily disappeared behind the clouds. Chief missed the trail leading down
the hill, tripped on a vine, and rolled to the bottom. His breechcloth did
nothing to protect him from the burrs and bull nettle through which he’d
rolled. His raw and itching skin meant little now as Coco’s growls grew farther
away.
Chief could see
blood in the sand and large footprints when the moon burst from the clouds. The
indentions in the sand looked like those of a giant dog, or maybe a wolf.
Whatever had made the prints wore no shoes. Chief had little time to process
the information as he heard the commotion of a fight up ahead.
Half-naked and
without his shotgun, Chief had no other plan than to join the fray barehanded
and try to rescue Coco. Forgetting his lacerated skin, he raced ahead, reaching
the bridge connecting the island to the mainland as the shadow of some erect
creature crossed the structure. Chief watched it disappear into the underbrush.
Coco’s barks and
growls had gone quiet. The rain had also stopped leaving Chief’s skin in a
tormenting burn. Ignoring the discomfort, he frantically searched the bushes on
the side of the trail beside the road leading to the Majestic, the island’s
Prohibition-era hotel and casino, stopping when the beam of a large flashlight
shined in his face.
“Chief, is that
you? What in holy hell are you doing out here this time of night?”
“It’s me, Jack.
I’m looking for Coco.”
Jack was short, probably no taller than five-six or seven. He
was wiry, closely shaven, with brown hair buzzed almost to his scalp. From the
odd shape of his mouth, It was hard to tell if Jack was smiling or frowning.
Chief stood at least a foot taller than the smaller man and weighed at least a
hundred pounds more than he did.
With Jack was Oscar, his English bulldog whose
shoulders were as broad and muscular as Chief’s. Oscar wagged his short tail
when Chief reached down to rub his head.
“I had an
intruder at the teepee,” Chief said.
“I heard a
shotgun blast. Was that you?”
“Something tried
to tear into my teepee. When I unloaded the shotgun, Coco ran after him.”
“Who was it?”
“Not who, what?”
“The hell?”
“Help me find
Coco, and I’ll tell you the rest of the story.”
“Oscar,” Jack
said. “Find Coco.”
Oscar’s flat
nose went to the sand. He ran down the trail from where Chief had come. Jack
and Chief chased after him until he stopped and barked at the brush beside the
path.
“I’ll get my
machete,” Jack said.
Before Jack
could go for his big knife, Oscar bulldozed his way into the brush, returning
with the scruff of Coco’s neck in his mouth.
“Oh shit!” Chief
said. “Please, God, don’t let him be dead.”
“Let’s get him
to the lighthouse,” Jack said. “We can’t check him out in the dark.”
Chief cradled
the little dog in his arms as he followed Jack up the hill to the lighthouse
overlooking the bay. The door to Jack’s house was ajar. Jack hadn’t bothered
shutting it.
“Give him to
me,” Jack said. “I was the part-time medic on more ships than I can count.”
Chief was stoic.
Jack had never seen him cry and had only rarely seen him smile. Expecting
little emotion from the hulking man, he laid Coco on the kitchen table and
began wiggling his head and legs.
“Nothing’s
broken,” he said. “Get me a washrag.”
“Is he
breathing?” Chief asked as he handed Jack a damp washcloth.
“He had the holy
hell knocked out of him,” Jack said.
Coco opened his
eyes and struggled to his feet. Though wobbly, his tail was wagging when Chief
rubbed his head.
“You scared the
hell out of me, you little bastard.”
“He doesn’t look
half as bad as you do,” Jack said. “Use my shower and get cleaned up. I’ll put
iodine on your cuts when you return.”
“It’s not the
cuts that are bothering me. I took a roll in bull nettle.”
“Sit here,” Jack
said. “I’ll get the tweezers.”
Thirty minutes
passed as Jack methodically extracted tiny poisonous spines from Chief’s body.
“I think I got
them all,” Jack said. “I’ll apply cortisone and iodine when you come out of the
shower.”
“What am I going
to wear?”
“Hell, Chief,
none of my clothes will fit you. You’ll have to put your breechcloth back on.”
“It’s filthy and
full of sand burrs.”
“Then throw it
in the washer. A towel will do until it’s washed and dried.”
The aroma of
Jack’s chowder greeted Chief when he exited the bathroom. Sitting at the
kitchen table, he ate a bowl as Jack doctored his cuts and scratches. Coco and
Oscar were lying together in Oscar’s doggie bed next to Jack’s old stove. Both
were asleep as if nothing had happened. The rain had returned, the storm from
the Gulf resulting in high wind, thunder, and lightning.
When Chief’s
breechcloth was clean and dry, he put it on and sat on Jack’s couch with a
blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
“Feel better?”
Jack asked.
“Not as good as
I would if I had a mug of your firewater.”
Jack poured each
a mug of rum from a bottle he kept in the cabinet over the stove. The hint of a
smile crossed Chief’s face as he leaned his big head against the couch.
“What the hell
were you and Coco chasing out there?” Jack said.
“I think it was
a Rougarou,” Chief said.
“What the hell
is that?” Jack asked.
“Navahos call
them Skinwalkers, a human who can take the shape of an animal.”
“You mean like a
shapeshifter?” Jack asked.
“Yes. Whatever
tore into my teepee was bigger than me and had the claws of an animal.”
“What kind of
animal?” Jack asked.
“Though I didn’t
get a good look, it was howling like a wolf.”
“Get out of
here!” Jack said.
“Coco thinks
he’s a lion and went after him. He’s lucky to be alive.”
“If you didn’t
get a good look at him, how do you know how big he was?” Jack asked.
“Wait’ll you see
his tracks in the sand,” Jack said. “Whatever the thing is, he’s a monster.”
“Pardon me if I
don’t believe you,” Jack said.
“Magic is real.
Doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. It is what it is.”
Jack was
squirming as he sat at the table of the tiny kitchen. “You think whoever tried
to break into your teepee was magical?”
Chief nodded.
“That’s not all. I had a dream.”
“What?” Jack
said.
“The Majestic
was on fire, a woman I didn’t recognize trapped on the top floor.”
“No one’s lived
in the Majestic for decades,” Jack said.
“Then why does
my dream worry you?”
“I had a call
from Mr. Castellano today.”
“The man who
claims to own the island?” Chief asked.
“The biggest mob
boss in the south,” Jack said. “He doesn’t like it when things go wrong.”
“Why do you work
for a crook?” Chief asked.
“Mr. Castellano
pays me well to take care of things. That and my navy pension provides the grog
you enjoy so much.”
“You didn’t
answer my question. Why does my dream worry you?”
“Mr. Castellano
has found someone to come live here and restore the Majestic to its former
glory.”
“You’re kidding
me?” Chief said.
“I wish I were.
The last thing two old hermits like you and me need is a crowd of people taking
over the island.”
“That’s a fact,”
Chief said.
“I would lose my
job if the Majestic burned, and it won’t make Mr. Castellano happy to learn a
shapeshifter’s roaming the island.”
“Then don’t tell
him,” Chief said.
“The rain has
stopped,” Jack said. “Show me the footprints.”
Oscar and Coco
didn’t awaken as Jack and Chief followed the powerful flashlight beam down the
path from the lighthouse. They halted when they reached the bridge to the
mainland.
“The only way
onto the island is across the bridge,” Jack said.
“It’s low tide,”
Chief said. “He could have waded across.”
Chief was correct; the water beneath the bridge was shallow enough to see the bottom. Jack was staring
at something in the water.
“What is it?” he
said.
“Looks like an
old crate,” Chief said. “Must have washed up in the storm.”
Chief waded into
the shallow water, dragging the crate to shore.
“Too heavy to
carry back to your place,” he said. “We’ll have to get it with the ATV.”
“Any idea what
it is?” Jack asked.
“Don’t know,”
Chief said. “The stenciling on the crate is faded. I think it says Dominican
Republic.
Chapter 2
Coco didn’t awaken during Chief’s return to his hill overlooking the Gulf.
The rain continued, and Jack had lent him an umbrella. The first thing he
noticed when he entered his teepee was the large hole in the wall made when
he’d unloaded the shotgun on the intruder. Rain and wind continued blowing
through the hole. Chief decided not to worry about it, covering his head with a
blanket.
The sound of a horn honking woke him some hours later.
From the wagging of Coco’s tail, Chief knew it was Jack waiting in the ATV at the foot of the hill. When Chief exited the privy, Jack
was coming up the path, Oscar in front of him.
“Hell, man,” Jack said. “You going to sleep all day?”
“Wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Chief said, “seeing as I got
no sleep last night.”
“We got work to do. I brought the ATV.”
“I’m not deaf. I heard the horn.”
