370 words
The mysterious woman continued to allude to the mysterious Papa Legba, and Skoll nodded slowly as he began to comprehend what she was talking about. Spirits were good and ghosts belonged in the next world; it was all a little above the puppy’s head, but religious and other beliefs were slowly swimming around in his mind, where they may eventually take root. His nodding pace quickened when she laughed at him, and he was relieved to know that he wouldn’t be in trouble for making assumptions about ghosts from now on.
He giggled again as she gushed over his title, and he placed his small paw in her hand with tail wagging. “Nice meetcha too, ’Zulie!” he returned graciously, like a prince should.
And his rosy ears stood at full attention as she described Legba to him, explaining that he was a Gatekeeper—of what gates, the boy didn’t really know, but he figured a spirit kept some important gates. Imagining a fatherly spirit opening doors for him made him grin, not quite grasping the metaphors—but being led to his desires was a good thing. Maybe Legba could open a door to summer and fairies, or to him being all grown up and strong!
Her grave warning made his ears lower, though, and his eyes widened slightly. He shook his head as to dispel the thought of ever crossing Legba. “No, I’m a good boy,” Skoll assured her, without the realization that he wasn’t being so good by running all the way out here unaccompanied. But he was here with this lady, so that was okay, right?
Erzulie pointed out the jar and offered to draw a veve on him, and while he didn’t really know what that was, he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, like-a color,” the golden boy said, rolling the jar some more under his paw and grinning at her words. “I pay attention! Make Legba good favor an’ meet lwa. How many ’Zulie know?” He wondered what all the other lwa did, though he was too excited about being drawn on and blessed to ask her about them. Wiggling with excitement, he gave the jar one last push toward her and tried to suppress his impatience.
Image courtesy of blmiers@Flickr; table by the Mentors!
<style>.skolltab .padded {width:283px;height:156px; float:right; background-image:url(http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1332/skolltab.jpg); background-position:top right; background-repeat:no-repeat; }
.skolltab .ooc {font-style:italic; font-size:11px; }
.skolltab p {padding:5px 15px; margin:0px; text-indent:35px;}
.skolltab b {color:#FFFFFF; letter-spacing:0px; font-family:times new roman, times, serif; font-size:14px; }
.skolltab {background-color:#ffc057; border:1px solid #FFFB99; outline:1px solid #000000; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size:12px; color:#ad772f; letter-spacing:.4px; word-spacing:.3px; line-height:16px; width:90%; text-align:justify; padding:0px 0px 10px 0px; margin:0px auto; }
p.template-credit {text-indent:0px; text-align:center; font-size:10px; font-style:italic; width:450px; text-align:center; margin:0px auto;}
</style>[/html]