Salt in Her Wake

Amani exhaled, tucking her work badge into the glove compartment. The past three weeks had been a haze of emotion, dread, and sadness. She tried to bury it with work and the hustle and bustle of Miami life. But now she could feel the emotion spilling out of her as she opened her door and exited the car.

She parked her car on a small hill next to the Greenwood Plaza Hotel. The hotel looked down on a sandy beach that poured into the Atlantic Ocean.

Her muscles tightened and her stomach churned when in the distance she saw her grandmother, Mama Lise, on the beach standing in front her aunts and cousins near a small altar.

Mama Lise, a tall dark black woman of 70, led Amani’s aunts and cousins towards a small altar on the beach. The women wore loose black dresses, most with matching black turbans. Mama Lise towered above them, with a large intricately woven blue and gold turban adorning her head.

Standing nearby in a row were five men with steelpan drums.

Releasing a melancholic sigh, Amani locked her car and began to descend the hill, following a footpath down towards the beach. When she reached the beach sand, she removed her shoes and proceeded barefoot.

The men began to play the drums as the women sang Wade in the Water in a melodic Caribbean rhythm. Amani’s feelings of awkwardness eased as she approached, and her cousin Lisa flashed her a big smile before coming to embrace her. Amani hugged Lisa and all her cousins before joining them in the song.

Tears returned when she saw the simple wooden casket resting on the sand nearby.

Eventually, the singing and the drumming faded to silence. Mama Lise went to the altar and retrieved rum and a small plate of saltfish and ackee. Amani’s cousin Lisa handed her a flower wreath, and together they followed Mama Lise toward the shoreline, stopping where the sand was wetter and the sea’s gentle touch kissed their feet.

The men retrieved the casket and brought it to the shoreline. Mama Lise nodded to her husband George. He opened the casket.

Amani tensed and tears streamed down her face as her grandmother looked down into the empty casket.

Mama Lise turned as if sensing Amani’s presence.

Her face lit up in a wide smile. “Ma Bey, you here!” she said, ringing out in her joyful baritone island voice towards Amani.

Amani nodded deeply in respect.

“So good to see you!” her grandmother said. Amani could not resist as a smile crept on her face, seeing her grandmother always made her feel a bit better.

“Come on now child,” Mama Lise gestured. Amani walked timidly towards the casket and knelt. Placing a wreath of flowers inside it.

It felt wrong to be there mourning for her sister over an open empty casket. But the sea took her body, they would never find it.

Instead of a church service Mama Lise insisted on saying goodbye in the old way. Church was hard enough for Amani to believe in, let alone Mama Lise’s rituals. Nevertheless, Amani didn’t like to quarrel over such things.

Mama Lise commanded respect in the community and that was enough for her.

Amani reached into her breast pocket and retrieved a blue coral necklace. Aaliyah made it for her 29th birthday four months ago.

To Amani it felt better to return it to the sea. She placed the necklace into the casket next to the flower wreath, then rising and stepping aside as Mama Lise approached.

Her grandmother knelt and placed the plate of saltfish and ackee into the casket. Then she rose up and stepped into the water. They followed her.

Mama Lise poured the rum out into the ocean as she spoke.

“Oh father God and our ancestors who have gone on. Give welcome to our sweet child Aaliyah, she loved and was loved.”

Water surged around Amani’s ankles. She looked down at her feet, water was foaming and bubbling around her as if something were emerging. Amani instinctively tried to step back but her legs and feet wouldn’t move. Locked in place. Moments later a breeze wafted through the beach carrying a humming sound, a melody unlike anything she ever heard before.

Amani looked around -----was someone playing music?

Mama Lise continued.

“Her presence brought light and music to our lives, but she was a child of the sea. She knew the fish by name, the sea was in her blood. The Lusca did her no harm and even the Chickcharney called her friend. Our child was marked by the sea, she is one with you now. Welcome her home.”

The men moved towards the casket and took hold of it.

After several moments they heaved the wooden box and carried it into the water, slowly releasing it into the ocean.

Amani and her cousins watched as the ocean carried the casket away.

Later that night Amani tossed and turned, burdened by dreams and memories of Aaliyah.

Amani didn’t like the sea, not nearly the way Aaliyah did. When they were girls Amani liked her dolls, makeup, and watching celebrities on MTV.

But Aaliyah would always slip away to the coast, whether in the Bahamas, Port-Au-Prince, or in Florida, trekking along with a large bag to capture shells and sea glass. She loved to make necklaces out of it. However, every now and again Amani would catch her ---whispering to fish as she crouched in the tidepools.

She never denied it when Amani confronted her.

Nevertheless, Amani remembered all the moments Aaliyah was there, comforting her when things went bad at school or work. Celebrating her triumphs. How they would go skating together on the Biscayne Boardwalk and spend weekends at Art Festivals. They were different but still sisters.

Next Day

That morning Amani had breakfast with her grandmother and cousin Lisa at the restaurant in the hotel, chowing down on crawfish soup, eggs, and bacon, with a small souffle as dessert.