“Then get your butt in gear. We’ll haul the crate to my
house, and then I’ll fix us a navy breakfast.”
Always hungry, Jack’s offer of food riveted his
attention.
“Let me feed the chickens and Buttercup. She was
tomcatting all night and is still asleep on the pallet.”
“You and that cat,” Jack said.
“You don’t like cats?”
“There are half a dozen feral cats that hang out behind
my house. They live in the storage shed and eat my grub just like you do.
Haven’t had a mouse since I moved in. Doesn’t mean I want them sitting in my
lap and purring.”
“Bet they feel the same way about you,” Chief said.
The
four-wheel-drive, all-terrain vehicle was waiting at the foot of the hill. Jack
had lowered the top, Chief contorting his massive frame to fit in the front
seat. The 90-horsepower engine started on the first
crank of the key. Oscar and Coco loved it, their tails wagging as they sat in
the backseat.
A hazy orb poked
rays of sunshine through the clouds as Jack drove past the Majestic.
“What a place
that must have been back in the thirties,” Jack said.
“That casino
almost kept me from being born,” Chief said. “Grandpa went there one night
before he and Grandma married. Got hooked up with a lady of the night.”
“What happened?”
Jack asked.
“Grandma forgave
him. I wouldn’t be here now if she hadn’t,” Chief said.
“Was your
granddad as big as you are?”
“Nope,” Chief
said. “He was six inches shorter than Grandma. My dad wasn’t tall either.”
“You never talk
about your parents,” Jack said.
“Maybe I’ll tell
you someday when we’ve both had a bit too much of your grog. Not now.”
Jack let the
matter drop as he parked the ATV near the bridge where they’d
found the crate. Chief lifted the container into the bed behind the backseat.
Instead of returning to the front seat, he stood with his hand shielding his
eyes from the sun.
“What the hell,
man? What are you looking at?” Jack asked.
“I saw a flash
in the water.”
“Just a
seashell. Let’s go,” Jack said.
Chief didn’t
obey. Instead, he pulled up his jeans over his knees and waded into the water
under the bridge. He needn’t have bothered because even his hair was wet when
he returned to the ATV.
“Found
something,” he said.
“Another crate?”
Jack asked.
When Chief opened
his hand, the objects in it glinted in the sunlight.
“Gold coins,” Chief
said. “Grandpa always told me there was a fortune in Spanish gold buried
somewhere on the island.”
“Jesus!” Jack
said. “An entire doubloon and a piece of eight. Got to be worth a lot of
money.”
“You think I’m
going to split it with you?” Chief said.
“If I’d found
them, I would have split it with you.”
“Sure about
that?” Chief asked.
“Hell yes, I’m
sure,” Jack said.
“I’m mighty
hungry,” Chief said. “I’ll decide after breakfast.”
Jack carried the
doubloons as Chief lugged the crate into the little white house and sat it on
the floor.
“Hope you have a
crowbar,” Chief said.
“Nothing much I
don’t have in my toolbox,” Jack said.
Chief took the
crowbar and began loosening the lid. When it popped open, Jack laid it against
the wall and then ripped open the waterproof covering with a kitchen knife. The
crate contained liquor bottles, and Jack held one up to the light.
“What’s it say?”
Chief asked.
“151 proof rum,
Whistling Winds Distillery, Dominican Republic, bottled 1929.”
“Then the rum
is. . .”
“Close to a
hundred years old,” Jack said, finishing Chief’s sentence.
“They look like
they were just bottled.”
“The waterproof
cover did the trick,” Jack said.
“Open it,” Chief
said. “Let’s see how it tastes.”
“You crazy? No
telling how much this crate of hooch is worth.”
“Nothing if it
tastes like shit,” Chief said. “Open it, and let’s find out.”
Jack continued
grumbling as he opened the bottle and filled two mugs. They both took a sip.
“What do you
think?” Jack asked.
“Best rum I ever
tasted in my life,” Chief said.
“Got that
right,” Jack said. “I’ve drunk rum from all over the world. None even comes
close to this.”
“What’ll we do?”
Chief asked.
“Eat breakfast
while we think about it,” Jack said.
The aroma of
baking biscuits and bacon and eggs soon filled the cozy kitchen Jack always
referred to as his galley. Chief’s stomach growled, and his mouth watered as he
waited at the plank table. As they tore into breakfast, complete with strong
coffee laced with Dominican rum there was no conversation. Chief was working on
his third helping of bacon and eggs when Jack pushed away from the table.
