Author's note Draft 2
If the story does not say draft 2, it's not the final draft
Thank you Kmli Marwa Liyafleur, SoulRiot, Hyemori, LadyRafaela for Favoring me. And thanked Aurora9871, 101, XenonNoble, Kmly Marwa Liyafleur, SoulRiot, Hyemori, LadyRafaela, NymphadoraBlackMalfoy,SideCharacter01 for following me.
Foreshadowing = 16
Edit 1/27/21
Life Worth 0
XIX-XXIII
XIX (Monday, 2nd of September 1957. Seven Ward. New Orleans, United States of America)
Coming to New Orleans was awkward today. With Louis driving us to the city. I asked him before we left if I could bring my bike, and he told me to throw it in the back of his truck before we leave.
The whole trip to the city was silent. Nobody truly wanted to speak.
Louis today was supposed to pick out which houses we were going to fix in the neighborhood. As we got into the city, I asked Louis to drive us to the Seven Ward. When we were at the border to the Seven Ward, I asked Louis to stop, so me and Ista got out of the truck.
Just when Louis was about to leave, Ista called out to him to tell him to pick her up at 9:00. Louis told her ok and then left.
I and Ista begin to walk then. When we got to the park Andrei and I talked at, I told Ista to stop and wait there. She asks why, and I told her Andrei neighborhood is like the community. She understood and waited there while I went to go get Andrei and his dat.
Walking through Andrei neighborhood, I noticed I stopped getting funny looks. Everybody's pretty used to me coming through by now. They know I am Andrei's friend.
That one difference between Andrei neighborhood and the community. The people of the neighborhood let people come in. But we do the same thing with our neighborhood, so it is not all that surprising when you think of it. We can't block off both neighborhoods when they are part of the city and people probably have to walk or drive through. We can only do that with the community land, because Louis own them.
When I got to Andrei's house, I knocked on the door. For a few seconds, Andrei opened the door. He told me to give him a few minutes and close the door on me.
As Andrei asked, I give them a few minutes. After those minutes, Andrei opened the door for him and his dad walked out. Before the door closed, I saw a girl who looked to be about 2 in what can be called a living room. She looked is very different from Andrei. The only reason why I would say they will be related is because of her hair being the same color as his. With the door shut Andrei introduced me to his dad and I introduced myself back then I asked him to follow me to the park.
Ista Pov
"Hello, I'm John Hughes" The man who walks too much like my husband says.
"Ista Jackson" I responded.
"Yes, I have asked you to come today because Andrei has told me of the reaction you had to what your own child have done." He said with a slow drawl but soft tone. His way of speaking was unlike my husband's, so he was not in commander of anything.
I raised my eyebrows to tell him I did not appreciate him trying to lecture me on how to raise my child.
"I would also like to thank you for the food and clothes your daughter give my family in our time of need." He backtracked it. I see now why he never rises in rank, his backbone was bent too much.
"She did that without my permission, so do not thank me for it." I told him abruptly. I did not know she gave them clothes too.
"Be that may, you still raised the child that was willing enough to help her friend in their time of need." He said.
I frown as I realize I did not raise her to do such a thing for anybody who is not a part of the community. It doesn't feel right taking credit for something she came by naturally.
"Your daughter and my son stole all that food because my family eventually going to starve to death." 'Aw, so that's what he was building up to.' I thought it said listen to him.
"Don't you live in a community?" I pointed out the information Louise had told me. Foremost communities in New Orleans, the members try to help each other in a time of need.
"Yes, but you see, my family lives at the bottom of our hierarchy in our community. So we get the least amount of food." He said with a gentle smile.
"That's awful." I said, remembering my time at the bottom of a hierarchy.
"Yes it is." He agreed with me, not trying to deny how truly backbreaking it is to be at the bottom. "I asked you here today to try to get you to understand why, your daughter did the things she did. It was not on a whim she did it. She did it because of a friend was in need." And this is why I said his backbone was bent and not broken.
"That may be the case Mr. Hughes, but my daughter did something reckless" But that doesn't mean I would not knowledge what he is saying because he was broken.
"I understand your feelings about your child's act of recklessness" He said, giving a frown of his own.
"Well I do not see that from the way you were trying to accuse me of something from my reaction to my child doing something reckless" I tell him sternly make it known that I was displeased with the way he was speaking to me.
