Photos From the Heart

I am a mature Black bi woman. If you like kinky mature women I hope you will enjoy my stories and comment on what you liked and perhaps didn't like to help me improve. Be warned, I sometimes, to better frame the scene, include passages from stories I have previously published here on Literotica.

In this story my principal character, Subrina, is a direct descendent of Marie LaVeau who was widely known in the 1800s as the Voodoo High Priestess of New Orleans. Said by some to be the granddaughter of a powerful priestess in Sainte-Domingue, LaVeau reportedly had a background in African spirituality. As queen for several decades, people sought her advice for marital affairs, domestic disputes, judicial issues, childbearing, finances, health, and good luck.

Voodoo - Part 1 - Photos from the Heart

1955

Subrina Marie LaVeau and Willis Porter Johnson were best friends long before she could pronounce her name correctly and discover that it really wasn't "Bina". They met in a playground sandbox but years later when asked how they met they would both simply say they had always known each other.

It may have been old beliefs still found then in parts of New Orleans. Perhaps it was racial prejudice carried over from years gone by. Subrina's curly red/auburn, hair and green eyes made her different and she was labeled a witch when she was only a child. She was teased and called "WITCH" by many of her playmates but never of course by her best friend Will. They would call out, "BINA'S A WITCH, BINA'S A WITCH" until she ran away in tears. When Subrina was only five years old she learned that she could often scare the children away by simply pretending she actually was a witch and sending imaginary spells and curses their way.

Just as often, however, Will, who was big for his age, would come to her rescue and chase them away. Subrina never did forget the awful hurt she felt while being chased and called a witch. As she grew into her teenage years and even as an adult she would never really understand how children could have those old beliefs and be so cruel.

When Subrina was ten years old her life changed forever. Returning home from school she went to her family's bakery in the French Quarter of New Orleans and found her dad where she found him every day, out back working in the kitchen making Praline cookies. As he always did when he saw her he looked over at her, smiled his big 'I love you' smile and said "Well hello Star-shine! How is your day going so far?" He smiled again and wiped the baking flour from his hands as she approached him for her usual welcome home hug.

Suddenly his hand grasped his chest and with an awful pained look on his face he fell and the stars in Subrina's world fell all around her. They were replaced by people she did not know and the red lights of the ambulance and her mom screaming and then her, her mom and her grandmother sitting in the hospital waiting area on the floor holding each other and crying.

At some point during the funeral time Subrina would ask her mom why her dad always called her his "Star-shine." Her mom smiled as if remembering his words, the magic of his smile, and explained that sunshine is common, star-shine is rare.

A few weeks after the funeral her grandfather gave her a picture of himself with Subrina and his son, her dad. He told her that that picture was how he will always remember her dad, standing tall and strong, even now, in heaven, still beside them both. He also gave her a Brownie box camera and several rolls of film with a note in the box urging her to use it to create her own memories. With that simple gesture a life long love of photography began.

Her first projects included of course lots of pictures of family. They soon grew weary of posing but Subrina was persistent and roll after roll of film went off to be developed. For a time it seemed like pictures arrived in an envelope from every other day and family members learned that there was something more annoying than posing for Subrina's camera and that was looking at the resulting pictures.

Subrina had to earn the money for film and processing so after a while even she slowed down but as her teen age years ended she always felt the magic of what was, up to that time, only a hobby. Her granddad when he found out she was taking photography classes in high school helped her build a darkroom in one of the bedrooms in an unused apartment over the bakery. Toward the end of high school Subrina moved into that little apartment with her family's blessing. It was in that apartment that Subrina lived all through her time as a day student in college.

One day a batch of pictures arrived and at first glance she thought something was wrong and she suspected her camera was broken. A picture of her mom had a shadowy image beside her. A double exposure? She showed the picture to her mom who immediately said "Why Bina, only her mom still called her Bina, that looks like your dad, how did you do that?" They never learned how it happened or if in fact it was her dad in the image but years later Bina would find that picture among her moms treasures.

~~

Will was a great help to Subrina after her father died. All through high school he had the things she needed most, the ability to listen but more importantly the wisdom to let her talk about her feelings.

Subrina and Will were lucky to have the little apartment over the bakery. That was, when the bakery was closed, where they first went beyond friendship and progressed through a necessary right of passage sexually with Subrina always the aggressor.

Kissing became touching, touching became mutual masterbation. They noted firsts, like the first time Will came as she stroked him and laughed at the mess they made. More importantly they talked constantly about how sexual activity felt. Will explained that when he came he lost control and the 'pump' stopped when it stopped.

Subrina showed Will how to bring her to an orgasm with his fingers. She described the feeling as uncontrollable but was quick to add that as it spread all over her it was "magic" and laughingly asked if he would do it again. They learned about their bodies and what pleased them and what didn't.

