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Voodoo Attraction -- Writer's Poke #221

We walked into the shop and were overcome by the intense smell of incense. Dragon statues, pentagrams, herbs, and other stereotypically-wiccan paraphernalia were visible wherever the eye landed. But visible only in dim shadows as the outer windows of the store were covered with thick black drapes, and there weren't any florescent bulbs being used inside. The light seemed somehow organic, as though not coming from any discernible source.

My friends quickly tired of this store, but I found it compulsively fascinating. When they left to explore the next shop down the street, I stayed to talk to the shop mistress working behind the counter. She looked 16, but I'm sure she was in her mid-twenties. Her hair was jet black, her skin was pale, and the the inverted star necklace she wore around her neck was not an accessory common seen in central Illinois.

Around the corner and mostly out of sight was a man much older than her. I could sense that he was keeping watch over his "property," which included this girl. Noting the ring on her finger, I guessed that she was his wife, and speculated that he didn't like anyone chatting, no matter how innocently, about her background, her religion, or how she liked living in New Orleans.

What are you attracted to?

"We do not attract what we want, but what we are." -- James Lane Allen

Comments

  1. Are you saying, or at least implying, that you were attracted to this girl or to the atmosphere of the shop? Are you thus implying that you are Wiccan?

    A man who was named Thomas Barnes, who (if records can be trusted) is your 8th Great grandfather, was married twice. His second wife would be your 8th Great grandmother, again if records can be trusted. But his first wife was convicted of being a witch. I believe she was killed by the state for that, but my memory fails me on that point. I probably have it somewhere, but not where I am looking. She had three children I think, according to what I have. But his second wife, our ancestress, had only two. You might be interested in the following URL

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