Interviewee: Mercedes Vega Tape 5023 Interviewer: Juliette DiCharia Session 1
Transcriber: Erin Segura October 10, 2019
Translator: Jackson Butterbaugh [Begin Tape 5023. Begin Session I.]
JULIETTE DICHARIA: All right. Quoi c’est ton nom ?
MERCEDES VEGA: Je m’appelle Mercedes Vega.
DICHARIA: Ayoù tu viens ?
VEGA: I didn’t understand what you said.
DICHARIA: Ayoù tu viens ? Sorry.
VEGA: Je viens du Cut Off.
DICHARIA: Quoi c’est l’histoire que tu vas me raconter aujourd’hui ?
VEGA: Je vas vous conter des histoires. C’est pas tout à fait une histoire. C’est des petits contes de trois ou quatre lignes que ma grand-mère m’a dit. Ma grand-mère m’a conté ça. Ça qui est arrivé, c’est des affaires qu’a arrivé dans sa vie.
DICHARIA: En quelle année t’as été énée ?
VEGA: J’ai été énée dans avril, le six d’avril dans 1937 (dix-neuf trente sept).
DICHARIA: Ayoù t’as été énée ?
VEGA: J’ai été énée en Ville, à l’hôpital Hôtel Dieu.
DICHARIA: Ayoù t’as été élevée ?
VEGA: J’ai été élevée au Cut Off, au Cut Off dans la Louisiane, dans la Paroisse de la Fourche.
DICHARIA: T’as restée dans d’autres places ?
VEGA: Non. J’ai resté dans une place.
DICHARIA: [1:15] [laughs]
VEGA: J’ai resté au Cut Off toute ma vie et je m’ai marié et j’ai resté voisin ma Mame au Cut Off.
DICHARIA: T’as été jusqu’à quel livre à l’école?
VEGA: J’ai gradué dans livre, le douzième. Et là, j’avais été au collège un petit peu.
DICHARIA: [agrees] T’as étudié le français à l’école ?
VEGA: Non.
DICHARIA: Dans ta famille, ça parlait plus en français ou en anglais quand t’étais petite ? VEGA: J’ai été élevée dans la maison avec ma Mame, mon Pape et ma grand-mère. Ma grand-mère parlait juste en français et ma Mame et mon Pape me parlaient en anglais et je parlais en anglais avec eusse et je parlais en français avec ma grand-mère.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, j’ai été élevée, [tu connais, avec] toute l’affaire.
DICHARIA: Yeah. T’es mariée ?
VEGA: Je suis une veuve.
DICHARIA: [agrees]. T’as des enfants ?
VEGA: Quatre filles.
DICHARIA: Tu travailles toujours ?
VEGA: Je travaille p’us. Je suis retired. Quand quelqu’un a 82 (quatre-vingts-deux) ans, ça [devrait] arrêter de travailler.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Aujourd’hui, avec qui tu parles français ?
VEGA: Avec mes amis.
DICHARIA: [3:04] Combien souvent tu parles français asteur ?
VEGA: Tous les jours, je parle tous les jours en français avec mes amis because les amis de mon âge, ça c’est ça qu’eux-autres parle, français. Là, ces jours au magasin, on va parler en anglais.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: Il faut la --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … la jeunesse, la parler en anglais.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs]
DICHARIA: Tu peux raconter l’histoire asteur.
VEGA: Okay. Là, ça c’est ma [Grâme]. Okay. Ma Grâme s'appelait Joséphine et son mari, c’était Napoléon. So Joséphine et Napoléon sortait ensemble et ç’a décidé de se marier. Et pour se marier, il faulait que eusse va à Thibodaux pour chercher une licence. Là, c’était à peu près 50 (cinquante) ou 60 (soixante) milles de la maison, du Cut Off, pour [aller] à Thibodaux. So, ça y’eux a pris deux jours pour aller. Eusse a été en boghei et cheval. Équand ç’a arrivé à une place qui s’appelle LaFourche Crossing, elle avait des parents qui restaient là. Ç’a resté coucher et le lendemain, eusse a été à Thibodaux. Eux-autres a apparu au juge qu’eusse voulait une licence et le juge dit, “Okay.” Il dit à Joséphine, “Joséphine, t’as été mariée?” “Non,” elle dit. “J’ai jamais été mariée.” “Okay,” il dit. "Napoléon, t’as déjà été marié?” “Oui. J’ai été marié,” il dit. “Ma
femme est morte de la fièvre jaune.” Et le juge dit, "Napoléon, équand c’était qu’elle est morte?” “Oh, onze mois.”