“I think we need
to take a road trip,” he said.
“Road trip to
where?” Chief asked.
“New Orleans.
Seems to me we have a few things to celebrate.”
“Sounds good to
me,” Chief said.
“Lots of shops
on Canal buy and sell things. We’ll split the money and then eat someplace
where I don’t have to cook.”
“You sick of
cooking?” Chief asked.
“No, but I love
it when someone else does the cooking for me.”
“I’m all in,
Jack. Raw oysters, all we can eat, cold beer and barbecue shrimp,” Chief said.
“Can’t wait.”
“You got it,”
Jack said. “And then a visit to a Bourbon Street tittie bar to watch the naked
girls until we get drunk and obnoxious, and they kick us out.”
“Not that drunk
and obnoxious,” Chief said. “I don’t ever want to spend another night in the
French Quarter drunk tank.”
“Right about
that,” Jack said. “It wasn’t exactly the Hotel Monteleone.”
“At least they
just let us sleep it off and didn’t charge us with a crime,” Chief said.
“No jail this
time,” Jack said. “If you start getting rowdy, I’ll herd your ass out of the
joint.”
“Who’s going to
herd yours out?” Chief said.
“Let’s don’t
worry about it until it happens.”
“What about
Oscar and Coco?” Chief asked.
“The doggie door
leads out back, and there’s plenty of room inside the fence to run around.
Those two dogs won’t go hungry or thirsty and will probably never miss us.”
Chief was
already half-drunk as they crossed the bridge to the mainland and headed toward
New Orleans. Using the dashboard as a tom-tom, he sang an Indian war song until
Jack turned up the radio in his old red pickup.
“Lighten up,
Chief. If you even think about scalping someone, I’m bringing you home. Got
it?”
“I can’t remember
the last time I scalped anyone,” Chief said.
“Because you
never have,” Jack said. “That doesn’t stop you from talking about it when you
get sotted. You’re so damn big you scare everyone half to death when you do.”
“Raw oysters and
wild women are the only two things on my mind right now,” Chief said.
“Then quit
hogging that bottle of rum. This country road makes me thirsty.”
Chief took a
swig before handing the bottle to Jack. Pastures filled with cattle and cattle
egrets were their only company along the rural road. The sky was still cloudy,
pelicans flying overhead looking for their nests. The radio station Jack had
found was playing an old Hank Williams song. He and Chief knew the words and
were soon singing along. The road grew wider when they reached St. Bernard
Parish.
“I’m glad you
know the way,” Chief said.
“You’re Indian,”
Jack said. “You people are supposed to have extrasensory perception.”
“On foot or
horseback,” Chief said. “Not in a truck.”
“Then it’s a
good thing it’s all but impossible to get lost in New Orleans.”
Chief almost
laughed. “Huh? You have a hard time finding your ass with both hands.”
Jack ignored
Chief’s retort. “Any more rum in that bottle you’re bogarting?”
“Not much. Luckily, we brought two bottles. Where are you going to park this old heap so it
doesn’t get impounded like it did last time?”
“I’ll find a
place,” Jack said.
Jack found an
alleyway on the outskirts of the French Quarter and parked the truck behind a
dumpster.
“Sure about
this?” Chief asked.
“It’s three
blocks to the French Quarter. No one would park this far away.”
“Famous last
words,” Chief said.
“Stow it,
landlubber,” Jack said. “We got money to make, oysters to eat, and tits to
watch. Don’t jinx us.”
They were soon
on their way to Canal Street, the widest thoroughfare on earth. A red streetcar
passed as they headed to one of the camera shops. A man with a Middle Eastern accent greeted them when they entered. Cameras, radios, and electronics filled
the front window. Inside, there was always a deal someone could make.
“How can I help
you two gentlemen?:” the salesman asked. “A new single-lens reflex camera?”
“We’re not
buying. We’re selling,” Jack said.
A smile crossed
the man's face with the dark mustache and swarthy complexion.
“What you boys
got?” he asked.
Jack pulled the
doubloon from his pocket, gave it a spin, and watched as it twirled on the
glass cabinet filled with exotic cameras. When it came to a rest on the
cabinet, the salesman took it, put it in his mouth, and bit it.
“Fake gold,” he
said. “I’ll give you twenty-five bucks.” Jack took the coin and started for the
door. “Wait,” the man said. “Give you a hundred.”
“You wouldn’t
give me a penny for it if it weren’t gold,” Jack said.