"Oh no that's none of my attention" He said." From what I understand, this is the first time she did something like this. I was actually worry when the first time Andrei this something like this. He said, trying to sooth me.
"Is that so" I said, not trusting a word he said.
"Yes it is… When Andrei was just seven, he would work for any member of the community just to make money for our family. At the time, I was worried because he was losing his childhood, but I was so proud that he was willing to help out… That he took on the responsibility without me or his mother asking. But one day my son started closing off his emotions, he started wearing mask is all the time… And I tried to get him to talk to me, but he wouldn't speak a word to me about why he did things he did. Soon after that, he started picking pockets to bring more money to the house." John expressed with a defeated look.
"I tried to get him to talk to me more, and he closed me off more to the point I did not know what he was doing. To be honest, I did not even know my son had a friend until I heard the neighbors gossiping about it. And at that moment I realized that someway somehow my child burdened himself with a lot of responsibility a child should not have. And he will not give up that responsibility."
Ista felt a sense of dread creeping up on her. She realized it is because she saw the same thing happening to her own daughter. It was not until Neil said something did she even know about her own daughter friend too.
"It was already too late to stop him from stealing things, and it was already too late to stop him from pickpocketing. I think the best way to show my son that I'm here for him, is to support him…to tell him thank you." Now he was looking me straight in my eyes, pleading for me to understand.
I thought about when my husband told me to make a decision. The community or My family.
"So the next time your daughter does something crazy, just try to support her. Because if you don't," He said with a teasing tone. "That you'll be facing the same problem not knowing what your child is up to not knowing if they are safe or not" Aw there it was again, bent not broken.
Finally, making my decision, I asked him, "Will your hold communities eventually starve?"
"No, not all of us, just us at the bottom of it" He answers a little confused.
"You should share the food with the other people at the bottom then" I told him.
"If I may ask, why should I do that?" He asked.
"It will help you cover up that your family is not starving. So your family will not be noticed so quickly by the higher members. And the higher members won't cause you trouble, from the high members sharing the other food that you are not sharing." I tell him thinking about my own experience with the situation he's in.
"Thank you for the advice, I'm going to see about doing that" He says, heating my warning.
I nodded and looked over to where her daughter was marking things on a map with her friend. And started to think about the future of our family.
When she looks back to why she let her daughter do the thing she did. She will think of this conversation and pray for her daughter to be safe.
Neil Pov
"Do you ever wonder why our family is so complicated?" I ask my brother.
"No" He said as he continued to practice the dance he was ordered to do.
"Okay" I said as I practiced alone with him.
"Why do you bring that up?" He asked as he stopped for a second.
"I bring this up, because it seemed of late that are family that was cracked started to break apart" I tell them as I stop to look them straight in his eyes to get the measures of a cross.
"If you think so. I think I was always aware that our family was like this. It's just none of us were ready to acknowledge it, I don't know" He said as he started to dance again.
"Did you get that saying from Louise?" It sounded like something she would say.
"Yes, I actually did. She once told me that saying something out loud makes it more real" He said with a small grin on his face.
"Such wise thing said by a babe not even passed her first decade" I teased him a bit for taking the words of a babe.
"Yes, I think so too" He laughed at my words.
Lynda Pov
"All right children, it's time to pair up to make your baskets" said Elder Ahiga. I once heard that he was friends with my grandfather.
"Pair up… I'm wondering who's going to get with Lynda with Louise not here." One of my distant cousins said.
"Oh, I hope it's not me" another said.
"Yeah, me either, she's just so weird." Another announced.
"I don't think she's all that weird, I think she's unnerving" One girl said
"Unnerving" The first one is speaking.
"Yeah, it's a word my mom uses for her." The girl replied.
"My mom use creepy" A boy said.
"She is unnerving" The girl stated as if fact.
"She is creepy" The boy countered.
"Unnerving" She shouted.
"Creepy" He shouted back.
"Unnerving" She said.
"Creepy" He said.
"Elder Ahiga can I make a basket by myself?" I asked him politely.
"What you said, darling, you know I can't hear too well anymore. Speak up a little." He shouted.
And so she asked again, and he said it was okay, and she left the other children alone. Not once knowledge in them.