Sisters in both families were pregnant by men they could not identify and the knowledge of the personal and family turmoil that caused kept them away from actual intercourse but they easily moved on to oral sex. Will, not knowing that Subrina had a coach, her sister, was surprised when she first took him in her mouth. He had only heard of girls doing that. (Remember, dear reader, this happened in 1955)

Their relationship hit a huge bump in the road when Subrina told Will that her mom and doctor put her on the pill when her mom discovered 'evidence' that it might be necessary. Will had heard from a classmate that Subrina was a great 'date' but in his naivety it never really occurred to him that she had left him behind in that aspect of life. That difference between them would end when Will met Nancy a new student with a lot more 'experience' than her classmates.

Subrina's life centered on her mom, her family and her home town, New Orleans, more and more as she finished high school. There was something about her family's many generations in the city and maybe even a little Voodoo ancestry that kept her rooted so she had applied to and was accepted at the University Of New Orleans as a day student.

Unlike Subrina, Will went to college in Boston with no idea what he wanted to do when he graduated. In New England will learned that a handsome Black young man had his choice of many young ladies who would spread their legs for him in their dorm room bed. Will's first college love came when he met a beautiful charming girl in a club he joined. She had something in her White pale skin and blue eyes that Will could not resist and over time Subrina became a memory. There were others for both of them and as so often happens with high school romance, Will and Subrina lost touch over time.

Subrina for her part fell for the same life temptations in the same way. She met a boy at the university who was particularly gifted orally, "he made her toes curl," she said. He was also gifted in the necessary other way and the orgasms were plentiful and warm. He was not her first or her last and for a year or more Subrina became known in school as 'easy.' In her senior year Subrina came to realize that she was addicted to sex, the orgasms became harder to achieve, less satisfying and she made a decision to change. She stopped birth control medication and made a serious effort to work out and cleans her inner body.

During her college years, whenever anyone would question how long she was a photographer Subrina would always ask, "Do you mean when I was first paid for my work?" She would then go on, usually without waiting for a reply to her question: "I have been a photographer since high school but was first paid for my work in college when I took a secret candid shot of a favorite professor during a lecture. I thought it was really good but when I tried to give it to him as a gift he refused to accept it."

He said: "Thank you but I can't take this as a gift. This is the only picture anyone has ever taken that makes me look good. It can't be free. No other 'photographer' would give away such fine work, please let me pay for it." He paid me fifty dollars for the 8X10 black and white and the negative. I was thrilled; no one had ever actually called me a 'photographer' or even paid me before."

Nearing the end of college fifty dollars was a lot of money so she cashed the check but kept a copy. She kept it in her treasure box with the picture of a shooting star she had taken in high school and other important life memories. She always thought that shooting star picture was magic and a message from her dad. At that time she remembered the lessons she learned in her high school photography class and when she was teased in her childhood for being a witch by using the phrase "Magic - Photos from the Heart" on her very first business card and later in life as her business name.

Somehow Subrina always turned to thoughts of witchcraft and Voodoo when she took pictures. At first, in high school, she pretended her camera was a magic wand or she might add a made up Voodoo spell to a picture just for fun. After a while, in college and afterward, the pretending and fun and games stopped and she started to feel she really could do magic with her camera.

Subrina would see her business grow and a little magic and voodoo, real or not, didn't hurt. As time went by, "Magic - Photos from the Heart" became more than just a business name.

On no particular Saturday afternoon, in early August during the year after she finished college, Subrina set out on her Vespa scooter to take pictures along the waterfront. She thought it would be great if she could capture a little boy or girl with their prize catch. That was the idea but it was a very windy day and all she found were faces mirroring sea sickness and a too long day in the sun. There was no magic in that. After some time searching for just the right picture she gave up. She started back to her scooter and said to herself "come on Brie, let's go home."

A good friend and sailing team mate started calling her Brie when she was a junior in college and Subrina liked the nick name. She was soon called Brie by most of her college friends. The nickname didn't come home from college except when Subrina was talking to herself as she often did when she was alone or out taking pictures like she was that day on the dock.

Subrina was just taking her new Nikon camera, a surprise college graduation present from a long time friend, from around her neck to tie it in the scooter basket when she spotted a redhead woman moving in the crowd nearby. How could she have missed this woman not thirty feet away? Subrina always thought that red hair added a lot of interest to color photos. Her own hair certainly did. She took a quick candid shot from where she was standing and actually heard the voice in her head say, "Come on, Brie you witch, get it right!"

Just as she was about half way to the woman and lining up for a second shot when an eight or nine year old girl with her mother's flaming red hair stepped out from behind the woman and into the image. It was then that she noticed the green eyes they both had for the first time. The young girl was holding up a fish half as long as she was tall.

This was too good to be true. Ready or not Subrina took a second picture. "Brie", she thought, "you are a witch". There was something about the combination of red hair, green eyes, sun tanned skin and great smiles that was just crying out for more magic pictures. She took several shots just as fast as she could frame them in her camera and again she thought "Brie, you have the magic, don't blow this." She took more pictures from slightly different angles to the softening late afternoon sun light.

