JOE BREAUX AND TABASCO

Genesis 18:13   Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?'  Is anything too hard for the Lord?'"

 He was lying in a wicker basket neatly padded with old dishtowels that smelled as if they had been washed in sunshine.  His deep-set eyes and sad expression stared blankly at the sky.  He did not cry.  Sarah and Abe, an older couple, were on their way home from Mass that Saturday evening.  It was their anniversary, and they were lonely.  Sarah was crying.  Laughter had left them since their only child died at six-months years ago this day.

“Stop Abe,” she said suddenly through her tears, “there was a basket back there and it looked like something was in it.”

  “It's probably just another puppy,” he replied as he pulled off the road and backed up a few yards.  They helped each other as they walked to the basket.

Their hearts skipped a beat when they looked inside.  “Look, mother,” said the old man, “we won't be lonely again.  The Lord has answered our prayer.”

“But Cher, he don't belong to us,” she said.  “Surely, he belongs to someone else. They must be looking for him.”

 

 “We can't leave him here, it's not safe,” said the old man.

 

  “Yea, you right.”

 

  She placed the basket between them on the well-worn front seat of the old Ford truck.  They drove home in silence afraid to express their thoughts for fear of breaking the spell.

The next day they searched the newspapers for any reports of a lost one.  There were none.  The couple turned on the TV and radio but there were no announcements.  They had already become attached to the little fella and decided to not call the police unless they heard something.  Three weeks passed with no word.  They decided to keep the baby for he had stolen their hearts.  The couple had not even given him a name for fear they would lose him but now that the decision had been finalized, they felt it was time.  They named him Joe. Joe Breaux, sort of a Cajun version of John Doe.

 

Sarah and Abe laughed at their good fortune.  The Lord had blessed them, an older couple with a baby.  The two of them agonized over how to explain his sudden appearance.  They rationalized that this wasn't any different than the other times when strays wandered into their lives for them to nurture.  Both their cats and their dog were gifted this way.  It was decided. No one would be able to care for this dear child like they would.  They would love this child as their own and raise him properly, teaching him to value the importance of a good education and the love of family.

Joe is now 25 years old and aware of his being adopted and the circumstances as to his arrival.  Yes, he wonders why he was abandoned and why no one ever came back for him, but he also knows that this elderly couple, now in their early 90's, loves him dearly.  They sometimes joke that he floated down the bayou on the back of an alligator with an egret holding his basket and placing him on the bank in front of their home, their gift from God.

Joe has a master’s degree from Nichols State University, majoring in music, lives next door to his parents and plays for the Lafayette Symphony.  He has not found the girl of his dreams yet, but there are prospects.  Joe relaxes by serenading the swamp with his music until morning breaks, the colors washing the sky with an artist' palette that only God can create.  Then Joe rests, his faithful dog, Tabasco, beside him.

The picture is Joe on a street corner on Bourbon Street in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

© Nippy Blair 2015. Posts and pictures on this blog cannot be copied, downloaded, printed, or used without the permission of the blog owner, Nippy Blair.