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is?”
    “Important to you or to her?” Cally asked.
    Ruby glared at her younger sister. “Don’t you start,” she snapped. “I’ve got to go with or without her.” She snorted in exasperation. She untied her apron and pulled the scarf off her head, running her fingers through dark brown pin curls.
    “Dang that girl. Well I’m going upstairs to get dressed. If you see her, hogtie her and make sure she stays put until I get back. I’ve got to salvage this somehow.”

    ****

    When Althea arrived home several hours later, she found her aunt Cally sitting on the veranda with Mr. Lindt. Althea adjusted her blouse, picked the wisteria blossoms out of her hair and walked up the long wide expanse of manicured lawn toward the house. She tried her best to forget about the frightening shadow that moved of its own accord, with neither man nor master. She’d always heard about haints, spooks and loup garous , but this was the first time she’d actually encountered something she couldn’t explain. She tried to push the image out of her mind. Maybe it was just a trick of the eye, she thought. Although Jake did see it too, maybe it fooled both of us. Maybe it was just the reflection on the water or maybe a swarm of buffalo gnats or... her thoughts trailed off.
    No. It was real. She was sure of it.
    She and Jake hadn’t talked about the incident. After the thing passed them by, and they were sure it was gone, Jake picked up the pole and they rowed silently back to his house, where he said nothing as he jumped into the waist high water and half waded half swam back to the bank. He scrambled up over the levee and out of sight and she, feeling dull and abandoned, rowed the raft up to the docks where she tied off.
    She sat with her feet dangling in the water, feeling somewhat stupefied by the experience. An alligator trundled from the far bank and glided into the water. Taking the hint, she removed her feet, scrambled up the dock and trudged back to the house, her hair dank, wisteria blossoms in her shirt.
    “Look what the cat dragged in,” Cally said as Althea approached, “and I do mean cat.”
    “What of it?” Althea snapped, sounding far harsher than she intended. She rubbed her right temple, the dull headache she’d nursed since her excursion with Jake promising to return full force.
    “I advise you to get off that high horse you’re on,” Cally quipped. “And I’d do something about that shirt too, girlie, before she comes back. You know who I mean?” Cally regarded her through heavy lashes. “She might think you were up to something.”
    “Sorry Tante ,” Althea said as she tucked her shirt back into her shorts .
    “Don’t sorry me. Sorry your mother. And sorry yourself when she finally catches up with you.”
    “Oh my God that stupid tea,” Althea said as she mounted the steps and flopped down on one of the old green metal lawn chairs. “And there’s nothing wrong with tying my shirt up. It’s hot, I’ll have you know, and all the girls are doing it.”
    “It’s your funeral,” Cally shrugged as she studied her cards.
    “So where is the old bat anyway?” Althea asked.
    Cally raised her eyebrows. “The old bat went on without you. She’s really mad too. Said she’s gonna strap you good when she gets home.”
    “I’d like to see her try it,” Althea growled, her head throbbing in earnest now. “I’m too old for a strapping, and I won’t put up with it either. I’ve got a bad headache. And I don’t want to be bothered by some silly old tea.” She hooked a chair from another table and scooted it up. She propped her feet on it and watched as Mr. Lindt and her aunt played Bourrée . Inside the house a radio station was playing xydeco. Ordinarily Althea would dance to it, but now all it did was get on her nerves.
    “She means well, you know,” Cally said as she dropped a quarter into the mease. Mr. Lindt did the same. “She wants the best for you, that’s all. But that uppity attitude of