Homemade Sin Read Online Free PDF

big scaly things with horns and hoofs and long, sharp teeth. And her father had said they worked for the Devil.
    â€œI don’t want to go in if you have demons in there.”
    â€œEverybody’s got demons,” Mama had said. “Just not everybody knows it. Or if they do know it they just turn their back on them. Turning your back on your demons doesn’t make them go away; it just makes it easier for them to bite you in the ass.”
    Hussey had wondered if she had demons living in her house too; maybe they were invisible demons. She hadn’t wanted to think about that. Her mother had once told her about the invisible mites hiding in her bed sheets and she hadn’t slept for a month. She’d taken a step forward and a floorboard had creaked, scaring her enough to make her jump backward. “Come along child.” Mama had held open the door for her. “I wouldn’t let no demons get you.”
    The inside of the bungalow had looked bigger and nicer than Hussey had expected from the looks of the outside. It was furnished with a Victorian settee, matching chairs, and a marble-topped coffee table. The curtains had been drawn to keep the room shaded from the Florida sun. In the semi-darkness, Hussey had just made out tapestries and various prints of angels and Catholic Saints hung on the walls. Mama had ushered Hussey into a tiny parlor and motioned her toward one of two chairs that faced the sofa. “Sit,” Mama had commanded, pointing to a chair as she plopped deeply down into the sofa.
    â€œObadiah!” Mama Wati had bellowed in the general direction of what Hussey assumed was the kitchen. “Bring a pitcher of that sangria and some cookies. We got us a visitor.”
    â€œGive me your hand girl and I’ll tell your future.” Mama had flipped on a tasseled lamp beside her, grasped Hussey’s tenuously extended hand, and examined her palm.
    â€œMy lord, girl.” Mama Wati had stared at Hussey’s outstretched palm, “Will you look at that! You got so much magic in you it’s running out your ears!”
    Mama Wati had dropped Hussey’s hand, leaned forward and taken her face in both hands. She’d turned her chin left and right, looked deeply into her eyes. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re a born voodun, girl. You got the gift all right, strong too, maybe even stronger than your gran—” She’d stopped, sat back in her chair and smiled at Hussey. “It’s about time you showed up, girl; you should have started your lessons a year ago!”
    â€œObadiah!” Mama Wati had yelled. “Hurry up with that pitcher of sangria … and try not to spill it!” To Hussey she’d said, “That man can trip over a pattern in the carpet.”
    â€œNow,” Mama Wati had continued, turning back to Hussey, “if I’m going to teach you all about voodoo we have to start at the beginning. Voodoo started in Africa, a long time ago. It’s based on ancient African religions. When the slaves came to the Caribbean, the island of Santa Domingo, they blended it with the Catholicism of the Spanish. The French plantation owners made the Saints into voodoo gods.”
    â€œObadiah!” Mama had interrupted her lecture to bellow toward the kitchen again. “Get your old wrinkled ass in here with the sangria and bring some of those damned cookies! Training this girl is making me hungry.”
    â€œTraining me?” Hussey had said. “I thought you were going to tell my future.”
    â€œVoodoo is your future girl: The dark arts, homemade sin.”
    â€œI thought voodoo was in league with the devil,” Hussey had said, “some kind of witchcraft.”
    â€œNonsense.” Mama Wati had said. “My mother and her mother practiced voodoo back in Cuba, as far back as anyone can remember. I’ve been a Voodun since I was about your age. Now I stand tall with the unseen powers. I