Ghost Stories of Old New Orleans

The Twin Green Spirits

T/ie Twin Green Spirits Juan Morales sat under the cherry trees with Marta Gonzales and the Three Wise Men. Marta was only ten, but the Three Wise Men were all over seventy. Juan was in between, being fifty-five and Corral Master at Jackson Barracks. He and Marta called the three the Wise Men because they were so very old and patient and comfortable, and had had more experience than all the armies in Europe. The Third District knew them as Armando Sagasta, Emilio Cardenas and Rafael Avegno— substantial citizens and lifelong cronies. Each had sons who had taken over the cares and responsibilities of business. "I see you've got a new horse in the lot," Sagasta observed, lighting his pipe. "Yes," nodded Juan. "That's Letty, the cream. She's Captain Geary's new mount. A nice girl, too—light-footed and pleasant and sensible, like a mare ought to be. She's a good pal for Dapple." "You're of my mind," remarked Avegno, who was the oldest. "Horses are mighty like people." "More'n you'd s'pose," agreed the Corral Master. "I think they've got souls." Marta spoke slowly, in the low voice which had first induced the four to let her join their intimate circle. "Maybe, maybe," assented Cardenas. "There could be worse things in Paradise than horses." "Nonsense, Emilio!" snapped Sagasta. "It's worse than foolish to mix horses and religion." 312 (I9i6) The Twin Green S-pirits 313 "Saint John did it," grinned Avegno. "He saw a white horse in Heaven." "I'd like to have a white horse when I go to Heaven," said Marta, making a nest for herself in the grass. "Black Prince has got 'em all beat," bragged Juan. "He's got the style and the dash, that horse." "I think Charley and Bos'n and Maude are pretty nice, too," defended the little girl. "They're just boys—old steadies. Don't know a cherry tree from a cypress," muttered the Corral Master. "Does Prince know these cherry trees?" Marta sparkled. "Sure he does—always poking his black nose over this way." "Maybe he talks with the tree spirits." "With the what?" Sagasta wanted to know, raising his bushy white eyebrows. "With Juan's cherry-tree spirits," Marta replied bravely, skinning a spear of grass down the middle vein. "You got tree spirits, Juan?" quizzed old Avegno. "Green ones," nodded Morales. "When the leaves come. They're green now, but I used to know 'em when they were about like Marta here." "I expect your heart disease has gone to your head," chuckled Cardenas. "Although it would be diverting to believe in green tree spirits. The old Greeks used to." "Heart getting any better, Juan?" inquired Sagasta. "You want to tend to it." "Not so good," sighed the Corral Master. "But it'll last me quite a spell yet, I reckon. They used to say a weak heart makes a long life. I'll be as old as you boys in a few years." Marta giggled. "Then you'll be Grandpa," she added. The Three Wise Men smoked on, talking complacently of this and that. Marta went to sleep with her head against Juan's rough-clad knee. When she awoke she was alone, with her head on Juan's blue handkerchief. "Humph!" she sniffed. "They all ran off and left me!" She hunted up Morales and gave him back his handkerchief . 314 Ghost Stories of Old New Orleans "I don't think the Three Wise Men would understand our tree spirits," she confided. "I guess I'll keep still after this." "I guess I would," agreed the Corral Master, measuring out oats. "I've got an apple for Letty—want to feed it to her?" "Um—um!" Marta was dancing, her dark eyes bright. After his work was done Juan always sat for a half-hour beneath the little cherry trees. They were his trees, Barracks or no Barracks. Where did they come from? Nobody could ever answer that—not even the Corral Master. Cardenas, the dreamer, might take the story on trust. Old Avegno, the philosopher , might try to explain it away. But Armando Sagasta, the matter-of-fact one—he would laugh outright, enjoying the tale as a huge joke from first to last. Sitting under the cherry trees, Morales smiled a little. This heart of his was tricky. It...