Evelyn Doubois is no stranger to death she was born dirt poor deep in the bayou. She had eight siblings, though only six of her siblings survived infancy and four of them made it to adulthood. The swamps of Louisiana were cruel and barbaric and no one was spared from the tight grip of the bayou. Death was just a part of life, and if you managed to get out of there alive and with all your limbs you were blessed by the Loa. When Evelyn was younger she was a curious little thing, always asking questions and digging deeper. She was lucky in that she had two elder siblings who were fiercely protective of her. Hippolyte and Apolline were her saviors on many occasions, they followed the mischievous tyke around making sure she didn’t get into too much trouble. Which wasn’t an easy task, Evelyn’s favorite thing to do was steal crayfish from trap crates and she was also quite fond of cutting gators free from snares. This made her quite unpopular with the local fishermen and there were plenty of close calls when she was caught by one.
For a while it was just the three of them, and while Hippolyte and Apolline were twins, Evelyn and Apolline shared a closer bond. Hippolyte always said it was because they had all of that ‘woman stuff’ in common but Evelyn liked to think it was because she and Apoline were supposed to be twins, not Apolline and Hippolyte. Like every close knit family the Dubois had nicknames for each other. usually given to them at a young age. Hippolyte and Apolline were called Boug and Cha-Cha respectively, Evelyn was E-Belle or V-Belle. Then Jean-Baptiste, or ‘Ean-B’ came along making Evelyn six years his senior. Heloise, ‘Lowie’, was born four years after ‘Ean-B. Then the last set of twins, Lisette; ‘Lisabee’ and Marguerite; ‘Marty’ entered the world six years later. Everyone who lived down in the bayou knew about the Doubois family, they were a rowdy bunch and enjoyed having a good time. Their crayfish boils were the event of the season and usually ended with homemade fireworks.
But one muggy evening the Doubois family became known for something more sinister. When Cha-Cha left home to marry a fancy war general Evelyn had a nagging feeling in her gut. Everyone else just waved it off as a bit of jealousy that Cha-Cha managed to snag a wealthy fella. After Cha-Cha left for the big city the Doubois siblings became a bit volatile, their balance was skewed and their main peacemaker was gone. It wasn’t unusual for one of the brood to spend the night cooling off at Cha-Cha’s new digs. Evelyn was a frequent flyer and Cha-Cha’s husband Shep wasn’t very happy with that. The two butt heads at every chance they got and eventually came to a point where Shep wouldn’t allow any of Cha-Cha’s family over anymore.
It wasn’t long before Evelyn started to suspect that everything wasn’t as hunky-dory as Cha-Cha claimed. When the two would meet up for an afternoon of fishing there were many times when Evelyn noticed a bruise or two. Her sister would chalk it up to clumsiness or accidents but Evelyn knew the truth. When she told Boug he promptly marched himself into town and beat the living daylights out of Shep. That must have been the last straw for the war general, for when Evelyn snuck out to visit her eldest sister the following morning she was greeted at the front door by an officer who informed her of her sister’s grim fate. There was no doubt in Evelyn’s mind that it was Shep who had killed Apolline, and she wasn’t the only one who thought it.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against Shep there was one main flaw in the prosecution's case, Shep had an alibi. The nosey, shut in neighbor, Mrs. Green, claimed to have seen Shep leave the house in a huff and walk off into the night. And when the police arrived at the scene Shep was standing on the front porch in a fit because he was locked out of the house. The defense claimed that someone snuck into the house after Shep stormed out, locked the front and back doors, murdered Apolline, and then left through the bedroom window. Evelyn knew it was bullshit and had a theory of her own: Shep made a scene to attract the attention of Mrs. Green and stormed out of the house. He then walked around to the backyard of the house and entered through the backdoor, strangled Cha-Cha, then exited the way he came locking up after himself. He tossed the key somewhere and put on a show of being locked out. Of course the authorities wouldn’t have it, after all Cha-Cha was just some swamp girl to them. And who would take the word of some penniless dame over the word of a war hero?
The death of Cha-Cha planted a seed of revenge in Boug, he vowed to make Shep pay for what he had done to his better half. Evelyn knew there was really nothing she could do to stop Boug but that didn’t stop her from trying. Her pleas fell on deaf ears and when she saw the gris gris Boug had gotten from the witch doctor Evelyn’s anxiety blew through the roof. With having to take care of the younger ones and looking after their heavily pregnant mother the thought of Boug delving into black magic was overwhelming. She was in a state up until the evil deed was carried out, the news of Shep Montgomery’s death sent another ripple of shock through the town. The official cause of death was a heart attack but the locals weren’t stupid. The Montgomerys were out for blood and they managed to get a lawyer to make a case against Boug for his involvement inShep’s death. He was convicted of 1st degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 8 years.
With the main breadwinner of the family locked away for 8 years the responsibility fell on Evelyn and Jean-Baptiste to pick up the slack. Evelyn went upstate to Yankee land to find work and she landed in the grip of Isaac Martinelli who sweet talked her into using her beautiful singing voice and above average dancing skills to entertain the guests of an up and coming night club. Evelyn wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of shedding her clothes on stage for random inebriated men but the pay was decent and her family was depending on her.
So the bayou babe made a home in the Big Apple and sends most of what she makes back home to help her mother and beloved siblings. The letters from home are what keeps her going most nights and those times that a poorly written letter from one of the youngins won’t cheer her up she’s got her big city friends to pull her along. It took her a little while to open up, and a little while longer to get past the slight language barrier but now she considers her coworkers family. The love she has for them parallel with her blood relatives.
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Now we finally get to know Evelyn the Bayou Queen's background and how she ended up at the Spiked Tiger. <3
How the heckie do you pronounce all those Cajun names you ask. Well:
Aimee: A-me
Alphonse: Al-fonse
Hippolyte: E-pol-eet (the 'H' is silent)
Apolline: Ah-pol-een
Evelyn: Eh-vol-lyn
Jean-Baptiste: Yohn-bap-tea-st
Heloeise: El-oh-eze
Lisette: l-ih-z-eh-t
Marguerite: Mar-guh-reet
Aimee and Alphonse died at 10 months of age, they would have been 27 (three years older than Evelyn) if they were alive in the storyline. Apolline (Cha-Cha) died 6 years ago and SPOILER ALERT: Lisette died a few months ago.