XX (Wednesday, 18th of September 1957. French Quarter. New Orleans, United States of America)
The city of New Orleans is gitting back on its feet. At least the quarter is. It's not surprising that the place that makes the most money, in New Orleans, is always a place that is fixed first no matter what time era it is.
The French Quarter is booming with touring people again.
And with those people, meaning storefronts being open. And with storefronts being open, new merchandise inside them.
That merchandise is the focus of why Andrei and I are in the Quarter today.
As a man on the brink of fame will write, one day Winter is coming.
And with winter means new clothes, my friend family and I can afford for.
So, on this day we're going to rob a lot of fabric shops. And we're going to do it in broad daylight.
In the future, I will be known for only doing my trade in daylight.
Louis Pov
For some odd reason, I find it particularly calming for me to watch my daughter rob places.
Maybe it has to do with the teamwork she shows without effort with this friend of hers. I wonder when she's going to introduce him to me.
As I followed her and her friend, I noticed somebody else following her too. As I try to catch the person, they just out of my sight, and I peg them down. It's like every single time I catch a glimpse of them, my eyes feel the sting of seawater. I have to close them to make the person able to hide out of my site, leaving the smell of the sea. But the quarter is next to the Mississippi River. And we're at the end of the Mississippi River at the beginning with, so the smell of the sea is not that all surprising.
XXI (Friday, 27th of September 1957, Community. New Orleans, United States of America)
Today is Native American day. Until I came to the past, I didn't realize American had many holidays. American have over ten federal holidays, not numbering the ones made in the future.
I was four when I realized that Native American Day was a holiday. Before, I thought it was just something the community did to celebrate being Native American.
But I realized it was a holiday in my fourth year being the past when I was able to anticipate it. And my first three years of being in the past, my body was more prone to sleep more often than not. So the day is kind of blurred together. The only days that truly stuck out to me were the celebration days.
So when I know it is a celebration all week before Halloween, I kind of wonder about it. The fourth year of this new life was the year I stopped sleeping as much as I did the first three. It was also the same year Lynda was speaking in sentences. So me following her lead was able to talk in sentences too.
That's when I finally asked about it. And was told the day in question was a national holiday.
Like most people who descend from indigenous people, the people of the community gather for the purpose of dancing, singing, and honoring the traditions of their ancestors.
It is also one of the reasons why I'm proud to say that I was born as a Native American in this lifetime.
Halona Pov
Today is one of my favorite day of the year. Why because it's the only day I could show up Louise. I show up Louise by doing all the traditional things she decided she would not do. Usually I dance, but this year I decided to sing.
Looking at my family, I see that they're doing the things they typically do on this day.
Luthor and Neil doing the grass dance in the dancing circle. Luthor wearing yellow and purple long aprons with ribbon sewn onto it to resemble long grass tufts. He was wearing pants with yarn sewn onto the legs, with a loop necklace in the front. Neil was wearing the same thing, but in golden and blue.
Louise was painting, anybody who asked, while Lynda was weeding baskets. Louise was in a black long full cotton dress. There was a design of a burgundy brown butterfly on a golden bistort, with a purple bat flying over it. And Lynda was in a black cotton dress. With a design of a purple coyote sleeping in a field of green celandine. And one burgundy brown butterfly flying around it.
Mom is wearing a pretty long skirt worn with cape-like blouses. Her personal ribbon work was done on it. Mom's personal ribbon work is always a blue ague root in a green swamp with a brown sky.
Dad is to decide on Mom wearing a purple shirt and pants. Dad said because he's not Native American, he would not wear the clothes.
Most of the clothes made for days like this are made by the elderly.
I wore a white ladies buckskin dress with a design of a green heron on my back.
I'll look around the memorial to see how everybody's faring today. It seems like everybody's having fun. If that was one good thing that came out of the Louise taking all that food. It is that we had enough food to spare to celebrate the day.
XXII (Thursday, 31st of October 1957, French Quarter. New Orleans, United States of America)
New Orleans was getting back on its feet in the last few months. At least enough to have visitors walking around.
At the beginning of this month, we started to fix the neighborhood. So all the houses are livable now. The schools are not open yet. So I have no classes to get going to.