“It’s gold,” the
man said. “I’d have to get it assayed to determine how much gold.”
“Bullshit!”
Jack said. “Let’s go, Chief.”
Again, the man
stopped them. “Five hundred dollars.”
He grinned when
Jack said, “You wouldn’t give your mama five hundred dollars unless whatever
you were buying was worth a thousand.”
“Then tell me how
much you want for it,” the man said.
“Four thousand
dollars,” Jack said.
“Excuse me a
minute,” the man said before disappearing into the back.
He counted out
fifteen hundred dollars in hundred dollar bills on the cabinet when he
returned.
“Twenty-five
hundred dollars, or we’re walking,” Jack said.
“You are an
excellent negotiator,” the man said with a smile as he counted out five more
hundreds. “My last offer.”
Chief grabbed
the cash. Without giving Jack a chance to reply, he started for the door. Jack
didn’t take much convincing. Chief handed Jack a thousand dollars back out on
Canal Street and put the other thousand in his pocket.
“Let that be a
lesson, Chief,” Jack said. “I got us a thousand dollars more than the doubloon
is worth.”
“If you believe
that,” Chief said. “I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. That man just
stuck it up our butts.”
“Then why did
you take the money?” Jack asked.
“We have two
thousand dollars we didn’t have yesterday. My grandpa always told me about the
Spanish gold hidden on the island. There are more doubloons where that one came
from.”
“Okay, then,”
Jack said. “Let’s catch the streetcar at St. Charles. “Someone’s shucking
oysters and I’m buying all you can eat.”
Chapter 3
Jack and Chief waited on the corner for the next streetcar to arrive. When
it turned off Canal onto St. Charles and rumbled to a stop, they boarded the
antique passenger vehicle.
There’s nothing quite as relaxing as sitting in a
wooden streetcar seat as it rumbles down St. Charles Avenue. Rush hour had
passed, and the old streetcar was almost deserted as Jack and Chief enjoyed the cool
weather and fresh air from the open window. Chief pulled the wire to signal the
driver to let them off at Napoleon. Daylight began to wane as they exited the
streetcar and headed north.
“We haven’t been here in a while,” Jack said. “Hope the
place isn’t out of business.”
“If it is,” Chief said. “We can head back to the
Quarter and eat at the Oyster House.”
A breeze fluttered the leaves of the live oaks fronting
many of the old houses. The sidewalk was growing dark, though neither man
worried about being accosted. They reached the restaurant in ten minutes and
entered through the parking lot door.
They found a large room with a wooden plank floor and several patrons waiting for dinner in the main dining room. There were two
bars, one for drinking and another for raw oysters.
“Order me an Abita,” Jack said. “I’ll get us a couple
of dozen oysters.”
The young black man shucking oysters smiled when he
looked up and saw Jack.
“Ain’t seen you in a spell. That big Indian with you?”
Jack nodded and shook his hand. “Glad to see you,
James. Chief is ordering us beer. Got any oysters in this place?”
The young man grinned. “We got the plumpest, sweetest
oysters in all of Louisiana.”
“Then you must have known we were coming,” Jack said.
“Where you boys been?”
“Recovering from our last visit,” Jack said.
“I hear that,” James said. “You two about cleaned us
out of oysters last time.”
“We’re going to give it a try again tonight,” Jack
said.
Pulling a hundred-dollar bill from the pocket of his
blue work shirt, Jack passed it across the bar to James.
“For you,” he said. “Keep the oysters coming.”
James stashed the bill in his shirt pocket. “You boys
rob a bank?”
Jack pulled a silver flask from his back pocket and
handed it to James.
“Better than that,” he said. “Take a swig of this.”
James opened the flask, smiling after he’d
taken a drink.”
“Man,” he said. “That’s the smoothest rum I ever
tasted.”
“1929 Dominican. We found a crate of it
on Oyster Island.”
“Wouldn’t want to sell me a bottle, would you?” James
asked.
James grinned again when Jack said, “Son, they don’t
pay you enough here to afford a bottle of this rum.”
“Then maybe you’ll let me take another pull.”
“Go ahead, just don’t drink it all,” Jack said. “It’s a
long way back to Oyster Island.”
“You boys have oysters on Oyster Island?” James asked.
“How do you think it got its name?”
“Then why do you and Chief have to come to the city for
oysters?”
“The man who owns the island won’t allow anyone to
touch the beds. Maybe someday.”
