by E. E. Holmes
“No, we’re good, thanks,” I said. My smile was slipping off my face.
“Ignore him, he’s obsessed with himself,” Sam cut in, rolling his eyes. “Seriously though, can I help you with anything? Have any questions or anything like that?”
“Yeah, can we find out why some of our sizable tuition costs can’t go to some air conditioning?” I asked, moving toward the window in hopes of catching a breeze. The air was stubbornly motionless.
Anthony laughed far longer than the comment warranted, but Sam just nodded with a grin. “Not the first person to ask me that today, you know. It’s brutal now, but the heat’s really good in the winter, and believe me, we’re gonna need it.” He seemed to get a shiver just thinking about it.
“Well, that’s good at least,” Tia said, though she sounded like she was having a hard time sounding excited about blasting heaters when our whole room felt like a sauna.
“You girls want a personal tour of the campus?” Anthony asked.
“No, I think we helpless females will find our way around eventually,” I said.
“Are you sure? I’d be happy to …”
“Down boy!” Sam ordered, shoving Anthony away from the door. “Head back across the hall, that blonde girl seemed to be enjoying your company, although I can’t imagine why.”
Anthony threw Sam a dirty look, but complied. “Goodbye, ladies. Don’t miss me too much, now.”
“Yeah, we’ll try not to die of broken hearts in your absence,” I said with a sugary smile.
Anthony winked and swaggered toward Gabby’s room.
Sam looked mortified. “Sorry about him. I can’t take him anywhere. He can’t be held responsible for his actions; he’s from New Jersey. Now ladies, I have been delegated the thrilling task of Polaroid duty.” He grimaced and lifted the camera from his shirtfront. “This task has endeared me to some, but unfortunately lots of other people run screaming in the other direction when they see me coming.”
Tia and I both laughed.
“Now, would you do me a favor and just let me take one picture of each of you? The res life staff wants to put them up on everyone’s bulletin boards next to their names. Something about helping everyone with matching names to faces. It’ll be quick and painless, I promise.”
Picture taking was not my favorite thing in the world, but Sam seemed properly penitent about asking us to pose, so I pasted on a smile and let Sam take my picture.
“Wow, so it looks like the move in is almost done!” Sam said as he shook out the pictures, waiting for them to develop.
“Yeah, it took a while, but I think we’re about done,” Tia agreed.
“I think I’ve still got boxes from last year that I never unpacked.”
“So you’re not a freshman then?” I asked.
“Nope, junior. You have to be at least a junior to be an R. A. Well, if you’re done with unpacking, you should head over to the carnival.”
“There’s a carnival? On campus?” I asked.
“Yeah, and it’s great! Here.” He scooped another flyer off the floor and handed it to me. “It’s the big welcome event. They really pull out all the stops; you should definitely check it out.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Sam handed Tia her photo. “Here you go, Tia.”
“Ugh, I’m making that weird squinty face again!” Tia groaned. “Why can’t I smile like a normal person?”
“Oh, come on, it looks fine!” I said.
“And Jess … oh, wait.” Sam started to extend his hand toward me and then stopped, a puzzled expression on his face as he glanced down at my photograph.
“What, did I blink?” I asked. I always did that in pictures. Or I’d rock the Exorcist-look with glowing red eyes.
“No, it’s just … It didn’t develop right.” Sam dropped the photo into my outstretched hand.
I looked down at it. There I was standing in the middle of the room, looking a little sheepish but otherwise unembarrassing. But there was something wrong with the photo. All around the right side of me was this weird amorphous white shape. It looked like a cross between an oddly-shaped light and a cloud of smoke. There was another smaller blob in the upper left corner near the ceiling. I’d never seen anything like that in a photo before.
“See?” Sam said. “I must have gotten a glare coming in the window or something. Can I try one more?”
“Okay.” I forced another smile.
“Oh, you know what, that’s the end of the film,” Sam said, opening the back of the camera.
“Aw, shucks! Does that mean I don’t get an embarrassing picture of me stuck up in the hallway for everyone to see? I’m heartbroken!”
