Meet Karla Locke and Louisiana Pryce

Writer and e-book publisher Karla Locke read this story to our writing class recently. She had us hooked from the very first sentence.

Louisiana Pryce comes from a family of hunters. Not your typical hunters, no sir, Louisiana and her family hunt what they refer to as Lost Souls. Louisiana, a fierce 5-foot bundle of energy, was raised in a family of men; out of a sense of self-preservation, she developed a tomboyish look and attitude. Her short unruly brown hair just barely framed her petit round face. Short hair was easy for Louisiana, why bother with all of that fru fru stuff; who has time for that, was her motto. For her line of work, jeans and t-shirts (sweatshirts when the weather was cooler) was the practical attire. Ladylike stuff was just too much work. She was sure that in some past life she was most definitely not a refined southern lady.

            Louisiana liked things uncomplicated and unattached. Since her work was centered around what some would refer to as, ghost hunting, there wasn’t much need for talking. Nope, she was pretty satisfied being a loner and not having to deal with the emotional baggage that came with dealing with live people. The dead could take their emotional baggage with them once she sent them on their way. Yep, she was satisfied with her life.

            Pa was retired from the family business. And Ma decided now that the kids were all grown that she would prefer to talk to live people, grown-ups in particular. Her brothers, Natchez and Beauregard (Beau for short), are married now and have a passel of kids. They’re kind of cute and everything, but Ma could only take so much of those noisy little people before she had to get away. When the brothers weren’t hunting in the family business, they were out hunting gators and other wildlife. They said it balanced things for them, whatever that meant. More than likely it was because the money was better. After all, they had some little ones to feed now.

            Louisiana liked the hunt. She felt a sense of pride and peace once she found the lost souls and helped them move on. Not sure why, but she had a knack for it. They say it’s because her great great grandma Lila could talk to the spirits. There was even talk of one her ancestors being a voodoo priestess of some sort. Now that was something to be proud of.

            Since Louisiana took over the family business, and with a little help from that T.V. show, “Ghost Hunters,” the business has grown over the last five years. She hired her best friend, Emily (Em) Trudeau, three years ago. They’ve been best friends since the first grade. Em was the opposite of Louisiana. She was a little taller, pretty even though she wore those large wired glasses that covered up most of her lovely face, had beautiful shiny red hair and was quiet and reserved compared to Louisiana’s outgoing and sometimes loud personality. She kept Louisiana grounded. Em set the appointments, kept the books, dealt with the customers (the live ones) and kept everything orderly, including Louisiana.

            When Em hired Mitch Weston, things really started moving. Mitch is California boy. Not sure how or why he ended up in Lafayette but she was glad he did. Mitch is a techno geek and Louisiana discovered that she was made for technology. It was this love of the gadgets that has helped grow her business over the years. Hunting for lost souls just got a whole lot easier thanks to some of Mitch’s inventions.