Page 47 of Crazy Rich Cajuns

Kennedy paused for effect and she thought that Jaxon was probably holding his breath.

“Well, this guy knewhe’dnever killed anybody and he knew a couple of the other guys really well, but there were two he didn’t know.No one ever confessed, of course, but he says he’s positive now that one of those guys killed somebody sometime.The ghosts always know.”

Kennedy grinned as she looked around, finding the same unblinking attention from several of the adults as well.

“He also takes a gift for the spirits.Usually really good liquor or tobacco.”

Adeline gasped.“The ghosts can drink stuff and smoke?”

Kennedy laughed and shrugged.“I don’t know.I guess so?They’re always friendlier when he brings those things.He’s tried other gifts, but the digs don’t go as well as they do when it’s those.”

“So he has found actual treasure?”This question came from one of the men sitting a couple spots down from Teddy.

Kennedy nodded.“Yep.I’ve met him personally.He’s odd, but he’s sincere.He’s shown me a few of the coins and if they’re fake, they’re really good.”

“No shit,” the guy said, clearly interested.“That’s cool.”

Kennedy grinned.“It is.And the best part is that he never finds like a million dollars.Never enough to really be rich.It’s always just enough.Enough to help make ends meet or to allow him to do something like buy a new truck when he needed it.”

“That’s all he does?”another man asked.“Hunts treasure?”

“He’s a fisherman, too,” Kennedy said.“The treasure hunting is just a passion or a hobby, I guess.But he gets rewarded for it every once in a while.”

“You really think there are spirits who are punishing and rewarding people?”the first man asked.

Kennedy looked at the kids and gave them a wink.“Well, like my grandpa always says, ‘why argue?’Bein’ a good person is a good thing to do anyway, and if once in a while you find a few gold coins for it, that’s not bad.And I sure don’t want to have spiders coming out of my walls or hear voices saying ‘turn back’ every damned time I drive down a certain road.”

“Those things have happened to people, too?”Adeline asked.

“Yep.There’s a guy who was treasure hunting with some others.He went along to help out but didn’t actually touch the treasure.He was being paid cash money by the hunter, but wasn’t supposed to have any part of whatever they dug up.But after they actually found some stuff…gold bars, I think it was…he hit one of the men over the head and took off with part of the gold.Later that night, when he was in bed, spiders came out of his walls—hundreds,thousandsof them—and bit him all over.He ended up in the hospital and wasbeggingthe cops to take the gold back to the men he stole it from.”

“Whoa,” Jaxon said.

Kennedy nodded.“I figure it’s just safer down on the bayou to be a good person, you know?”

Jaxon and Adeline both nodded.

Kennedy grinned.“Or better, yet, we should all just be as good as we can be, no matter what.”

The kids nodded again.

Spirits hanging around after death was a common legend in Louisiana.New Orleans was one of the most haunted places there was.But some of the stories about spirits punishing and rewarding people had probably been started by parents wanting to make their kids behave.Kind of like “Santa’s always watching.You don’t want to be on his bad list, do you?”In Kennedy’s opinion, the idea of an old man watching her all the time and deciding if she was good or bad was also kind of creepy, so why not throw some ghosts in there, too?

“And having a gris-gris bag isn’t a bad idea,” she said.

“What’s a gris-gris bag?”Adeline asked.

They were interrupted by the servers appearing to start clearing away the dessert plates and coffee cups.

“Well, gris-gris bags are little bags that contain—”

“Okay, time to get washed up,” their mother interrupted, pushing her chair back from the table.“You have a little time to play and then we’ll head to bed.”

“But we want to hear more stories!”Jaxon protested, even as he set his napkin on his plate and shoved his chair back.

“Another time, maybe,” his mother said.She glanced at Kennedy.“I think we’ll save the voodoo stuff for now.”

Oops.She probably shouldn’t assume everyone was cool talking about all of that.“I’ve got lots of gator facts and stories, too,” she told the kids.“Oh, and stories about river otters.And wolves.”

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