DICHARIA: [4:59] [laughs]
VEGA: “Onze mois! Oh, non. Ça peut pas se faire que t’as venu ici 11 (onze) mois après que ta femme est morte.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “Toi,” il dit. “Va t’en et viens pas back ici avant qu’il est un an et un jour. Pas de licence.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So il faulait que Napoléon et Joséphine s’en retournent.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Et ça y’eux a pris un autre deux jours pour s’en aller. Ç’a pris quatre jours sur le chemin: deux jours pour arriver à LaFourche Crossing; il faulait que ça reste coucher et là, le lendemain s’en aller. So Joséphine dit, “Napoléon.” Elle dit, “Dis-moi pas que t’as changé ton idée.” “Non,” il dit. “J’ai pas changé mon idée. Je vas te marier.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “Mais,” il dit. “On va espérer un an et deux jours pour être sûrs --”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “... qu’il va nous donner la licence.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So, ça c’était une petite histoire que ma … que Joséphine m’a contée.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, là, il était, on appelle ça en français “un maître de bal.” Okay.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [6:08] Équand il avait des danses et tout ça, dans la cour en dessous d’un chêne ou dans une maison, ça poussait des chaises et eusse dansait.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Et il y avait pas d'électricité. C’était juste, il y en a qui jouait la flûte. Il y en a qui jouait le violon.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [crosstalk] la musique. Okay. So, il était un maître de bal. Well, il était veuf. So, il pouvait p’us être maître de bal.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Il voulait pas [donner] la musique.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs]
VEGA: Il était en deuil. Sa femme était morte.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, là, il s’a mis à travailler dans les cannes, à couper des cannes. Il aimait ça. Il aimait faire l’habitation. Il aimait travailler dans la terre, planter des cannes, couper les cannes. Il aimait cet ouvrage. Il aimait assez l’ouvrage qu’il s’a acheté un morceau de terre et il s’a mis à planter des cannes pour lui-même. Et plus qu’il faisait, [inaudible] un morceau de terre avant le voisin de sa terre, il l’a acheté. Et dans ce temps-là, c’était à peu près 50 (cinquante) piastres l’acre pour un morceau de terre. Et plus qu’il achetait et plus que c’était et plus et plus. So,
Joséphine y donnait la main. Et plus qu’il y avait des travaillants plus qu’il faulait qu’eusse … elle faisait le déjeuner pour les travaillants. Eusse se levait bon matin.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [7:47] Si tôt que le soleil était commencé. Le soleil était levé. Ils avaient une grosse grègue de café. Ils se prennaient un gros morceau de pain qu’elle avait fait dans le four. Okay, un four, c’est pour que tu fais, tu cuis du pain là-dedans. Et c’est fait avec de la boue et de la mousse. Okay. So, c’était juste le commencement: juste un goût de café avec deux morceaux de pain. Là, les hommes, les travaillants allaient … eusse arrangeait les chevals, tout ça qu’eusse avait besoin pour commencer la journée. Eusse a filé les couteaux pour couper les cannes, tout ça qu’eusse avait besoin. Là, à huit heures, huit heures et demie dans ce temps-là, elle avait fait un gros déjeuner. Elle avait cuit des œufs, des patates, du lait, du café, du café au lait, du pain, tout ce qu’eusse voulait. Elle sonnait une grosse cloche. Tous les travaillants [venaient pour manger]. Tout le temps elle disait que son stove était trop petit. Son stove, c’était un stove à bois. Il y avait juste quatre trous. Si elle aurait un plus gros stove, elle pouvait cuire plus vite. Ben, une journée, si ça s’a donné qu’elle a été au magasin. Elle a vu ce beau stove. Il y avait six trous, six trous pour cuire.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, elle dit à son mari elle avait besoin d’un nouveau stove. Il aimait pas dépenser son argent. Il était chisse. Il voulait plus dépenser son argent pour acheter de la terre. Elle a espéré une semaine. Il a pas acheté un nouveau stove. So, au but de deux semaines, elle a été dans le magasin à [Marie]. Elle a remplit son tablier avec, tu connais, du maïs, the corn cob.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Elle a mis son tablier plein de corn cobs.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ?
DICHARIA: [10:14] [laughs]
VEGA: Elle a été. Elle a mis ça dans le stove. Elle a mis ça dans le stove. Le stove était plein. Elle a craqué une allumette. Le stove a pris, ç’a pris le feu. Le stove [avait] chaud, chaud, chaud. Elle a pris un baquet d’eau et elle a craqué un baquet d’eau [drette] dessus le stove. Le stove a craqué. Craque !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Là, son mari [inaudible] un nouveau stove. Six trous! Six trous. Là, elle avait un nouveau stove à six trous. Là, elle pouvait cuire.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs] Elle était manière [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: [laughs] DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Elle a couillonné son mari. Elle a eu son stove. Là, il faut que t'arrêtes ça ?
DICHARIA: Fini ?
VEGA: Non.
DICHARIA: Non.
VEGA: I gotta find my place.
DICHARIA: You’re good.
VEGA: [Je vais raconter] ça en espérant. J’avais une tante. C’est un drôle de nom. J’avais une tante, la sœur à mon Pape. Elle s'appelait Louisiane, Louisiana. J’avais une sœur à ma Mame. Elle s’appelait Florida, Florida. Puis, j’avais une grand-grand-mère. Elle s’appelait America, America. [laughs]
DICHARIA: [11:44] [laughs]
VEGA: Je crois pas qu’il y a des enfants qui s’appellent comme ça aujourd’hui! Là, mon … Napoléon s’a eduqué à lui-même. Il pouvait lire en français. Il pouvait écrire en français.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? Et il y avait plein du monde qu’avait des mals au dent. Il y avait pas de dentiste. So un jour, il a pris le … un catalogue que tu pouvais écrire [et lire]. Ils [y’eux donnaient dans] la malle. C’était le Sears Roebuck.
DICHARIA: [laughs] VEGA: [laughs] You know ? DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Dans le Sears Roebuck catalog, tu pouvais tout acheté, ça que tu voulais pour être docteur ou dentiste. So il s’a ordonné une pince pour [un docteur des dents].