“Don’t worry Jess, I wouldn’t want you to feel left out of the fun! I’ll get some more film. I’ll be back later for your photo shoot,” Sam said.
“Oh, goody,” I said with a big thumbs up.
“See you around.” And with a wave Sam left, fiddling with his camera, a bewildered expression on his face.
“So what do you want to do, Tia? Do you want to hit that poster sale?” I asked, tacking my peculiar photo up with the other stuff on my wall. Camera malfunction aside, it was kind of cool-looking.
“No, not right now. I think I need a break. Do you want to go walk around? Maybe check out the carnival?”
“Sure.”
As we headed out the door, Gabby and her roommate were leaving their room too.
“Hey, girls! Have you met Paige yet?”
We introduced ourselves to Paige, a tiny, mousy girl with tightly-curled black hair and an unusually high voice. She looked about five years too young to be in college.
“Are you girls going to the carnival?” she asked.
“Yeah, we’re headed there now,” Tia said.
“Great, we’ll join you!” Gabby said.
I wasn’t thrilled about spending time with Gabby, but Tia was too polite to say no, so we followed them out. It was finally cooling down. The setting sun took just enough of the heat out of the air to make it warm and balmy. We could see the lights and hear the shrieks of people on the carnival rides. A Ferris wheel, blinking brightly, rose like a slow-motion firework above the commotion.
“Wow, they really went all out for this!” I said.
“My sister graduated four years ago and she still talks about the carnivals!” Paige said. “Come on, let’s get some food!”
We wandered through the crowd to a row of booths selling traditional carnival fare. I stood munching my fried dough, Paige and Tia both devouring enormous caramel apples. Gabby stood agonizing over the number of calories in the various options before settling on a small bag of popcorn. I considered throwing the rest of my fried dough at her, but settled for wafting it under her nose and saying loudly, “Mmmmm, doesn’t this smell good?”
We tried our hands at some carnival games, even though Tia insisted they were rigged. We tossed plastic rings around the tops of bottles and shot darts at balloons. We aimed water pistols at targets and even tried our strength with a huge mallet to ring the bell at the top of the post. Paige couldn’t even lift the thing. We had no luck scoring any tacky prizes until we tried a game in which we had to toss ping-pong balls into fishbowls.
“Come on, Tia, let’s try it! I think we should have a mascot for our room!” I urged as I pulled her toward the booth.
Tia made a face. “No one can win those things, it’s such a scam!”
“Oh, don’t be such a downer, Tia! We can do it, come on!”
I handed two bucks to the guy running the booth. He looked bored out of his mind; it must be depressing having to work at a carnival, watching everyone else having a blast. He handed us three ping-pong balls each.
“Sink a ball, win a fish,” he droned.
Tia went first. She missed her first shot, sending her ball pinging off the rim of a bowl. She threw me a withering look that clearly said, “See? I told you!” I went next. I missed the bowls completely. On Tia’s second shot, our luck finally kick
ed in. The little white ball spun around the inside of the rim before plopping into the water and bobbing cheerfully.
“Hey, I won! I don’t believe it, I won!” Tia cried, as the somber game attendant scooped out the ball and handed us the bowl. Inside swam a flamboyantly blue little beta fish whom we secretly dubbed “Sequins” after Gabby’s ridiculous dress.
We were giving Gabby a hard time, but I had to admit, her tactics were effective. No fewer than three different guys had offered to win prizes for her, and now she was tottering around carrying two neon-furred teddy bears and a giant SpongeBob SquarePants. If the haul of carnival toys was any indication, Gabby was going to be very popular.
I couldn’t convince Tia to come on the Ferris wheel with me; she had a thing with heights. So Paige and I rode together, taking in the stunning sight of the campus and the lights of the city beyond, while Tia stood below holding the fishbowl.
By the time we’d ridden all the rest of the rides we’d wanted to go on, it was nearly ten o’clock. Stifling a yawn, I suggested we head back to the dorms. Gabby looked disappointed.
