Voodoo in the Bayou

Pulled out of the endless stabbing darkness and spat onto the rotted wooden floor of a mislaid boat by an enchanted snake, the Shadowman peered past the glaring candlelight to Mama Odie's sagging, smiling face. One of the tiny woman's thin hands reached out and plucked a colourful, pin-filled voodoo doll off his shoulder, and shooed the last clinging shadow away with a slap.

She watched him patiently whilst he readjusted to the Near-Side. When he seemed calmer, she spoke.

"I've faci-lee-tat'd your return, Docta Facilier."

"How?" he asked, caught in a moment of vulnerability before the defensive walls and cunning were rebuilt.

Mama Odie crossed her arms and laughed. The gold discs of jewellery she wore jangled.

"I taught 'em what they needed an' took away what they thought they wanted."

Now Facilier laughed, but it was nowhere near as kind. "What could a madwoman in a swamp possibly teach the Other Side?"

His rescuer's humour faded. "A lil' about need, silly Facili. All you want be riches an' powa…but right now yer needin' somethin' else, right?"

Scrabbling at the snake suddenly constricting around his throat, the voodoo man could barely choke. "Air!"

"He learns faster'n'a firefly's wings beat, don' he?" remarked Odie coldly, clicking her fingers in the air and frowning around her opaque shades. The snake uncoiled itself and slithered to her side, curling round her wicker chair jealously. "Whut's missin', Shadowman?"

Facilier leapt up and started flailing madly in front of the multi-coloured lights, but no matter how he tried to block them the glow just passed straight through.

"Tha's all they ever wanted from y'all. Yer shadow. An' a mighty fine shadow it was too – ya din't deserve it."

The tall, thin, dark man pulled himself up to his true intimidating height. But scary appearances were the last thing to faze the blind voodoo lady who lived in a boat in a tree in the bayou. "What am I supposed ta do without ma shadow?! If you didn't want me ta use it you never shoulda taught me black magic, Mama Odie!"

"Baby of the bayou, hey? No one know where you crawled from! Can't blame a gal fer savin' a poor abandon'd bebby from the alligators! …Mebbe it is ma fault a tad. A tadpole. 'Haps I shoulda taught you how ta catch a shadow before I let you slink outta my home. 'Fore they caught you instead." She hopped off her woven-cane throne and let memory guide her to the bubbling tub of swamp stew. A wriggle of her fingers brought a golden glow to its rippling surface.

"But y'all were neva gonna stop at a vision in a pot o' gumbo, were ya?"

Naveen and Tiana's first day of business was drawing to a close. Naveen might claim to be a changed amphibian, but some traits were irremovable. Like the way a day of excitement only left him craving more. "Now what?! That was fun, dare I say it!"

Tiana pushed him towards the kitchen lovingly yet forcefully. "Now we do the washin' up, Mr Frog Prince."

"WHAT? What life of slavery is this you dragged me into, Princess Waitress?"

"Get your green tush to the sink before I mince you for supper, honey."

"Ayaa..."

Another wave of her gnarled old hand dashed the image away.

"Only thang that ruined yo' plan was not taking the tiiime to punch an airhole in th' lid ofa jar, boy! You sure do think ahead you suuure do. No respect fo' yo' frogs, that's what it is. When yo' pick the facile route, an' th' easy way out, there's on'y yaself ta blame."

He hissed rebelliously, ramming his skull-and-crossbones top hat onto his head and shoving past the frail lady roughly. Facilier stalked straight outside and began to swing down the tree with the ease born of long years of practice.

"My oh my no respect fo' ya Mama Odie neither!"

Shaking with barely-repressed anger, because that snake still looked angry and he had no magical shadow to fend it off with anymore, Doctor Facilier snapped back at her. "The power out there is beggin' ta be brought ta life, Odie; an' there's higher ways o' livin' than tree-house boats!"

She folded her arms and tutted at him. What he 'needed' was a kick up the backside, her certainty of that was growing by the second.

"Thing with voodoo is, ya gotta be part of it. If you wanna make magic in the bayou ya gotta live in the bayou, and ya gotta balance what everyone needs. But you just want, want, want; right? Like them hungerin' shadows.

"I suggest you get back where y'all came from or get outta town. If you wanna play Dr. Voodoo wit' they shadows then you get back to their digs an' you learn th' rules the hard way. Unless those 'Friends from the Other Side' ain't really your friends at all..."

"I'll take the first train outta town, Mama Odie-ous." He doffed his hat to her mockingly with a low bow. The purple jacket was ripped and threadbare, but tarot cards still lined its fraying pockets. He'd scrape by until the next scam of his dreams came along.

"Fine then, and don' mind the debt ya owe me. Seein' the back o' you iz more'n payment enough."

The fireflies shed no guiding lights for the shadowless man, and he walked blindly out into the bayou.

"If ya get lost," called out his one-time mother in a moment of kindness; "follow th' music! It'll lead you to the town."

If he waved a hand in acknowledgement or farewell, she had no way of seeing it. Tottering back into her boat, she laughed low and added, "But watch out fer Louis…"

Her snake familiar, and the fireflies in the corners of the room laughed alongside.

"Reckon y'all can make a tune outta that, Firefly Quartet?"

-

babadebada...

doooown in the bayou

babadebada

Jazz was booorn in the bayouu

Louis give that trumpet a whistle

And Ray you give that star a kiss from me

No shaaadows in the bayou

Shines them out the swamp does sweet

Eeeevaaaangeliiiiine

babadebada

Voodoo in the bayou

The doctor's in the bayou

Dancing towards th' gator's jaws…

babadebadaaa

Dooown in the bayoouuu