Chapter 6

Chapter 6

By the time Sabrina finished her tour of the temple, she didn’t have much time left before the party in the afternoon.  She ran back to Linda’s house to change.  When she got there, her father had already come back from town.  He seemed less jovial.

“I just had a conversation with your mother,” he told Sabrina. “She wants you to call her.”

“Ok.  I will do it after the party,” Sabrina promised, causing her father to insist, “We’re not in a hurry for the party.  Call her now because she is very upset.  She thinks that there is devil worship going on at Lucy’s house during voodoo ceremonies and she doesn’t want you to go there.”

When Sabrina called her mother, her mother’s anger had not abated. “I warned you not to get into that voodoo stuff, and now your dad told me that you went to the house of the neighbors who are voodoo priests,” Sabrina’s mother said, seeking an explanation.

“Mom, I was with Jackie, the neighbors’ daughter, and she was telling me about what they believe.”

“I don’t want you to get into voodoo.  Did you know that these neighbors are very well known voodoo priests, and that Peter’s father has been to the property?” Sabrina’s mother asked.  This revelation surprised Sabrina.

“I didn’t know that Mr. Ivanov had been there,” Sabrina admitted.  “But, it’s not what you think,” Sabrina argued.

“So, what is it then?”  

“What I’ve learned so far about voodoo is that it’s a bunch of superstitions, like Dad says,” Sabrina answered, before adding, “Peter told me that Mr. Ivanov has been acting weird and saying crazy stuff.  So I’m not surprised that he came here to Haiti to find answers to his problem.”

“Don’t talk about Dimitri that way,” Sabrina’s mother said, still angry. “I can’t force you to come back to the states, since it’s your father’s turn to have you. But I’m coming to Haiti to put a stop to this,” she said to Sabrina.

“It’s not necessary, mom.  I’ve already learned all the things I needed to learn about voodoo.  So, I don’t know how coming to Haiti will make a difference,” Sabrina responded, trying to reason with her mother.

“I know you don’t understand what’s going on.  You’re just like your dad, thinking you know everything.  So, I’ve decided to come to Haiti with Dimitri and Peter next week, to make sure this comes to an end,” her mother forcefully said.

“Peter is coming to Haiti next week?” Sabrina asked, with a tinge of excitement in her voice.

“Dimitri said that Peter is very sick because of some voodoo spirit, but Peter refuses to believe it.  He is only coming because he wants to see you,” she said.

“I’ll be glad to see him too,” Sabrina said, surprised at the news. “What’s wrong with Peter?” Sabrina asked with concern.

“His speech is getting more slurred and Dimitri told me that was what happened to his wife before she passed away,” replied her mother.

“Peter told me about Mrs. Ivanov earlier and we don’t think it was because of voodoo,” said Sabrina, who was now getting worried about Peter’s health. “I’ll call Peter today.”   Then softening a little bit, she said, “Mom, I don’t like to argue with you.  You still treat me like a kid.  But I can assure you that I’m not into any devil worship.”

“I’m glad to hear that but I’m still coming next week.  You may not believe in these spirits, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.”

They spoke for another five minutes and then hung up, but Sabrina’s efforts to change her mother’s views were in vain.  Her mother’s mind always saw everything in black and white, good versus evil.  Sabrina, on the other hand, also saw shades of gray. 

When she was at the presidential palace, Sabrina remembered Linda telling her how some Haitian presidents in the past had pretended that they had obtained magical powers through voodoo just to scare the Haitian population into submitting to their will.   Sabrina agreed with her father that voodoo practice was based on superstitions.  However, after learning about Jackie’s parents, she didn’t believe that smart and powerful people Like Lucy and her husband were superstitious.   Another idea had occurred to Sabrina and she wanted to explore it. 

“What if Lucy and her husband were doing what past presidents had done,  and were using voodoo to exploit the Haitian people, while pretending to believe in voodoo themselves?” Sabrina asked herself.   That sounded reasonable to Sabrina. Since Lucy’s husband was the brother of the President, it made sense to Sabrina that they would do that.  All these things about Petro voodoo and powerful spirits were just pure nonsense, Sabrina decided.  She couldn’t wait to go to the party to hear what other fairy tales Lucy and her husband had told Jackie and Marc.

 

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