“But it’s still early! Let’s just go see what’s on the other side of the rock wall before we go,” she whined.
We squeezed through the crowd past a whirling ride that looked positively nausea-inducing, and found that only two attractions remained that we had not seen. The first was a station at which a sketchy-looking guy was trying to persuade onlookers to step onto a scale so he could guess their weight. Needless to say, we slid by that one without making any eye contact. The other was a purple velvet tent with a sign on a stand that read: “Tarot Card Readings by Madame Rabinski”.
“Oh cool, a psychic! Come on, let’s get our fortunes read!” Gabby urged.
“I’m game,” Paige said at once.
I groaned. “You guys, I don’t want to waste my money on this.”
“What do you mean, ‘waste your money’? Tarot cards are cool! I had mine read before and it was spooky how accurate it was. Some of these psychic ladies are for real,” Paige said.
“Yeah, and some of them are scam artists,” I said.
“Tia, how about you?” Gabby asked.
“I don’t know. That stuff kind of freaks me out. I think I’ll stay out here with Jess.”
Gabby and Paige disappeared into the tent while Tia and I waited, Tia practically bouncing up and down with anticipation. For someone who was “freaked out” by tarot cards, she certainly seemed anxious to find out what happened. Finally they ducked back out through the tent flaps, both looking awestruck.
“Well, how was it? Was it any good?” Tia asked
“That was awesome!” Paige whispered.
“She knew so much stuff—so many details!” Gabby added.
“Like what?”
“She knew all about my relationship with my boyfriend from home. And she told Paige that she’d made a very last minute decision to be here.”
“Which is completely true!” Paige said. “I only got off the wait list two weeks ago! I was all set to go to another school!”
Tia was biting her lip. Then she turned sharply to face me. “Jess, I think I want to try.”
I rounded on her. “You want to do this? You thought the fishbowl game was a scam, and now you want to get your fortune told?”
Tia looked a little embarrassed, but she nodded. “Well, yeah, sort of. I mean, it might be fun, just to see if anything comes true. It sounds like she’s pretty good.”
“I doubt she said anything she couldn’t have guessed.” I grumbled.
“How do you explain her knowing that I had a boyfriend?” Gabby asked.
“Well, you’re wearing a Claddagh ring upside down, for starters,” I suggested, pointing at her hand. And look at your outfit, I added silently.
Gabby crossed her arms, hiding her hand. “Okay. What about Paige’s recent decision to come here?”
I snorted. “Gabby, we all made recent decisions to come here! That’s how choosing a college works!”
“That’s not how she—”
“—Relax, Gabby!” Tia said. “It’s just a carnival attraction—for fun— that’s what we’re supposed to be having right now, remember?” She turned to me. “Just for fun. Who cares if it’s real or not? You don’t have to get yours done, just go in with me!”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, fine. Just don’t blame me if I start laughing uncontrollably in the middle of your reading.”
We entered the tent together. Tia went first, dragging me behind her. Inside the dim interior, a woman sat alone at a candlelit table.
I could barely repress a roll of my eyes. Madame Rabinski looked exactly like my own stereotype would have painted her. She was wearing vaguely gypsy-ish attire: a long, ruffled, red skirt and a peasant-style blouse. Her dark hair tumbled loose and wild around her shoulders, framing a dark-eyed, sharp-featured face. She was probably about forty years old, though the low light in the tent made it hard to tell. She raised a hand in greeting; it jangled with silver bracelets and clunky old rings. It took all my strength not to turn right around and walk out.
“Hello, girls. You would like your tarot cards read?” she asked, gesturing to a chair.
“How did she know?” I whispered dramatically to Tia as we sat down.
She elbowed me hard in the ribs, and then turned a friendly smile on Madame Rabinski. “Yes, we would. Well, I would, she’s just here to watch.”
“So’s the fish,” I added, plunking the fishbowl down on the table.
Madame Rabinski turned a penetrating stare on me. “A non-believer?”
“No, Sequins the fish is a firm believer in the occult,” I answered, straight-faced. The gypsy’s eyes narrowed at me.
