Cayenne McKenzie Del Roi felt like she was swimming in and out of consciousness, with waves of visions before her. She heard the constant beat of a brass band playing some Mardi Gras tune. Feathers filled her head with yellow, green and purple colors. Faces waved before her including that of Rufus Thibodeaux looking at her disapprovingly and her father, wearing the full set of beads and a voodoo headdress. The light from the candles seemed to throw shadows on the wall of her mind and a strong sense of danger pushed her to the top of her consciousness.
And then there was that sharp pricking at her ankle. She felt it again, and then almost a sense of relief. Then the prick started in her left ankle, the same pin point sharp pain. She struggled to open her eyes. She became aware of a gentle bubbling noise, like her mother fussing over her, or a bird cooing outside the window.
No, no. It wasn't outside the window. It was down at her feet. She forced her eyes open with Herculean effort. It was that darn chicken. That darn chicken was pecking at her left leg. She instinctively kicked at the bird, but her leg didn't move. She remembered it was tied to the leg of the chair. But then she realized that her right leg was free.
The chicken was helping her to escape.
She shook off her drowsiness and looked through clouded eyes. The painful pricks in her left ankle ceased.
"Well, finally. You were passed out all night and I thought you were going to sleep all day. The parade has already started and we got to get you out of here, girlfriend." The chicken looked at her in a matter of fact way. She noticed the chicken was wearing a tiny set of glass beads.
I must still be hallucinating, Cay thought and shook her head harder and closed her eyes again. She swore the chicken had a Cuban accent.
"Hey, don't fall asleep. I'm almost done here, but I can't reach your hands. You need to fall over so I can get the knot in the back."
"Who are you?" Cay said, forcing her eyes open again. "Why are you doing this?"
"Forgive me for not properly introducing myself." The chicken stood up straight and Cay swore he took a little bow. "My name is Mambozo. I am your voodoo good luck spell. Mary Dan has had me looking out after this place for weeks, ever since she lost the bead. She knew it might end up back here. Voodoo works both ways, you know." Mambozo chuckled at his own joke.
"We got to get the bead back to Mary Dan and the parade or else the evil Sting Ray will rule all of the New Orleans krewes," the chicken paused and looked at Cay. "And that's not good. He's crazy, you know. Gone mad with the power of the bead. He's under a very bad spell." He started pecking again.
"But you're a chicken!" Cay blurted.
Mambozo looked at her with as straight a face as a chicken could muster. "Don't tell anyone."
As soon as her leg was free, Cay used her legs to push herself over. She misjudged a bit and banged into a supporting column in the cramped cellar. She managed to get herself down to the damp, hard surface. She felt the pecking digging into her arms.
"Ow!" she yelled. "Be careful. I feel like I'm committing suicide by chicken!"
"Sorry," the chicken said back. "I've never participated in a rescue before."
At that moment, there was a clattering from the back of the cellar. Both Cay and Mambozo froze. There was a pounding, then a crash. There was another odd sound, like the clicking of nails against a hard surface. Suddenly there was a flurry of movement and a man's voice harshly whispered "Sacre Bleu!" A giant ball of fur hurled itself at Cay. Mambozo flew into the air. At least as much as a chicken can fly.
"Roux, you found me! Good boy!" Cay rolled her head to avoid Roux's sticky tongue licks and saw the figure of JeanMarc come out of the shadows.
"Who the hell are you people?" Mambozo shrieked as he avoided landing anywhere near to Roux. JeanMarc stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Mambozo.
Cay, with her face squashed against the floor, said in a flat voice, "JeanMarc, meet Mambozo. Mambozo, this is Jean Marc. And my dog Roux."
"He's a chicken!" JeanMarc blurted.
"Don't tell anyone," Cay and Mambozo said in unison.
Then Mambozo took charge of the situation. "Quick, young man, untie her hands. We must get the bead back to the Krewe du Couture to reunite it with the other beads before the King of Misrule finds us. The parade has already started and reunification must happen tonight."
Jean Marc was still staring at the chicken, amazed. "You have a Cuban accent! How do you do that?"
