Foraine ( Eng)

Chapter 5 : Quantus tremor est futurus

I massaged my sore arm before taking back the shovel to pile the dirty straw and the dung in the wheelbarrow behind me. Josh didn't joke when he said that Eliot was furious, so I was cleaning up all the stables. Speaking of the devil, Josh approached, removed his jacket and without a word grabbed a shovel and began to fill the wheelbarrow.

- Thank you.

"You were helping Emilie," he answered simply.

We worked in silence for the next half hour and then I asked

- You really like her ... Em I mean...

He nodded silently, then resting the head of his shovel against the ground

-I think I want to marry this girl. But I always feel like doing it all wrong, never saying what I should at the right time, of ... making a fool out of myself, "he stammered, throwing a pile of hay into the wheelbarrow.

- It's complicated for her since ... since Tennessee

"I know," he sighed. Can't you help me? You seem to know your way around these things.

- Me ? I'm not exactly a lady-killer Josh, I explained, shrugging my shoulders. Women are more likely to throw stones in my face, shouting "monster" than falling into my arms.

- But not Emilie.

"But not Emilie," I conceded.

- I'm not asking you to talk to her for me, huh. But .. you know her well, maybe better than anyone here and she loves you a lot. So ...

I wondered a little uneasily if Josh realized how much I knew Emilie. I avoided the matter and said:

- I'll try to find out what she thinks about it, okay?

Josh had a delighted child's smile and, slapping me on the shoulder:

- Thank you !

Then after a silence

- Maybe don't ask her right away what she thinks of marriage.

We burst out into laughter interrupted by Eliot who put his head around the door to yell at me.

When we finally finished cleaning the various boxes, the night had already fallen and after a quick shower to try with a relative success to get rid of the smell of dung we joined the common tent to grab a plate of stew and a beer. As I was looking for Leaf and didn't find him, I mentally took note to bring him a plate a little later. I sat next to Lotta, who gently patted my cheek as her sister greeted me with her hand. In front of us, Carol in a pink satin robe, mouth painted red and eyes widen with kohl, read a newspaper while Eliot, Pete and Sean were playing a game of poker a few tables away. In a remote corner, Nathaniel rocked what surely wasn't his first drink of the evening, present and absent at the same time.

"It looks like they've found a new body," Carol said, causing a heavy silence over the entire room. In the swamps a few miles from here. According to the article they were able to retrieve only a piece of torso and an arm. The alligators had already taken care of the rest.

- I wonder who will be blamed for that, creaked Lotta, bitter while the silence dragged on

- It could be anyone! Emilie growled in a hoarse voice, furiously stubbing out her cigarette. People are being murdered and bodies are thrown into the bayou every day whether we are there or not.

"Yes, but we will be blamed," Elaine cut in, sitting down after casually grabbing the bottle of bourbon from the hands of a Mr. X too drunk to protest. We must be ready.

- You're dramatizing ma chère, countered Carol in a mixture of English and Creole French.

Elaine poured herself a dose of bourbon then raised her glass towards Carol: