Page 115 of The Cajun Doctor

“Why? Ya gonna turn it inta a honeymoon cottage?”

“What? No! Geez, where do you get these ideas?”

Tante raised her eyes heavenward.

Great! She has connections to the Great Beyond! He tried to explain, “The father of one of the kids at the cancer center in Houma needs a place to stay. I volunteered one of these cabins. The guy has construction experience; so, he might be able to fix the electricity and plumbing, if there is any.”

Tante Lulu asked some questions and he found himself telling her about Molly and the lack of housing for men like Molly’s father, Edgar Gillotte, who had less than a pristine rap sheet.

“So, yer bringin’ ex-cons here now.”

“He’s not an ex-con. He’s just a guy who made some mistakes, minor mistakes, and needs a break. It’s as much for his kid, as for him.”

“Ah,” Tante Lulu said.

“What does ‘Ah’ mean?”

“Jist that life has a way of workin’ things out.”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Sometimes we doan know why things happen the way they do. Like you and Aaron buying this ol’ plantation. Ya thought it was ta open an animal rescue mission.”

“That was never my intention.”

Tante Lulu waved his contradiction away. “But God . . . and St. Jude . . . had other plans in mind fer you.”

“I swear, following your mind is like traveling down a Louisiana bayou. So many twists and turns, you get lost.”

“Huh?”

He should know better than to encourage her with questions, but he had to ask, “What do God and St. Jude have to do with me and Aaron buying this plantation?”

“It’s obvious, ain’t it? I kin see it all clear now. Yer supposed ta open a refuge fer sick kids and their families, lak Ronald McDonald House, ’cept yers will be Rose House, or sumpin’ lak that.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You are way ahead of me here. All I’m doing is fixing up one cabin. One. And it’s only for a short period.”

“Uh-huh!” Tante Lulu said, not convinced.

Even she was a bit taken aback at their first sight of the interior of the first cabin. Dogs had run free rein here at one time, both inside the cottage and in the fenced yard, but that had been thirty or so years ago when the former owner was raising Redbone Coonhounds, according to Tante Lulu. Whatever feces or urine stains there might have been were all dried up now, but the whole place would need a good scrubbing and a bleach disinfecting. Even so, Tante Lulu declared it had possibilities. No wonder she was a fan of St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes.

In fact, Tante Lulu told him she was going to call her niece, who was at her Houma beauty shop today. She apparently had other salons or spas, as well, including one at the ranch where she lived with her husband Raoul Lanier, better known as Rusty. And another which did everything for a woman’s body except plastic surgery . . . waxing, massaging, exfoliating, manicuring, pedicuring, hairstyling, braiding, corn rows, eyebrow shaping. He knew all this because Tante Lulu told him so, in enough detail that his eyes started to roll back in his head.

She pulled a cell phone out of her apron pocket.

“Charmaine, honey, kin ya do me a favor?”

“Yes, I know yer allus willin’ ta help me. Kin ya go ta that used furniture store down the street from yer salon. See if they have enough stuff ta furnish a small cottage.” She turned to Daniel and asked, “How much ya willin’ ta spend?”

He waved a hand as if it didn’t matter but then he immediately amended, worrying that giving a woman like Tante Lulu an open checkbook would be like leaving an open door on an alligator farm, insanity, in other words. “Two thousand, maybe three.” Tante Lulu repeated the amount to Charmaine.

“I doan s’pose Rusty is in town and he could bring the stuff over in his pickup truck?”

“He is? Oh, good!”

Oh, crap! He never intended for Tante Lulu to impose on someone like that for his benefit. In fact, he never intended to involve her at all. But there was no stopping the living bulldozer. Several times, he tried to interrupt her call, but she just ignored him.

When her call was over, she told Daniel, “You’ll have stuff here by this evenin’.”