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Part IV: The Rolling River
Chapter 1: El Diablo
"I can do it. I know I can."
Emerald was sitting at a small table in the sweltering heat of a tiny upstairs apartment in New Orleans. She had pulled her long blonde hair back into a twist and secured it with magnolias, but the damp air was
threatening to undo it.
She was talking to Roberto, Ursula and Miguel about her plan to obtain the El Diablo, the most notorious casino paddleboat on the
Mississippi. The women wore the long and cumbersome dresses of the era, and the men looked like dandies in their fine silk shirts and waistcoats.
"The owner is dead; there are no heirs. The city has put the boat up for grabs. With an ante of five thousand dollars, I could get in the game. Winner takes all lock, stock and barrel."
"What makes you so sure you can win?" Roberto asked, wriggling uncomfortably in the confining costume..
"Because I have the gift," Emerald explained.
Roberto frowned.
"That's cheating," he responded.
"No it's not!" Emerald was miffed. "It's not as if I could read their minds. I just sense things. I can tell when someone is bluffing."
"Still, that is quite an advantage," noted Miguel. Unlike his former captain, Miguel seemed at ease in the formal attire.
Ursula remained silent, her stern face made more so by her pulled back hairstyle She didn't share the men's scruples.
"It's not like I could control the cards!" Emerald argued.
"So, what do you want from us?" Ursula asked.
"I don't have five thousand dollars. I need backers," Emerald explained.
The other three exchanged glances. Luis' money was long gone, and they were barely surviving on what they could earn as day laborers.
"I'm sorry," Ursula said, finally. "We don't have it."
"But you don't understand!" Emerald yelled. "I can win! I can pay it back ten fold!"
Ursula shook her head. She felt sorry for her old friend, but there was nothing she could do.
"It doesn't matter. We don't have it. I'm sorry."
Emerald shoved her chair back and stood up, furious, her blue eyes flashing like lightening.
"Then I'll find someone else to back me. You'll see. I'll be rich." She seized her bonnet and parasol and stomped out of the small home in a huff.
Ursula rubbed her eyes with her fingertips. She was tired and she hated the heat.
"I'd better go after her, before she does something stupid," Roberto said, heading out the door.
"And what about you? What do you think?" Ursula turned to Miguel.
He smiled and calmly took her hand in his two strong ones.
"You can't give what you don't have," he said.
"I know her. She won't give up. Where will she get five grand?" Ursula asked him.
Miguel shrugged.
"You're not her captain, anymore. You don't have to worry about it," he said. Then he gave her a kiss on the cheek and poured them both a stiff drink.
__________
"Emerald, wait up!" Roberto yelled, running after her.
Emerald stopped beneath an old willow tree, leaned up against its trunk and waited. She wouldn't have waited for anyone else, but him. When he caught up to her, she saw again how handsome he was and how his smile was warmer than the Louisiana sunshine.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Find five thousand dollars," she said, meeting his gaze.
"Where? How?"
"That's my problem," she responded.
"Emerald, listen to me, it's not worth it," he said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You could get hurt, or worse. Let this thing go. We can survive here. We can make a life here. You don't need this," he told her.
Emerald slipped her arms around his neck and looked up into his eyes.
"You want to make a life here -- with me?" she asked.
"That's not what I meant," he said, pulling her arms away.
"Then what did you mean?" she asked, irritated, fighting back tears.
"I meant -- You don't have to have that boat.... Damn it! You're going to get yourself killed over this!"
"But I can win it. I know I can," she argued.
"I know. That's what I'm worried about."
"Huh?"
Roberto sighed.
"Look, if you lose, you're out five grand and you owe someone who will probably hurt you," he said, trying to be patient. "If you win, you become a target for everyone who lost. You won't be safe anywhere. Everyday will be struggle to stay alive."
"I'm a pirate, remember. I'm used to living dangerously," she argued.
"You're not a pirate anymore, and this isn't the high seas. I don't want you to end up dead!"
"Do you really care what happens to me?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, cupping her face in his hands. "I care. I don't want you to get hurt."
She studied his face for a moment, contemplating an uncertain future.
"I love you, Roberto," she finally said.
He blushed and let her go.
