"Oh Husker." Rosie tsked as she prepared the cold compress. "How could you take flowers from Niffty's garden like that? You know how much it means to her."
She then handed the compress to Husk who pressed it to his swollen black eye.
"Surely you must have known that once she discovered what you did, she would have made such a fuss."
"A fuss?!" He pointed to his blackened eye and then to the side his face where his left ear should have been, only surprise, his ear was gone. "You call this a fuss?!"
"Compared to what she would have done to you if you had picked all her Honeysuckles, Red Carnations, and Tea Roses? Yes. If you had plucked off all of them then she would have dismembered you entirely with tree trimmers." She then grabbed Husk's ear from the table and pulled a needle and thread from her dress pocket.
"Aww shit, this is really going to hurt." Husk winced.
"Well maybe next time you'll think twice before pilfering someone's garden."
"To be fair, Al wasn't specific about where he wanted me to get the flowers. All he said was to get a bouquet for Charlie and to make sure that the flowers would be Honeysuckles, Red Carnations, and Tea Roses."
Roise only rolled her eyes and began threading the needle.
"I hope you didn't uproot or cut any of the other flowers. Like the Irises, Pink Carnations, and Lilies of the Valley that she planted in memory of Alastor's mother."
"Oh please, I'm not that stupid. I wouldn't dare ruin anything that serves as a memory to the boss's mother."
"And you didn't ruin Niffty's personal favorites? The tulips and the daffodils?"
"No."
"How about the Hydrangeas and Red Roses she planted for me?"
"No! I'd never ruin something you liked!"
He said it so fiercely that it took Rosie by surprise. Husk then blushed a little and turned his head.
"Okay hold still now."
Rosie proceeded to sew Husk's ear back on to the left side of his ear. He cringed each time the needle went through his flesh but that was the only movement he made.
"At least it's not as bad as that time you got your arm torn off at the bar." She said trying to distract him from the pain with a conversation. "Remember that catastrophe?"
"No. I was so drunk off my ass that night, I don't think I could even walk straight. Mind refreshing my memory?"
"Well you had gone down to that club for a drink and you were challenged to a drink off. You won but your opponent was a sore loser and insisted that you two arm wrestle. You accepted even though you were so intoxicated, you swore up and down that you saw two of me that night. In the end your entire arm was torn from your body and we were up all night trying to sew it back on."
"I forget, why did it take all night?"
"Apparently when you're drunk you have an intense fear of needles. The whole time Niffty and I stitched you up, Alastor and Mr. Pentious had to hold you down because you kept squirming and screaming 'You're not sticking that in me!' And 'Doctors are killers!' Care to explain what that nonsense was about?"
"Oh yeah. Sorry. Let's just say that back in the day I had a bad experience with getting a smallpox vaccination and leave it at that."
"And while I have your attention and your willingness to explain and confess, would you mind answering something for me?"
"That depends, what is it?"
"How is Alastor?"
"What do you mean? How is he in what way?"
"I mean does he appear stable? Has he had any episodes since our guests arrived?"
"No. So far he's been perfectly sane. Well, as sane as someone like him could be. Why do you ask?"
"I just want to make sure that I did the right thing by going along with this. That what we're doing isn't going to make him worse than he already is." She cut the thread and tied the end securely. "All that pent up hurt and anger and misery, I fear for his soul. I think he might lose it."
"He is going to lose it sooner or later. That's what happens when you bargain with you know who."
"But there must be some loophole or something he can do to get out of it. I know there's nothing you or I can do, but maybe this woman can help him finally move on and see the light."
"Rosie, even if he does move on from what happened all those years ago, there is no way the people upstairs will accept him. He's done far too much damage, he's committed unforgivable sins, their judgement of him has been final."
"That's funny because according to my Bible, no sin is unforgivable and no judgement is final as long as he's alive. If he's still alive then there's still hope and I intend to keep hoping and praying until his heart stops pumping."
"I don't know how you can still hope for his salvation. Don't get me wrong, I care about him and he's a good boss, but I'm positive he's a damned man just waiting for the devil to take him."
"Where there's love Husk, there's always hope. He's the only family I have, I'm his blood, and I love him so I have to keep hoping and trying to help him."
Husk sighed, Rosie certainly was a loyal one and loyalty was scarcer than you think in places like Davenport. Hell, it's scarce in the world in general.
"You really think there's still hope for him?"
"If God's only son, a man without sin, was willing to be in prisoned, tortured, and killed for the salvation of the people who betrayed him, then there is definitely hope for a man like my cousin."
Rosie had always been a very religious woman. Technically everyone in the household was Southern Baptist, but none of them were as devoted to their faith as Rosie. She attended church every Sunday and used the Bible as a manual for life. If she needed anything, she always turned to God first. Yet being a fiercely devoted Christian did not make her the least bit fanatic. Those who lived in Louisiana that practiced paganistic faiths such as voodoo or just didn't have any religious beliefs, she treated no different than her fellow Christians.
In fact she was close friends with a Hoodoo medicine man from Haiti called Usula, that lived on the other side of the bayou. A decent fellow who was always willing to lend his expertise on natural remedies for when someone in the house was ill and occasionally concoct a few poisons to keep out house pests like rats. And his services to Rosie were always free of charge because she was one of the few people in town to treat him with respect and compassion. They were also such good friends because they shared a passionate love for tea and would trade recipes. Why she even once invited him over for an afternoon tea, not at all caring what others would say.
"He may not worship the same way I do." She would say when her neighbors confronted her about her association with him. "But he is no less a child of God, than I am."
All in all, Rosie was everything a true Christian should be. Or at least that's what everyone who knew her would say and they were probably right. But her strong faithfulness toward Christ wasn't for herself, no she had made herself a devout Christian in order to save the soul of her cousin Alastor. She hoped and prayed from the bottom of her heart that somehow God would take the darkness from Alastor's heart and free him of his demons. That perhaps, if she did enough good in the Lord's name, then he would have mercy on Alastor. Truly no one believed anyone could have loved a relative more than Rosie loved Alastor. He was merely a distant cousin yet he had loved and looked after Rosie as if they were close siblings. She loved him so much, and she was grateful to him, and she did not want him to suffer.
"I just have to keep praying that things will workout for the best." She told Husk. "That's all I can do for now."
"You're a good woman Rosie." Husk told her. "I'm sure if anyone can convince the man upstairs to give a man like Al another chance, it's you."
"I hope so. I truly hope so."