Page 6 (1/2)

"You’ve got quite a talent there," Adaed "Kids like fables fro and stared at Adao to New Orleans"

Brent groaned inwardly as a wave of dread washed over hiue Not that he disliked the city It was full of wonderful people, great food, incredible music

But it was one of the places a o

"New Orleans," hehis hands into his pockets "I’e Reservation on Tuesday," he said

"You’re needed?" Adam said

"Everyaway fro place, out to the rich areas of saw-grass that seeh the road, the Tamiami Trail, was really within a few hundred feet

"Your eyes are green," Adaain

"And what is that supposed to ive the most marvelous speech to those children About acceptance"

"Yes?"

Ada The Irish arrived after a potato famine Italians poured into the country in the 1920s Cubans and South Arants from the Caribbean all came to South Florida You knohat happens after we’re all here a while? We become Americans"

Brent had to s We’re all s You’re more Irish than you are Lakota You’re just an Ae--all of it You teach, you counsel… and then you have your special gifts Your mother was full-blooded Irish, you know"

"Is that a coift’?" Brent asked

"It’s a corel, like ht now the mixed-up ail-American part of you is needed," Adam said

"In New Orleans?"

Adam looked away for a moment "Look, I kno you feel about New Orleans I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t believe this was important"

"It’s where Tania died," Brent said quietly

"I know I said that I wouldn’t have asked you if it weren’t is are important"

"I need you, Brent"

"You have other people"

Adah what I need to do very carefully And in this circu to explain?"

"The governent"

Brent was still puzzled, and he said softly, "I’ents put their lives on the line And so around--after he’d been killed," Adaht," he said after ato tellI know" Adauess that I already have a plane ticket?"

"You leave toreat place to visit," Nikki assured the crowd around her "As in the past, there’s reat food, but you won’t find the sao Alderet rid of the oldest profession as it’s been called, but he was hoping to control it I can’t iht district he worked so hard to contain was named Storyville, after him The district limited prostitution and, in time, other vices to the area from the south side of Customhouse Street to the north side of St Louis Street, from the lower side of North Basin Street to the lower side of Robertson Street"

"There are endless tales to go with the area The bordellos ranged froirls fro queen of Storyville was Josie She was born just about the end of the Civil War, raised by a very religious fae into the arms of a fancy man But at heart, Josie was an entrepreneur In her early days, she was red-haired and wild-tempered, and her place was known for sohts to be seen anywhere Then, when the brawling became too much even for Josie, she reinvented herself and ran ads for ladies of the highest rank She ed to make a fortune and buy herself a splendid home in an affluent quarter of the city Eventually she became obsessed with death Not that she seemed to be terribly worried about her iarding her physical rerand in death as she presumed herself to be in life So she had a tonificent tomb It incorporated pilasters and urns and torches And a beautiful sculpture of a wo for the door

"In time Josie died and was entombed But an heir squandered away her money Her house was sold, as was her tomb The neners did not want her remains, so they were removed In New Orleans, after a year and a day, that’s no problem Where they lie today… it’s one of the best-kept secrets of the cemetery But it’s often said that Josie’s spirit slips into the statue of the woman that still stands at the entry to her foret into heaven? Orothers to follow her? If you happen to see the elegant statue , don’t be afraid Josie had a temper, but she was also a social creature, and it’s said that she’s entlemen callers who happened to have ended their days in the same cemetery"