Darkness on the Delta

About the Book

Johnny Wong felt great pride once he’d finalized his purchase of Tensas Plantation. but even as he left the courthouse  the sheriff  was telling the clerk that , although Johnny, as well as nearly all Asians was a fine  person, but the money Johnny had paid for the plantation, was tainted  -  sent to him by his Joe Lee Wong, the President’s fund raiser.

But it was while Johnny was getting ready to drive away from Pugh’s General Motor’s Agency,in his new Caddy that he knew something was amiss. It was December, yet a whirldwind twisted down the Delta City Main Street, followed by the flight of chirring whippoorwills  -  a sign of impending death, in the back country delta. Then, after a long drive into Mississippi and back, as night fell, on turning on his radio, after the music  -  he heard Black voices calling him names, threatening to kill him, or so he thought. Then he recalled hearing the same voices in  New York City  -  Blacks didn’t like the Chinese  -  and now he was plagued by an old fear. He’d had a rendezvous with a lovely Octoroon in old man Barns’ hay barn during a thunderstorm, and for many days he was afraid to go home until after dark. After that he had phone talk with his mother, who’d once been a Professor at Peking U., until she wrote a critical essay about Mao, then she and her family were sent to the rice farm.  His Mom, who really had mixed feelings about Joe Lee  -  yet, defended him, told Johnny, because he declined scholarships to major universities, he’d fail as a writer  -  especially of trashy horror books, and when he countered with  -  he’d write great books like Faulkner, she warned him that he’d never be published, because there were no great readers in America, who only loved blondes and car chases.

On moving into the ante-bellum mansion, Johnny’s fear is intensified. Someone left him an innocent looking little antique  -  a Chinese doll, the kind poor American children got for Christmas, long ago. Very quickly, Johnny discovers the antique means to kill him. A message is left on his computer  -  MEET ME AT RAY’S BREEDING BARN IN DELTA CITY.  He picks up Odette at the barn, finds  out that a Creole Voo Doo woman, Brigette, was found a place to hide by Odette’s grandmother, when Brigette had to flee from a hitman, sent by the wife of a wealthy business man in New Orleans. Odette tells Johnny that Brigette left the doll in Johnny’s living room: that Odette and her grandmother had lived here, until the  Breiards moved.  -  that her grandmother had let Brigette into the house, and it Brigette who’d given the antique doll magical power  -  a voo doo power. Odette is afraid to sleep upstairs but Johnny tells her she must  -  that he will not have a second rendezvous with hr, and she tells him she knows why  -  that now, since he’s rich, he will choose a wealthy white girl. It is true, but Johnny doesn’t agree,

That night, on entering his bedroom, Johnny sees Brigette, naked waiting for him. Frozen with fear, Johnny hears her tell him she has come to show him how she will teach Odette to make love when she becomes his mistress.Jonny denies that he’ll have a mistress, but Briigette assures him he will.  She teaches Johnny quite well what he can expect from Odette, once she has taught her the Creole art of love-making.

Events speed up. Johnny goes into the living room to se if the doll is still there. He sees it, all right  -  sees it snarl at him. Johnny shoots it in the head with his .38 magnum, and with the aid of Odette, tries to burn it up in the couch, but the THING survives the flames, and with a steel coil it pulled from the couch, leaps up and short circuits all of the lights. Johnny and Odette escape down the dark hallway, but the monster is following. Strangely, the Monster d

About the Author

George Harmon Smith, author of fourteen hardback novels, two hundred plus soft cover novels and non-fiction books, under various pseudonyms, was born near a swamp, about halfway between Spearsville, and Lillie, Louisiana. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Louisiana Tech University, and higher Degrees from the University of Arkansas and the University of Mississippi.