"What's wrong with you today?" Yvette asked. "Graduation jitters?"

"A little," I said. I could never even begin to tell them the true reason for my melancholy.

"Well, if you had a future waiting, you wouldn't be so jittery," Evelyn declared pedantically. "Now what are you going to do the day after tomorrow, sit on the side of the road at your stand and wait for some handsome prince to come riding along?"

Yvette laughed.

"Yes," I said, smiling. "That's exactly what I will do." "Well, you'll grow old waiting for a handsome prince in these parts," Yvette said.

The two of them looked at each other in a way that told me they had been talking about me at length.

"Don't you even think about being with a man?" Evelyn asked, flashing a sly glance at Yvette.

"Of course," I said, but with less enthusiasm than either of them would.

"You never talk about it when we talk about it," Yvette added. "We know you never been kissed," she said, shifting her gaze to Evelyn, who smiled. "Much less . . . touched." They giggled.

"You two don't know everything about me," I said, but in a sad, unfortunate tone of voice. It wiped the smiles off their faces for the moment. Yvette's eyes grew as small as dimes and glittered with suspicion.

"What have you been keeping secret?" Yvette said. "Someone visit you in the swamps?"

I reddened.

"Someone has!" Evelyn declared. "Look at her."

"No." Butterflies beat small wings of panic in my stomach.

"Who was it?"

"What did you do, Gabrielle Landry?"

"We always tell you everything that we've done," Yvette said petulantly.

"Nothing.we’ve done nothing," I insisted.

They laughed.

"Liar."

"You better tell us, Gabrielle Landry or . . ."

"Or we'll make something up and tell everyone tomorrow before graduation," Evelyn announced. Yvette nodded, happy for the plan. "We'll claim you told us in secret. Everyone will believe us because they know we're friends and we talk on the way home from school every day."

"That's right," Yvette said. "If we both swear to it, everyone will believe it."

"But there's nothing to tell. I . . ."

"What?" Yvette demanded. She put her hands on her hips. Evelyn stared, anticipating. I took a deep breath. If they spread rumors about me tomorrow, they could ruin graduation for Mama.

"All right, I'll tell you, but you've got to swear to keep it secret."

"We'll swear," Yvette said.

"On Saint Medad. Swear."

They did and crossed their hearts.

"Well?" Evelyn said.

"Sometimes in the afternoon I pole my pirogue deep into the swamp to a small pond I've found. No one else ever goes there. I take off my clothes and go swimming."

"Naked?" Yvette said, her eyes widening. I nodded. They drew closer to me.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked breathlessly.

"One afternoon about a week ago, I was sunning myself at the pond and this handsome young man came poling along. I didn't hear him."

Yvette's mouth opened.

"You were naked when he appeared?" Evelyn asked. I nodded. They held their breaths.

"I opened my eyes and found him staring down at me and smiling. I was terribly embarrassed, of course, and reached for my dress. But he . ."

"What?"

"Sat on it."

"No!"

"What did you do?" Evelyn asked.

"I said, 'please, monsieur, you have me at an unfair advantage.' He agreed."

"And gave you your dress?"

"No. He took off his clothes so he would be naked, too."

"You're lying," Evelyn said.

"You asked me to tell you. You swore you would keep it a secret. I'm telling you and you're calling me a liar," I said. "I kept my part of the bargain." I started to turn away.

"I believe you," Yvette declared. "Tell us the rest." I hesitated.

"All right. I do believe you," Evelyn relented.

"Go on."

"He was very polite. We spoke softly. He had the deepest blue eyes I had ever seen. I think he hypnotized me with those eyes. In fact, I'm sure he did."

"What do you mean?"

"The next thing I knew, he was kissing me."

"And he touched you?"

"Everywhere," I said. "I couldn't resist."

"And then?" Yvette said with impatience.

"I don't know. I just . . . woke up and he was gone."

"Gone?" Evelyn grimaced with disappointment. "You must have just dreamt it, fantasized," she added contemptuously.

"No, I know I didn't dream it. He had left a beautiful red rose at my side."

"A red rose? In the swamp?" Evelyn asked, smirking.

"That's how I knew I hadn't dreamt it."

The two studied me a moment in silence.

"All right. So what did you do then?" Yvette asked.

"I was so frightened I got dressed and went home as fast as I could. I told my mother."

