Voodoo Dues - UF Excerpt
Posted: January 19th, 2011, 12:36 am
Hello! This is an excerpt from the first chapter of my UF manuscript titled Voodoo Dues. Any feedback would be helpful and greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for any advice offered.
Crouching behind a headstone in a cemetery, ruining a pair of designer heels is not how I normally spend my Saturday nights. Usually, I would be out on a date with my current guy. Or more likely curled up with my dog, blubbering into a kleenex over Bogie and Bacall or Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant. Since I started working for Lian, real life has been much more entertaining than Turner Classic Movies.
I suppose that it all started the day the voodoo queen came to visit. I'd been working at Lian's bar for a couple of weeks, noticing things that were not quite right. Like the lack of actual customers, except for the couple old guys who came in to eat Lian's weird food and stare at my boobs. There were other visitors who didn't stay for lunch or drinks. A steady parade of people wearing pentacle jewelry and neighborhood psychics by the boatload.
That day, I was doing my usual post lunch thing, wiping off the immaculate bar for the tenth time in an hour, listening to my ipod with one earbud in while I hoped for an actual customer. At 1:48, the door chime jangled. I almost jumped out of my skin, startled by the possibility of actual patronage. My foot slid out from under me and my ipod hit the floor a mere second after my butt. I grimaced, hoping that my accident had not rocked the Kasbah enough to send bottles flying off of the shelves on top of me. Collecting myself, I stood to greet the customer. “May I speak to Dr. Cairn.” A statement not a question.
I scooted into Lian’s office where he was inspecting a coffee table sized book with yellowing pages. “Lian” I said, “You have a visitor who I wouldn’t keep waiting if I were you.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Marie freaking Laveau, that’s who it is!”
Lian frowned at me. “How does she look?”
“Har Har” Shocked at the first stab at humor I’d seen him manage. “The Marie of the Cliff.” I said. “Come on!” I tugged on him. “I don’t want her putting the evil eye on me!”
I averted my eyes as Rene Chamtillion, voodoo queen of Oak Cliff followed Lian into his office. I agonized for about thirty seconds over whether or not to listen at the closed door. Chances were that I wouldn’t hear anything, but if Rene was putting a curse on Lian, I might need to know what kind, but if I were caught, I might find myself on the wrong end of a voodoo doll.
“You’ll find no zombies in my basement Dr. Cairn.” The New Orleans crawled along my spine as I listened. “Them old ways is just that, old and dead.” The guest chair across from Lian’s desk made a squeaking noise, signaling that she was probably ready to go. I shuffled back to the bar and resumed my imaginary cleaning.
Rene exited the bar like the queen she was. A great whoosh of air left my lungs as soon as the latch fell into place.
“Superstitious?” Lian asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
I glared at him. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on here, I am going to kill you in a fit of unrequited knowledge!” I paced the best I could in four and a half inch heels. “We barely have any customers, yet every ten dollar fortune teller in the neighborhood has been here to see you! And now Rene with her grandgoons outside…” The rant trailed off as he stared at me with unnerving eyes.
“Grandgoons?”
I plopped down in my chair. “The goons that were by her car, they’re her grandsons. I went to high school with one of them.” And from the bulges in their jackets, they had graduated from scary to scary and armed. He was still staring, almost looking amused. “TELL ME!” I half yelled, hamming it up, face in the air and fists clenched in pretend agony.
He sent me a blank stare that said I was getting squat from him. “I’ll be in my office if any ten dollar psychics come by.”
“Answer the door yourself.” I gathered my purse and inched my way to the door. “Back in an hour.” I yelled at his open office door. I was definitely staying until I figured out what was going on.
Crouching behind a headstone in a cemetery, ruining a pair of designer heels is not how I normally spend my Saturday nights. Usually, I would be out on a date with my current guy. Or more likely curled up with my dog, blubbering into a kleenex over Bogie and Bacall or Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant. Since I started working for Lian, real life has been much more entertaining than Turner Classic Movies.
I suppose that it all started the day the voodoo queen came to visit. I'd been working at Lian's bar for a couple of weeks, noticing things that were not quite right. Like the lack of actual customers, except for the couple old guys who came in to eat Lian's weird food and stare at my boobs. There were other visitors who didn't stay for lunch or drinks. A steady parade of people wearing pentacle jewelry and neighborhood psychics by the boatload.
That day, I was doing my usual post lunch thing, wiping off the immaculate bar for the tenth time in an hour, listening to my ipod with one earbud in while I hoped for an actual customer. At 1:48, the door chime jangled. I almost jumped out of my skin, startled by the possibility of actual patronage. My foot slid out from under me and my ipod hit the floor a mere second after my butt. I grimaced, hoping that my accident had not rocked the Kasbah enough to send bottles flying off of the shelves on top of me. Collecting myself, I stood to greet the customer. “May I speak to Dr. Cairn.” A statement not a question.
I scooted into Lian’s office where he was inspecting a coffee table sized book with yellowing pages. “Lian” I said, “You have a visitor who I wouldn’t keep waiting if I were you.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s Marie freaking Laveau, that’s who it is!”
Lian frowned at me. “How does she look?”
“Har Har” Shocked at the first stab at humor I’d seen him manage. “The Marie of the Cliff.” I said. “Come on!” I tugged on him. “I don’t want her putting the evil eye on me!”
I averted my eyes as Rene Chamtillion, voodoo queen of Oak Cliff followed Lian into his office. I agonized for about thirty seconds over whether or not to listen at the closed door. Chances were that I wouldn’t hear anything, but if Rene was putting a curse on Lian, I might need to know what kind, but if I were caught, I might find myself on the wrong end of a voodoo doll.
“You’ll find no zombies in my basement Dr. Cairn.” The New Orleans crawled along my spine as I listened. “Them old ways is just that, old and dead.” The guest chair across from Lian’s desk made a squeaking noise, signaling that she was probably ready to go. I shuffled back to the bar and resumed my imaginary cleaning.
Rene exited the bar like the queen she was. A great whoosh of air left my lungs as soon as the latch fell into place.
“Superstitious?” Lian asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
I glared at him. “If you don’t tell me what’s going on here, I am going to kill you in a fit of unrequited knowledge!” I paced the best I could in four and a half inch heels. “We barely have any customers, yet every ten dollar fortune teller in the neighborhood has been here to see you! And now Rene with her grandgoons outside…” The rant trailed off as he stared at me with unnerving eyes.
“Grandgoons?”
I plopped down in my chair. “The goons that were by her car, they’re her grandsons. I went to high school with one of them.” And from the bulges in their jackets, they had graduated from scary to scary and armed. He was still staring, almost looking amused. “TELL ME!” I half yelled, hamming it up, face in the air and fists clenched in pretend agony.
He sent me a blank stare that said I was getting squat from him. “I’ll be in my office if any ten dollar psychics come by.”
“Answer the door yourself.” I gathered my purse and inched my way to the door. “Back in an hour.” I yelled at his open office door. I was definitely staying until I figured out what was going on.