With her face still smashed against the cobblestone of the floor and Roux licking her face, Cay grunted. "Hey, down here! Can I get some help here?"
JeanMarc came to and pulled her chair upright. He started working clumsily on the big knots tied in the ropes holding her hands.
"How did you find me? What are you doing here" Cay whispered, still freaked out that Sting Ray could head down the stairs at any minute.
"Wasn't me, chere. It was Roux. Marcy called me at the bakery and asked me to take Roux because she had to be ready to flambeau in the parade tonight. As soon as I picked him up, he started running. I swear I chased him for blocks. I even stopped at one point to have a beer. Your dog came back and found me. That's when I figured something was very wrong and Roux was trying to take me to you. I chased him all through the streets of New Orleans down this alley and followed after he crashed through that boarded window in the alley."
When her hands were finally free, she grabbed Roux and sunk her face in his fur giving him a great big hug and a furious round of petting. Then she leaned over and gave JeanMarc a big fat kiss. When she finally freed herself from the lip lock, she turned and saw the chicken waiting expectantly.
"Well?" The chicken quizzically looked at her.
Cay stopped dead in her tracks. She wasn't going to kiss a chicken, even if he did save her from death.
"Just kidding!" the chicken said. "Grab that bead and let's get out of here."
She raced over to the altar and picked up the bead in her hand. It burned hot against her skin, so she grabbed the silk and wrapped it up tight. The candles began to dim.
"Let's get out of here before it's too dark."
The window that JeanMarc and Roux crashed through was too high to get back out, so the stairs were the only way. JeanMarc crept up quietly and looked out.
"I don't see anyone," he whispered, and through the door open. The crew piled out of the basement and moved onto the bar room floor with chicken and dog in tow.
Suddenly through the front door, Sting Ray and Beaux sauntered in, carrying bags of Mardi Gras decorations and beads.
"Shit! " Cay yelled.
JeanMarc yelled back, "Run, Cay! I'll stall them."
Roux and Cay darted straight for the door, taking advantage of the full arms of Sting Ray and Beaux, shoving them out of the way as they went by. JeanMarc and Mambozo were right behind them and starting grabbing and holding the men as Cay and Roux ran toward the door.
"You, again!" Cay heard Sting Ray say. "You chickens are always stealing my gig."
Cay ran toward Dauphine Street where she could already hear the music and loudspeakers from the floats in the parade. The bead, its glass delicate and fragile, burned hot in her hand as if trying to make her drop it. Roux started barking furiously. She turned and saw that Beaux had broken away and was in pursuit. He disappeared down an alley and suddenly appeared in front of her, cutting off the sidewalk. Roux jumped up on the man and with his two dozen pounds knocked him down.
Cay slipped by the wrestling match and pushed her speed. She raced, pushing past Mardi Gras goers and parade viewers, bumping people aside as she passed. She pushed past people dressed up as angels and babies and in masks with feathers and men dressed like women and women dressed like men. Meanwhile the bead was burning hotter and hotter in her hand.
She stole a glance behind her and saw that Beaux was back on his feet again, with Roux nipping at his heels. Cay could see the parade passing in front of her. She heard the sound of an accordion and the distinctive rattle of a rubboard. She looked up and saw a huge naked Venus rising above the crowd. It was the float of the Krewe du Couture! She could see that Bang and the Questers were playing at the foot of the Venus and all the women of the krewe - Dinah, Samantha, Janna, Carlotta, Andreah, Leilani, and Lorelei - were circled around the float, throwing beads and bright pink throw cups to the crowd. She could see Jacques, dressed in a licorice red chaps twirling a lassoe made of beads over the heads of the crowd and yodeling to the music.
She also spied Mary Dan dressed in a flippy skirt of gold lamé with her red cowboy boots gracing her legs and her egret feather hat atop her head, one arm draped with dozens of beads.
"Mary Dan!" Cay yelled. "I've got the bead!"
Above the din of the crowd, Mary Dan heard Cay's voice. She searched to locate its source. Cay held up the bead in her as high as she could and it burned so hotly she thought she could never hang on to it.
