They call her Dana Read Online Free Page B

beside a small, flat brown lake, sticky white and yellow water lilies covering much of its oily surface. Though old and weathered, the shanty was in surprisingly good condition, not falling down like most hereabouts. The moss-green roof didn't sag at all, and a small verandah wound around the front and one side, providing shade on sunny days. Wild-flowers grew in profusion in the yard leading down to the lake, and in back there was a large herb garden, walled with stone to keep out the swamp creatures. It was a cheerfiil-looking place, not at all gloomy or forbidding.
    Mama Lou had lived here for as long as anyone could remember, making her potions and medicines, shunning other people, her only companions a series of large, furry cats. She must be almost a hundred years old, folk said, and it was rumored her old master had given her her freedom after she put a curse on him and almost caused his ruination. She had come from Africa in chains, the story went, a wild and savage young princess who had been a medicine woman in her native tribe and steeped in the dark magic of that continent. Folk around here were convinced she was a witch and left her strictly alone, venmring to her shanty only when they needed herbs or medicine.
    As I stepped into the clearing in front of the lake, a cloud passed over the sun, shadowing everything with gray. Superstitious folk would have taken this as an omen and shivered with apprehension, but I wasn't superstitious and I wasn't afraid of

    Mama Lou. Once, years and years ago when I was a very little girl and not yet famfliar with the swamp, I had lost my way and was very frightened and Mama Lou had come and taken me by the hand and led me back home, never saying a word. She had ' 'seen'' me lost, I knew, and had come to my rescue. After that, I had often slipped off to visit her, fascinated by the wizened old Negro woman who had the sight and was so wise.
    I could smell the herbs growing in the walled garden and the overwhelming scent of the poppies that grew in wild proftision behind the house. Folk marveled that Mama Lou was able to make so many exotic things grow in the swamp, said it was black magic. She used the herbs in making her medicines, used the poppies, too, and the bark of several trees. I approached the verandah, carrying the cheese and eggs, and the screen door opened. Mama Lou stepped out onto the verandah. She was not at all surprised to see me. She was holding a small brown glass bottle full of thick liquid.
    "I has the medicine," she said.
    She knew. She had been expecting me.
    "I've brought you some eggs and cheese, Mama Lou. I saved the best eggs, and I made the cheese myself."
    Mama Lou nodded grimly and examined me with piercing black-brown eyes that always seemed to see so much more. She was small and stooped and gnarled, with a bony, nut-brown face that was a network of overlapping creases and wrinkles. Her lips were barely visible, her chin a hard, jutting knob. She wore a shapeless flowered blue smock, much faded, and a pair of cracked brown leather slippers that were too large for her feet.
    "You doan have to bring me gifts, chile," she said in her raspy voice.
    "I wanted you.to have the eggs and cheese," I told her. "I— I would have brought some sugar, too, but there was just a litde left in the canister.''
    "All these years little Dana comes to see Mama Lou. She isn't afraid of me like the others."
    "You're my friend," I said simply.
    Mama Lou nodded again, still examining me. Something seemed to be bothering her. One of her cats, an enormous, furry marmalade, came around the comer of the verandah and curled itself against her legs, looking up at me with visible hostility.

    Ebenezer wasn't black, like the last one had been, but he was just as intimidating. Folk said Mama Lx)u's cats were her "familiars" and could transform themselves into different creatures. All witches had cats who acted on their orders.
    "You knew I was coming," I said.
    "Mama Lou knew.''
    "Ma