I spent most of my day with Andrei and teaching him things. Today I spent my time teaching him Spanish and the connection to this time of year and how November 2nd is the Day of the Dead. I had him carving some skull heads out of wood for some practice in wood sculpture. For his first time doing it, he's actually pretty good. I made him paint the better looking ones to sell for tonight.
But I didn't spend all my time just teaching him that today, I also made sure he had gotten some practice in ballroom dancing.
Andrei Pov
Sitting at the boot Louise had made me set up between the Cathedral and Jackson square was frustrating.
At the beginning of the week when she told me the plan for the day it upset me. I understand what she needs me to do for the plan, but it doesn't make me happy about it. She asked me to dress up as a fortune-teller.
When I bought Louise to my home, I told her do not call anybody a fortune-teller. It was not just because it was disrespectful. It was also because my family has been doing that for so long. When time are tough, my family always have fallen back on telling fortunes. I myself learn how to do it at a young age, just in case times come hard enough that I'll need it.
I also told myself at that age that I would never need to use it. I will make sure it will not get that hard.
I learned it from my grandmother before she passed away. She told me I was very good at it, very good at it because I picked it up so fast. She said she could see me having a very bright future with it, that nobody in a family for a generation could truly tell the future the way I could. Not only that, but she said that our ancestors told the future the way I did, as if it was a weapon.
I never understood what she meant by a weapon, but seeing the people frightened every single time I tell them something that was too close for comfort, I could kind of understand what she meant.
So I use my Romani looks and dress the look of a fortune-teller and put a wide smile on my face and told fortune for the misfortune souls.
Because I would do my job as a distraction.
"So, how much did we make?" Andrei asked.
"We made 50 bucks... you" She ask with a smile.
"20" I said.
"Good, it means we can start using distractions on the job from now on. Seeing as this was a success." I said happy that the test trial when it's good as it did.
See, the day the whole job was about planning for future jobs to see what we could do and couldn't do.
XXIII (Saturday, 9th of November 1957. CITY Park. New Orleans, United States of America)
"Andrei, I want to do something bigger than what we have been doing" I told him, not looking in his direction.
The sound of him stopping wood carving, made me look in his direction. I looked him straight in his eyes, to see what he wanted to say. He didn't say anything but looked back down, and went back to carving.
After a few moments he finally said something" You are a fool, Louise Jackson. A fool."
"Yes, you might be right, my friend. You might be right." I agree with my want to do something that could give us more trouble, make me a fool. Looking back at the lake we were sitting there by today was peaceful.
"Since the city is back up, we need to move the go-kart somewhere else before someone else finds it." I told him as I got up from where I was sitting and started to dust up the dirt off my pants.
"Mmm" was the response he gave. After he stopped carving the bird I told him to do earlier when we first got here. He is getting better and better at carving. I should teach him something else soon.
" The next thing we're going to do is going to be big Andrei" I told him as I started to walk in the direction we left the go-kart.
"Will it benefit us" was his only question about whatever I was planning.
"Every job we do benefits in the end. And I'm sorry" I told him as I put my hands in my pockets feeling scolded.
"Huhm" He said looking at me a little confused.
"I did notice that you would not be comfortable dressing up the way I made you. So sorry that I was a terrible friend." I said while turning around and stopping to look right in his eyes.
"Thanks" He says giving me a small smile. And I smile right back at him.
"And come on the day still bright and early, and we have things to do." I said. I turned around and started to run. After a few seconds, I can hear him running behind me.
Louis Pov
"Dad… I am…so sleepy… She was not around today." She said as she lay a her head on my shoulder.
"Is that so" I said. I ran my fingers over her hair. She was saying that did not surprise me all that much. Lately, she's been sleeping more and more.
When I first noticed it, I asked community members who are licensed doctors to come look at her. And the only thing they had to say was that she's perfectly healthy.
But the more Louise is not around, the more sleepy Lynda is. The only good thing I have heard about this is that Neil tells me that she's not scratching her wrists anymore when Louise is not around.
But I can't truly tell which is better.
Author's note :
The next update hopefully is 12/13/21
Now on to facts
Ista's personal ribbon has meaning in the plants and colors she used. To the Native American people, so look it up. Also, there is a hint to the future in all their clothes, with the meaning. But you guys probably not give what most of it means. But I don't know if some of you might catch on.
$50 in 1957 is $492 today.