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Quelqu’un avait mal aux dents ? Napoléon avait plein de garçons. Ces garçons, ils mettaient … lui qu’avait mal aux dents, il faut qu’il ait … il faulait qu’il s’allonge sur le plancher parce que c’était dur.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Tu peux pas grouiller. Et ses garçons tiendaient sur la personne. Eusse tiendait les bras, les jambes, le ventre --
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [13:16] … le corps et ils ont arraché les dents avec pas arien pour endormir, peut-être un coup de whisky. That was it.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs]
VEGA: C’est vrai! [C’était lui], le dentiste !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So, on va [faire] quelque chose d’autre.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay. Napoléon et Joséphine ont eu --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … cinq … sept garçons et quatre filles. Ça faisait onze.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Et une de les filles, elle a eu un petit bébé. Équand elle a eu le petit bébé elle [avait honte]. So, Joséphine avait 50 (cinquante) ans. Elle a pris le petit bébé. Elle l’a élevé jusqu’à ce que la petite fille s’a marié et eu des enfants.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: A 50 (cinquante) ans, elle a pris un tout petit bébé. So, elle disait tout le temps “J’ai eu 12 (douze) enfants. J’ai eu 11 (onze) enfants. But j’ai élevé une douzaine.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: You got that ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. Si t’avais 200 (deux cents) arpents de terre --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [14:55] … 200 (deux cents) ou plus, c’était un habitant. Si t’avais 100 (cent), mais pas 200 (deux cents), 100 (cent) arpents ou moins, c’était une habitation, une petite ferme, a plantation and a farm. A farm was a hundred acres and a plantation was two hundred or more. DICHARIA: Oh. Dang.
VEGA: Eusse avait, Joséphine et Napoléon avait une habitation, a plantation.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. Là, quand ça coupait les cannes … là, les cannes … là, ils pouviont [élever] plein de cannes. La terre, ils ont acheté de la terre. Ils coupaient des cannes et tout ça. Son habitation est gros. So, des fois, il faulait qu’eusse coupe les cannes. Ils amenaient ça dans un wagon. Et eusse les pesait. Eusse les mettait sur une berge dans le bayou. Tu vois, il y a un bayou qui passe [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Bayou Lafourche. Là, sur le bateau … il y avait un bateau qui halait la berge et qui venait amener ces cannes-là à la facterie, à la sucrerie, sucrerie, sucre, ayoù-ce qu’eusse faisait le sucre. Okay ? Sucrerie. So, il faulait que ça passe à un pont. So, si c’était dans la nuit, eusse [a pris] le bateau. Ça halait. Équand ils arrivaient au pont, il faulait que le pont ouvre. Okay ? Well, au long du pont, il faulait qu’il prend un fanal. Ils allaient mettre sur [inaudible] du chemin, sur le côté. Et sur le [but] du chemin, l’autre côté --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … un fanal.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [17:10] Et là, ils ouvraient le pont pour le bougre. Là, c’est, en tout cas quelqu’en s’en venait en cheval ou quelque chose. [laughs] Pas pour [inaudible] au bayou. Ils voyaient le feu, tu vois ? Ils voyaient le fanal.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs] VEGA: Ça, c’était le stop light. DICHARIA: [agrees] Oh, dang. VEGA: [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay, allons voir quelque chose d’autre. Une année, ma grande-[nièce] a fait assez [d’argent], ç’a fait une belle récolte. Ç’a fait mille tonnes de canne, one thousand tons of sugarcane. Mais, il faut que tu connais que ça, c’était tout [fait] à la main.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Et les chevals, pas de tracteur. Tout à la main.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. Oh, elle était so proud. Son mari, aussi, était fier --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … fier d’eux [qu’ils ont fait autant]. Ç’a fait assez d’arpents. Ça vendait les cannes une piastre pour la tonne. Eusse avait mille tonnes. So, ça fait mille piastres, one thousand dollars.
DICHARIA: Jeezum !
VEGA: So, c’est là qu’eusse avait acheté son boghei pour elle-même et son cheval, elle avait. Comme aujourd’hui, [il faut] un char. Mais dans ce temps-là, elle, elle avait son boghei -- DICHARIA: [18:57] [laughs]
VEGA: … et son cheval. Ils avaient pas dû [traître] ça.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: Ils auraient dû l’amener pour [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Elle allait chez ses amis. Elle allait voir ses enfants qu’étaient mariés, avec son cheval et son boghei. [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Là, Napoléon était un homme. Il aimait donner la main au monde et ça qu’il avait,
so il faisait pas rien que l’autre monde eusse pouvait user. Il avait un radio.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? Pas d'électricité. À la batterie. Il avait pas d'électricité. L'électricité a passé dans 1937 à Cut Off.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay ? So là, pour attendre ce radio-là, il mettait le radio. Il avait deux --
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: C’est juste -- DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs] VEGA: Il avait ça -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [20:08] … plus ses oreilles. Juste lui qui pouvait l’attendre. So, lui, il attendait le radio et là, il a annoncé à le monde qu’était là, qui se calait de là-bas. Il y’eux disait, “Oh, les nouvelles ! [Il va mouiller] aujourd’hui! Et là, il va mouiller demain, pas aujourd’hui !” DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: But les hommes aimaient les boxes.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Il aimait plein. Ça, c’était plein. Aujourd’hui, c’est des football game. Mais dans le vieux temps, c’était des boxes qu’étaient la meilleure chose pour qu’un homme guette. So ça, c’était --
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: … the favorite !