Just as she started to move and re-frame the pictures a man stepped out of the crowd and asked the woman and the girl to pose for his camera. By that time the woman was helping the girl hold the fish in the air and Subrina snapped off quick pictures with them both holding the fish before they could pose and still more as they posed. Subrina didn't waste a moment and with the motor drive on her new Nikon she took several pictures for every one the man could take. She didn't like posed pictures as much as she liked candid shots and she was sure she had at least six or seven keepers on this roll. 'Keepers' were not the fish like all those around her were eagerly talking about, but the pictures on every roll that she really liked and could maybe even sell.

Subrina introduced herself to the family. She gave them her card and promised a set of the pictures if they would call her or stop by her families Praline shop in the French Quarter the next day.

When Subrina arrived home she practically ran to her dark room to see what she had. Seven of the photos were perfect. She even had a shot of dad taking a picture of the girls. She was sure the family would be pleased with at least those. As she thought again about the pictures of the woman and her daughter she said out loud, "just great in my humble opinion as the High Priestess of New Orleans Photography." Subrina thought, "I hope these people call because these pictures are keepsakes!" The woman said she would call but never did.

Not for the first time that summer she reminded herself to make a point that there would be no charge for the pictures if she could have and perhaps sell the negatives. They could even have the negatives for a very small charge. She felt that maybe some people didn't call because they thought that she was just going to try to sell them something they didn't want or maybe afford. During that summer she took so many pictures that were really good but were just left behind.

As she looked over the remaining pictures she found that in one picture the woman and her daughter were out of focus but the people, dock workers and objects behind them were in perfect focus. Still, she thought, it might be interesting to the family because of all the action in the background and the woman and her daughter slightly out of focus in the foreground holding up the prize fish. She decided to leave it up to them. She took the picture out of the developing solution and hung it to dry.

Brie was thrilled with the pictures. Most were in perfect focus and a few even caught the girl coming around from behind her mom with the fish. One picture in particular showed the woman helping to hold up the fish while the sun caught the rainbow colors of the fish scales in vivid contrast to a sea of red hair. In some of the photos their eyes shown very green and in most shots even the color of the fish was spot on.

She developed and printed the entire roll of film before she came back to that one out of focus picture. As she studied it she confirmed that it was only of minor interest because no one person or object in the background was very interesting or a standout from the others except, there on the boat in the background was a still very familiar face from her best memories. It was Will!

She thought, "Will, I am a witch, I have found you again with my camera." Subrina couldn't quite tell but in the picture it looked like he was......she stared at it more intently....yes he was cleaning fish. He must be a deck hand, but on which boat? The boat in the photo was on a public dock so that wasn't going to help. She remembered though that Wills family ran a tourist fishing boat. Except for a few high school evenings sitting on the boat under the stars she never really knew more about it. She certainly did not know that Will had quit college to work on the boat....until now that is.

She didn't sleep that night. She just knew that the photo of Will could not be a coincidence. She must find that boat again!

The photo did not show the boat's name but she would prove to herself that there really was a little magic in her and find the boat without the name. When she did she hoped she might pass it off as a chance encounter. She really didn't know, after all, where Will was for the last year or more or what his current situation was. She reminded herself to go at this open to possible disappointment.

Her Pink Vespa wasn't exactly invisible but she took it back to the docks at the same time the following day. The color was her mom's idea; she insisted that it would be safer. She locked her scooter on the street at the head of the dock to help her stay in the background of the activities on the dock. She was sure, however, that her pulse was making more noise than the scooter ever did anyway. She walked the dock looking carefully at each boat. She knew she found the right boat when she saw Will hosing off the deck and looking tanned and fit.

She approached him from behind and said his name just loud enough. He heard her over the noise of the dock, over the noise of the boat, over the noise of the water hose, and in the last moments even over the noise of his heart.

The moment she spoke his name he stopped moving, frozen in place and for just a moment was transported to another time. He then turned slowly to face her. That would have been so romantic if only he remembered to turn off or even lower the hose. Subrina was instantly wet from head to toe and almost knocked off her feet by the high pressure of the hose. A long awkward moment later he turned off the water and dropped the hose in one motion and almost in the same motion he was in the boats wheel house for towels.

In what seemed like just two minutes after she said his name they were sitting on deck chairs in the setting sun talking about how she happened to find him. She gave up all pretense of a chance meeting and told him all about the pictures she took the day before and even described the woman and her daughter to him.

Will listened and told her that he spoken to that very woman the day before. He confessed that he even told the woman that he had a "very special person" in his past with red hair and green eyes but that he had lost contact with her. Of course he was talking about Subrina. Will said that with a knowing smile the woman told him, "find his very special person because there aren't many women with red hair and green eyes in the world." She then put her arm around her daughters shoulder and said, "and we are all Magic, aren't we Brie?", and they both laughed.

Will told Subrina that he couldn't believe the coincidence and was thinking again if and how he might find her at the exact moment he heard her call his name. While they talked she laughed and told him that, magic or coincidence, her nickname in the last few years of college was "Brie" and she still used it now and then when she was thinking out loud.