Deaths Excellent Vacation

good. Don’t give up on your dreams. I only got a leg up with a store because Mom and Grand used to do psychic readings in here . . . but after Mom passed, Grand didn’t wanna see no more, so she gave me her part and said sell it. I couldn’t bear to do that, so I rebuilt it.”
    Jessica opened and closed her mouth. “Your mom was a psychic, too.”
    “Wait . . . your mom had the gift?” Justin just stared at her, gaping.
    Jessica nodded as he laughed and walked in a tight circle with his hands on top of his head.
    “That is too deep,” he said, laughing.
    She smiled and nodded. “Yeah—ain’t it just?”
    “Are you gonna fill that young lady’s order, son, or spend an hour telling her all our family bizness?”
    Jessica and Justin turned at the sound of the elderly woman’s voice, and after a moment, a bent figure parted the green-glass beaded curtains that led to the back rooms. The short brown-skinned matron was draped in a multicolored crocheted shawl. Deep lines were etched into sagging, leathery skin, but her eyes still sparkled with a mysterious golden amber hue that seemed to take years off her age.
    “This is Grand,” Justin said with a patient smile.
    “Ma’am,” Jessica said, giving the older woman respect in the way that would have done her mother proud.
    Justin’s grandmother gave a little snort of annoyance and came up to Jessica, peering at her with suspicion. “You’s pretty enough,” she said with a half smile that could have easily been mistaken for a scowl.
    “Thank you, ma’am,” Jessica said shyly, not sure why this old woman made her so nervous.
    “Don’t need ta thank me—thank the Good Lord for the way He blessed ya. Now whatchu want with my Justin?”
    “Grand, please don’t start,” Justin said quickly. “The young lady didn’t come in here for all of that, she just came in here to—”
    “I know what she came in here fer,” Grand said in a peevish tone, folding her arms over her bony chest.
    “Maybe I should go,” Jessica mumbled and then turned to leave. “It was nice to meet y’all.”
    “See, that’s the problem with young folks.” Grand let out a little grunt. “You’s too fast to jump to conclusions. I said I know why you came in here, sugah. Open up that bag of yours and let’s talk plain.”
    Jessica turned around to look at the old lady.
    “I know you got some serious hardware in there. Gonna take a coupla days to get bullets made for it. But’chu gonna need more than that to go after what’s down in Johnson’s Bayou.”
    Jessica remained very, very still. She and Justin stared at Justin’s grandmother, slack-jawed.
    “After what happened to my Lula, I didn’t wanna see no mo’, but that don’t mean I cain’t see.” Grand lifted her chin and narrowed her gaze on Jessica. “But you too young to be throwing your gift away by trying to go git yo’self kilt.”
    Moving to the store counter, Jessica set her crocheted bag down on it and slowly extracted her father’s old service revolver. Justin looked at the gun; Grand just shook her head.
    “So, you’s fixin’ to go into the bayou . . . all by your lonesome and handle up a whole pack of lukegaroos? Girl, you plum lost your natural mind.”
    “Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Justin rounded the counter and stared at the gun for a few seconds, then looked at Jessica. “Tell me that isn’t the plan, because if it is, I’m not making you silver anything, let alone bullets.”
    “Okay, fine,” Jessica said, growing annoyed. What business was it of theirs what she’d planned to do? But the old lady had said pack , as in more than a few like she’d imagined—that was her idea of a pack, but the old lady made it sound as though there were way more than that . . . She’d also acknowledged that there were werewolves out there.
    Grand scoffed, picking up on Jessica’s thoughts. “You ain’t crazy, chile—not for knowing what ate up them people on the news. What makes you crazy as a bedbug is trying to go after what kilt my Lula all by yourself.”
    “Grand, we are not going into that,” Justin said, frowning.
    “Boy, I used to change your diapers, so don’t you sass me!” Grand fussed as she pointed a gnarled finger at Jessica. “Baby girl, lemme tell you . . . There’s a lot of mess up in that bayou that ya need to leave be. My daughter was carrying him,” she added with a quick jerk of her head toward Justin. “I tol’ her not to do no readings while she was carrying