"Pralines, pralines, m'sieu? Who mak' dese? My lil' gal,
Didele, of co'se. Non, non, I don't mak' no mo'. Po' Tante
Marie get too ol'. Didele? She's one lil' gal I 'dopt. I see
her one day in de strit. He walk so; hit col' she shiver, an' I
say, 'Where you gone, lil' gal?' and he can' tell. He jes' crip
close to me, an' cry so! Den I tak' her home wid me, and she say
he's name Didele. You see dey wa'nt nobody dere. My lil' gal,
she's daid of de yellow fever; my lil' boy, he's daid, po' Tante
Marie all alone. Didele, she grow fine, she keep house an' mek'
pralines. Den, when night come, she sit wid he's guitar an'
sing,
"'Tu l'aime ces trois jours,
Tu l'aime ces trois jours,
Ma coeur a toi,
Ma coeur a toi,
Tu l'aime ces trois jours!'
"Ah, he's fine gal, is Didele!
"Pralines, pralines! Dat lil' cloud, h'it look lak' rain, I hope
no.
"Here come dat lazy I'ishman down de strit. I don't lak'
I'ishman, me, non, dey so funny. One day one I'ishman, he say to
me, 'Auntie, what fo' you talk so?' and I jes' say back, 'What
fo' you say "Faith an' be jabers"?' Non, I don' lak I'ishman,
me!
"Here come de rain! Now I got fo' to go. Didele, she be wait
fo' me. Down h'it come! H'it fall in de Meesseesip, an' fill
up--up--so, clean to de levee, den we have big crivasse, an' po'
Tante Marie float away. Bon jour, madame, you come again?
Pralines! Pralines!"
ODALIE
Now and then Carnival time comes at the time of the good Saint
Valentine, and then sometimes it comes as late as the warm days
in March, when spring is indeed upon us, and the greenness of the
grass outvies the green in the royal standards.
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