"Emerald, don't. I'm involved; you know that."
"With Jannie. Yes, I know." Emerald sounded bitter. "But I'm much better for you. We belong together, Roberto. Just give me a chance. Please. I'll show you. I'll prove it to you...."
"Stop it!" he interrupted. "Just... just, stop it!"
Then he turned and walked away, flustered.
__________
"I can win it. I know I can."
Emerald had turned to the only other person she knew who might be able to help her, Widgit. Now, they stood in the middle of Widgit's small apartment, which was filled with the tools of her art. Candlelight cast eerie shadows on the walls and animal skulls graced the coffee table. In one corner, a large doll, punctured by stick pins, leaned up against the wall. Widgit had been busy, since she got to New Orleans, learning every trick in her trade from the local experts.
"What do you want from me?" Widgit asked, her long jade green gown swishing as she paced about the room. "I don't have five thousand dollars."
"No, but you know how to get it," Emerald said. "You have the power, just like me."
"No! Not like you! You are like a child, untrained, undisciplined. You have a little power, and you think it's a lot. You're a fool," Widgit chided her. "What I have is the real thing."
"Then you can help me get the money," Emerald said.
Widgit examined the woman carefully, as if sizing up Emerald's determination, then she nodded.
"Is that all you want from me? The power to get the money?" she asked.
Emerald was silent for a moment, thinking.
"No," she said finally. "I want something else. I want Roberto to fall in love with me. I want to have his children."
"Tish, tish, child!" Widgit said, turning her back on the woman to hide a look of glee and keeping her voice stern. "It's not good to fool with the hearts of men. It will come back to haunt you."
"I want Roberto! More than anything else in the world!"
"More, even, then this El Diablo?" Widgit asked.
"What are you saying?" Emerald asked.
Widgit, now composed, turned back to face her, but didn't answer.
"I am willing to help you, but for a price," Widgit told her.
"Go on."
"There is something I want from you. Something of mine that you have in your possession."
"The scepter," Emerald said, realizing where the conversation was going.
"Yes. The scepter. It is the heart of my power. It magnifies my power. I want it back."
"I can't just give it to you! Ursula would have a fit!" Emerald argued.
"Well, then, we'll just have to find a way to get around that, won't we?" said Widgit.
Emerald cocked her head to the side, studying the witch queen.
"Just what did you have in mind?" she asked.
Widgit indicated they should both sit down, then she poured two cups of tea from a skull shaped teapot.
"I've been learning a lot, since coming to this place," she said, "about life, and death, and raising the dead."
"Rosalita?"
"I can bring her back."
"How?"
"But I need the scepter to do that. Surely, Ursula would let me have the scepter if it meant bringing back Rosalita, wouldn't she?"
"Have it? Probably. Keep it? Never."
"Are you so sure?" Widgit asked. "Think about it, what would you give to see someone you loved come back to life."
Emerald didn't answer her.
Widgit pulled an old carpetbag out from under the sofa, cleared a spot on the small table, and opened it. Inside were bundles of blank paper.
Emerald sipped her tea and waited.
Widgit then closed her eyes and began to chant. Her voice was hypnotic. At first, Emerald was distracted by the chanting and pulled into the sound, but she forced herself to look away and glanced into the bag. To her amazement, the bundles of paper had turned into money. Her mouth hung open in surprise.
"It's a trick!" she yelled. "That's not real money. It's a trick."
"Yes, it is," said Widgit. "But it's a very good trick."
"But, I have to fool a boatload of people, not just one person. I can't put them all into a hypnotic trance. It'll never work," Emerald said.
Widgit smiled.
"Maybe we can kill two birds with one stone," she said, not answering the charge and again catching Emerald off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"If Roberto knew that Jannie was helping you, that she was involved in a plot to deceive everyone and pass off this paper as money, so you could enter the game and win your boat, what would he think about her, then?"
"He'd be furious," Emerald said, grinning. "But that still wouldn't make him love me."
"No, but before we can forge a new bond, we must break the old one."
Emerald's head was spinning, trying frantically to keep up with Widgit's elusive logic. The two women spent the rest of the night hatching a plan, and in the morning, Emerald went to see Jannie.
Emerald's love potion for Roberto...
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