New Orleans! Read online

  “This is definitely a mansion,” Alfie said, taking in the house. “It has to be the one.”

  They stopped next to the van, and Teddy spoke to the woman. “Excuse me, ma’am? Is this the Lind house?”

  “Yes it is,” she said as she pushed the chairs into the van.

  “Great. Thanks!”

  Emilia passed through the gate and walked up the sidewalk like she was going home.

  “I like your sister,” Nanette told Alfie. “She doesn’t hesitate when she sets her mind on something.”

  Alfie laughed. Emilia was definitely getting much bolder thanks to all their new adventures.

  Emilia stepped up onto the large wooden porch and rang the doorbell. The others stood behind her and waited. Soon the heavy black door swung open, and a woman in a floral-print dress peered out at them. “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Hello,” Emilia said. “We’re looking for Mrs. Lind. We wanted to ask her a question about a photograph.”

  “Please come in,” the woman said.

  The kids shuffled into the foyer. “Please wait here and I’ll tell Mrs. Lind,” the woman said.

  Alfie couldn’t believe how grand and beautiful the house was. It had marble floors and looked even more like a movie set than the La Salles’ house did.

  A minute later, the woman returned, followed by another, older woman with perfectly styled white hair.

  “Hello, kids,” she said. “I’m Margaret Lind. What can I do for you?”

  “I’m Emilia and these are my friends, Teddy and Nanette La Salle. You might know them from the club their family has in the French Quarter—La Salle Royale? Oh, and this is my little brother, Alfredo.”

  Alfie grimaced at the use of his full name.

  “Nice to meet you all,” Mrs. Lind said, seeming a bit confused.

  Teddy stepped forward with the photograph in his hand. “We were hoping you could help us. This is our grandmother, Mama Minnie. And Clarice over at Julianne’s Candy said you might know the other woman in the picture, Delphine?”

  “Goodness,” Mrs. Lind said. “Sounds like you are on quite a mission this afternoon.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Nanette said. “Do you know Delphine?”

  “Certainly, I do.” Mrs. Lind smiled, her light blue eyes shining bright. “As a matter of fact, I was just heating up some lunch—a recipe that Delphine taught me. Why don’t you join me in the kitchen?”

  They followed Mrs. Lind across the marble floor and into the kitchen.

  “Delphine was like family to us. Still is. We just don’t see her much anymore. Not since her husband passed away. Poor dear.”

  “When did he pass away?” Nanette asked quietly.

  “About six months ago,” Mrs. Lind said, turning from the stove. “They were inseparable, Simon and Delphine. In fact, I bet he’s the one who took that picture.”

  “Is she okay?” Emilia asked. “Delphine?”

  Mrs. Lind looked back into the steaming pot. “I wish I knew. We’ve only seen her once since Simon’s funeral. I told her to come by the house anytime and we’d cook together. She used to love showing me new Creole or Cajun dishes. We had so much fun in the kitchen—she taught me everything I know. I couldn’t make scrambled eggs before I met Delphine!”

  The woman who’d been loading the van appeared in the kitchen doorway. “That’s everything, Mrs. Lind.”

  “Thank you so much, Caroline,” Mrs. Lind said warmly. “It was a great little party.”

  “You’re welcome,” Caroline said. “See you soon.”

  Mrs. Lind faced the kids. “Caroline helped me throw a small party for my husband’s birthday yesterday. It’s funny you’re here today because I made étouffée. It was the first real dish Delphine taught me to cook. And it’s my husband’s favorite, so I make it every year for his birthday.” She smiled and stirred the pot. “And it’s almost better the second day. I’ve got plenty of leftovers. Would you all like to try some?”

  “We’d love to,” Nanette said. “Thank you.”

  “My brother and I are just visiting,” Emilia said. “So we don’t know much about New Orleans food. What exactly is ay-too-fey?” She said the word carefully like she was afraid of mispronouncing it.