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Boxing was the big sport at that time.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? Boxer, c’était l’affaire qu’eusse aimait guetter. Okay ? Well, eusse pouvait pas aller en Ville guetter un boxe, so il empoigné ça sur ce radio et les hommes venaient et ç’assissait tous dans le salon ayoù-ce que le radio était.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: Et lui, lui, il avait des --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [21:11] … lui, il attendait et il disait, “Okay, il s’a fait foutre par terre. Il a foutu un coup de poing avec la main droite ! Il a … lui, il s’a levé ! Il a foutu un autre coup de poing avec
la main gauche !” [laughs] Et c’est comme ça que le monde attendait le game, le game de boxe.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Eusse pouvait pas voir. Eusse pouvait pas l’attendre. But, il y’eux donnait [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: … lui, il écoutait. Là, il y’eux disait.
DICHARIA: That’s crazy. VEGA: But it happened ! DICHARIA: [agrees] Yeah. VEGA: It was the truth.
DICHARIA: [He had] some headphones in --
VEGA: He had headphones. DICHARIA: … and listened to them ? VEGA: That’s all you could hear -- DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: … just the one on his [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: So, he was their announcer. He would put the headphones [laughs] --
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [21:55] And he would announce to his friends. He would invite his friends and say, “Now listen. They’re gonna have a big box,” because he would listen to the news on the -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … “A big boxing match coming up,” such and such date. They’d all come to his house --
DICHARIA: Oh, and all listen to it ?
VEGA: At his house.
DICHARIA: Yeah, yeah.
VEGA: And they would sit down and he’d put the radio on and he’d listen and he was the announcer.
DICHARIA: Oh, so he’d put it on and then he announced to everyone what was going on. Oh !
VEGA: That’s the only way they could do it.
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: Can you imagine that ?
DICHARIA: [laughs] No, I can’t, honestly.
VEGA: Those old people today, if they would come and see a television ! [laughs]
DICHARIA: No.
VEGA: Like, “Get out of here !”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs] Okay. But that’s the truth. You know ?
DICHARIA: Yeah. I didn’t realize that. VEGA: [22:47] [Oh, there’s so] [crosstalk] DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Just like pulling the teeth, you think I would pull out somebody’s tooth today ? I’d get sued !
DICHARIA: [laughs] VEGA: They had no other. DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: There was nobody else. There was no dentist. You might have to go to New Orleans to get a dentist. They didn’t have no cars. Eusse avait pas de char. Comment tu veux qu’eusse va ? Ça y’eux aurait pris une semaine pour aller en Ville. [laughs] [coughs] Ça y’eux [prendrait] une semaine pour aller en Ville. [laughs] [Ça y’eux fait trop de mal] [laughs] DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Pull it. I have some little notes there so I can think of things. Et elle avait … Joséphine était chanceuse. Elle était … elle a travaillé plein. Elle a donné … elle a [amené] son mari à travailler. Elle cuisait tout ça, but elle était chanceuse. [Il] achetait, comme -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … son cheval et son boghei. Oh, elle était fière !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay. Un jour, les hommes comme … les hommes dans la [coughs] … dans Cut Off [voulaient] … c’est temps qu'eux-autres ait une école. Il y a des petites écoles, des petites écoles --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [24:49] … prendaient au septième: première grade, deuxième, troisième grade, quatrième, cinquième, sixième, sept. [whistles] No more.
DICHARIA: Oh !
VEGA: Pas de high school. So, c’est temps qu’eux-autres ait un high school, une grande école pour que nos enfants graduent et qu’eusse soit plus smatte.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, le school board, ça qu’était en charge --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … de les écoles a venu. Il a fait un meeting. Il a fait un meeting avec cinq hommes, les cinq hommes qu’avaient plein de la terre dans le Cut Off.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? So, Napoléon, [il a été] au meeting et des [Defilice] a été, [il a venu] au meeting. Les deux [couples] et les petits, il y en autre. Je me rappelle pas. Cinq hommes qu’avaient de la terre --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … qu’eusse voulait acheter avec. Well, personne voulait vendre leur terre. Oh, non ! C’était leur gâteau, la terre ! You know ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Plus de terre que t’avais, plus que tu pouvais planter des cannes et plus d’argent tu pouvais faire. Well, personne voulait vendre leur terre. So, Napoléon a dit, “Moi, je vas vendre un morceau de terre.” Okay ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [26:16] “But, il faut que t’engages mon garçon. Mon garçon [a un] [inaudible] de la livraison. Mon garçon veut être janitor de l’école.” Okay.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Un barguine. Dans 1917 --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … eusse a fait l’école. Ils ont ouvert l’école. Puis, il était janitor. Il a été le janitor until 1955.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: Yeah. So, ça c’était un barguine.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [laughs] “Si tu engages mon garçon pour le janitor, je vas vendre mon morceau de terre.” [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [Garde, c’est arrivé]. Allons voir si on peut trouver quelque chose d’autre. Ça, il y a longtemps, longtemps … ça, c’est plus vieux que ça. C’est avant que ma grand-mère se marie, quand ma Grâme était petite fille.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Il y avait une guerre between the states.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Il y avait une guerre entre les États-Unis et eusse [allait] à ta maison. Eusse disait, “Oh, j’ai un garçon! Viens!”
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [27:55] “Venez dans la guerre avec nous-autres!” Il [l’a paqué] sur le cheval et [s’en allait]. So, ma Grâme, elle avait trois sœurs et un frère. C’était … dans la famille, c’était quatre filles et un garçon.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Mais eusse pouvait pas … eusse avait besoin de leur frère. Il faut qu’il donne une main à son Pape. Oh, il faulait qu’il … si le frère était malade, il aurait fallu que les filles donnent une main à leur Pape. Tu vois ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Les filles voulaient pas. Les filles voulaient que ça y’eux donne une dans la maison. So, un jour, eusse a eu une nouvelle que les soldats s’en venaient pour la guerre et eusse approchait dans la côte et ça prendait juste un jour. So, ça préparait. Dans la cour, il y avait un vieux bois. Il était creux.
DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: You understand ? DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: A hollow tree.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Eusse a pris un [creux] de bois et eusse dit, “Quand les soldats vont venir, nous-autres, on va mettre notre frère là-dedans.” So, eusse a eu une nouvelle que les … le
lendemain matin, les soldats étaient dans la côte. So, le frère à Joséphine s’a mis dans le creux de bois et ça lui a mis les vieilles branches --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [29:19] … les vieilles branches [qu’elles ont] mis contre le bois comme ça. Et les soldats a venu. Eusse dit, “Ayoù est votre frère?” “Oh, notre frère ?”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “Il est dans la prairie. Il est après donner la main à notre Pape. Eusse est dans la prairie. Ils sont après travailler parce que, bien vite, [eusse savait] qu’il faut qu’eusse piège. Eusse est après faire les traînasses.” “Oh.” “Allez !” elle dit. “Allez ! Allez ! Allez dans la prairie. Vous-autres va le trouver.” “Non ! [On] a pas le temps. So, dis-lé quand il va déboucher de venir nous joindre.” “Okay !” Et eusse a parti.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Il était dans le creux de bois. [laughs] So, il avait [pas] été en guerre.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Eusse voulait sauver leur frère.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: All right. Comment plus ?
DICHARIA: Whenever you want to stop, you can.
VEGA: No, but --
DICHARIA: We have the time, but if you want to keep going, you can --
VEGA: … no, but if you have 30 minutes, you know ? I don’t know.
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: I would like to give you at least 30 minutes. DICHARIA: Yeah, no. It’s been going for 30 minutes. VEGA: Oh.
DICHARIA: [30:32] But if you wanna --
VEGA: Yeah.
DICHARIA: You can keep talking on it. It’s really okay.
VEGA: Okay, [inaudible]. Anyway, ma grand-mère a vi jusqu’à elle avait 95 years old.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Okay.
VEGA: Yeah. Oh, this is nothing, but this is … ma grand-mère, Joséphine --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … comment je t’ai dit avant, elle avait des parents qui restaient à Lafourche Crossing. So un jour, elle était petite --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … elle était peut-être 10 (dix) ans. Elle et sa mame avait été voir les parents à Lafourche Crossing et son nonc a venu. Il dit, “Je suis parti en Ville.” Eusse est … [il est halé] sur la gazette que le père, il l’a … [ils ont] confirmation, a confirmation. They’re having a big confirmation. So, il dit, “J’amène ma petite fille et je vas amener Joséphine.” So, Joséphine a embarqué sur le char à vapeur. Eusse a parti de Lafourche Crossing et eusse était en Ville. Ç’a fait leur confirmation --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … dans la cathédrale, in St. Louis Cathedral.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: They left --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [laughs] … no classes or nothing, they just left --
DICHARIA: [32:17] [laughs]
VEGA: … and they did their confirmation in the St. Louis Cathedral.
DICHARIA: Oh, wow.
VEGA: … and le soir après, eusse a revenu.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, ma Grâme a fait sa confirmation dans la cathédrale. J’ai été baptisée dans la cathédrale et [Adrienne] s’a marié dans la cathédrale. [laughs] So, that’s it.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: That’s just a little bonus. I just --
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Now you can ask me the other questions if you want.
DICHARIA: I actually … I finished asking the questions, but … well, merci de me parler.
[33:04]
[End Tape 5023. End Session 1.] [Total session time - 33:04]
Interviewee: Mercedes Vega Tape 5023 Interviewer: Juliette DiCharia Session 1
Transcriber: Erin Segura October 10, 2019
Translator: Jackson Butterbaugh [Begin Tape 5023. Begin Session I.]
JULIETTE DICHARIA: All right. What is your name ?
MERCEDES VEGA: My name is Mercedes Vega.
DICHARIA: Where are you from ? VEGA: I didn’t understand what you said. DICHARIA: Where are you from ? Sorry. VEGA: I’m from Cut Off.
DICHARIA: What story are you going to tell me today ?
VEGA: I’m going to tell you some stories. It’s not just one story. They’re small, three or four-sentence stories that my grandmother told me. My grandmother told them to me. They’re things that happened to her in her lifetime.
DICHARIA: What year were you born ?
VEGA: I was born April 6th in 1937.
DICHARIA: Where were you born ?
VEGA: I was born in New Orleans, at Hôtel Dieu Hospital.
DICHARIA: Where were you raised ?
VEGA: I was raised in Cut Off, Louisiana, in Lafourche Parish.
DICHARIA: Have you ever lived anywhere else ?
VEGA: No. I’ve only lived in one place.
DICHARIA: [1:15] [laughs]
VEGA: I lived in Cut Off all my life and I got married and I lived next to my mom in Cut Off.
DICHARIA: How many grades did you finish in school ?
VEGA: I graduated in 12th grade. And then, I went to college for a bit.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Did you study French in school ?
VEGA: No.
DICHARIA: Did your family speak French or English more when you were little ? VEGA: I grew up with my mom, my dad and my grandmother at home. My grandmother only spoke French, and my mom and dad spoke to me in English and I spoke English with them, and I spoke in French with my grandmother.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, I grew up, [you know, with] all that stuff.
DICHARIA: Yeah. Are you married ?
VEGA: I’m a widow.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Do you have kids ?
