Butchered Bayou

The afternoon dusk blazed like fire in the sky on the bayou as Evie Wilson tried to shield herself from the sun’s rage. She stood on an aged creaky dock of Bart’s air boat rental shed while the owner fiddled for the keys. Sweat beading down the side of her ebony face as she made a visor with her hand to look out to the abyss of nature that was the bayou. One could fool others by the soft croaks of frogs paired with the bustle of dragon flies and lush greenery that it was always this peaceful. Yet, Evie herself knew better otherwise she would not be making this spontaneous expedition.

“Hold on little lady, I’m almost through with her. I’ll be out soon.” The shop owner calls from inside the small shed. It shrunk in comparison to the attached garage.

“Take your time. I’m still waiting for my friends.” She assured.

A series of clatters from the building had her averting her attention to her friends’ tardiness opposed to her presence in the middle of nowhere. Peeking at her phone she makes out the numbers that light up across the face of the device. Five o’clock. Audra and Rickey, we’re officially two hours late for their “recreational bayou ride.” A bayou ride that added more to her nerves as the sun began to set. A few more noises along with a string of curse words suddenly the old man reappeared on a tiny boat by the dock followed by the struggling sound of an air fan. The small vessel was unattractive to say the least but what was the most alarming observation was the unappealing sounds from the motor.

“She’s no beauty queen, but she’ll get you where you need to go.” The old man chirps overconfident in the vehicle’s performance.

“By the way what did you say had you creeping in the bayou again?” He questioned.

Evie stunned frozen at the man’s sudden curiosity was hit with a wave of relief by the familiar hum of Audra’s Durango. Turning her attention back to the old man she only managed to mutter a half- heard response, “Wildlife preservation project for school.”

She’d ran to the end of the pier to meet Audra and Rickey as they got out packing a black duffle bag. Audra’s usual mane of curls was strangled in a bun in response to the heat. Even though it was scorching outside she and Evie modeled similar attire of black shorts and shirts. Rickey on the other hand was the exact opposite in his ensemble of Southern University gear with a matching baseball cap.

“What the hell are you wearing?” She scolded his disregard of their agreement to be inconspicuous.

“I told him it was a dumb ass idea.” Audra pointed out.

“No that’s not the case. You two heifers agreed I did not, and I have taken more precautions to protect myself as a young black male.” He corrected.

“This can’t be happening right now.” Evie groans. Pulling out her phone to look at the time and see it’s now five-thirty so they’re behind schedule.

“Look we can talk about this later right now we need to go.”

Approaching the end of the dock the old man has made himself comfortable with beer in hand. Oddly enough even though she wasn’t a drinker Evie had a sinking feeling by the end of their little field trip she would need one. Hell, she felt like a drink was needed just to get her on the boat.

“So, a ‘Wildlife Preservation Project’, huh? Never heard of that before, may I ask what class?” He prompts.

“Wildlife class.” Rickey offered earning an elbow from Audra.

“What he means to say is Environmental science.” She corrects.

“Sure, he does. You know it’s a little late for your young folk to be venturing out like that into the swamp.” He smirked taking a pull from the can.

“We’re taking photos and it’s golden hour.” Evie offered shakily.

“Golden hour really. Mind if I see your camera little lady, is it in that bag?” He nodded to Rickey.

“No! - I mean we don’t want the lens to get foggy from the humidity.” Audra rambled.

Rickey’s fingers tightened on the parcel his body tense from it being mentioned. The pit in Evie’s stomach had finally collapsed at the old shop keeper’s interest in their reason for being there. She’d just wanted to go home. Not the super luxe mansion she’d been staying in most of the summer, but her parent’s house in Brownfields. Phoebe, her boss, had convinced them that it would be a simple task venturing out to the swamps, but it was proving false.

“I’m sorry I’ve been completely rude to you kids, My name’s Bart!” He extended his hand to Evie. For a moment she was stunned and didn’t know what to do.

“I’m Evie, and this Audra and Ric-” She started to introduce but Rickey cut her off.

“Sebastian!” He blurted out nervously earning a glare from Evie and Audra.

“Well please to make your acquittance.” Bart nodded. It was like he was looking through the three of them.

He studied the three teenagers a mischievous glint in his eye. He was purposely stalling them as if he knew. This was not the plan at all, the whole point of this job was that it was supposed to be easy, but that was a lie they’d told themselves to stomach what they were doing. Evie, Audra, and Rickey we’re supposed to be in and out of the swamp before night fall and forgetting they ever came in the first place.

“You know it’s getting pretty late, and we really do need to head out if we want to get these pictures.” Audra piped up obviously ready to get this over with.

“You don’t say, well I better let you all get to it.” Bart tilted giving them access to the boat.

The trouble trio barreled into the small boat extra careful with their photo equipment.

“Isn’t there something you kids are forgetting?” He taunted.

For a second, they all were dumbfounded to what the swamp monger was referring to. Then to his own amusement he rubbed his fingers together in the universal symbol for currency.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.” Evie fumbled whipping out a thick roll of one hundred-dollar bills.

As Bart took the money, he let out a slow whistle, “This is some serious cheddar for a couple of college kids.”

Before they could come up with a logical answer for the mass amount Bart threw his hands up in mock surrender.

“Don’t worry y’all, I understand, none of my business on how you kids make a living.” He grinned genuinely.

“We were kind of hoping you could forget you saw us.” Rickey added causing Evie and Audra to groan at the fact of him being overly blunt.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been doing crossword puzzles all afternoon.” Bart insisted.

Audra with an aggressive jerk of the leaver cranked the fan to life.

“Oh, one more thing.” Bart shouted over the large fan.

“Tell Phoebe I said thank you, and I’ll be seeing her soon.” He acknowledged.

They all turned stunned at the fact he knew why they we there. No questions were asked as he waved them off.

“Just drive.” Evie sighed.

The old reliable statement of looks being deceiving rang true as they zipped out the waterways to the heart of the bayou. The troublesome trio stopped in the middle of nowhere the water still and silent, but they knew the truth of what was underneath. Gators. Tons of alligators all lying beneath the surface waiting for their next prey.

“So are we not going to discuss, that guy knows Phoebe and she sent us out here for no reason.” Rickey mentioned.

“Oh no shit, ‘Sebastian’!” Audra snarked.

“You see that’s why your single now, always focused on the wrong thing.” He retorted.

“What did you just say?” She barked.

“You heard me single-,” he sputtered catching a pouncing, Audra.

Before he could get another word out Audra pounced from the driving seat on to Rickey in the paddle seats of the tiny boat. The quarrel between her friends sent an annoyed Evie rocking forward. She couldn’t believe she was in the middle of the swamp with these two screwing around when they had a job to do. Her gaze drifted to the black duffle bag causing the majority of her distress and where’d it come from. Just the thought of his name had chills rolling down her spine at the thought of a thirty-five-year-old Malcom Avery.