Love at Second Sight

by Cathy Hopkins

  It wasn’t far to Annie Simmon’s house. We rang the bell and a serious young woman with dark scrapedback hair and no make-up answered the door to us. She introduced herself as Faith and led us into a cramped waiting room where a couple of other visitors sat quietly with closed eyes. The place stank of dogs and damp carpets. As I sat down and looked around, I saw that there wasn’t a square inch that didn’t have some kind of china nick-nack on it: tiny ladies in crinolines, ballet dancers, cats, cute dogs with big sad eyes. The chairs were covered in knitted patchworks and on the wall were pictures of Jesus, the Sacred Heart. All the clutter combined with the smell made me feel suffocated. After five minutes, Faith called us to follow her to a room at the back where Mrs Simmons was waiting. She looked sweet, like your favourite granny: white hair in a tidy bun, twinkling blue eyes and fluffy rabbit slippers on her feet. She smiled at us and indicated that we should sit on the faded chairs opposite her. Effy’s seat was taken by an old-looking cocker spaniel but he got down and proceeded to have a good sniff of our shoes.

  ‘How can I help?’ asked Annie.

  Effy and I glanced at each other.

  ‘This is Jo,’ Effy blurted before I could say anything. ‘We, that is she, wanted to know about her past lives.’

  Annie beckoned me forward to sit closer to her. She took my hands and closed her eyes for what felt like an eternity. In the meantime, the dog wrapped its front paws around my leg and began to hump my calf. I couldn’t push him off because Annie had my hands so I tried a gentle kick but he wouldn’t go. I looked over at Effy. ‘Help,’ I mouthed.

  She got up and tried to pull the dog off me. He finally got down and gave Effy the filthiest look before collapsing on her feet when she sat back down. I could see she was trying hard not to laugh.

  Finally Annie opened her eyes. ‘I see many lives,’ she said. ‘I see you as a Maasai warrior in deepest Africa. Then a nun in Russia. After that a lady in Japan. Then ancient Egypt. You were a high priestess in the temple. Well respected.’ She smiled at me.

  And her last life?’ Effy asked.

  Annie paused for a moment, took my hands and closed her eyes again. ‘Oh. Now this one is interesting.’

  Effy and I exchanged glances as Annie began to speak. ‘In your last life, you weren’t on this planet, dear. You were on a planet called Kinadas in a far-off galaxy.’

  I glanced back at Effy. Even she had the decency to roll her eyes.

  Annie opened her eyes. Anything else I can help you with?’ she asked. A cup of tea before you go? Faith could fix you one with a nice piece of Battenburg cake.’

  ‘No, thank you. We ... we have somewhere to go,’ I replied.

  Annie smiled again. You both have lovely souls,’ she said. ‘Be happy.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Effy and I chorused then we headed for the door outside of which Faith was waiting.

  ‘Do you need to sit quietly for a while?’ she asked in a hushed voice.

  We both shook our heads. ‘No, fine, thanks,’ I said.

  Faith looked disappointed and led us back to the front door.

  ‘Weird,’ said Effy as we headed off down the street.

  ‘Pee wee oink,’ I said in a high-pitched voice.

  Effy looked at me as if I was mad.

  ‘That was me being my alien past life self,’ I explained. ‘Do you not speak extraterrestrial? Now. Who’s next on the list?’

  ‘Heather Mason,’ she replied.

  ‘Lead the way,’ I said. I was beginning to enjoy myself. A few more like Annie and even Effy would have to come around to my way of thinking.

  Heather’s house was on a quiet street in KilbUm. Inside, it was the total opposite to Mrs Simmons’s: white and minimal in style apart from shelves that were full of crystals of every size and colour. A pretty, blonde woman in her twenties let us in. She had huge, pale blue eyes which were slightly glazed, long blonde dreadlocks, tattoos up her arms and was dressed in white with a feather garland around her neck.

  ‘Heather Mason?’ asked Effy.

  The woman shook her head. ‘I was. Now I’m Wind Dancer. My spirit guide gave me the name,’ she said without the glimmer of a smile then she led us into her’treatment room’.

  I felt slightly panicked by her. She was well intense. ‘But I didn’t come for a treatment,’ I said when I saw a couch in the centre of the white room. ‘Er, Effy, how about you go this time?’

  Wind Dancer indicated that Effy should lie on the couch so I sat on a chair in the corner whilst Effy nervously settled herself. ‘Er . . . what are you going to do?’ she asked.

  Wind Dancer picked a peacock feather out of a vase of feathers by the couch. ‘Each session is different. We’ll see who wishes to come through. Now close your eyes.’

  Effy did as she was told. Wind Dancer closed her eyes too and began to wave the feather up and down over Effy, about fifty centimetres away from her body. ‘I feel the spirit of Icarus,’ she said. ‘Speak to us, O master, and heal thy servant.’

