New Orleans, 1895
“There going to burn the whole town down by the time they wait for him to return.”, Angelina said turning from the window in the parlor to face David.
“They aren’t waitin’ for him, there waitin’ for her to come out and tell them where he is.”, David said while telling Missy, the housemaid, to fetch him another drink. “They, and why sister can’t we call them by their real name?”
“You know good and well why their name can not be said in this house.”
“Are you tellin’ me that you believe all that croc Mamas’ been feeding you since you were five. Me and you both know that, what she said to us died with her 6 years ago. Everyone in this town calls them by their real name. I am going to be one of them. I am going to call them by their real name, Voodoo people.”, David said laughing after he said it at how good it felt to not have the old bag jumping down his throat every time he said it. He hadn’t told anyone this, but he was kind a glad that she bit the dust when she did. He was a free man now, to do what he wanted and live the way he wanted. But inside he still felt pain, not for his mother but for his sister. For the burden she carried knowing she had the bond that kept the Grey family together. The glue, has people said it, for his sister was about the only person in this world who actually cared for the old women and what happened to her. For that, when she finally died, he believed that a part of his sister, dear sweet Angelina, died with her.
“David, I know I should call them by their name but I just can’t. She always told me not to. I will always call the People Of Dark Magic them no matter how old and wrinkled I am. And am even going to tell my children to call them that. Now look at them waiting in front of that house for their leader to come home, when you, I, and the whole town of New Orleans knows he isn’t coming back. That man is died. He is as dead has Mama is. God rest her soul.” She never could understand the bond that the voodoo people hard with their dark magic. It was almost has deep as the bond to the Grey family secret. The one that haunted the family for many generations. She feared the curse almost as much as she once feared her mother. Now she has nothing to fear anymore, for she is now dead and so is the part of her that cared for her late mother. David thinks the part that died in her was something good but in truth that part that died in her was the part that needed to a long time ago. “David, do you fear the family curse?”
“Now sister, I am not a fool what do you think the answer to that stupid questions is?”, David said, “Of course I don’t. I mean think about it we will live forever. Forever we will be rich and forever we will be young and restless.”
“You read my mind David. In a hundred years where are we going to live? What are we going to do?”
“We are going to live here and we are going to do what we do best. Cause trouble.”, David said while getting up and joining his sister at the window looking out onto the heavily crowed lane of which there old Garden District house rests.
****
New Orleans, present day
“David, why we decided to come back here I will never know.”. Angelina said while waking in the door and looking at the big empty house waiting for all the old and new furniture just to come back and sit its rightful spot. “I was really enjoying Paris; I thought the house was just lovely.”
“Sister so did I, but know that we said this is where we would always come back to when the time was right. Now that time is right, we lived in Paris for 30 years; we needed to move and this is the only other house we still have in our old true names. So, here we are.”, David said walking in the room with his new suit on and sunglasses.
“You know there is where Mother died, and you know how much we both come to hate her after she died and left us to hold the burden of the family. I don’t understand why you didn’t just sell this place and get us a new one like the one in Los Angles. But no, we had to move to New Orleans where it is still in chaos from Hurricane Katrina. This house could have sold for more than 5 million at least. And you know that closet upstairs in my old room will not fit all my new shoes that I just bought.”, Angelina said while looking out the window at all the those movers who were struggling with the four poster bed she had bought in Rome for her bedroom. Hand crafted and if the even chipped the paint on it, she thought they would become dinner instead of her usual steak and red wine. She loved this house as much as she loved shoes. New Orleans never did ring any of her bells but she knew David loved it and loved this house. They knew before they moved here there was going to be come questions around them, that maybe someone had an old photo of a family member with them in it or there was bound to be a history book here somewhere with their picture in it, but there story would remain the same, she had it practiced and knew it as much has she knew her name. David and her were the great-great-great-great niece and nephew of Angelina and David Grey and that the house was left in their name. They were also to say that they lived together because two Grey descendents had to stay in the house at the same time to keep the house in the Grey name. That was there story and they were going to stick to it no matter how people had there suspicions about them. They knew they were the long line of the Grey Family curse and that they themselves were the next and only Grey family members to live here in over 119 years.
