Buried Treasures - Through the Eye of Destiny

CHAPTER 101

THE MESSENGER

The date was 13 October 1893, a week since Hycinthe had hugged her dear friend Angelique goodbye.  On this morning, Hycinthe left her home and walked aimlessly through the city.  Feeling the intensity of the great loss of her family, thoughts of her best friend running fast and furious through her mind, she sought relief.  Hycinthe believed that Angelique’s decision to take her own life, was not an act of cowardice but an act of bravery.  She admired her friend’s fearlessness and courage to venture through the Eye of Destiny willingly and not with fear or anger but with eagerness and anticipation.  In doing so, she alone was in command of her fate.  It seemed that Angelique had always been an actor in someone else’s play.  Now, it was her turn to direct her destiny on her own stage.  Hycinthe wished, with all her being, that she could be so brave.  Her heart ached for the companionship she shared with Angelique, however, her last words spoken were that she was never coming back, and she would have to deal with that.

“Perhaps a walk near the river will ease my aching heart,” she thought, wiping a tear from her eye.  As Hycinthe neared Decatur Street, she sensed a “presence.”  Something was pulling her, enticing her to follow.  She continued to walk Decatur and turned on Conti Street toward the docks.  Following her intuition as well as the urging of this “presence,” she soon found herself near the water’s edge.  Her eyes were drawn to a post on the wharf.  Having become accustomed to seeing the many posters of survivors, she rarely read them anymore, however, this one caught her eye.  As she approached and her eyes focused on the name, she gasped and cried out,  “Oh, no!  This can not be true!”  Her eyes read the words for the second time, her brain trying desperately to absorb the reality.

Anyone knowing the whereabouts of

Angelique Rigaud Landry, resident

of Cheniere Caminada, please notify

her that her husband Raphael is alive

and in hospital in New Orleans.

Hycinthe’s discovery came as quite a shock.  Raphael had not drowned in the great storm as so many others had.  He was washed out of his home by the force of the waves which carried him into Barataria Bay.  From there, he was carried further inland and eventually floated into Little Lake.  He clung to a door and floated for many days until he was rescued and taken to the nearby town of Lafitte, located some 30 miles south of New Orleans.  Unconscious and near death, he was taken to the hospital in the city where he eventually regained consciousness three days later.

When he informed the medical staff of his identity and provided them with the names of his family members, they immediately sent notification by way of messenger to Cheniere that Raphael was alive.  However, Raphael had no surviving relatives on Cheniere and the rescue workers on the island informed the messenger that the patient’s wife, Angelique, was taken to New Orleans