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Panti spoke quietly to her as she gagged and spit at the muddy ground.<br />
“That is very good, mamasita. You will be well soon, I promise you.” He<br />
marched back to the house, yelling over his shoulder, “Stay <strong>with</strong> her,<br />
Rosita.”<br />
The repulsive odor was overpowering my senses and I wanted to bolt<br />
again. Yet something held me at my post. It didn’t matter if I believed in<br />
black magic or not. She was a sick woman who needed my help.<br />
I held Angelina’s shoulders and patted her head as Panti asked her sons<br />
about her enemies. Any jealous neighbors or angry relatives? he asked.<br />
They mentioned their sister’s former boyfriend. Angelina had recently<br />
rejected him as a suitable husband for her daughter. The boyfriend’s mother<br />
had paid Angelina a visit on the Tuesday before she took sick. The woman<br />
had angrily accused Angelina of assuming her daughter was too good for<br />
her son. As she stepped off their doorstep to leave, she had cursed them,<br />
shouting, “Soon you will see suffering come to this house because of your<br />
pride.”<br />
Don Elijio continued his probe. Were they missing any personal items<br />
or photographs? They are often used in spells. Did they find any pachingos,<br />
voodoo dolls, buried in the house or hidden inside rooms? Panti instructed<br />
them to look through their mother’s belongings and dig around the doorstep<br />
for any pachingos. Then Panti’s sastun confirmed that the boyfriend’s angry<br />
mother had paid an obeha (black magic) person to cast an evil spell over<br />
Angelina.<br />
With that news, the sons exploded, waving their arms about and<br />
pleading <strong>with</strong> Panti for revenge. “We want to see that disgraceful woman<br />
suffer herself for what she has done to our mother. We will pay you<br />
whatever you ask.”<br />
Panti put his hands into the air <strong>with</strong> the palms up as if to stop an<br />
oncoming blow, warning, “I will cure your mother. That I can do because<br />
God has given me these powers. But you must go to another house to bring<br />
harm to someone.”<br />
I helped Angelina limp back to her seat, wiping her face <strong>with</strong> a cloth I’d<br />
wrung out in cool water. A tear fell off her cheek and onto my hand, and<br />
<strong>with</strong> that lone tear, all my fright evaporated, absorbed by that single drop of<br />
emotion. I suddenly felt ashamed that I had ever been scared enough to<br />
think of running.