Louis de Pointe du Lac in “Unfinished Business”

Louis de Pointe du Lac

I ran from the Quarter that night. Ran to where the violence spread most wild. I stumbled through the streets like an irrational child who had tested his strength on a small bird and now asked, 'Can I make it whole again?' Their faces raced past me like snow in a terrible wind, unaware that it was I who had brought this retribution, it was I who should pay for this sin. And then... one of those inconceivable moments where who you were before and who you'll be forever after is marked in time. A rooming house, now a fire trap. I could not save the Azalea. I could not save Storyville. I could not save the aunt on the wrong side of the wall, but I could save her. My light. My Claudia. My redemption.