Hoodoo You Love?

Hoodoo You Love?

What Gina wanted more than anything in the world was to be beautiful. To feel beautiful. And to be regarded as such.

She was attractive, boyishly so. But she did not command the same attention and adoration as, say, her sister Crystal.

Crystal had bright brown eyes and skin the color of mahogany. Crystal was bold and erudite and compelled admiration. Gina harbored a ruinous envy in the midst of her love for Crystal.

Not even a year apart--the two girls shared a bittersweet kinship. Gina followed Crystal closely...and hung on to her every word.

As the girls matured--men began to knock on their door in pursuit of their father’s blessing to court the girls. And of course, Crystal always received the more noble and austere requests; for the men in pursuit of her were men of a particular kind of dignified manner. Men whose fathers held rank, and men whose surnames were accented with numerals indicative of lineage.

In an effort to align her privileges with her sister’s, Gina decided to meet with the witch lady, Beulah, on the south side of town. She had heard rumors of Beulah’s ability to garner attraction and make maiden’s appear more beautiful than fawns. All Beulah was said to request in return was a single silver coin. Real and unblemished.

On the eve of Crystal’s wedding--Earl Williams had proposed, gained their father’s favor, and planned a summer wedding to unite him and Crystal--Gina packed a sackcloth with a single silver dollar and an apple in case she became hungry along her journey. She allowed the waning moonlight to illuminate her path and in an hour’s time, stood before Beulah’s home.

Once invited in, Gina observed the wicker furniture...and candles situated in the far east corner of the room. She peered at the skulls and the bones and jars containing unfamiliar herbal blends.

“What you here for, gal?” Asked Beulah, offering her a seat at the table at the center of the dining room.

“I wish to be beautiful. I wish to have the love my sister has. The popularity she gains for her beauty.” Remarked Gina...meeting Beulah’s eyes with hers and simultaneously revealing the contents of her sackcloth.

“You a pretty gal, child. What make you think you ain’t beautiful?” Beulah slipped her hand beneath her gown and revealed a pipe. She stuffed it with a tobacco blend she had scooped into her palm from a small mound at the center of the table; she struck a match and lit the pipe. She took a long draw from the pipe. Exhaled. Then poked the pipe through the smoke’s ringlets.

“You’se a pretty gal.” She repeated.

A dog barked in the distance, shifting Gina’s attention away from the old woman. Embarrassingly, she peered down at the exposed contents of her sackcloth.

“Can you help me, Mama Beulah?” She asked sincerely.

“Beauty is a tricky thing. What others see, sometimes we don’t. And what we see, others sometimes won’t.” The lady began...and leaned back in her chair so that its front legs hovered above the floor.

“Beauty through magic is a tricky thang, child.” She let the legs come crashing to the floor, drew on her pipe, and let out a deep sigh.

Growing weary at the unknown, Gina gathered her items and placed them back in her sackcloth; she took another glance about the small abode, and stood to leave.

“Change your mind, child?” Beulah remained planted. Her eyes now smiling. Her crooked, toothless grin exposed. She emptied the contents of her pipe in a tray beside the mound of tobacco.

“I wasn’t always a witch, gal. At one time...didn’t know no better. And couldn’t nobody tell me I wasn’t the most beautiful thing walking. But I knew it fuh myself.” She took her index finger and traced lines through the mound of tobacco so that a swirling pattern resulted. Then she placed her index finger in her mouth and chewed slowly--tracing her gums with its tip. Gina remained standing--in between worlds.

“Sit yo ass down. I know what you want. Gimme’ dat’ silver.”

Gina reached into her sackcloth for the silver dollar and placed it in Beulah’s begging palm.

“Thank you, Beulah.” She muttered abashedly. Her eyes met Beulah’s and she detected something foreign in them. She returned to her chair drawing her sackcloth into her bosom.

“I need you to do one thing for me first, child.” Beulah stood before Gina and lifted her garments to reveal the bare wrinkled body beneath. Her legs appeared weak and shriveled and her lady parts hardly discernible for all the hair and wrinkles. Gina jumped out of her chair with alarm.

“This ain’t nothing to be afraid of. I need you to bring me pleasure until I say it’s done.” Beulah limped over to a rotting sofa in the corner of the larger room adjacent to the dining area in which they sat. She spread her old legs wide and far apart. With her index finger, she made wide circles about the space between her wrinkled thighs. She moaned slightly and gestured for Gina to join her on the sofa.

Abandoning reason, Gina joined her on the sofa. She leaned into the gray bush of the woman’s genitals and licked and swallowed and attempted to please her as best she could. Coming up for air...she sheepishly peered at the woman’s face. To her surprise, Beulah appeared young and beautiful and alluring! The old woman had been replaced with a young woman entirely unlike the old woman who had repelled her. This woman’s skin was soft and dewey. Her eyelashes thick and her eyes a golden brown. Her thighs tight and agile. Gina buried her face even deeper between them and awaited the woman’s call of pleasure as she ground and pressed her body so hard against Gina’s face that the girl began to scrape at her thighs for want of air.

Beulah released a shrill moan of pleasure and dug her nails deep into the creases behind Gina’s ears.

“Now go fetch me that bottle in the window. The one with the moon water.” She said in between exhalations.

Gina lifted herself from the floor and steadied herself to retrieve the bottle. The bottle sat on the windowsill, but as she attempted to move toward it her legs became light and weak. She was unable to walk without buckling. Her weight sent her plunging to the floor.

She could hear Beulah’s riotous laughter as she writhed and attempted to regain the feeling and strength in her legs.

“Did you like it?” Beulah stood--regal and glowing above her. She lifted her garments once more and thrust herself into Gina’s face.

“It’s almost done.” She whispered.

With her strength returned to her...Gina steadied herself once more and moved toward the jar. Beulah instructed her to drink it. She did. The water had no taste...it barely felt like anything going down her throat at all.

“Now gon’ on from here.” Beulah shouted. Her wrinkles and original appearance now returned to her.

“Beauty ain’t shit...but a curse to the wicked.” She laughed.

“But that’s what you want...and that’s what you got. Wicked fool.” She pushed Gina beyond the threshold of her home and slammed the door behind her.

Gina could hear her shrill laughs--like laughter from beyond the grave.

She spat at the ground, smoothed her tongue over her teeth, and marched home.

*************************************************************************************

The following dawn, she served as maid of honor at Crystal’s wedding. Everyone marveled at her beauty. “You’re even more beautiful than the bride!” One guest gushed.

“Did you see Gina?” She overheard a guest at the buffet, “Gorgeous.”

Smiling with satisfaction and relief, she enjoyed the day’s festivities and even danced with her sister for several songs. As the party began to fade and the guests were bid adieus, she made her way to the buffet where silver trays sat empty and discarded. She lifted one to peer at her beauty.

To her shocking alarm, her face appeared a monster’s. Her eyes were hollow and her lips twisted. Lines stretched across her face--aged and resilient. Her neck looked as though it belonged to a woman of a much more mature age. Her hands, although appearing youthful when held up in front of her eyes, appeared old and wrinkled when observed through the tray’s reflection.

Defeated,

she trudged to the embankment just beyond the buffet’s canopy and sat. She pressed her palms into the spongy grass until she felt earth and peered out at nothing and no one. She licked her lips and tasted the saltiness of the witch’s juices from the night before. She winced with disgust then drowned herself in the river beyond the bank.