Number Nine: Chapter 27

9 + 9 = DESTINY



FADE IN:

INT. – MONK’S PLACE – NIGHT

Ruby sings in spotlight on stage.

When I was a child, I let my spirit run wild
When I was fully grown, I let my spirit find a home

In the sweet summer time ‘neath the Sycamore trees
A sweet summer wine in a gentle summer breeze
In the sweet summer time ‘neath the Sycamore trees
In the arms of my love with a dream of seven seas

When I was a child, I let my spirit run wild…

The song fades and the screen goes black. We hear the voice of John Lennon.

Number nine, number nine, number nine…



The Marquis was a perfect gentleman. Like the Monk, he felt a solemn obligation to protect Jake and Ruby. Having assumed authority of the underground kingdom of the House of Burgandy, he sent a message to Guido Lazerri in Las Vegas, informing him that recent events had rendered all previous understandings regarding Ruby null and void.

Ruby was a free woman, free to remain in New Orleans and free to travel anywhere she desired. If she wished, he would personally escort her to every gambling hall on the strip. If anyone offered so much as an unkind word or a derisive glance, the underground would come to Vegas and the war would leave no one standing.

Guido wired back that he no longer had any interest in Ruby Daulton except as a singer. If she came to Vegas, he assured the Marquis, she would be treated as a queen.

On a quiet night in Monk’s Place, when Ruby finished her last song, the Marquis revealed his given name and a great deal about whom he was.

His name was Anthony La Roche (la row shay). He was a bayou boy who spent his youth known as Tony the Roach, getting into trouble with drugs and petty crime. On one of his forays into the Easy, he was walking through St. Louis Cemetery around dusk when he happened across four thugs accosting a pale-skinned man in a black cape.

On any other night, he might have been one of them but on this night, he identified with the victim. His uncle, a kind and gentle soul, had been mugged a few nights before and Tony was in the process of re-examining his life. He wore a chain around his waist and carried a crowbar for his own protection. Without a moment’s hesitation, he waded in with the strength of vengeance, knocking two of the thugs unconscious and sending the others running for cover. In the rush of adrenalin, he did not notice he had taken a knife wound to the gut.

A childless Pale Louie took him in, cared for him, provided an education, trained him in business and the darker arts, and when the time came, he made an offer: He would hold the title of Marquis and become heir to the House of Burgandy. In exchange, he would have to promise never to see his family again.

From that time forward, Tony the Roach became the Marquis and his family would never know what happened to their boy. Years later, he tried to track them down without success. He heard stories and would always wonder if Louie had sealed their fate in a wetland grave.

The Marquis was deeply in love with Ruby but he never said so. Everyone knew, including Jake and Ruby herself.

Jake was not a jealous man. Ruby gave him no reason. Their love sprang from the deepest well where bonds cannot be broken.

For nine years, he lived a fulfilling and contented life, rebuilding the city by day, listening to Ruby by night, and holding her in his arms until the morning light.

Every year, he made pilgrimage back to Third Mesa and every year he stayed a little longer. The pull of the desert was strong and tied to his soul just as Ruby’s was tied to New Orleans. Though there was no disaster to attract the attention of media and politicians, his people were also suffering. Their catastrophe was a daily grind of poverty, homelessness, alcohol, drugs and a new disease born of their culture as warriors in the age of terror: their young were going to war and returning with dark hearts and broken spirits.

On the ninth anniversary of Katrina, lying in each other’s arms, Jake explained that White Wolf was dying and he was returning to stay. They shed tears of sorrow and loss mixed with an understanding that comes when two souls have shared a life in all its richness. They had known the greatest glories and the most profound grief. They had survived the darkest hours and climbed the tallest peaks. They had laughed, cried, fought, mourned and discovered in each other the meaning of existence. They knew love. They knew a love that would never fail, that would always answer the call, that would bind their souls and their destinies together forever.

Jake promised to return as often as he could and every year on the anniversary of Katrina.

For nine years, he kept his promise and Ruby welcomed him, always making sure that no one interfered. For an evening or a few days or a week, her home, her attentions, her love and her bed belonged to Jake.

On those rare occasions when Ruby left New Orleans to visit Jake and White Wolf at Third Mesa, Jake returned the favor.

At all other times, they were free. They were intelligent people and knew better than to exchange vows of chastity. They had human needs and did not wish to transform their love into martyrdom.

Ruby’s last visit was to be at Jake’s side for the death of White Wolf. The old man embraced Ruby as his daughter and Jake as his son. On his dying bed, he cried for all the suffering people he could not help. He asked Jake and Ruby to take care of them as best they could. He made them promise to be true to their own destinies and, then, he let go, his eyes wide open, a picture of the spirit world still fresh in his eyes and a smile of deep satisfaction implanted his lips.

On the ninth year since returning home, approaching the eighteenth anniversary of Katrina, Jake wrote Ruby to ask permission to bring a guest to New Orleans. There was someone he would like her to meet, someone who somehow needed her blessing to find her own destiny.

On the ninth year of living alone in New Orleans, on the eighteenth anniversary of Katrina, Ruby Daulton and Anthony La Roche welcomed Jake Jones and Marie Morning Star to the Big Easy.

They were older now but still eager and thirsting for life. Their adventures were just beginning.

INT. – MONK’S PLACE – NIGHT

We see Ruby on stage and Jake, Marie, Anthony (Marquis), Bones and Monk seated at a corner table. Ruby sings BLACKBIRD from the White Album.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arrive…

Fade BLACKBIRD. We hear:

Number nine, number nine, number nine…

END.