Mary Dan spotted Cay in the crowd and quickly realized what was happening. She dropped the arm load of beads and her hands went to her neck. She undid the pale beads around her neck and in desperation threw the beads in Cay's direction. The beads were thrown straight and clear, but Mary Dan was too far away to throw it close enough for Cay to catch it. The beads landed about six feet in front of Cay and fell to the ground.
In the time honored custom of watching parades, a parade-goer stomped his foot down on the beads to claim them. In horror, Cay watched the delicate beads shatter into dust under the foot of the unsuspecting partier. Cay felt a sense of despair as she saw the float go by her, a rain shower of beads and sewing kits and go cups tumbling off the float.
She pushed past a woman dressed as a banana to get to the beads. They were crushed beyond recognition, a thousand shards of useless glass.
Her focus on the beads were distracted by an ear splitting "Aaaaiiiyyyeeee!" coming from the parade route. She looked up to see Steve McCloskey's float move into view, sporting a huge hulking float of a bull drinking a beer came into view. She could see the barkeep raise his glass and shout into the night sky like he was the Lord of all he saw. Music poured out of the float and she could see Mr. Jonathon (dressed in a bright blue and black checked jacket) wailing on his trumpet. Behind him, Eric Knight and John C from the Storyville Stompers provided back up to his Dixieland style jazz.
But her wonder at the float was short lived when she saw the flambeau carrier at the front of the float, carrying and dipping the metal frame that held two blazing flames.
"Marcy!" Cay yelled. "Damn it, girl. Look at you."
Marcy had her face wrapped in a colorful purple scarf and she wore a gown made up of Mardi Gras bead stitched together in a swirling pattern of color and fancy overlaying a Jello lime green dress. Marcy couldn't hear Cay in the noise of the crowd, but as almost as if she could sense her friend, Marcy dipped her torch in her direction. Cay waved and jumped up and down to get her friend's attention. She heard Roux's barking and turned just in time to see Beaux take a flying leap at her.
Cay spilled backwards and caused a wave of bodies falling, like dominoes in a game. The bead flew out of her upstretched hand and arced high in the sky As if in slow motion, Cay watched the bead spiral through the air and with almost magic precision landed in the flame of Marcy's flambeau.
The bead immediately burst into fireworks. The air started pulsating in shades of yellow and purple and green. The music stopped and the crowd silenced as Marcy's flame shot forth first strands of color. A deep rumbling seem to shake the pavement and the crowd, sensing something dangerous, hushed. Then the sky burst into multiple fireworks and the sparks rained on the crowd.
Not sparks, Cay realized. The sky started raining beads and coins, a visual cacophony of purple, green and gold, filling the street with Mardi Gras splendor. After a moment of silence, the crowd roared and hands reached to the sky. Some grabbed beads and some grabbed each other hands.
Even Beaux was looking upward at the site. Cay reached down and scooped up some of the doubloons and beads that had fallen at her feet. She looked closely at a doubloon. Bons Temps y Bons Amis!, it read.
Cay heard the zydeco music beat begin up again. A man dressed as Abe Lincoln a jester's hat grabbed a woman in a bright green sparkly tutu and started to jitterbug. All around Cay, the crowd broke into dancing. The old spell of danger and death seemed to have been destroyed in the flames of the flambeau. People tossed coins at Marcy, who continued to dip her flame and dazzle the crowd.
Cay felt a hand at her elbow. She turned around and saw Mary Dan and the whole Krewe du Couture behind her, in awe of the display.
"You have found the bead," Mary Dan shouted above the crowd, hugging Cay tightly. "It didn't need to be reunited with the old. It needed to be destroyed."
Beaux took one look at Mary Dan and took off running as best he could through the partying crowd. Then above the roar of the crowd, Cay heard the unmistakable roar of Rufus Thibodeaux.
"Cayenne MacKenzie Del Roi. You have some explaining to do!"
She turned and saw the big figure of Rufus hauling Sting Ray along side in handcuffs. JeanMarc followed shortly behind carrying Mambozo. Mike Piéce was lurking behind JeanMarc, not looking very happy.
