The Baron tossed the last swallow from his glass and crushed it beneath his feet. Then he lackadaisically pulled a cigar from his pocket and lit it with a small flame he got from rubbing his fingertips together.
He took a drag and addressed his two new acquaintances with a toothy grin and a gleam in his eye. “Well, that’s an awful lot of he-did-this-so-she-did-that.”
Willowmina had an uneasy feeling, and tried to hurry things along. “All we want to do is keep those ghosts from following the witches.”
“Ah, yes, then all your troubles would… Cease. Well, I will tell you where those ‘ghosts,’ as you call them, are going.” The Baron draped his snake around his neck and spread his hands wide. “I am known to some as Baron Samedi, and to some as Baron Saturday, and to others not at all. I know more than this world contains, and it is my job to see that all who are no longer of this earth find their way to Guinee.”
As he spoke the moon shone brighter in the sky, bathing the night forest in a pale greenish light. Dark clouds crept from behind the hills and a mist gathered in the air.
“Guinee?” asked Willomina.
“Guinee is another land, very far from here, and not in this realm. It is where the dearly departed belong, and it is I that sends them there. That is where these phantoms are en route to now, and I am their guide. Now do you understand, little tree?”
“Sort of. But would you mind sending these ghosts through another forest?” Willowmina asked, and the moon suddenly went dark and the black clouds broke, sending torrents of rain pouring down upon them.
Slub Glub dove into a mud puddle and buried his head, fearing that Willomina had made the formidable Baron angry.
Willowmina stood her ground, as she believed her request to be reasonable.
“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahha,” Baron Samedi exclaimed, beside himself with laughter. He slapped his knees.
To be continued.
Table of Contents: “Slub Glub in the Weird World of the Weeping Willows”
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Illustration & text copyright (c) Andrew Goldfarb