“You got a good rest child?” asked Mama Lise.

“Yeah grandma I did, I was very tired ---------slept like a baby,” Amani replied.

Mama Lise sucked her teeth loudly. “I know you girl. Lie not to one another, Colossians 3:9! Wai yuh ah lie to me child?”

Amani huffed, shaking her head. She wasn’t in the mood for a sermon.

Her phone pulsed with a notification; she picked it up to view and flip through her messages.

“We are here if you want to talk Amani,” her cousin offered softly.

“What else is there to say? It was all said yesterday,” replied Amani.

Mama Lise leaned forward.

“You dreamed about her again, didn’t you child?”

Amani’s fork dropped, causing a loud clattering of metal and ceramic that rippled through the restaurant.

“How did you-------”

Mama Lise tried to answer but Amani cut her off. “No! No! I don’t want to hear any more of your voodoo crap, grandma!”

People looked over to their section, curious as Amani stormed away from the table towards the exit.

From the parking lot she rushed downhill until she reached the beach.

Amani stopped for a moment to take off her shoes and then she kept going, her eyes darting around as if looking for something. After a few moments her breathing calmed and she stopped her search.

Turning away from the water to head back, a flicker of blue and white light glinted near her feet, seizing her attention. The sight stopped her cold—chest tightening, breath stalling.

Falling into a crouch her fingers scooped up a necklace. Blue coral. The very one laid in Aaliyah’s casket.

How?

Hours Later

The sun began to wane when she got in her car and began to head out. The town of Greenwood Florida fading in the distance as she drove. But only fifteen minutes into her trip, something caught her eye. Strange lights near a grove of trees, pulsing on and off in a rhythmic pattern, as if calling to her.

To her surprise Amani felt a strong attraction to them, to the lights, like a moth to a flame.

What was going on? Amani couldn’t keep going, she knew she had to follow the lights.

She stopped at the side of the road and walked back towards the grove of trees. The lights pulsed faster and faster as she approached.

Amani transitioned her pace into a light jog, dodging spiderwebs and small puddles of water and mud.

Just then, the light veered sharply and slipped into a clearing. Amani followed, heart quickening.

At last, something began to take shape ahead.

Amani caught sight of a large rounded figure-feathered-leaning awkwardly to one side.

“Hey!” she shouted.

The being stopped and turned.

Amani gasped, her chest tightened, her insides clenched, and her mind raced. Before her stood a gold and grey mossy feathered bird with dapples of orange light reflecting off its crest of feathers. The bird looked straight at her, holding a lamp in its three fingers, and its long sturdy toes anchored to the ground.

The bright colored plumage suggested it was a male.

His round, beaked and feathered head moved from side to side, looking at her up, down, and sideways.

He looked like an Owl, but not quite, Owls don’t use lamps.

Her mind tried to reject it, but Amani knew she couldn’t deny it any longer. It was a Chickcharney, an owl-like creature who blessed you if you respected it and who cursed you if you didn’t.

The Chickcharney gently placed the lamp on the ground and moved towards Amani.

“You’re real, you’re a real Chickcharney?”

Its large, feathered head bobbed up and down vigorously. Was that a nod?

“I said, you’re a real Chickcharney?”

The creature bobbed its head up and down again, it understood her.

The Chickcharney picked up the lamp with its beak, moving closer to Amani, gesturing for her to take it.

Amani reached for the lamp, bowing slowly as she took hold of it.

As a girl Mama Lise told her and her sister stories about the Chickcharney. Show respect to the Chickcharney and it will respect you, disrespect the Chickcharney and bad luck would follow you for the rest of your life.

There was a reason he was here now. Something was happening, Amani had to see it through.

“My sister----Aaliyah. Do you know her?”

The owl-like creature hooted, and its feathers fluffed and expanded as its head bobbed up and down, a big yes.

The Chickcharney then headed away from Amani towards the other side of the clearing, it bobbed and motioned with its head for her to follow.

Amani hesitated but she decided to follow, she had to see this through.

She followed the Chickcharney out of the wooded area. Ahead were the docks and pier stretched into the ocean, its dark waters glinting rays of moonlight. Trusting her gut Amani followed her strange new companion.

Their footsteps echoed softly and the dock’s weathered boards groaned as they proceeded towards the pier. The Chickcharney moved steadily ahead, glancing back now and then to make sure Amani followed.

Then it stopped-----beside a pile of wooden planks stacked up against a wall to one of the pier terminals.

Without warning her new friend bolted. “Wait, where are you going?” Amani called after him, but within seconds the Chickcharney had vanished.

She looked back down at the pile of wooden planks, unsure of what to look for, but then she saw something strange. A bit of black, from a book, poking out from under one of the stacked boards.

Amani reached down and tugged onto the book’s edge, releasing it from under the plank boards so she could look at it. It was a journal.

Dust rose around the lamp as she focused the light on the journal. Carefully wiping salty grime and dust from the journal’s cover, she opened it. Her breath caught. It was Aaliyah’s------ all in her handwriting.