“Angelina where did you ever find such weak moving men?”, David said walking into the kitchen where Angelina was standing look around. It looked different, they both thought, instead of the old wood fireplace and water pump outback they had remember, someone had come and installed new appliances. Chefs refrigerators and stoves. Brand new marble countertops that had never been used and a brand new sink that came with one of the new all in one faucets. They thought it added something special to the house and made it seem new and exciting. They also knew that the house now had central heat and AC. So no more freezing in the winters and burning up in the summer and spring. They could be comfortable in their new and old home. They bother headed out in the foyer when they heard a big bang and knew that the movers had done broken the brand new all hand craved dining room table David has just bought in Rome, just two days ago. “Why you fine graceful man, it looks like you have done broke my table? And how will you be able to repay me for this?”
“Sir, I didn’t break your table, your table broke on its own. It broke plan in half.”, the first mover said.
“He is tellin’ the truth sir, it just broke. We didn’t do anything.”, the second mover said.
David knew that neither of the men broke the table, he knew that the table was old and needed to be repaired when he bought it. “My fine men, there is no need to worry but please just put the table in the dining room and I will deal with it later.”, David said while watching the mean carry the big Italian table in two pieces into the dining room.
“David, that right there was the first sign that this was not a good idea. We should have just moved to Los Angles like I wanted to, but no we had to come and claim the family land.”, Angelina hated New Orleans just about as much has she hated this old house. Too many bad memories haunted every corner. But she had agreed to move here because her brother had moved to Paris for her, so now it was her turn to move to New Orleans for him. “Brother I wonder what has changed upstairs since 1895.”
“I have no idea, but maybe we should look.”, David said while walking up the stairs and shortly after his sister following him. He knew how much she hated this house and New Orleans but that was the deal they had made. The Grey family always stuck to their deals. Every 20 or 30 years that would move wherever the person whose turn it was to pick wanted to go. He had chosen the Grey Family home in New Orleans because he loved it down here. He loved the smell of the dirty streets, the lights that glinted off the river, the old mansions that lined the street here his did. But most of all he loved that here in the night they didn’t have to hide, there were people like them that knew the curse that has haunted families from New Orleans for thousands of years. Here he could be himself at the clubs and so could his sister. Upstairs the house still looked the same, down to the last speck of paint except for the bathrooms. The bathrooms were more modern like the kitchen but still had a rustic New Orleans fell. He walked to him old room and thought about all the times he hide in amour has a child from there mean old housekeeper. He walked down the hall to find that there were now two more closets and two more bathrooms. He knew that he and his sister would have a good time living here. Meanwhile Angelina kept down the hall from the stairs to her old room and found that it was probably the only bedroom here that has changed. Instead of the pink and gold wallpaper now the room was green. But not a pretty sea foam green, but an ugly puke green that made her want to puke herself. The bathroom had also changed. It was more modern but instead of the yellow her mother had once painted to the bathroom, it was an awful color of black. Everything in it was black right down to the color of the shower head. She would really have to get somebody to come and re- paint it.
“Sister, my room looks the same. What about yours?”, David said walking in the room, “Well, someone clearly did some work in here, what about the bathroom?”
“Black as the night.”, Angelina said walking back to the middle of the room. “I am going to find someone to re- paint the whole room, even maybe the whole house. We need change.”
“Sister, things for us haven’t changes for over 100 years.”, David said.
“I think they need to now. We’re back and things will change in this little old house.”, Angelina said.
They were both right, things hadn’t changes since 1895, they moved on when old people started to notice there non again face and body. Then they kept doing that, but now they were back, back home to place were it all started and now things would be the same for many years to come. Besides, the Greys’ were back in New Orleans to set the Old Legend of New Orleans straight.