  “Étouffée is a little bit like gumbo, but with a thicker sauce, and it’s usually made with only one type of seafood. This is a crawfish étouffée,” Mrs. Lind said, putting a small scoop of white rice in the bottom of five bowls and then adding a bit of the stewlike dish on top. She passed the dishes to everyone.

  “Étouffée,” Emilia said again, working out the pronunciation. “It sounds French.”

  “That’s right,” Mrs. Lind said. “It is—the word translates to smothered. Basically we’re just smothering this crawfish in the tomato-base sauce.”

  Alfie blew lightly on his steaming bowl. When he took a bite, he could immediately tell the difference between this and the gumbo he and Emilia had helped Zia make. In addition to the crawfish, the étouffée had a creamy, gravy-like sauce. The gumbo was more like a soup. But they both tasted amazing!

  “I guess our next stop is Delphine’s house then!” Alfie said to the others between bites. He wondered which neighborhood she lived in. All the neighborhoods in New Orleans seemed so different from one another.

  “Would you mind giving us her address?” Emilia asked Mrs. Lind.

  “I’m afraid I can’t help you there,” Mrs. Lind said. “It sounds crazy, but I don’t know where she lives! Well, I know where—out on the bayou just outside town. But I’ve never been to her house and never thought to ask for her address. She always came to us.”

  Alfie couldn’t believe it. They were so close! He knew they all had the sense that Delphine held some answers about Mama Minnie—recipes or not. They knew now that Delphine learned to cook with Minnie and probably knew her cooking best. They wanted to meet her and hear her stories about Mama Minnie. But if the only address Mrs. Lind had for her was “out on the bayou,” then they were at a dead end.

  “Can you think of anyone else who might know where she lives?” Emilia asked, not wanting to give up.

  Mrs. Lind shook her head. “Like I said, Delphine always came to us. She was here in town so often it was easy to forget she drove in each day. Now I wish I’d thought to ask. I’d love to go visit her. I’m sorry I’m not more helpful.”

  “You’ve been so helpful!” Nanette said.

  “Really,” said Teddy. “Thank you.”

  “And thanks for the delicious food!” Alfie added. Everybody grinned and nodded as they finished their bowls.

  Afterward, Mrs. Lind walked them to the front door. “I knew I missed Delphine, but I didn’t realize how much until today. If you see her, please tell her to stop by.”

  “We will,” Nanette said.

  They waved good-bye as they walked back down the brick path to the front gate. Their steps were a lot slower and heavier this time. Alfie didn’t know what they would do next. The trail had gone cold.

  “We were so close,” Teddy said as they walked down Chestnut Street. “There has to be something we can do!”

  Nanette draped her arm around Teddy’s shoulder. “We’ll keep looking. Maybe if we start asking around at the club someone will eventually know Delphine and can tell us where she lives.”

  Alfie and Emilia exchanged a quick look. They were frustrated that the mystery hadn’t been solved. And Alfie was beginning to wonder how long it might take. They’d enjoyed their time in New Orleans, but they didn’t want to stay too long.

  “I’m kind of thirsty,” Teddy said. “Y’all want to get something to drink before heading back?”

  “A cold drink sounds good,” Alfie said.

  They walked over to Magazine Street and stopped at a little café that had metal tables lined up on the sidewalk. Alfie and Nanette got lemonade, and
Teddy and Emilia got sweet tea. They sat outside and watched people wander in and out of the nearby stores selling art, jewelry, antiques, and clothing. Alfie watched two moms with fussy babies in strollers stop to chat on the sidewalk. This area reminded him a little bit of Main Street back home.

  Suddenly, a woman stopped beside their table.

  “Weren’t you just at Mrs. Lind’s house? Talking about Delphine?” the woman asked, shading her eyes from the sun.

  “Yes,” Alfie said. It was Caroline—the woman with the van. Alfie hadn’t realized she’d heard them talking. Now her van was parked in front of the café, and a man was bringing the tables and chairs into a party-supply store next door.