“Five dollars, right?” Tia said hurriedly.
“Yes, my dear.” Madame Rabinski held out a glittering hand. Tia dropped the money into it. Madame Rabinski still had her eyes on me, and they were narrowed in dislike. She reached into a little blue velvet bag and extracted a very old set of tarot cards. She set them carefully on the table.
“What is your name, my dear?”
“Tia Vezga.”
Madame Rabinski shook her head as though to clear it and her eyes darted to me, before she asked again, “I’m sorry, what is it?”
Tia repeated her name, more slowly.
“And your birthday, Tia?” Madame Rabinski continued.
“June twenty-seventh.”
“Very well then, Tia, if you would shuffle the deck three times and then cut it for me, please,” Madame Rabinski said, pushing the stack of tattered cards across the tabletop toward Tia.
Madame Rabinski couldn’t seem to concentrate on what Tia was doing because she kept looking at me. She continued to periodically shake her head, as though there were a sound that was bothering her. I started to squirm under her gaze. What the hell was she looking at me for? I’d behaved myself … mostly.
Tia cut the cards and looked up expectantly. Madame Rabinski tore her eyes from me and started to lay out the cards with shaking hands. She’d only laid four cards on the table when she stopped abruptly, staring at what she saw. She regathered the cards and shuffled them once quickly, before starting to lay them out again. It was too dark to see what was on them.
“Impossible,” she muttered, scooping the cards up again.
“Sorry?” Tia asked, frowning.
Just then, Madame Rabinski’s violently trembling hands dropped the rest of the deck of cards to the floor. Her hands flew up to her face in a gesture that looked like she was trying to shade her eyes from a bright light.
“I’m sorry, but your friend will have to leave now,” she whispered, her eyes squinted shut.
“Huh?” Tia and I said together.
“You! You!” the woman shouted, pointing at me. “You need to leave!”
“What? Why?”
“Yeah, she hasn’t done anything!”
“Your energy … I just can’t concentrate … so many voices at once!” She looked at
me, and her expression was undoubtedly horrified. “Your energy is overwhelming me! I’m sorry, but you must leave this tent right now.”
“Fine, we’re out of here,” Tia snapped, grabbing my elbow.
“No, Tia, you stay.” I pushed her back toward her seat.
“No, I’ll go with you, Jess. You’re right, this was stupid.”
“Tia, you paid your five bucks. Get your cards read, okay? I’ll take my energy and wait for you outside.”
Tia opened her mouth to argue, but I didn’t stay long enough to let her. I turned on my heel and exited the tent. I threw one last glance at Madame Rabinski as I closed the tent flap; her face had gone pale and she was clutching the edge of her table so hard that her knuckles were white. She was still staring at me like she’d seen a ghost.
I was so distracted that I nearly walked into a guy standing just outside the entrance.
“Whoa! Easy there!” he said.
“Sorry. I didn’t see you,” I said. I stepped back and looked up into one of the most attractive faces I’d ever seen. He was tall and square-shouldered, with dark chestnut hair that lay carelessly across his pale forehead and a handsome profile with a straight nose and pronounced cheekbones. When I caught his eye, his face broke into a disarming smile that crinkled his warm brown eyes. I returned his smile before I’d even thought about it.
“I was thinking about getting my fortune told, but judging by your dramatic exit, I think I’ll pass,” he laughed.
“Yeah, save your money,” I said.
“That bad, huh?”
“Total rip-off. You’d be better off trying the fish game.” I held up Sequins for him to see.
“Maybe I’ll try that,” he said.
Just then, Gabby tapped me on the shoulder. “That was quick! What happened?”
“What a whack job! She kicked me out!”
“She did?” Gabby looked sort of pleased.
“Yeah, she said my energy was distracting her,” I snorted.
“Ooh, what does that mean?” Paige asked.
“It means she’s nuts!” I turned back to my handsome stranger. “Like I said, totally not worth ….”
He had walked away. I looked for him through the crowd of milling students, but he was gone. Damn.