VEGA: Four daughters.
DICHARIA: Are you still working ?
VEGA: I’m not working anymore. I’m retired. When someone is 82 years old, they should stop working.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Nowadays, with whom do you speak French ?
VEGA: With my friends.
DICHARIA: [3:04] How often do you speak French these days ?
VEGA: Every day, I speak French every day with my friends because friends my age, they’re the only ones speaking French. These days, out in public, in stores, we’re more likely to speak English.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: You have to --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … speak English when you’re talking with young people.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs]
DICHARIA: You can tell the story now.
VEGA: Okay. So, it’s about my grandma. Okay. My grandma’s name was Joséphine and her husband was Napoléon. So Joséphine and Napoléon were going out and they decided to get married. And to get married, they had to go to Thibodaux to get a marriage license. But it was about 50 or 60 miles from home, from Cut off, to get to Thibodaux. So, it took them two days to get there. They went by horse and buggy. When they got to a place called LaFourche Crossing, she had relatives living there. They stayed the night and the next day, they went to Thibodaux.
They appeared before a judge they wanted to get a license from and the judge says, “Okay.” He says to Joséphine, “Joséphine, are you married ?” “No,” she says. “I’ve never been married.” “Okay,” he says. “Napoléon, have you ever been married ?” “Yes. I’ve been married,” he says. “My wife died from yellow fever.” And the judge says, “Napoléon, how long has it been since she died ?” “Oh, eleven months.”
DICHARIA: [4:59] [laughs]
VEGA: “Eleven months ! Oh, no. It can’t be that you’ve come here just 11 months after your wife’s death.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “You,” he says. “Get out of here and don’t come back before it’s been a year and one day. No license.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So Napoléon and Joséphine had to go back home.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: And it took them another two days to go back. It took four days on the road: two days to get to Lafourche Crossing; they had to spend the night there and then leave the next day. So Joséphine says, “Napoléon.” She says, “Don’t tell me you changed your mind.” “No,” he says. “I haven’t changed my mind. I’m going to marry you.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “But,” he says. “We’re going to wait a year and two days to be sure --”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “… that he’ll give us the license.”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So, that’s a little story that my… that Joséphine told me.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, then, there was, in French we call it “un maître de bal.” Okay.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [6:08] When there were dances and all that, in the courtyard under an oak tree or in a house, they’d move the chairs to the walls and dance.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: And there was no electricity. It was just, there was someone playing the flute. There was someone playing the violin.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [crosstalk] music. Okay. So, there was a maître de bal. Well, he was a widower. So, he could no longer be the maître de bal.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: He didn’t want to play music.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs]
VEGA: He was in mourning. His wife had died.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, then, he started working in the cane fields harvesting cane. He liked that. He liked farming. He liked working in the dirt, planting cane, cutting cane. He liked that work. He liked it so much that he bought a piece of land and started planting cane for himself. And the more he did, [inaudible] a piece of land neighboring his land, he bought it. And at the time, it was about 50 dollars an acre for a piece of land. And the more he bought, the more there was and so on. So, Joséphine gave him a hand. And the more workers that need to… she made dinner for the workers. They got up early in the morning.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [7:47] As soon as the sun started rising. The sun had risen. They had a big pot of coffee. They got themselves a big piece of bread that she had made in the oven, le four. Okay, un four is what you bake bread in. And it’s made with mud and moss. Okay. So, that was just the beginning: just a taste of coffee with two pieces of bread. Then, the men, the workers went… they got the horses ready, all the ones they needed to start the day. They sharpened their knives for cutting cane, all the ones they needed. Then, by 8:30 a.m. she had made a big lunch. She had cooked eggs, potatoes, milk, coffee, café au lait, bread, everything they wanted. She’d ring a big bell. All the workers would come in to eat. She always used to say her stove was too small. Her stove was a wood stove. It only had four spaces for cooking. If she had had a bigger stove, she could have cooked faster. Well, one day, if she happened to go to the store. She saw this great stove. It had six spaces for cooking.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, she told her husband she needed a new stove. He didn’t want to spend money. He was cheap. He’d rather spend his money buying land. She waited a week. He didn’t buy a new stove. So, after two weeks, she went to Marie’s store. She filled her apron with, you know, corncobs.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: She took on her apron full of corncobs.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ?
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [10:16] She went. She put them on the stove. The stove was full. She lit a match. The stove caught on fire. The stove was hot, hot, hot. She grabbed a bucket of water and tossed it right on the stove. The stove broke. Craque !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Then, her husband [inaudible] a new stove. Six holes ! Six holes. Then, she had a new stove with six holes. Then she could cook.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs] She was kind of [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: [laughs] DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: She duped her husband. She got a stove. Then, do you have to stop that ?
DICHARIA: Finished ?
VEGA: No.
DICHARIA: No.
VEGA: I gotta find my place.
DICHARIA: You’re good.
VEGA: I’m going to tell this one while we wait. I had an aunt. She had a funny name. I had an aunt, my dad’s sister. Her name was Louisiane, Louisiana. I had my mom’s sister. Her name was Florida. Then, I had a great-grandmother. Her name was America. [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [11:46] I don’t think there are any kids that have names like that nowadays ! Then, my… Napoléon taught himself. He could read French. He could write French.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? And there were a lot of people with teeth pains. There were no dentists. So one day, he took the… a catalogue you could write [and read] things in. It was something you got in the mail. It was the Sears Roebuck.