  “Why y’all looking for Delphine, anyway?” Caroline asked. Alfie thought she seemed a little suspicious of them.

  Teddy pulled the photograph from his pocket and handed it to her. “That’s Delphine along with our grandmother Minnie. Our grandmother passed away last year, and we just wanted to talk to Delphine about her.”

  Caroline took the photo. “You must be the La Salle kids, then.”

  “Yes,” Nanette said, looking hopeful. “I’m Nanette, and this is Teddy.”

  “I haven’t been down to La Salle Royale in ages. Used to have the best red beans and rice in town.”

  Teddy and Nanette nodded and focused on their empty glasses. “We know.”

  Caroline glanced up and down the street, like she didn’t want to get in trouble. “Well, I know where Delphine lives.”

  “You do!?” the four kids cried together.

  Caroline held up her hands. “I do. But she doesn’t much like visitors at all these days.”

  “Please,” Alfie said. “They just want to hear a little more about their grandmother.”

  Caroline sighed. “Oh, all right,” she said. “Got a pen?”

  Teddy ran into the café and asked for a pen and a piece of paper. Caroline scribbled down some notes. “There’s no real address,” she told them. “But it’s about two miles off the byway, past a little seafood shack called Sargent Sassafras. Delphine’s place is called Sleeping Waters.”

  She handed the paper and pen to Teddy. “Be careful going up to the door. Like I said, she doesn’t like unexpected visitors.”

  Alfie thought that sounded a little sketchy. “Do you have her number so we can call first?”

  Caroline shook her head. “She never gives it out. That’s how much she doesn’t like to be bothered.”

  Alfie nodded and turned to Emilia, Teddy, and Nanette. They all had very determined looks on their faces. They’d come this far. They couldn’t turn back now.

  They thanked Caroline, and she walked toward her shop. “Good luck!” she called over her shoulder.

  “We can’t go to the bayou,” Teddy said as they boarded the St. Charles Avenue streetcar. “At least, not on our own. We’ll need a car to get outside the city, so that means Virgil will have to drive us.”

  “I doubt he’ll agree to it,” Nanette said, sliding down in her seat.

  “Why not?” Emilia asked.

  “He’s so stressed about the club,” Nanette said. “Driving out to the bayou is the last thing he’s going to want to do this afternoon.”

  “It doesn’t hurt to ask,” Emilia said.

  Once they got back to the house, they gathered the brothers and told them what they’d learned.

  “I can’t believe it!” Rex said. “Y’all really did it.”

  “Not yet,” Nanette said. “But we’re close.”

  They really were—Alfie almost couldn’t believe it, either. They’d gone from finding a photograph they didn’t know existed to discovering the woman Mama Minnie learned to cook with to now finding out where that woman lived. Even if the address was just “Sleeping Waters, Bayou, Louisiana,” they were onto something.

  “Now we just need you to drive us out to the bayou so we can visit her,” Teddy said to Virgil, as if he was just asking him to run to the corner store for a bag of chips.

  Virgil rubbed his eyes and looked tired. “Y’all have done a real good job. I can’t believe how much you’ve learned. But going out to the bayou without an address? That just sounds crazy.”

  “Come on, Virg, you know how those homes are out there,” Jules said. “It’s normal for them to have names instead of numbers.”

  “I know,” he said. “But how do you think this woman is going to feel about a bunch of kids showing up on her porch asking questions? At the very least, it’s rude.”

  “We’ll call first!” Jules said, getting excited.

  “Well, that’s the thing,” Nanette said. “We don’t have her phone number.”

  Virgil raised his hands as if his point had been made.

  An air of defeat hung over the room. Alfie’s mind raced to come up with a solution.

  “Look,” Virgil said. “I know you want to meet Delphine. But guys—she’s not Mama Minnie. She can’t replace her.”

  “We know,” Nanette muttered.

  Emilia jumped to her feet. “But what if Delphine could replace Mama Minnie—as the caterer for the masquerade ball!”

