Chapter Eight

A Strange Journey: Leeland Hardee

 

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Eight of Mama Root: The Old Woman of Loop Road

 

 

 

~~~     “That’s right.  Don’t ever get old – mind starts to go.  Anyway, Isabeau and Gabrán had made a nice little life for themselves.  Day rolled around that he was getting ready to ship out again and Isabeau came to him with the news that she was with child.  Well sir, he was one happy man upon hearin’ that.  In the days before he sailed they talked long into the night about the baby.  Eventually, the talk came down to picking out a name.  Funny thing is, neither of them mentioned any boy’s names, only names for girls.  It’s like both of them somehow knew that they would be blessed with a little girl.  Isabeau wanted a French name.  That was fine with Gabrán; he had only one wish as far as names went, something he confided to Isabeau and no one else.  Even being the man’s man he was, he said one of the things he missed when he was at sea was flowers.  He missed their smell, saying that it reminded him of Isabeau’s perfume.  He missed their delicate nature, after dealing day after day with hard wood, coarse rope, and unshorn faces.  It was decided then that the little girl’s name would be Marguerite since it meant ‘daisy’ in French.  He shipped out to Jamaica and somewhere on the northeast coast of South America and got back just in time for the birth.  He looked into that tiny face and couldn’t have been more proud if he met King Neptune himself.”~~~