The Jumbies Read Online Free

behind her. She walked with such grace that she appeared to be gliding along on a ribbon of green. Her skin was the deep brown color of wet soil. Her hair was piled high on top of her head in a yellow, blue, and green cloth. She paused briefly and turned. Corinne felt as though the woman looked right inside of her, and her heart leaped in her chest. But it was impossible to tell who the woman was really looking at from her deep-set eyes outlined by thick eyelashes as black as shade.
    Corinne kept her eyes fixed on the woman as she walked through the market. As she passed, the crowd found its voice again.
    Some held out their produce for her to buy. Those who didn’t narrowed their eyes and whispered about her behind their hands.
    â€œWho is she?”
    â€œAll my born days and I never saw that woman before.”
    â€œAnyone know who her people are? There’s no way to tell what kind of person she is without knowing her family.”
    The woman in green finally stopped far from Corinne, in front of an ancient woman with striking white hair, who sat beneath the only tree in the market.
    She had come to see the witch.

5
    The Green Woman
    T he white witch did not look up from arranging her magic on the blanket.
    â€œI need something from you, old woman,” the jumbie said in a low voice.
    The witch snorted. The short white braids on her head twitched. “You took what you wanted from my hut last night. Look how you’re using it to fool these people into thinking you are a regular woman. So what else you need from me?” The witch moved another vial of her smelly potions.
    â€œYou did not have enough of what I needed.”
    â€œOh no?” the witch asked drily.
    â€œI plan on a long visit.”
    That made the witch look up.
    The jumbie smiled. “Oh yes, a very long visit.”
    â€œI can’t help you,” the white witch said. “I can’t help one side at the expense of the other.”
    â€œYou did it before,” the jumbie reminded her.
    The white witch shook her head. Her braids tossed in every direction. “That was different. That was for the benefit of both sides. I can’t intervene like this.If I help one, I have to help the other. For balance.”
    â€œYou have been helping their side for years!” The jumbie gestured at the bottles and pouches on the witch’s blanket.
    â€œThese?” The witch laughed. “You know as well as I do that these concoctions don’t do nearly as much as they think.”
    A growl started in the jumbie’s throat. Her voice became rough. “You will help me, old woman.”
    The witch bared the few yellow teeth she had left in her mouth. “Go back to the hole you came from. Wait there, and see if I will ever help you.”
    The jumbie turned to leave, but tossed one last threat over her shoulder. “You will help me, or you will suffer.”

6
    Drupatee Sareena Rootsingh
    A s the woman in green exited the market, the vendors and customers put their heads together to discuss the beautiful new stranger.
    â€œWhat did she want with the white witch?” asked the woman with pebble eyes.
    â€œSame as everybody wants with the white witch,” said her tall neighbor. “Help with man trouble.”
    â€œHow could a woman who looks like that have trouble with a man?” pebble eyes asked.
    â€œShe is very beautiful,” flaky skin agreed.
    â€œMaybe it’s a man she shouldn’t have.”
    The two women looked at each other and then at the road that the woman in green had taken. They shook their heads and went back to their work.
    When Corinne returned to her oranges, a very small girl was standing there, eyeing them hungrily. She was the girl who had peeked from behind the woman in the yellow sari. The girl was wearing a dirty pink sari herself, and her pitch-black hair hung in two slick, heavy braids past her waist. “How much?” she asked, pointing to