The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home
Abigail-Madison Chase

Destiny Broussard is headed home to Bayou Grove, Louisiana after 21 years. She thought she could leave and never return. What she will find will keep her home forever.

Chapter 1 Headed Home

I am headed home.I am headed home. Maybe if I repeat the words enough I will become comfortable with the idea of going home.

My mother died last week and after much debate and a pleading phone call from my dad I''m headed to Bayou Grove, Louisiana. 21 years ago is a long time to be away from home. Except for the occasional visit from my parents and my brother I never think about setting foot in the state of Louisiana.

The stench of the forbidden is so heavy when my family comes to visit I usually put my parents up at a local hotel and forbid them from bringing anything from home to my home. I even buy them new clothes and shoes to wear while they are in Cooper Creek, South Dakota. I settled here after college. I teach 1st grade at Cooper Creek Elementary.

It was a long time ago but I still remember packing my car and leaving at the stroke of midnight thinking I would never come back to Bayou Grove again. Dad’s call changed all that.

I don’t think of Bayou Grove often but when I do I smile. Bayou Grove is a beautiful town in Plaquemine Parish which lies on the east side of the Red River. The courthouse is the seat of the parish and folks from far and wide come to the Bayou Grove for trails, meetings and to pay taxes.

I grew up on Lane Street right next door to the Holman Plantation. My mom taught 1st grade at Grove Elementary School my father owned a Broussard’s Tire Shop. I was the only child until I was 16 when my mom gave birth to my little brother Kyle.

I was your typical country girl enjoying the outdoors. My father and I use to hunt and fish together every weekend. My grandparents lived across the street. It was the ideal life.

I turn 30 tomorrow. I planned to spend my birthday in Paris instead I am headed home to bury my mother. Dad never said what she died of but I figure magic was involved. That’s the reason I headed out of town at midnight 21 years ago magic. The Bayou is full of secrets and magic is one of them.

Magic seems unbelievable to folks outside the Bayou. Those of us who live her know no story is complete without a little magic or good gossip.

Nothing much happens in the Groves that the local gossips don’t know about. Like most small towns the local gossips are well known.

Ronda Fayette is the keep of all thing not her business. On Sundays after church she makes her rounds to most folk’s homes eating and sharing all she’s heard during the week. Ronda is the CNN of the Bayou she’s in every home and if you want to know what’s going on she can and will expose your story to everyone. It does help that her father is the editor of the Grover Press the parish newspaper.

I have to pass Ronda’s before I make it home so I suppose everyone will know the prodigal daughter has returned.

I have a load of dread packed in my car and I get the feeling I may never leaving Bayou Grove again.