“Damn!” James said. “You know how much oysters are
worth?”
James grinned again when Jack said, “There’s way more
there than I can afford, at least at the prices you charge.”
“I’ll bring you and Chief your oysters soon as I get
them shucked.”
Jack saluted and said, “Thanks.”
When he joined Chief at the bar, he found a chilled
glass of Abita waiting for him. James tapped Chief’s shoulder when he delivered
their first batch of oysters.
“How’s it going, Chief?” he asked.
“Wonderful,” Chief said. “These oysters look great.”
“Nothing but the best for my two favorite customers,”
James said.
Jack mixed horseradish and cocktail sauce, put a fat
oyster on a cracker, and then topped it with his concoction before biting into it. Chief didn’t waste time with condiments, forking an oyster straight into his
mouth.
“Uh oh!” he said.
“What?” Jack asked.
“James must have left a piece of shell in this one. I
almost broke a tooth.”
He fished the object out of his mouth and held it to
the light.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“A pearl,” Chief said.
The bartender with thinning hair and a bushy mustache
wiped a glass with a bar rag.
“Your lucky day,” he said. “That’s a nice pearl.”
“A real beauty,” Chief said, dropping it in his shirt
pocket.
“Need me to put you on the list for the main dining
room?” the bartender asked.
“What about it, Chief?” Jack asked.
“Another couple dozen of these tasty mollusks is all I
need,” he said.
The bartender nodded and moved away to help another
customer.
Many oysters and cold beers later, Jack and Chief
exited the restaurant. Dark shadows danced outside the halos of light
created by the street lamps.
“You ready for some titties?” Jack asked.
“Been ready since we left Oyster Island,” Chief said.
The streetcar was nearly empty on their return trip to
Canal Street. Chief closed his eyes and got fifteen minutes of well-deserved
sleep, awaking when the streetcar pulled to a stop. Everyone disembarked at Canal
Street.
Jack and Chief walked to the intersection with Bourbon
Street. Once on Bourbon, they could see the lights and human activity down the
famous venue. The raspy voice of street barkers, live jazz, and many drunk
revelers accosted their senses. They were soon standing in front of High
Rollers, a Bourbon Street strip club. The barker in the doorway implored them
to come in.
“Titties and beer. Best in town,” he said. Come in now,
and I’ll cut the cover charge to only twenty bucks.”
The barker grinned when Jack asked, “Twenty bucks for
both of us?”
“High Rollers is a strip joint, not a charity,” he
said. “The twenty bucks comes with one free drink. Come in before the rain
starts, and I’ll give you each two free drink coupons.”
Chief and Jack
entered the club, paid the cover charge, and had their hands stamped. Once
inside, loud music, the fragrance of perfume, and a gorgeous waitress with a
thick thatch of blond hair greeted them.
“I’m Opium,” she
said. “What are your names?”
“I’m Jack, and
this is Chief. Love your name,” Jack said. “You look as if you could be
addictive.
“Every man’s
fantasy,” she said. “What are you and Chief drinking?”
Opium’s pink
nightie didn’t cover her black panties and mesh stockings entirely. Chief was
staring, and Opium didn’t mind.
“Pitcher beer
and two mugs,” Jack said.
“Doesn’t the big
one ever talk?” she asked.
“Chief’s kind of
shy until you get him drunk, and then you can’t shut him up.”
“I’ll need a
credit card,” she said.
Jack handed her
the coupons the doorman had given them.
Opium’s
expression didn’t change as she took the coupons.
“I still need a
credit card,” she said.
“We got cash,” he said, handing her a hundred dollars.
Opium stuffed
the money into her lacy bra. “Cash doesn’t work in High Rollers. We need a
credit card, or you’ll have to leave.”
“What about the
drinks we paid for?” Chief asked.
“Wait here,” she
said. “I’ll send the manager over.”
A man in a
pinstriped suit soon joined them. Though he wasn’t smiling, his curled upper
lip revealed a gold front tooth.
“You can’t stay
here unless you got a credit card,” he said.
“We got cash,”
Jack said.
“Don’t matter
none,” The man said.
The man was big,
though not nearly as large as Chief, who was also frowning, his arms clasped
tightly across his chest. The manager counted out forty dollars and gave it to
Jack.
“Rockie’s down
the street caters to roughnecks, bikers, and college kids. They serve beer and
take cash. You and your big buddy will be more comfortable there.”