  Effy opened one eye and when she saw what Wind Dancer was doing, she glanced over at me. I gave her the thumbs up and that set her off. Her shoulders started to shake with silent laughter which set me off and soon both of us were writhing with pain as we tried not to make a noise.

  Wind Dancer opened her eyes. ‘Be still,’ she barked.

  ‘Sorry,’ Effy spluttered.

  Wind Dancer looked over at me so I quickly straightened my face and coughed. ‘Sorry, something stuck in my throat.’

  Wind Dancer sighed heavily and her body seemed to deflate. ‘The energy is not right in the room. It happens sometimes.’

  Effy was off the couch in a flash. ‘No worries, Wind Dancer. Thanks for your time.’

  We left a ten pound donation and were out the door as fast as we could go although Wind Dancer came after us into the hall where she tried to sell us some of her organic bath products. ‘They contain essence of night ray which was captured when the moon was aligned with Venus on the summer solstice.’

  ‘No thanks, Wind Dancer,’ Effy said. ‘We’ve got no more money.’

  Wind Dancer closed the door on us fast.

  ‘She was spooky,’ I said when we reached the corner of the street.

  ‘You weren’t the one on the couch,’ said Effy and she put up her arms as though they were wings then proceeded to mock-fly down the road. ‘I am Icarus.’

  An old lady out walking her dog gave her a filthy look then hurried off in the opposite direction.

  So far it had been an interesting morning and no mention of Henrietta, Howard or Finn.

  In the afternoon – after a quick lunch of basil, mozzarella and tomato ciabatta, yum we went to the meeting at the local church hall. By the time we got there, the hall was half full of people, mainly elderly. We snuck into the back row trying not to make any noise, but everyone turned around to see who’d come in just the same.

  On the stage, a bald, middle-aged man in a black suit was speaking. The trousers to the suit were a tad too short for him and revealed his red socks. He cocked his head up to the right as if listening to someone much in the same way that Betty had when I’d seen her in the tent on the Heath. ‘I’ve got an Annie here,’ said the man. Anyone here know an Annie?’ He looked around at the audience but there were no takers.

  ‘Unless the Annie we saw this morning just passed away,’ Effy whispered.

  The man listened again to whatever he could see up to his right. ‘OK. A Norman. Anyone here know a Norman?’ Again, there was no response from the hall. The man sighed. ‘OK, someone else is coming through. John. A John. Anyone here know a John?’

  To our left, a lady gasped and put up her hand.

  ‘Chances are everyone’s got a dead relative called John,’I whispered to Effy.

  ‘John says to tell you that he’s fine,’ said the man and the lady’s eyes filled with tears.

  The rest of the meeting went on the same way with the man trying names until he struck lucky with the audience. The mes
sage was always the same. ‘I’m fine,’ the unseen presences would say and it appeared to keep the audience happy. For a split second, I wondered what I’d do if suddenly the man on the stage said that a Robert had come to talk. That was my dad’s name. I think my eyes would have filled with tears too even if I didn’t believe any of it. However, no Robert put in an appearance invisibly or otherwise that day and despite my cynicism, there was a part of me that wished he had.

  After half an hour, Effy whispered, ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  I nodded and we snuck out the back as quietly as we could.

  ‘OK. So that was a waste of time,’ said Effy then looked at me. ‘And don’t say, I told you so.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to,’ I said, but I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Maybe this research would put an end to Effy’s obsession with Henrietta. Hopefully we could return to our normal life, homework, boys, hanging out. We stood outside the church hall for a few minutes and got out our phones to do a text check.

  ‘Finn,’ I said as I read my text.

  ‘Mark,’ said Effy as she read hers. ‘Wants to know when I’m going to be finished. What did Finn say?’

  ‘He wanted to know if any of the clairvoyants had mentioned him,’ I said as I quickly texted a reply to him. ‘I’ve just told him that everything isn’t always about him.’

  Effy laughed. My phone beeped again showing another message from Finn, no words this time, just a sad face.

  I linked arms with Effy and steered her towards a café. ‘You know what? The spirits are telling me, we need hot chocolate. Extra cream.’

  ‘OK. I think you’re right,’ she said and stuck her arms out a la zombie and began to stagger towards the café on the KilbUm High Road. I joined in too. The old lady with the dog who we’d passed earlier in the day just happened to be passing again. She took one look at us and crossed the road muttering something about, ‘Teenagers. Should all be locked up.’

  Chapter Ten

  Our appointment in Muswell Hill was at five o’clock and Effy and I were there on the dot. The house was a shabby semi-detached that looked badly in need of a new coat of paint. The front garden was overgrown with weeds and littered with an old shopping trolley and bins.

  An elderly, unshaven man in a grey tracksuit opened the door, grunted at us and then ushered us into a front room where he left us. It reeked of cigarettes.

