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「故事·听力」My Grandma Cast A Voodoo Spell On My Best Friend

LearnAndRecord 2022-07-26

My Grandma Cast A Voodoo Spell On My Best Friend. It Worked!

Hi, everybody! My name is Caleb, I am sixteen years old. I was born and grew up in New Orleans, and this is an important fact, because my story will be about an ancient voodoo curse, and about my best friend who became its victim. I see you don’t believe me. My friend didn't either, before zombies started to wander around under his window every night.


My best friend’s name is Henry. His family moved to New Orleans from New Jersey around six months ago, and Henry began to go to my school. He's a cool guy, and soon we realized we had a lot in common and became friends.


Henry did not know much about his new city, and he was curious about everything. Why the French quarter was called French? Why the tourists came here to see the cemeteries? Why the cemeteries had mausoleums and the bodies were not just buried?


I have to admit, I made an excellent city guide. Maybe I could make a living showing people around? But, that doesn’t matter right now. The thing is that my family is closely connected with New Orleans, and I grew up with this knowledge. My lineage can be traced to the middle of the nineteenth century and all our future generations lived right here. Before that, my ancestors lived in Haiti. Have you guessed yet what I am trying to tell you? I will tell you straight then, there were real voodoo masters in my family. Oh, yes, the ones that talk to ancient spirits, perform magical rituals, make amulets, and can turn ordinary people into terrible zombies. Well, at least they say thats how it works.


Of course, I am not capable of anything like this. But my grandmother Virginia is! She owns a souvenir shop where tourists often come in to buy some magical memento, to ask about voodoo, or even to get a ritual performed.


I did not pay much attention to my grandmother’s work, because the thing that was exotic for others, for me was an everyday routine. But Henry was very interested, he asked a lot of questions about my grandmother Virginia – but not in a way that I would've expected.


Henry did not hide his skeptical attitude toward my grandmas “magical” abilities, and while he didn't necessarily call her a fraud who was taking advantage tourists, it was only because he didn't want to fight with me. I'm not gonna lie, I was slightly offended by his attitude, so I suggested that he came with me to my grandmas store, so that she could prove everything to him herself. Henry agreed and he even brought someone else to my grandmother’s shop, his sister Gill, who was one year younger than Henry.


When my grandmother Virginia first saw my friends at her shop, she got so happy, she thought that I brought her customers and discreetly thanked me with a nod.


She guided them around her shop with great enthusiasm and advertised her goods with her charisma turned all the way up. And it was worth taking a look - even for me, let alone Henry and Gill!

Gill did not hide her delight, and even Henry, who went on playing skeptical, looked with a great interest at the different amulets, skulls, colorful beads, different jars with potions, and masks that help to communicate with spirits and, of course, at the little voodoo dolls made for rituals.


My grandmother looked at them attentively and explained what each item was for, and did not forget to tell them the price for each magical talisman, surely calculating a profit inside her head. Can you imagine her disappointment when Henry told her the real reason for his visit!


My grandmother frowned and answered that she was not going to perform any rituals because Henry had come to her with the intention to mock the very thing she had devoted her life to. Henry wanted to object, but it was too late – she told him that stupidity and a lack of faith do not turn voodoo into a game. And when Henry silently laughed, she pointed out that the higher forces always found a way to punish the arrogant for their mockery, and that she could have easily turned Henry and Gill into zombies, but at the present time, she had no need for new workers.


I laughed, remembering why I loved my Grandma, and hurried to guide my friends to further explore the shop – Virginia allowed us to browse through her stuff without her surveillance. But neither Henry nor Gill were interested in tourist souvenirs any more. Instead they asked me to show them the closet with the things that were not for sale - I had spilled the news about them on our way here...


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