Midnight Bayou Page #4

You used that one up.

Here...

...buy yourself a bus ticket

to as far away as this will get you.

I messed up so bad

with that guy in Houston.

He was taking care of me,

and what did-- What did I do?

I walked out on him.

I stomped on his heart

like it was a bug.

Us Simone girls,

I guess that's what we do, isn't it?

If they don't walk out on us,

they surely end up paying for it.

I truly feel for that beautiful young man

from Boston...

...who came by on his motorcycle

the other night.

Oh, yeah.

I watch over my baby.

Get out...

...or I swear to God

I will throw you out.

You know, like it or not...

...you are your mother's daughter.

Which is to say, if you don't leave...

...they will.

As long as you shall live.

Hey, beautiful. I was thinking

Lake pontchartrain...

...a rowboat, some lobster salad...

...maybe some patsy Cline

on the boom box.

Declan.

What?

This is...

...too fast for me.

All right, we'll go slower.

No rowboat, no patsy Cline.

We'll go as slow as you want.

Some things just aren't a good idea.

Hey.

Hey.

What are you doing?

Was it something I did?

Did I come on too strong?

Oh, she likes strong.

Everything seemed so great

last night.

Did something happen to her

this morning?

Many things have happened.

Just not necessarily this morning.

In fact, not recently at all.

Would you like to see

my picture album?

Yeah?

Yeah. All right.

Always made us feel

kind of special...

...knowing our granny

was born in the big house.

Nobody in the bayou

had a family album like we did.

Now...

...that...

...was my great-great-grandma.

A beauty, isn't she?

Josephine.

And over here

is my great grandpa's brother, Julian.

And this...

...is my great-grandpa, Lucian...

...and my great-grandma, Abigail.

What the hell is this?

It's my photo album.

This is my house now.

And I'm not leaving!

Do you hear me?

Do you hear me?

Do you hear me?

Got you all the pretty ones...

-...I could pull out of the recycle bin.

-All right.

I'm surprised there's a spirit left

to scare away.

Oh, they're not for here.

Oh, look at that pretty blue one.

If these are for a neighbor of yours,

have a nice time hanging bottles.

Well, don't you have

wedding business up there anyway?

I'm not interested in Declan.

Well, it seems to me,

night before last...

...somebody spent all night

not being interested in Declan.

-Grandma.

-I know. I know your philosophy.

Walk away

so they don't walk away first.

And I know you come by it honestly.

But the end of the story isn't written

until it's written, angel.

Look around you.

-At what?

-Got a whole city coming back up.

Now, even where Katrina hit the worst,

getting rebuilt better than before.

You seen the Ninth Ward lately?

It's all a matter of time.

And faith.

Yeah, faith.

Otherwise known

as trusting in things...

...that have never shown themselves

worthy of trust.

Another storm hasn't hit.

Just luck.

All right. All right.

Tell me you really don't like him...

...or tell me his cologne

makes you gag...

...or that his jokes aren't funny...

...and I'll let you out that door.

Damn thing's a teardown.

My friend Remy

wants to be married under it...

...and married under it,

my friend Remy is gonna be.

Darling, we live in the most

beautiful house in Louisiana.

But it's not our house.

please, don't make me

keep living here...

-...where your mother hates me.

-Now, she doesn't hate you.

She's proud.

And the way that your brother's

always looking at me.

Now, you know

Julian doesn't mean any harm.

He's sad.

I promise you...

...as soon as the baby's born,

we'll start looking for a place in town...

...with lots of rooms

for the children we're gonna have.

Declan!

I'm okay.

I'm okay.

-Okay.

-Yeah?

Yeah? Well, were you

seeing something, boy?

No, l-- I wasn't seeing.

It was more like--

More like like what?

Like....

No, no, no. It-- No, it--

No, it's-- It's too crazy.

If anything was too crazy

for this place...

...I never heard of it.

Like I was remembering them.

Okay?

Like I was there. I....

I smelled the rose in Abigail's hand.

She was pregnant.

There was...

...a willow tree. Right there.

There was a willow tree.

Well, cut down 55 years ago

after Hurricane Hazel split it in two.

You think...

...we got ourselves

a little reincarnation thing going here?

No. I'm--

I'm from Boston.

Of course I don't think that.

You know, if you're Lucian Manet,

that makes you my great-grandpa.

Okay, so now, not only

do I have ghosts in my house...

...but you're telling me

that I used to be one of them?

Come on.

Really?

Maybe that's why I thought I was home

the first time I came here.

Maybe that's why we were so sure

we had met.

Yes, well, but that...

...would only be true

if she was seeing things too.

Well, are you seeing things?

Are you remembering things?

Me?

Remember a hundred years ago?

I'm lucky if I know

where I've put my keys this morning.

He loved her so much.

I-- I saw them

reading poetry together...

...and...

...the look in his eyes...

-...when he gave me the rose, it was--

-Excuse me?

What did you just say?

The look in his eyes

when he gave me the rose.

Well, now.

That might just explain everything.

It was a slip of the tongue.

No, no.

Think, Declan.

What were you remembering?

Whose eyes

were you seeing it through?

-Come on.

-I looked up at him.

I could feel my collar

around my neck.

The rose when he put it in my hand.

Holy moly.

What? What?

What does it mean? What is it?

Well...

...it means if you really were here...

...before...

...you weren't Lucian.

You were Abigail.

So now I'm the...

...reincarnation

of a Cajun housemaid?

Why not?

The soul

doesn't know the difference.

Boys come back as girls,

kings as paupers.

No, Odette.

I've never been a woman.

I've never had woman parts.

Then whose collar

was tickling your neck?

Now I see...

...why they're so angry.

Why they're reaching

through the veil.

You're the bayou trash

that invaded their home.

Lena, I know this is not the first time

that we've stood on this spot.

Abigail wasn't after Lucian's money.

She didn't want this house.

She begged him

to take her away from here.

Sure, away from prying eyes.

What if somebody caught her...

...sneaking off for a rendezvous

with the boy from the bayou?

No, Lena.

Not everyone walks out.

What poem were they reading?

She walks in beauty

Like the night

Of cloudless climes

And starry skies

I gotta get set up in the house.

She took the rose.

I call that progress.

Happy New Year champagne

for my two beautiful girls.

There, there now.

Don't cry, Marie Rose.

Where's your mama?

Oh, my darling, I am so sorry.

It's a joke.

She's playing a joke.

I've been praying this wouldn't happen.

I've been praying I was wrong.

All of her jewelry, Lucian.

Your grandmother's emeralds.

There's a thief in the house.

Would a thief leave this?

What have you been praying

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