"Lilly Of The Bayou," ~ Prologue: Among The Black Trees ...

Even in the daylight Bayou Saint Celeste was a dark and creepy place. The old trees that grew in the water shut out most of the light. And, the water was black, of course, black as cola from the tannic acid in the roots of the cypress, and it was warm as blood. It was there in the deep bug and snake infested swamp, in a cabin made of cypress, on ancient poles stuck in that black water, that beautiful Lilly was raised. She was raised by her granny Eloise June. Lilly's only friends were possums and raccoons, and even baby alligators that people swore Eloise June tamed. Those gators grew gigantic, yet still were tame to Eloise June, for there could be no surer marker of supernatural ability than the power to sooth fierce and dangerous wild beasts.

Everybody in those parts, and even into New Orleans, knew that Eloise June Clement was a powerful conjure woman, an herb medicine woman too, depending on how you looked at it... Whether you wanted a spell and potion to get revenge on your ex or whether you wanted a remedy to heal yourself from a nasty and persistant itch in a place that you were too ashamed to get treated by a regular doctor. Not when the conjure woman would sell you an evil smelling powder concocted from dried rotten turtle eggs and sulfur and camphor and other stuff that decent people shouldn't know of would make that itch go away in a fortnight. No matter, that many folks were scared to death of Eloise June. Wild black haired, chartreuse-eyed Eloise June had been just as pretty as Lilly, when she was young, although without Lilly's bright red hair.

It was said that Vibie, Lilly's sweet and delicate mama, was seduced by a redheaded carnie man, who got her pregnant and then left her. A common enough story, but, folks wondered... Did the carnie man actually leave, or was he spirirted away by Eloise June's magic? Anyway, not even Eloise June's magic and skill could save Vibie, who died in childbirth, shrieking in pain. At least, Eloise June had saved the baby girl. Vibie insisted, as her last wish, that her tiny daughter be named Lilly Ooona Rayme, after her great granny Ooona, and since Vibie's carnie lover's last name was Rayme, Johnny Rayme, and Eloise June wouldn't deny her darling Vibie's last request. Then, Vibie sighed and died, and Eloise June let out a chilling wail that could be heard, and was heard, for a literal mile. Yeah... And, no one was so brave or so foolhardy to pursue the line of thought that Eloise June was maybe a man-killing murderess, for doing in the faithless Johnny Rayme. So, baby Lilly grew up in the little gray cypress shack.

And, people stayed away from her and from her mystical granny Eloise June, sort of, because, on the sly, Eloise June ran a thriving conjure business. For where else could you buy such rare curios as a quart jar of clay and eucalypus scalp treatment, or a rattlesnake's tail, or a raccoon penis bone? ~ Copyright By Antoinette Beard, 2024.