MARIE lived alone in her one-room cottage. She was 58, widowed and with three adult children living overseas. None of them kept in contact with her because of her nagging ways. She had chased them away one by one. She was a ‘Dougla’ mixture of East Indian and Negro. She was not an attractive woman and had stopped making a fuss about her appearance since the death of her husband.

Marie loved to gossip. She knew about everybody. She even knew things they didn’t know about themselves. She spoke ill of everyone. Even her children came in for her harsh criticism. She called them ingrates and boasted that she had refused to reply to their many communications. The truth was that it was the entire opposite.

She was not qualified and did laundry services for people. She managed to live on this income because her work was excellent and people were always pleased. Her home and standard of living had crept steadily below the poverty line. She would never know what it was to be rich.

This was the way she had lived for the past decade. There seemed to be no way out of it. It seemed as if she was destined for poverty. All she could do was dream about getting rich someday. Then something occurred that changed her life forever.
One night she went to bed tired after a full day’s work. She had an unusual dream. She saw a woman in white clothes calling to her and asking her to come closer. As soon as she drew nearer the woman disappeared and the dream ended.

This dream reoccurred every night for a week and each night she got closer and closer before the dream ended. On this particular night, the strange woman spoke to her.
“Marie, if you want me to help you, come visit me here.”

The woman turned and pointed and Marie found herself inside the cemetery. The woman was sitting on a small tomb and beckoning to her. As she approached the woman opened the tomb and Marie eyes nearly popped out. Inside the tomb was a small treasure. Marie reached for the tomb and the dream ended.

The next day the dream played over and over in her mind. She could not concentrate on work so she decided to go for a walk. Somehow her meandering route took her to the burial ground. She had taken along her shopping bag so that she could do some buying on her way back home. As she walked below the palm trees she could not help staring at the many tombs.

Odd enough her path seemed to lead her into a thickly vegetated area that resembled a mini forest. With her heart racing, she looked around her and discovered that it was familiar to her. She had seen it in her dream. To her amazement, she saw the tomb from her dream. She hurried toward it half expecting the woman to appear and speak to her. All she found was a cold concrete tomb with plenty of vegetation around it.

As she turned to leave her foot got caught in an old bag strap and she fell. Getting up, she dusted herself off angrily grumbling about wasting her time.

Her eyes caught something on the ground near her feet. It was a half-buried old bag. She had tripped on it and pulled it from its place of burial. What was most interesting was the contents of the bag. Sticking out of the partly opened bag was wads of cash: US, Sterling, Canadian and good old macaw. She bent and pulled energetically at the strap. It came loose. The bag was filled with money. She stuffed the old bag into her shopping bag and sped home.

The next three months marked a complete turnaround in her fortunes. She had the house repaired, bought a fridge, washing machine and a microwave. Marie bought clothes and other stuff out of pure excitement. She had completely forgotten about how she had come by the money. Soon the cash ran out. Then she had another dream.

It was the same woman and she was calling for Marie to visit her. When Marie approached the stranger led her to the cemetery. She opened the same tomb and beckoned to Marie to enter. At that moment she woke up. The dream came night after night but Marie would not enter the tomb. Then the strange woman spoke.
“Why you not coming in me house?”

“I not coming because yo ain’t got money fo give me,” Marie replied.
“Must come back tomorrow night,” was all she told Marie as she disappeared.
Next night Marie couldn’t wait to go to bed. The excitement of her dream had kept her on edge. She just wanted to discover where her new treasure lay. Her thoughts were only on going to sleep that night. Marie retired to bed rather early that night. She forced herself to sleep and eventually did.

She dreamt that the woman was calling her. Quickly and eagerly she followed the stranger. At the tomb, the woman opened it and disclosed more treasure. It was a much larger bounty than the first one. Marie rubbed her hands together in glee.
“You have to do something for me,” the woman told her.
“Anything,” Marie replied.

“Wen yo daughter come bring she fo me.”
Marie agreed readily knowing that she had no contact with her child. Next day she re-visited the tomb and found a large briefcase buried near to where she had found the haversack. She rushed home with her loot.

Five months of big living and spending passed and soon the money ran out again. Marie felt miserable. One very hot afternoon there was a knock on her door. She hurried to open it because she needed laundry jobs now: something she had been neglecting lately. When she opened the door her mouth fell open. Her youngest daughter stood there smiling at her. The next week went by at light speed. Then her daughter returned to the US. That night she had another dream. The same woman was calling her only this time her tone was different. There was anger and a certain chill to it.

“You don’t keep yo promise.”
In her joy on seeing her daughter Marie had completely forgotten about the promise she had made.”
“Yo didn’t bring yo daughter fo me!”
“I forget. Next time.”
“No next time!”
The woman’s eyes were flashing in anger and Marie began to get frightened. The stranger’s pretty face had been transformed into a mask of fury.
“Yo tek me money an yo didn’t keep yo promise.”
“Sorry.”
“I gon mek you sorry.”

Marie awoke with a start. Next night the woman came again. This time she was smiling in a familiar way. Money time. Marie followed her to the tomb and entered. There was more money than she had ever seen. She would be rich forever. Marie rolled around in her bounty and then got ready to fetch it home. She had one major problem. The tomb would not open. Marie began to cry. The woman appeared.
“Don’t waste yo tears. You’re trapped here forever. It’s your turn to guard de loot.”

Next day Marie was found dead in bed. She died in her sleep.