DICHARIA: [laughs] VEGA: [laughs] You know ? DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: In the Sears Roebuck catalog, you could buy everything you wanted to be a doctor or a dentist. So he ordered a pair of dentist’s pliers.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Somebody had a toothache ? Napoléon had plenty of boys. These boys, they would… whoever had a toothache, he had to… he had to lie down on the floor because it was it was hard and flat.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: You can’t move. And these people would hold onto the person. They would hold down the arms, the legs, the stomach --
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [13:16] … the body and they pulled your teeth out without anything to put you under, maybe a shot of whisky. That was it.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs]
VEGA: It’s true! He was the dentist !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: So, we’re going to do something else.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay. Napoléon and Joséphine had --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … five… seven boys and four girls. That made eleven.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: And one of the girls, she had a baby. When she had the baby, she was ashamed. So, Joséphine was 50 years old. She took the baby. She raised it until the girl got married and had kids.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: At 50 years old, she took on a really small baby. So, she always used to say “I had 12 kids.” I had 11 kids. But I raised a dozen.”
DICHARIA: [laughs] VEGA: You got that ? DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. If you had 200 arpents of land --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [14:55] … 200 or more, it was a plantation. If you had 100, not 200, 100 acres or less, it was a small farm, a plantation and a farm. A farm was a hundred acres and a plantation was two hundred or more.
DICHARIA: Oh. Dang.
VEGA: Joséphine and Napoléon had a plantation.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. Then, when they were cutting cane… then, the cane… they could grow plenty of cane. They bought land. They cut cane and all that. Their plantation was big. So, sometimes, they had to cut the cane. They brought them in a wagon. And they weighed them. They put them on a barge in the bayou. You know, there’s a bayou that passes [crosstalk] DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Bayou Lafourche. Then, on the boat… there was a boat that would haul the barge and that came to bring that cane to the sugar mill, where they made sugar. Okay ? Sugar mill. So, it had to pass a bridge. So, if it was at night, they took the boat. They hauled it. When they got to the bridge, the bridge had to open. Okay ? Well, along the bridge, he had to take a lantern. They would go put it on [inaudible] of the road, on the side. And on the end of the road, the other
side --
DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: … a lantern. DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [17:10] And then, they would open the bridge for the guy. Then, it’s, anyway someone was coming on horseback or something. [laughs] No for [inaudible] in the bayou. They saw the fire, you know ? They saw the lantern.
DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs]
VEGA: That was the stop light.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Oh, dang.
VEGA: [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay, let’s see something else. One year, my grandniece made enough money, she had a great harvest. It was one thousand tons of sugarcane. But, you have to know that it was all done by hand.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: And horses, no tractors. Completely by hand.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay. Oh, she was so proud. Her husband was also proud --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … proud of them for doing so much. They had enough arpents. They would sell the cane for a dollar per ton. They had 1000 tons. So, 1000 dollars.
DICHARIA: Jeezum !
VEGA: So, that’s when they bought a buggy for her and her horse. Like nowadays, you have to have a car. But back then, she had her buggy --
DICHARIA: [18:57] [laughs]
VEGA: … and her horse. They must not have had [inaudible] that.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: They should have brought it for [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: She would go to her friends’ houses. She would go see her kids who were married, with her horse and her buggy. [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: That Napoléon was a man. He loved giving people a hand and whatever he had, he didn’t make a fuss if other people needed to use it. He had a radio.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? No electricity. Battery-powered. There was no electricity. Electricity came to Cut Off in 1937.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay ? So then, to listen to that radio, he put the radio on. He had two --
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: It’s just -- DICHARIA: Oh. [laughs] VEGA: He had that -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [20:08] … plus his ears. Only he could hear it. So, he was listening to the radio and then, he announced to the people who were there, who were having a drink over there. He told them, “Oh, the news ! It’s going to rain today ! Oh no, it’s going to rain tomorrow, not today !” DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: But the men loved boxing.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: They really loved it. It was a lot. Today, it’s football games. But in the old days, boxing was men’s favorite thing to watch. So that was --
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: … the favorite !
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Boxing was the big sport at that time.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? Boxing, that was the thing they liked watching the most. Okay ? Well, they couldn’t go to New Orleans to watch boxing matches, so they used to catch them on the radio, and the men would all come and sit in the living room where the radio was.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: And he had some --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [21:11] … he would listen and he’d say, “Okay, he knocked him to the ground. He threw a punch with his right hand ! He… he got back up ! He threw another punch with his left hand !” [laughs] And that’s how people used to listen to the boxing matches.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t hear it. But, he gave them [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t hear it. But, he gave them [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: That’s crazy.
VEGA: But it happened!
DICHARIA: [agrees] Yeah.
VEGA: It was the truth.
DICHARIA: [He had] some headphones in --
VEGA: He had headphones. DICHARIA: … and listened to them ? VEGA: That’s all you could hear -- DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: … just the one on his [crosstalk]
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: So, he was their announcer. He would put the headphones [laughs] --
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [21:55] And he would announce to his friends. He would invite his friends and say, “Now listen. They’re gonna have a big box,” because he would listen to the news on the -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … “A big boxing match coming up,” such and such date. They’d all come to his house --
DICHARIA: Oh, and all listen to it ?
VEGA: At his house.
DICHARIA: Yeah, yeah.
VEGA: And they would sit down and he’d put the radio on and he’d listen and he was the announcer.
DICHARIA: Oh, so he’d put it on and then he announced to everyone what was going on. Oh !
VEGA: That’s the only way they could do it.
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: Can you imagine that ?
DICHARIA: [laughs] No, I can’t, honestly.