Some of the ink bled out into other pages, like a ruptured vein but the writing was still legible.

Across all the pages were drawings of strange symbols, perhaps a language. And then there were descriptions of dreams and voices from below.

The final entry sent a chill down Amani’s spine. I heard the call again last night. It is time for me to go. Not to die but to remember. It is time.

A low hum vibrated through the pier and rumbled inside of her, trembling like a distant chord being plucked and played. The hum deepened and expanded but she did not fear it. Amani continued down the pier, passing the boathouse terminal as the low hum deepened, rising beneath her feet like a young man’s pulse.

Soon she came to the edge of the dock’s pier and listened. The humming stopped but then a whisper crept into her ears, very soft, so soft she nearly missed it. Amani kept listening, then she heard it more clearly.

Amani, Amani. A voice was calling her name.

Without hesitating Amani removed her shoes and emptied her pockets. Then she leapt from the pier and dove into the water.

The world above faded away as water rippled above her. She extended her arms and pulled the water behind her, pulling her body down further.

Shock surged into Amani’s veins as a bright light appeared and a creature appeared along with it, coming closer and exposing its body.

The lower half of the body bore a long, scaled tail that rippled with movement. Fins curved diagonally from the sides like the wings of an albatross. But from the waist and up, the figure was unmistakably human-like: arms, hands, the soft lines of a chest, a slender neck, and a face.

A woman’s face.

A small crown rested on her brow, nestled among locs of seaweed-like hair. Her face bore a tint of blue with streaks of violet. The light increased and Amani saw a face like hers------ a face like her mother’s.

No----- like their mother’s.

It was her.

Aaliyah! Amani wanted to say, but the water kept her silent. Nevertheless, her sister nodded.

And then came a voice, not a sound, but a presence, clear and powerful, undulating and resonating inside of Amani’s mind

Yes Amani, it is me.

No lips moved. No sound carried, but she heard and felt her sister’s voice.

Amani welled up with emotion, pressure built inside of her like a submarine engine about to explode. Her sister drifted forward and wrapped her into a tight embrace.

Aaliyah’s body was warm, shockingly warm, like sunlight captured in oceanic flesh. Amani hugged her back, gripping her tightly, forgetting the world above.

Why are you here? Why did you go? Amani asked.

Amani I ------ suddenly Amani began to struggle as her body shook and twisted, desperate for air.

Aaliyah pulled back and then pressed her mouth to Amani’s. Air filled Amani’s lungs like she was back on the surface.

Aaliyah smiled as Amani recovered.

Cupping Amani’s hands into her own, Aaliyah spoke.

The God Mother called me back. To protect the sea’s memory and its future. I remember and now I serve.

I don’t understand. What are you talking about? Amani’s mind countered.

This is where we came from Amani, long, long ago. I followed the God Mother’s song.

Aaliyah tilted her head. The sea around them shimmered as more bodies and silhouettes from the deep rose towards them, towering figures with flowing fins and seaweed-like hair. They circled around Amani and her sister as Aaliyah continued.

Have you not felt the pull in your bones sister? The voice in the water, the dreams?

Amani shook her head. I don’t understand. I have had dreams but not to return here. I need you Aaliyah, up there!

Aaliyah drifted closer to Amani, gently touching the coral necklace around her neck.

I sent this back to you. This is your key. When you’re ready this will guide you.

Aaliyah then drifted back and slowly began to turn away to join the others.

Wait don’t go! Amani pleaded.

I won’t be far, Aaliyah whispered. When you remember we will find each other again.

With that Aaliyah turned away and joined her fellow sea people as they descended further into the deep. Their glow dimmed and they slowly faded away; Aaliyah was gone.

Still having ample air breathed into her lungs, Amani swam up and climbed to the surface.

The warm embrace of her sister lingered in her bones like lightning caught in a bottle.

Amani’s body broke through the surface of the water, and she fell into the muddy shore. She crawled forward gasping for air, inhaling and exhaling desperately until her strength returned. As she began to stand------ she froze when she spotted her grandmother, standing on the beach waiting for her.

Amani came closer.

“You knew? Didn’t you?” she said as she approached her grandmother.

“Duppies don’t drown child,” replied her grandmother.

Amani sighed and nodded. She understood now.

The Next Day

Waves lapped and undulated at the shore, pulling lines of sand and rocks back into the sea as if showing the progression of time.

Amani walked along the shore, collecting shards of sea glass.

She looked out to the ocean as waves broke against the rocks.

A song came to her mind. She sang an old Creole melody her mother once taught her.

She stopped as her voice carried out to the sea and she saw a shape moving on the rocks in the distance. Her eyes fixed on the lone silhouette of a woman-like body, laying on an outcropping of rocks gazing towards the shore.

Amani knew, it was Aaliyah.

The sight warmed her heart and eased her mind. She took a breath of the salty air and smiled.

“I’ll be ready when the right tide comes in. I’ll be ready, Aaliyah.”

The End..