July 2020
Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology, Nikita Burnett was packing up her bags in her apartment in London. She could not believe that Mya cheated on her with her best friend, Whitney. She was fuming, and she could not get the image out of her head. Her mind flashed back to the scene. She just came from her office at the University of England. Since March, she had not been in her office because of this Covid 19 situation. Since she was teaching remotely, Nikita wanted to take Mya to her island and propose on the beach, yes propose with mask and sanitiser and all, but then she caught Mya and Whitney naked in the apartment in her bed.
Nikita was numbed. She could not believe it, she went straight past them, did not say a word, went into the closet, pulled out her suitcase, and started emptying draws/
She is unsure when Mya got up, but she did get up. Mya started to say something to her, “Nikita, I am sorry,” Nikita cut her short and said furiously Do not say a damn fucking word!
In a fury, Nikita furiously threw her clothes in the suitcase and then took her cell phone from a purse and called Air Antilles, “Good evening. I like to book a ticket to Saint Lucia tonight, I know it is Covid, but I would like to fly to the island.”
***
While Nikita was still on the phone, Mya again interrupted her, “Nikita, please say something.”
Nikita glanced over at the bed and realized that Whitney was gone and left Mya to deal with this on her own. Nikita ignored Mya’s pleas to speak to her and continued the call. After hanging up. Nikita took her suitcase, took her passport, and started heading out of the apartment
Mya is still trying to get her to talk.
“Nikita, please say something,”
Nikita turned to her, and her face filled with anger, and said to her calm and cool, “Please leave this apartment, lose my number and stay the hell away from me. In fact, you know you can keep this apartment. I will not be needing it anymore.
And Nikita angrily leaves to check into a hotel so she can fly to Saint Lucia the next day.
***
September 2021
A year after Nikita was back home, there was an election in July, and her party won. Well, not her party, the party candidates won the election, and she hoped that the Covid 19 numbers would go down. She was tired of lockdowns, curfews, and shutdowns and wanted to return to a normal life. Now, the Delta variant is here. She heard on the news, unsure which station, but delta was here. Nikita wanted this Covid to be done, but this would not happen. It was for the best because she would not see Mya until she was ready and good.
This past year was a blast. She found her soulmate in this pandemic. Nikita could not wait to tell her best friend, Danny. Danny was going to freak out when she told her best friend. She was a medical doctor and a strong Catholic. They were to meet at Vigie beach before curfew, which was at 7. Nikita took the Gros Islet bus to town; she rented a lovely place in Corinth. She would stop the bus at the bus station at the roundabout and walk the stretch to the beach. It is good exercise. Nikita was a health fanatic. She believed in eating right and staying in shape. She had issues with her body, but she had overcome them. Vigie was not as bustling as it used to be in 2019, and there was not much traffic going on. The aeroplanes and jets that blew over the beach skies were no longer there. The people usually went to the little caravans on the beach to get some bakes and saltfish, roti, green figs, and backs or fried chicken or whatever delicious food, but these caravans were no longer here. Nothing except a few people on the beach, the now clear blue of the ocean. The sea water was clear and cleaner, maybe because we humans did not pollute it, Nikita does not know. The clear blue water was good. However, people were still not following protocols and from Saturday evening on October 2nd, 2021, we will have three nights, three days curfew. She hated it, but she was glad that she was getting to spend some time with her best friend, deeply religious Catholic and medical doctor, Danielle Foster. Nikita started to walk the sands of Vigie, looking to where Danny sat. Nikita had a purple bikini on with pink shorts, pink and purple slippers, and hair in an Afro. And as she was walking the beach, she spotted her friend speaking to someone. Danny was sitting on what looked like a blue towel. She was light-skinned, was half Indian by her father’s side, and part Kalinago and part Black on her mother’s side. But her grandmother was Kalinago from Dominica, who left Island Carib territory to marry a local Dominican man. The two women had known each other since preschool, they went to the same church and the same primary school, but they did not go to the same Secondary school. Nikita went to Leon Hess, and Danny went to St. Joseph’s Convent both attended Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. Danny did Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, and Spanish. Nikita did French, History, and Literature. Danny went to university in Canada, and Nikita went to university in the United States.
Nikita walked towards her best friend. She had to tell her that Aimee was a Ladjablès. Her friend knew that Nikita had a new girlfriend, but Danny never met Aimee. However, she was a devoted Catholic, respected that Nikita was a lesbian, and had no qualms about her relationship with Aimee. Danny did not know that Aimee was a Ladjablès. She just thought Aimee was her new girlfriend. Nikita continued to walk towards her best friend, and then Danny spotted her and got up. “Nikita, I thought you would never show up,” Danny said, laughing. They hugged, and Nikita sat on her towel and grabbed the Cheetos on the towel, and then Danny said, “so when am I going to meet Aimee?” Nikita was thoughtful for a moment and said, “soon, but I have something to tell you about Aimee.” Nikita said seriously
Danny responded, “wait, what is it? She is not a lesbian. She is bisexual or bicurious.”
Nikita, astonished, said, “Oh my Lord, Danny, no.” The waves were crashing into the sands. The beach looks rough. Vigie beach can be rough at times, and she knew that they were not going into the water. She turned to her best friend from preschool and primary school days and whispered to her, “I fall in love with a Ladjablès, “Nikita said to her friend as they were sitting on the sand watching the waves crash into the shore. Nikita's face was stoic as she said this. Danny listened to hear if there were any planes around, she tried to see if its airport was bustling as it did before Covid, but she heard right. Her friend from preschool school days told her she had fallen in love with a demon. This story was different from the stories they used to hear the older children talk about by the plum tree at their old school in Castries.
