NEWS

Atchafalaya Voices: Cajuns show patience for old miser

Almost everyone on Ricohoc shared with others. Whatever they could spare was given to the less fortunate. The gifts were not monetary because most lived off the land and had little money to spare. Offerings were gladly given from the heart and demanded no payment back. The Cajuns’ whole existence revolved around helping each other make it through each day.

The majority on Ricohoc got along with others, but one old woman did her best to sabotage what these good people were trying to accomplish. Her wealth was in her land on which she grew citrus, fig and plum trees. She did not want the neighborhood children eating off her trees, so she carefully guarded each one. My mother Mildred and her brother Clarence crawled on their bellies over to the trees and ate to their hearts content. The woman did not see them as they ate green, unripe plums.

Clarence went to this old woman’s house to do garden work. She gave him a pillowcase full of sugar cookies for his labor. As he was walking home, she called him back and retrieved the cookies and said, “You did not thank me for the cookies, so you will not get any.”

Another time, Clarence and my mother picked pecans for my grandmother Nita’s holiday cooking and as they were leaving, this neighbor said she wanted to check the pecans. When the children got home, my grandmother discovered the old biddy had taken the fresh pecans and substituted last year’s rancid pecans. They did not work for her again.

One day, she invited my grandmother over to her house to pick figs. Bright and early, before the rooster’s signal, Nita set out across the road and was confronted with green, unripe figs. She was told by the miser another neighbor had come earlier and picked all the figs. Going home with an empty bucket, my grandmother swore never to set foot on that land again.

The neighbors tried their best to include the miser in everything they did. She would show up early in the morning at neighbors’ houses for coffee. Then, at dinner, she seated herself at their tables and looked forward to supper. No one complained or refused her entry. Cajuns had such big hearts and loving natures; it was not in their character to turn anyone away.

Until she died, this old lady kept her difficult ways and the Cajuns on Ricohoc patiently tolerated her.

Linda Connolly Tribe of Broussard is a grandmother of four who documents memories of her mother’s life