Tuesday came and Emily began to fear that 'they' were coming for her and the child. Once Max left, she made her announcement.
"We're taking a vacation, baby!"
"What about Daddy?" Jordan adored her father.
"He has to work, and we won't be gone long.
After breakfast, the two drove for about three hours and finally Emily found a motel that she considered safe.
A man with dingy hair and greasy clothes, who leered at Jordan, took Emily's money, gave them the key, and lead them to their room.
"It smells icky" the child complained.
"But there's a pool baby!" Emily said. "Go put on your bathing suit."
Getting away from it all had made her feel slightly better, so she joined Jordan in the pool for a while. Then, she sat on a lounge chair. Soon, Jordan saw her talking to a strange man.
Some time passed and the woman said
"Baby! It's getting late! Go to the room and take a bath!"
"Okay" the six year old got out reluctantly.
"Here get something from the vending machines" Emily gave Jordan three dollars and the key to the room. "Don't let anyone but me inside"
Thusly, the child went to the vending machines to get some chips and soda.
"You're a very pretty little girl" the man, who had given Emily the key, said. His look was lecherous. "Would you like some candy?"
"No!" Jordan quickly walked away. Her father had taught her not to fall for such tricks. Nervous, she went straight into the room. Thankfully, there was a television so she watched and ate. Later, noises from the next room started to torment Jordan as memories regarding her mother and mysterious visitors resurfaced for a while. She wanted to call her father, but the room didn't have a phone and she was afraid to go outside again by herself.
Meanwhile, Emily was with her new 'friend' at his room. She didn't return until the wee hours.
At around eight in the morning, there was a knock at the door.
"Emily! It's me!" Max boomed. The woman reluctantly opened the door.
"How did you find us?" she demanded.
"You've been here before." Emily sometimes 'ran away', though this was the first time she took Jordan with her.
"That's impossible!"
"Daddy!" a half awake Jordan got up to hug her father.
"We'll talk about this later" Max tried to contain his anger and worry in front of Jordan. "Let's go home."
"Do we have to leave?" the girl asked. "I wanna go to the pool"
"I'll take you to the Y on Saturday" Max told her. "Go brush your teeth, and get dressed"
"It's safer here" the woman argued.
"The guy at the front desk is a child molester!!" he whispered.
After some more arguing and coaxing, Emily agreed to return home.
Then, when Jordan was in second grade, she became interested in a religion called Santeria, which was a mixture of a West African Yoruba religion and Iberian Catholicism. One day, she, in the course of her errands, found a boutique that had Santeria items. She would have ignored it, but the store window advertised something about protection. When she came in, a woman, named Inez Cordoba greeted her. She had left Cuba in 1970. The woman and her family moved to Boston because two of her brothers, along with their families lived there and the American government gave incentives for Cuban refugees to live outside of Florida.
"How can I help you?" the woman greeted curiously.
"I need protection"
"From who?"
Thus began Emily's Journey into the religion. She read all about it , prayed to the Orishas(gods), bought some material and did some protection spells. Also, she set up a little altar in the laundry room.
"What's this stuff?" Jordan asked as Emily rubbed a special oil that was supposed to protect against witchcraft. She figured one could never be too careful when it came to them.
"It's for your own good, baby"
She also would slather some on Max when he was asleep. To her chagrin, he would wash it off in the morning because he would feel greasy.
She also had Jordan wear a beaded necklace under her shirt. In her innocence, the child, who liked it, showed it to a friend in the hallway, and was seen by Sister Agnes, the school's vice principal.
"What is this??" the nun asked.
"My mommy told me to wear it for good luck."
"Come with me."
Gulping, Jordan followed the nun to her office. She reluctantly gave her necklace to the vice principal, thinking that the only problem was a uniform violation.
"At this school, we do not wear things of evil."
"Huh?"
"This is a pagan necklace!!"
"How can a necklace be pagan?"
"With this….." the nun dramatically threw it on the floor. "You are asking other gods to protect you."
"I didn't know, Sister Agnes!"
The nun's experience taught her that Jordan was telling the truth.
Soon, Emily got a very angry call from the woman.
"I….just found it at a second hand store and thought it was look nice on Jordan." Emily lied.
"What about this business with having good luck?"
"It was to give her confidence in school. Like a rabbit's foot".
"Fine, she'll get off with a warning this time. Nothing will go in her record."
"Thank you sister" Emily responded in relief.
"What the hell are you doing with this voodoo shit??" Max asked her furiously one morning when he saw her altar. He was putting some clothes to wash.
"It's Santeria" Emily corrected him.
"Whatever it is, I don't want it in this house!" Raised Catholic, he recoiled at the thought of his wife doing God knows what using statues and such. "We are a Catholic family!"
"The Orishas are the only ones who can fight them. You told me to have more faith!"
"In God and Jesus!" Max started to pick up the altar. "We're getting ridding of this stuff, and I'm gonna ask Father Bennigan to bless the house." When a Catholic priest blesses a home, he prays and sprinkles holy water over almost every room in the house. While Max didn't believe in the Orisha, his superstitious side wanted to play it safe.
TBC