***
Danny did not believe in such nonsense of Ladjablès, Ti Bolom, Maji Nwè, and such foolery.
Danny, who was an upcoming cardiologist, did not allow herself to be immersed in superstition. She was a devoted Catholic and believed in God, but she did not believe in these things. Danny turns up to get a friend, “girl, you, Okay? I can drive you to the Psychological Clinic, “she said to her friend.
Nikita looked thoughtfully at her friend and said, “I know you think I am crazy, but it is true I fell in love with one. They are real,” Danny asked her. “What does Aimee think about this?” she answered. Danny, Aimee is the Ladjablès!
“Danny, you know I do not believe in such things, but it happened on a trip to Choiseul. Aimee and I met in Choiseul. I followed the rumours that there are still Island Caribs in the area still follow the traditional practices before the English and French came.
As an anthropologist, I had to find out if it was true.
“I went down to Choiseul. I have a friend who teaches French and history at the Choiseul secondary school. I stayed over with her. Her name is Christina. You do not know, but I always talk about her. Christina and I went to university in the US together, and we both were history majors.”
“Imagine me driving and walking in the hot sun looking for information about the Island Caribs.”
“And then I met her Aimee, it was dark, and Christina and I ended up at the beach, we wanted to just take a night swim after an all-day following leads and false hopes of finding an Island Carib that was following their ancient traditions.”
“There Aimee was in an old dress, which looks it came out of a history textbook. Well, that is what Christina said. But I recognized the style of dress, and so did Christina.”
“Aimee had golden-brown skin that was as beautiful as the sun. I wanted to touch and kiss it.”
“Her eyes were a day brown as the other chestnut brown as the cocoa stick that we grate to make coco tea on a rainy, stormy night. Her hair seemed it was the colour of the ginger we buy in the bustling Castries market. This is Aimee, I am describing to you.”
“Such a beautiful name.”
Danny interrupts her friend's story and says, “Nikita, Aimee is some girl you are attracted to that dresses up like some woman out the 19th century, maybe she is some crazy woman or weird, but that makes her no Ladjablès”.
“She is one, just listen!” Christina noticed her cow foot and showed it to me, but I did not care; I was already mesmerized. I heard her singing sweetly was not sure if she was singing in Patwa or French at first.”
“So, I decided to go up to her and said Excusi Moi Mademoiselle, and she turned to me smiling. “And I thought the stories were wrong. If she is a Ladjablès, her face looks human and not like the face of the rotting flesh of a dead person.”
She said to me, “you are a brave human.”
I responded to her, “yes, I am. “
“You are not a man; I have no use for you. Go and search for your Island Caribs.”
“So, there are Island Caribs?”
She smiled and said, “come back here tonight, and I will tell you.” And Aimee disappears
“Nikita, what happened there?” Christina asked.
“Christina, I have no idea. Let us get back to your place. We need to talk about this.
Danny interrupts, “so Aimee tells you to come back so she can tell you about Island Caribs?”
“Are you not listening to me? She also disappeared.”
“Okay, I am trying to wrap this around my head, so your friend Christina saw the cow’s foot. Are you sure you and Christina were not drunk?”
“No, we were not,” Nikita said, frustrated.
Danny was looking around to see if anybody was selling food because she was hungry and she did not want to leave the beach and head to KFC. “Okay, Nikita, I am hungry, and that story you are giving me there juicy, and I need food for that. So, if I understand, right, your new woman is a Ladjablès. I still don’t believe you, but if you think that Aimee is some evil spirit that lures men to their deaths, and then I am going to indulge you but not on an empty stomach.”
“Woyi Nikita exclaimed, you hungry already, I not leaving the beach without taking a dip whether you hungry or not. (Even though earlier, she thought she would not go into the water) And yes, Aimee is a Ladjablès, but I will tell you more after because you do not believe me. I will let Aimee show you her cow foot when you meet her at John’s and Sasha’s engagement party. John and Sasha were friends of theirs. Sasha, Danny, and Nikita, all knew each other from primary school.” Nikita had met John at university in the US. They both were History and Anthropology double majors, and John was wanted to be a priest at the time. Sasha went to the same college with Nikita and John, and she was a French and English double major. When John met Sasha, something about Sasha changed his mind about wanting to be a priest.
“You are bringing her to John’s and Sash’s wedding without introducing her to everyone. Oh, Sweet Mother God, you cannot be serious. No, you cannot just bring Aimee to the wedding, which is madness, especially if you say she is a Ladjablès! I am not saying that I believe. I must see for myself.”
Nikita exclaimed, “Calm down, I am not crazy. I will not bring her to the wedding, but you will meet her, and I am not lying or crazy, Aimee is a Ladjablès, I am serious, I cannot talk any more about this. You are hungry and want KFC, and I want to go into the ocean before we head into your car to head home. So chill, get your growling stomach to wait while I take a splash into this nice sea we have here before it gets too late.”
***
Danny smiled and held her stomach while Nikita ran into the ocean and shouted, “better hurry up, Nik, a hungry belly cannot wait. And with that, Nikita went to the sea and decided to float for a few minutes. Vigie beach was calm for some reason, or it was because Nikita was embracing the ocean waves. It was beautiful and peaceful, and all she could think of was freeing Aimee from this dreadful curse and being with her forever. Until then, she had to figure out how she would tell her friends and family about Aimee, she told her best friend, but Danny did not seem convinced, although she believes that Nikita believes that Aimee is, Nikita could not worry about that. She needed to find her way to Make Aimee mortal.