AncilIt was getting late and Sara came in and sat on the floor with her siblings. When I saw her I stopped reading.
“Why did you stop?” She asked.
“Oh,” I said before resuming the story:
“Anansi went right back to the old woman. He said, “I will try to guess your name.” He made up name after name knowing it was untrue and watched the witch smirk with glee. Then Anansi said, “Perhaps your name is old mother Cantinny!” The old witch fell over as if she was dead. Then, she rose up angrily and gave the girl half of all of her gold. Anansi raced away as fast as he could. Old Mother Cantinny called her four animals to her and looked into their faces. “Which one of you told my name?” Duck looked straight back at the witch. Peacock did not turn away, nor did Goat, but Crab kept his eyes to the ground. So, the old witch took the calabash with the tears of a hundred girls and threw it at the crab. His once soft-shell grew hard and tight from the tears and has remained that way ever since. That is how Crab got a hard shell.”
When I was finished reading I saw Saraya and Justin on the floor sleeping. They must have had enough for the night but Sara was still wide eyed and awake. She only noticed that Saraya and Justin were sleeping when I stopped reading. We both agreed that we had to carry the children upstairs so we picked them up and carried them to the beds. When I placed Justin on the bed I started off towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Sara asked as she tucked Saraya in.
“To read some more stories,” I said.
“Okay.”
I went downstairs, made myself comfortable on the couch and began picking up the documents that were spread out wildly on the floor in front of it. There were so many things to read that I didn’t even know where to begin.
Sara came downstairs, sat on the couch then said, “They’re asleep.”
“Good.”
“Are you going to read some more stories?” She asked.
“Nah, but the information on these papers are really interesting,” I said. “You know that those faceless children we met at the school were called douens.”
“I know, my father was the one who designed them.”
“So why didn’t you say anything?” I asked
“It probably slipped my mind while I was running for my life,” she laughed.
“Oh right.”
“So what does it say about the douens? The papers.”
“Douens are mystical creatures in Trinidad and Tobago folklore,” I read. “They are considered to be the ‘lost souls’ of children who were not baptized or christened before death. They are doomed to wander the earth for eternity while practicing their collection of pranks. They are seen playing in forests and near rivers and the odd thing about them is that they have no faces and their feet are turned backwards. They may approach children and lead them astray in the forest until they are lost, or they may come near people’s houses at night, crying and whimpering. It is advised that you don’t call the names of your children out in the open for the Douens to hear.”
“Sounds about right,” Sara said.
“The Midnight Robber is clearly trying to recreate all the characters from folklore and Carnival.”
“He’s not trying. It’s already done.”
“Every single one?” I asked.
“Every single one.”
“Even this one?” I asked pointing to a picture of a character named Mama D’leau who was half snake, half woman.
“They’re all out there in some form or fashion. I don’t know how much but I know they’re out there. I saw them with my own eyes. The prototypes. My mother even get turned into a….” She stopped mid-sentence then said. “They only come out at night so as long as we stay inside at night we should be safe.”
“What did your mother get turned into?” I asked, hating myself after.