  Teddy jumped up, too. “Yeah! Then we could still play the gig!”

  “We may not come back from the bayou with Mama Minnie’s recipes, but we might be able to come back with a chef for the party!” Nanette added.

  Everyone watched Virgil carefully.

  “Worth a shot,” Rex said, smiling.

  Finally, Virgil sighed and stood up, too. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  They rode out of town in Mama Minnie’s old boat of a car across the expansive Crescent City Connection and over the Mississippi River with their windows down, letting the warm wind race across their faces. Virgil and Teddy sat in the front, with Alfie, Emilia, and Nanette in the back. Jules and Rex had stayed behind, begrudgingly. Virgil didn’t like the idea of so many people showing up unannounced on Delphine’s porch. He thought they were pushing the boundaries of hospitality as it was—even for Louisiana.

  Before long they were out of the city and crossing another bridge, this time into the water-soaked lands of the Louisiana bayou.

  Alfie watched as they passed neighborhoods that looked similar to the ones back home. Those neighborhoods gave way to sparser ones surrounded by ropes of water. They passed homes built on stilts to protect from storm surges and rising rivers—the first floor was up where the second or even third floor might be, with cars parked under the house. Many of the homes had names—Basin Bliss, Under the Cajun Moon, Evangeline’s A Bon Coeur. To Alfie it seemed as foreign and exciting as anything else he’d seen on their adventures.

  “Keep your eyes open,” Virgil said, turning slowly onto a narrow road just beyond the seafood shack Caroline had told them about. They were close.

  Thick trees hung over the road blocking out the sun. Alfie kept his eyes on the woods, searching for any signs of Delphine’s home. Suddenly, he spotted something.

  “Look!” he shouted, pointing to a small moss-covered wooden sign with faded black letters that said SLEEPING WATERS. Virgil turned down the dirt-and-gravel driveway, the car bumping and dipping into puddles as they went.

  They stopped when they came to a creek blocking the way to the house, which was tucked back behind a curtain of weeping willows and live oak trees. Virgil parked the car and shut off the engine. They all climbed out.

  Virgil led the way across the footbridge that arched over the creek. “Careful,” he said, stepping over missing boards.

  The last thing Alfie wanted was to slip through the bridge. Weren’t there alligators in the bayou?

  They stepped up onto the small porch next to two old rocking chairs. Colored glass bottles and wind chimes made of what looked like bone hung above them, softly tinkling in the breeze. Alfie didn’t want to think about what kind of bone the chimes might be
. He glanced at Emilia, who seemed as nervous as he was.

  “Let me do the talking,” Virgil said as he knocked on the front door. The only noises they heard as they waited were the sounds of crickets, frogs, and other strange creatures Alfie preferred not to think about.

  Finally, the door creaked open. A set of dark eyes peered back at them. Alfie’s heart thumped in his chest. He reached out for Emilia’s hand. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

  Virgil cleared his throat. “Hello—Miss Delphine?”

  “Who wants to know?” a sharp voice said. “Because whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying.”

  “We’re not selling anything,” Virgil said. “We’re looking for Delphine—we were told she might know our grandmother.” Teddy held up the photo they’d carried with them all over New Orleans.

  “You’re Minnie La Salle’s grandkids, aren’t you?” she said before she even looked at the photograph.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Virgil said.

  Delphine pushed open the screen door. “Well, then you’re just in time,” she said. “Come on in and eat with me.”

  Alfie let out a sigh of relief and followed the others into the house. There weren’t many lights on inside, and Alfie had to let his eyes adjust. His nose, however, got it right away. Something was cooking.

  She led them into a small kitchen—so different from Mrs. Lind’s grand space from earlier that day. “Now let’s see,” she said. “You must be Virgil, and Nanette, and Teddy.” She pointed at the three La Salle children. They all nodded and smiled. “I remember when you were about this high, Virgil.” Delphine held her hand a few feet above the floor. “You were always tugging on the hem of Minnie’s dress asking for a snack.”