Paco's Visions by Robert Hays

Paco’s Visions

by Robert Hays

Paco was only twelve years old, but he already knew he had a gift: He saw visions. This was something he’d just discovered and he hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Rosa or Mama Jan. They still believed that Marmalade, the old tortoiseshell tomcat, would come home sooner or later and he hadn’t the heart to tell them what he’d seen. It wasn’t unusual for Marmalade to disappear for days on end and then show up at the back door, tired and hungry, and flaunt his independence; where he’d been was nobody’s business. But Paco knew where he’d been this time—he’d been prowling around the swamp again and he wasn’t coming back. The terrible vision of poor Marmalade being snatched off a log by a hungry alligator had been so vivid Paco might have been standing on the log behind him.

Rosa would believe him if he told her about his gift, even if he didn’t tell her about Marmalade. Rosa understood these things. He wasn’t sure about Mama Jan. Mama Jan would listen, but she wouldn’t necessarily take his word the way Rosa did. Paco and Rosa had been through a lot more than most brothers and sisters their ages—Rosa was two years older—and had learned to trust one another completely, no questions asked.

Their lives had been much more comfortable since they came to Sanibel Island with Mama Jan nearly a year ago. That was when Mr. Sebastian hired her away from the Hotel Creole in New Orleans, where she barely eked out a living on the housekeeping staff, giving her a generous salary and a place to live. Not just any place, but his wonderful old Sanibel mansion.

Mr. Sebastian said there should always be people in the mansion to take care of it, and it had enough room for them to live there and still leave plenty of space for him whenever he came to the island. He also let Mama Jan use the old Chrysler minivan that otherwise gathered dust in the mansion’s three-car garage. Mr. Sebastian lived in Chicago and had been to Sanibel just once since they’d moved in. The only other non-family person who’d been in the house during that time was old George, the handyman Mama Jan hired when something needed fixing or there was a problem with overgrowth on the grounds. The two men who showed up regularly to mow the grass never came inside.

Paco and Rosa loved the island, but Mama Jan still missed the city. Rosa said she was lonely. She had friends in New Orleans and there had been gentlemen callers from time to time. Most of these were old men who lived in the neighborhood, seeking companionship and pleased to be seen in the company of a pretty woman like Mama Jan. They usually brought her chocolates or flowers or sometimes both.

Paco still got goose bumps just thinking about their trip from New Orleans. They had been driven to Biloxi in Mr. Sebastian’s long black limousine and then rode on his yacht along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and down the length of Florida to the island. This had proved a long and tiring trip for Mama Jan, but for Paco and Rosa it had been the most exciting thing they’d ever done. Even yet there was hardly a day they didn’t talk about it.

Marmalade had been a big hit with the yacht crew. They said having a male tortoiseshell cat on a boat brought good luck.

“According to legend, he’ll protect us from storms and ghosts,” Captain Dupuis proclaimed. “Every sailor knows that.”

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Robert Hays has been a newspaper reporter, public relations writer, magazine editor, and university professor and administrator. A native of Illinois, he taught in Texas and Missouri and retired in 2008 from a long journalism teaching career at the University of Illinois. He has spent a great deal of time in South Carolina, the home state of his wife Mary, and is a member of the South Carolina Writers Workshop. His publications include academic journal and popular periodical articles, short-story fiction, and eight books. His three novels, Circles in the Water, The Life and Death of Lizzie Morris (a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee), and The Baby River Angel, were published by Vanilla Heart Publishing. Robert and Mary live in Champaign, Illinois.