The gold-toothed
manager ushered them to the door, waiting until they’d walked out to the
street. A light rain had begun falling as they exited High Rollers to Bourbon
Street. It hadn’t stopped the steady flow of foot traffic. Music poured from
one of the bars selling exotic drinks through an open window.
“Guess they
didn’t want our business,” Chief said.
“Then we’ll
spend our money where they do,” Jack said.
“Want a
Hurricane?” Chief asked.
“Too sweet for
my taste,” Jack said. “The truck’s not far away. The flask is empty. Let’s get
our rum. It’s in a paper sack, and we can bring it with us.”
They found the
truck the way they’d left it, the bottle of Dominican Rum under the seat.
Drinks from the open bottle elevated their spirits as they returned to Bourbon Street's crowds. They soon found their strip joint.
Though not as
large and flashy as High Rollers, Rockies seemed more inviting, with slow music
emanating from the open door instead of a barker’s raspy voice. They waited at
the front door for someone to collect the cover charge. The red neon Scorpion
in the front window beckoned them to enter. A half-naked waitress with a
pitcher of beer in one hand smiled as she grabbed Chief’s hand.
“If we hurry,”
she said, “There are open chairs at the pussy bar.”
Two men dressed
like roughnecks from an offshore drilling platform beat them to the seats at
the elevated stage where a naked young woman was pole dancing to the slow
strains of an old Bob Seeger song. Like the song’s words, the dancer was ‘A
black-haired beauty with big dark eyes.’ Her expression revealed she was happy
to be the center of attention.
“Someone beat us
to the punch,” the waitress said. “How about a table in the corner?”
“That’ll work,”
Jack said.
“What are you
drinking?”
Jack answered
again, “Pitcher and two cold mugs.”
The room was
dark, only the stage lights and the supernatural glow of rotating spotlights
illuminating the room. A fog machine beneath the dance floor shot periodic
clouds of mist to the ceiling. The song to which the naked young woman danced
blasted out of giant speakers.
Chief nodded
when Jack said, “I think we found the right place.”
Their waitress
soon returned with a pitcher of beer and two chilled mugs.
“I’m Angela,”
she said. “I’ll check back to see if you need anything.”
“How about a
table dance?” Jack said.
Angela’s
bouffant blond hair highlighted her great smile and toned body clad only in the
skimpiest of blue bikinis.
“I’m a waitress,
not a dancer,” she said. “I’ll send one of the dancers over.”
“Sorry,” Jack
said. “Didn’t mean to insult you.”
“I wasn’t
insulted,” Angela said.
Angela
disappeared into the darkness. Another young woman soon approached Jack and
Chief’s table.
“Angela told me
someone needs a table dance,” she said.
“How much do you
charge?” Jack asked.
“A hundred
bucks,” the woman said.
“Damn!” Jack
said with a smile. “I should be giving table dances.”
“Nobody would
hire you,” Chief said. “What’s your name?”
The young woman
sat in the chair between Jack and Chief.
“Odette,” she
said. “Mind if I sit for a minute? These spike heels are killing me.”
“Sit, pretty
lady. Are you Cajun?”
“What gave you
your first clue?” she asked.
“Your accent,”
he said.
“You don’t like
it?”
“You kidding?”
Jack said. “I love it.”
“Buy me a
drink?” Odette asked.
Jack saw Angela
and raised his finger. “Angela, please bring this beautiful young woman a
drink.”
Angela smiled
and quickly returned with a tall drink.
“Twenty-five
dollars,” she said.
Jack did a
double-take but quickly handed Angela seventy-five dollars.
“Twenty-five is
for you. Bring Odette another when she finishes this one.”
Angela kissed
Jack’s forehead. “Bless you,” she said before hurrying off to the bar.
“Angela’s
working on her Ph.D. in physics at L.S.U.,” Odette said.
“With a body
like hers, she should be hooking full-time,” Jack said.
Odette sprang to her feet.
“Angela’s not a hooker, and neither am I. Keep your drink. I don’t sit with
assholes, much less dance for them,” she said.
###
- Born near Black Bayou in the little Louisiana town of Vivian, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmother’s tales of politics, corruption, and ghosts that haunt the night. He now lives in Oklahoma, where he continues to pen mysteries and short stories with a southern accent. He authored the French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans, the Paranormal Cowboy Series, and the Oyster Bay Mystery Series. Please check it out on his Amazon author page. You might also like checking out his Facebook page.