"You did? Everything?"

"Of course."

Evelyn was impressed. "What did she say?"

"She asked me to describe the young man, and after I had, she sat down with a look on her face like I had never seen. She was quiet for the longest time. Finally I asked her what was wrong, and she then told me the story of the young fisherman who was thought to be the handsomest young man in the bayou. She said young women would swoon at the sight of him, but she said he was too handsome for a man to be and he knew it. No one was more arrogant about his looks.

"One day he went into the swamps to fish and never returned."

"Are you saying your mother said the man who kissed you was a ghost?" Yvette asked. I nodded.

"It's why I never heard him approaching. He glided on the air, I think."

Neither Yvette nor Evelyn spoke for a moment.

"Did he feel like a ghost when he kissed you?" Evelyn inquired skeptically.

"No. He felt real, very real."

"Did you ever see him again?"

"No, but sometimes I think I sense him."

"You still go out alone?" Yvette asked, incredulous. "Yes. He didn't hurt me. Mama says he's a lonely soul.

Punished for being too much like a Greek god. The story she remembers from her grandmère is, the day he finds someone who can see the goodness in his heart and love him for that and not for his good looks, that's the day he can return to the world to live out his life, but . . ."

"But what?" Evelyn asked.

"Yes, but what?" Yvette followed.

"But whoever does love him that way dies and takes his place in the swamp. It's sort of an exchange of souls for a while."

"How horrible."

"And dangerous," Yvette said. "You had better not go into the swamp alone so much."

"I don't," I said. "As much."

"I don't know if that counts," Evelyn declared after a moment's thought. "Kissed by a ghost isn't the same thing as being kissed by a live man."

"How do you know?" Yvette said. "Only Gabrielle knows for sure."

"It felt wonderful at the time," I replied. "Now, remember. You swore on Saint Medad, and if you violate this oath, you might bring bad luck to your husbands."

They were wide-eyed. The daughter of a traiteur had some credibility when it came to this sort of thing.

"I'll never tell," Yvette said.

"Me neither."

"I got to go home. See you tomorrow."

"Oui. See you tomorrow," Evelyn said.

I watched them hurry off and then continued down the road. In my heart I wished that what had happened to me yesterday was what I had described to them. It was my fantasy, and for a while at least, I would use it to cloak the ugly truth.

When I arrived home, I found Mama doing just what I feared she would be doing: slaving over the stove, chaining herself to the kitchen to prepare for my graduation celebration. She told me she had already sent word to a dozen of her friends and people she often treated.

"Some are offering to make food, too. It's going to be a great party, honey. We'll have music and loads of good food."

"I wish you wouldn't do this, Mama."

"Let's not start that again. It's my time in the sun and it should be your father's time, too."

"Has he been home?"

"Not that I know," she replied, and dove into her labor of love to keep from thinking and being angry. Seeing I was not going to change her mind, I offered to help, but she refused to permit it.

"It's your party. You earned it; you just enjoy yourself," she insisted. I couldn't stand by and watch her work, so I went out to our dock and sat with my feet dangling in the water, watching and hoping for the sight of Daddy poling his pirogue up the canal to home. But he never came. At dinner Mama was mumbling to herself something awful.

"That man has gone bad, gone sour like warm milk. Nothing's going to change him. He'll be the death of all of us. Truth is, I hope he never comes home," she declared, but I knew she was heartbroken about it. She sat on the galerie in her rocker after dinner and glared at the darkness, waiting for one of those shadows to take Daddy's form.

I put the finishing touches on my graduation dress and put it on to show Mama. She shook her head and smiled.

"You're so beautiful, Gabrielle, it makes my heart pound."

"Oh, Mama, I'm not. And besides, you told me dozens of times that pride's a sin."

"You don't have to go overboard and fall in love with yourself, but you can be thankful and happy you've been blessed with such natural beauty. You don't understand," she added when I looked down and blushed. "You're my redemption. When I look at you, at least I can feel something good came out of my marriage to that scoundrel we call your daddy."

I looked up sharply. "He tries to be good, doesn't he, Mama? He thinks about it."

"The most I can say for him, honey, is it's beyond him. It's in his blood. The Landrys were probably first cousins to Cain." She sighed. "I got no one to blame but myself for the pot I'm boiling in," she said.