A short piece assigned in the workshop I’m currently taking. “ick a story which has clearly identified hero/ine’s and villains. Write a scene in which the readers get to see the situation from the villain’s point of view.” I chose to write about Dr. Facilier from Disney’s Princess and the Frog.
The boy sat in the shadows at the back of the store. He worked quietly at a low bench sewing small dolls and their clothes. A woman in a caftan and turban kept looking back at him. Her worried expression made her already aged face look even older. The rattle of the old door being wrested opened drew her attention. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes closed as if she could block out the site before her. A tall Creole man stood in her doorway; distaste on his handsome features. He made a show of reluctantly stepping into the small storefront. Sneering at the dried herbs, animal parts, and various dolls and handmade trinkets that filled most of the room, gracefully avoiding touching anything in the cluttered and overfilled space, he advanced on the woman.
“Henri, you shouldn’t have come here.” Her voice cracked and seemed heavy with tears. “No good can come of this.”
“The boy belongs with me, Odette. You’ve proven to be less than a diligent caretaker, and I’ll not lose him the way I lost Julia.” He peered into the dark shadows where the boy sat. “Frankie, come here boy. It is time to go.”
The boy looked to Odette, his eyes pleading for a way out of his situation, but the old woman could do nothing for him. His eyes hardened as he unfolded his gangly body from his work area. Emerging from the shadows, his resemblance to the older man was uncanny. If not for his purple eyes that marked him as a practitioner, they would be identical.
Odette rose from her chair and intercepted the child as he walked to his father. “Francois… I am sorry child. If I could I would keep you here and teach you, but…”
“I know Mama Odette. We each have our path that we must follow.” He tried to smile for her, but she could see his eyes had gone hard. His face now a lifeless mask. Something even the death of his mother hadn’t managed to do to him. As he made to slip past her, she stopped him. Reaching up on tiptoes she slipped a necklace around his neck. “Your mother wore this necklace. She would want you to have it now.” The simple cord holding two crocodile teeth hung low on his chest.
“She wore this almost every day. The day she… died… well the cord had broken. I am not saying that it would have protected her, but I hope it will remind you of her. She was of royal blood, and that means you are too. Never forget that, and never forget that you have friends…” She slipped a small doll into his pocket as she stepped back.
Henri scoffed at the scene. He placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder and lead him out the door onto the street. The sun was setting as they walked down Basin Street deeper into Storyville, and Odette could hear the older man lecturing her former pupil. “Magic don’t mean anything in this world, understand? Money, money is what gives you power, and you and I are going to rule this town one day.” Henri’s voice faded quickly lost in the sounds of the city.
Cathy McManus 