"Rufus! What are you doing here?"
"Went to your place to find out what the hell was going on after Marcy called me to see if I knew where you had gone. She kept saying something about those darn babies that are killing everyone. Saw your map up on the wall and all those push pins, and figured out pretty quick where you had gone. Walked into the place and into the middle of a goddamn fist fight between this big French fella, this skinny Carribbean guy and a chicken." Rufus shook his head. "Goddamn New Orleans."
At that point, Cay heard another earsplitting "AAAiiiyyyyeee!" and turned around to see Steve McCloskey with a beer keg propped on a golf cart right behind them. "Beverage, any one?"
Cay turned to Rufus. "Buy you a beer? It is Mardi Gras you know."
Rufus looked at her about to say something, then his glare turned into a smile that split his face in two. "Damn, you are just like your dad." He said. "Yeah, I'll have one before I take this joker in."
Steve filled two of the Krewe du Couture's go cups and handed them to Cay. She handed one to Rufus, then hesitated. Then she looked right at Sting Ray. "I owe you a drink, Mr. Sting Ray."
"No mistah, please." He said, taking the cup into his manacled hands. "The lady has fine tastes and is a gentleman, as well." He took a sip and tipped his cup in Cay's direction. "Farewell to flesh, darling."
Mary Dan reappeared at her side and handed her a small plastic bag of chips, smothered in cheese and chili. "Philippe's handing out Frito pies, so I grabbed one for you. They go fast."
Cay opened up the bag and scooped out a few chips covered with chili. She heard the distinctive sound of a zydeco band playing. Mary Dan explained. "It's Zydee Bob Beaux playing with Bang and the Questers. They always play on the Couture float. Since you stopped the parade dead in its tracks, we've decided to just turn it into a block party."
Mary Dan turned to Rufus. "Promise you won't arrest Zy until after the party?"
Rufus shook his head. "Wasn't Zy. It was that bruiser brother of his. Zy's rubboard tie really was stolen, but it was an inside job."
Cay startled. "Beaux was just here! He's getting away!"
Rufus laughed and tipped his glass. "Nah. He ain't going anywhere. He got nabbed by one of the Couture girls."
Cay looked in the direction of Rufus motion and saw Beaux dancing a pretty mean two step with Carlotta.
Rufus barked at Mike. "Go break up the happy couple and arrest that guy."
Mike headed out to the street which had turned into a massive dance floor. He barely walked ten feet before Marcy, who had handed her flambeau to JeanMarc, scooped him into a silky two step.
"I better round up the bad guys, boo." Rufus said after draining his cup. "Come on out for beans and rice on Monday."
Mary Dan watched wistfully as Thibodeaux led the voodoo priest through the crowd. "Sting Ray wasn't always that way, Cayenne. He used to be a kind and gentle man before he became obsessed with the bead. I always saw him as a kindly uncle type."
She turned her attention back to Cay and put a full cup of beer into Cay's hand. "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" she said tipping her cup in Cay's direction. "You do good work, girlfriend. You not only found the bead, but you destroyed the evil power in the flame of the flambeau. The old krewe has died, and look around you." She waved at the crowd. "I do believe you have created a new one."
Cay looked over the crowd. Philippe was running through the crowd passing out bags
of Frito pies. Mike Piéce seemed to forget he was a cop and was now staring into the eyes of Marcy, obviously head over heels in love. Kristina and Stan had showed up and were working their way through the crowd handing out paper bowls of gumbo. Bang and the Questers were wailing out a great Clifton Chenier tune and had been joined by Mr. Jonathon and the Stompers. Everywhere, people were dancing and even Mambozo was doing a two-step by himself in a small open space near the float.
"Your father would be proud," Mary Dan said, raising her glass with one hand and tossing her a strand of beads with the other. Cay caught the beads and slipped them over her head.
"Les bons temps et les bonnes amis!" Cayenne McKenzie Del Roi toasted back. She gazed once again at the festive scene around her. Sparks from the flambeau showered over the crowd and the killer sound of a rubboard filled the street with metallic rhythm.
