Because We Are: A Novel of Haiti Read Online Free PDF

stand!
    **
    Libète and Davidson plunged into the reeds.
    — Jak! Are you okay? Davidson shouted over the floating grasses, trying to locate the small clearing where the boy and bodies could be found.
    — Wi, Jak sounded back, halfhearted.
    They stumbled upon him, waiting as ordered, sitting on the ground cross-legged and staring at the corpses as if doing so might will them back to life. Libète walked to him and lifted him from the ground, feeling a pang of guilt.
It was bad to leave him for so long.
    Seeking out Davidson and his friends had distracted her from the gruesomeness of what she had left behind. Confronting the woman and child again plunged her back into a deep sea of nausea and dread.
    —
Se pa posib
, muttered Libète, shaking her head. This is not possible.
    Davidson gagged, nearly vomiting. He pulled out his phone and stepped away, placing a call to Yves.
    Other young men, the fast runners, were next to arrive. They were followed by other able-bodied men and women, and then women with children, and lastly the aged and disabled. Libète looked back toward Bwa Nèf and saw more people coming, so very eager to see a sight that would likely haunt them. She wished she could cast all these newcomers away, but knew they would swarm back.
Just as sick as the flies feeding off the dead.
    Jak stood up and whispered something for only Libète to hear.
    — While I waited, I recognized something. The way Claire was cut—it’s just like Ezili Dantò! Just like the pictures!
    But Libète did not understand this. She was too distracted, too angry, every second the bodies being profaned by the growing crowd.
    — Let me through! Let…me…
through!
came a cry. The crowd separated, opening a path for Claire’s mother. All of the murmuring and fevered speculation silenced.
    Only the reeds shifting in the breeze could be heard. Some looked away, uncomfortable at this new development.
    The mother staggered toward the bodies and nearly faltered, but Bertrand, another of Davidson’s friends, held her up. She proceeded in silence, step after agonizing step, each one taking her closer to a new reality that could not be undone.
    No one in the crowd dared intrude upon the silence. Finally, the mother exploded in a shrill cry. Other women moved by the scene joined in, a chorus of anguished ululations breaking out. Confused children mewled, and several men wiped at their own budding tears.
    Libète watched as cold pinpricks on her neck and arms caused her to quiver. She felt a stifling presence pass by, equal parts dark and oppressive.
    She’s here!
    She turned with great care, shifting her gaze from the wailing mother until her eyes latched onto the faceless visitor hovering at the back of the circle of onlookers, a phantom visible only to her.
    It’s been so long
…
    The plaintive chorus continued. Accompanied by the grim and ghostly presence of the faceless woman known only to Libète as
San Figi,
the girl descended into a fit of chills and shakes even though bathed in the oppressive rays of the late-morning Sun.
     

TI BÒN
    Piti se riches malere
    Children are the wealth of the poor
    Yo pa ranmase dlo ki tonbe
    Spilled water is not picked up

    The little girl rides on the back of the motorcycle with the old boy.
    — We’re almost to Cité Soleil, Davidson says, turning his head against the wind to make his words heard.
    Libète nods. She has whispered prayers much of the trip, partly to stay awake.
    Thank you God for bringing me a kind cousin.
    The highway is so very long, ebony, and smooth.
    Thank you for bringing me a new home where I will be loved.
    The mountains are larger than she imagined, staggeringly so.
    Bless manman as she meets you. I am not happy you took her from me; you should not have done that.
    She marvels at the shoreline when its white sand explodes into view.
    And bless Marie Elise; she was always good to me.
    But where are the trees? And why do the people on the roadsides, who look so similar to