VEGA: Those old people today, if they would come and see a television ! [laughs]
DICHARIA: No.
VEGA: Like, “Get out of here !”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [laughs] Okay. But that’s the truth. You know ?
DICHARIA: Yeah. I didn’t realize that. VEGA: [22:47] [Oh, there’s so] [crosstalk] DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Just like pulling the teeth, you think I would pull out somebody’s tooth today ? I’d get sued !
DICHARIA: [laughs] VEGA: They had no other. DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: There was nobody else. There was no dentist. You might have to go to New Orleans to get a dentist. They didn’t have no cars. How could they make it there ? It would have taken
them a week to go to New Orleans. [laughs] [coughs] It would’ve taken them a week to go to New Orleans. [laughs] It was too difficult. [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Pull it. I have some little notes there so I can think of things. And she was… Joséphine was lucky. She was… she worked a lot. She gave… she brought her husband to work. She cooked all that, but she was lucky. He bought, like --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … her horse and her buggy. Oh, she was proud !
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: Okay. One day, the men, like… the men in [coughs] … in Cut Off wanted … it was time that they got a school. There are small schools --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [24:49] … that went through seventh grade: first grade, second, third grade, fourth, fifth, sixth, seven. [whistles] No more.
DICHARIA: Oh !
VEGA: No high school. So, it was time that they got a highschool, a big school so that the kids could graduate and learn more.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: So, the school board, the people in charge --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … of the schools came. They had a meeting. They had a meeting with five men, five men who owned a lot of land in Cut Off.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: Okay ? So, Napoléon went to the meeting and the [Defilices] went to the meeting.The two couples and the kids and one more. I don’t remember. Five men who had land --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … that they wanted to buy. Well, no one wanted to sell their land. Oh, no ! It was their cake, their land ! You know ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: The more land you had, the more cane you could plant and the more money you could make. Well, nobody wanted to sell their land. So, Napoléon said, “I’m going to sell a piece of my land.” Okay ?
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [26:16] “But, you have to hire my son. My son [has a] [inaudible] delivery. My son wants to be a janitor at the school.” Okay.
DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: A bargain. In 1917 -- DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … they made the school. They opened the school. Then, he was the janitor. He was the janitor until 1955.
DICHARIA: Oh.
VEGA: Yeah. So, that was a bargain.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [laughs] “If you hire my son as the janitor, I’ll sell you some of my land.” [laughs]
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: [Well, what do you know ? It happened]. Let’s see if we can find something else to talk about. A long, long time ago… it’s older than that. It was before my grandmother got married, when my grandma was a little girl.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: There was a war between the states.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: There was a war amongst the states and they’d go to your house. They’d say, “Oh, I have a boy ! Come on !”
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [27:55] “Come to war with us !” They put him on the horse and took off. So, my grandma had three sisters and a brother. It was… in the family, there were four girls and a boy. DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: But they couldn’t… they needed their brother. His father needed his help, too. Oh, he had to… if the brother was sick, the girls would’ve had to give their dad a hand. You know ? DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: The girls didn’t want to. The girls wanted him to help them in the house. So, one day, they got news that the soldiers were coming for war and they were approaching the neighborhood and it only took a day to get there. So, they prepared themselves. In the yard, there was an old tree. It was hollow.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: You understand ? DICHARIA: [agrees] VEGA: A hollow tree.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: They made a hole in the tree and they said, “When the soldiers come, we’re going to put our brother in there.” So, they got news that… the next day, the soldiers would be in the neighborhood. So, Joséphine’s brother got in the hole in the tree and they put old branches on him --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: [29:19] … the old branches that they put against the tree like that. And the soldiers came. They said, “Where is your brother ?” “Oh, our brother ?”
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: “He’s in the prairie. He’s giving our dad a hand. They’re in the prairie. They have to work quickly because they’re trapping. They’re making boat trails.” “Oh.” “Go !” she says.
“Go ! Go ! Go out to the prairie. You’ll find him.” “No ! We don’t have time. So, tell him when he’s free to come join us.” “Okay !” And they left.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: He was in the hole in the tree. [laughs] So, he didn’t go to war.
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: They wanted to save their brother.
DICHARIA: [laughs]
VEGA: All right. How much more ?
DICHARIA: Whenever you want to stop, you can.
VEGA: No, but --
DICHARIA: We have the time, but if you want to keep going, you can --
VEGA: … no, but if you have 30 minutes, you know ? I don’t know.
DICHARIA: Yeah.
VEGA: I would like to give you at least 30 minutes. DICHARIA: Yeah, no. It’s been going for 30 minutes. VEGA: Oh.
DICHARIA: [30:32] But if you wanna --
VEGA: Yeah.
DICHARIA: You can keep talking on it. It’s really okay.
VEGA: Okay, [inaudible]. Anyway, my grandmother lived until she was 95 years old.
DICHARIA: [agrees] Okay.
VEGA: Yeah. Oh, this is nothing, but this is… my grandmother, Joséphine --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … like I told you before, she had relatives living in Lafourche Crossing. So one day, she was little --
DICHARIA: [agrees]
VEGA: … she was maybe 10 years old. She and her mom had gone to see their relatives in Lafourche Crossing and her uncle came. He says, “I left New Orleans.” They are… [he moved] to the newspaper that the father, he… [they’re having] a confirmation. They’re having a big confirmation. So, he says, “I’m bringing my little girl and I’m going to bring Joséphine.” So,
Joséphine got on the steam train. They left Lafourche Crossing and they went to New Orleans. They were making their confirmation --