Brown Girl in the Ring

Rudy takes Tony back to the main office, paralyzing him with toad poison so that he can leverage his next threat. He reveals to Tony that he learned obeah from Mami, who kicked him out of the house for being addicted to drugs. He used to steal from the posse, just as Tony has done, and was punished for it. Finally, he called upon Eshu to take away the pain of his addiction and to take revenge on his enemies. Eshu warned him that he would have to take a life for this request, which Rudy readily agreed to. Eshu also told Rudy that, to retain this power, he would have to find a dead man duppy to do his bidding and feed him blood continuously. Once Rudy did this, his enemies started dying before him. It also made him ageless and impenetrable. He declares, “No scar, no scratch, that me duppy don’t fix it for me” (130). He tells this story to Tony to demonstrate that he is not afraid of the warning that the Prince of Cemetery has shared through Crack Monkey.

When Tony’s paralysis wears off, he is shocked to find Rudy flaying Melba, a serving woman who was under Rudy’s volition.