The Casquette Girls (69 page)
Read The Casquette Girls Online
Authors: Alys Arden
I want to thank all the people who believe in magic. Most of all I want to thank the people who believe in New Orleans – the people who’ve had to eat Hurricane gruel for months, who’ve suffered the smell of Bourbon Street on a late July afternoon. To the coffee slingers, beignet friers and omelet beaters. To the street artists, jazz boys, and coke-bottle-tap-shoed dancers. To the Cajuns, to the Creoles, to all those who have dreamed and suffered on our stone “streets.” I want to thank the drag queens who raised me to think wearing costumes is a nightly affair. To the tarot card readers, and Nosferatu-ring-wearing-blood drinkers. I want to thank every person who has cleaned mold, bailed water, or seen a Nutria on the neutral ground. I want to thank the people who have rebuilt after every fire and every flood.
Love,
Alys
ALYS ARDEN grew up in the
Vieux Carré,
cut her teeth on the streets of New York, and has worked all around the world since. She still plans to run away with the circus one day.
Merci beaucoup for reading!