  We sat down and looked around. A black cat on the faded brown sofa raised an inquisitive eye then fell back asleep. A moment later, a women in her late fifties entered. She was wearing a tracksuit similar to the man’s, only hers was maroon. I presumed that she must be Lily, the clairvoyant with whom we had the booking.

  She jerked her chin at us. ‘Which one?’ she asked.

  ‘Your turn,’ said Effy.

  I stood up. ‘Oh hi, I’m Jo.’

  Efry stood up too.

  ‘You stay here,’ the woman said firmly to Effy. ‘Jo, come with me.’

  Effy shrugged and sat back down. Not big on friendliness, I thought as I followed the woman. She was strange-looking. Everything about her face seemed to be exaggerated: huge eyes, a mass of grey wiry hair that framed her very thin, heavily-lined face. She looked as if she’d put her fingers in an electric socket and got a shock. I was glad she hadn’t been our first port of call or I might not have got through the day.

  She led me through to a small living room at the back where Lily sat on a hard chair in the corner and lit a cigarette. She pointed at my wrist.

  ‘Your watch,’ she said.

  I took it off and gave it to her. She pointed to a chair similar to hers next to a table with paper and pencils. ‘Sit and write down what I say,’ she instructed. ‘It might not make sense now but may later.’

  I took a piece of paper and waited.

  She looked away from me and seemed to be listening to someone up to her right, much in the same way that Betty had when I saw her on the Heath and the bald man had in the church hall earlier. She began to speak. ‘Anandpana says someone is here. A man. Says you’re wearing his ring.’ She pointed to my right hand. ‘He died eight years ago. He had difficulty breathing. He died because of his heart.’

  I felt shocked by how specific she was and sudden tears filled my eyes. Dad died eight years ago of a heart attack. Mum gave me his wedding ring when I was eleven. I’ve worn it on my right hand ever since.

  ‘There’s a dog with him,’ Lily continued.

  Rex. Dad’s dog died the week after him. I felt stunned. How could she know this?

  ‘He says he is happy and you should be happy also. Don’t be afraid. Anandpana says you have been unhappy in love. You don’t let yourself love but recently there is a boy. You have known him before. You are meant for each other but there will be obstacles.’

  ‘Who’s Anandpana?’

  ‘My spirit guide,’ Lily replied.

  ‘Does he, Anandpana, say who this boy is? His name? Um, how recent is recent?’ Owen flashed into my mind. I’d known him most of my life. Did recent mean I could rule him out? Lately, his texts had made me laugh and seeing him on the bank holiday a couple of weeks ago had reminded me of how well we got on. If I was honest with myself, I had missed him and our conversations since he’d gone off to uni.

  Lily listened up to her right again. ‘Time is different on the plane on which Anandpana dwells. He says you will know him. He is a good soul.’

  ‘Can’t he give me a name?’ I asked. It seemed to me that if Anandpana or Lily could pick up on so much then why couldn’t they give a name?

  Lily turned her attention to me. It felt like she was looking straight into me and made me feel very uncomfortable. ‘He says you will know him. Write that down. I have no name. Anandpana says all will be resolved in time.’

  Lily was back listening. ‘Your friend’s cat has gone missing but don’t worry, she will return. Someone, maybe your mother, works long hours and needs a break.’ Well at least that last part is true but then probably everybody’s mother works too hard, I thought. Lily stopped and looked at me again. ‘Is there anything else you want to ask?’

  ‘Er . . . do you do past life readings? Who I was–’

  Lily sighed wearily. ‘People always come to me with this kind of question. Often they want to hear they were some glamorous character from history. To escape from the reality of this life into a fantasy in their head. Do you want to hear that you were Cleopatra?’

  I shook my head. ‘Not especially.’

  ‘Good. So get on with this life. I believe people should move on, not be looking backwards. Life is what you make it this time.’

  I nodded, but she was off again as if someone had switched her on.

  ‘Anandpana says that in this life you are here to learn balance. People have many lives, not just one. You have had many. Some lives steeped in your senses, seeking pleasure, some as a recluse seeking answers. In your most recent past life you were a governess, here in England. But you didn’t find balance in that life either. Anandpana says that your lesson is this: if you seek pleasure exclusively, you lose the meaning of life, but if you seek the meaning of life exclusively, you lose the pleasure. Only when pleasure and meaning are balanced, will you find true joy.’ She looked across at me. ‘Anything else?’

  ‘A governess in my last life?’ I asked as I scribbled madly, trying to get it all down but at the same time not miss what she was saying.

  ‘Yes. That is when you were with your soulmate. With him, but not with him. You will find him again in this life. Or he will find you.’

  ‘Do you have the name of the governess?’ I asked. Maybe they teach all clairvoyants at psychic school to come out with the same story, I thought. Governess. Soulmate. Lost love. But if she gave the name Henrietta that would be more convincing.

  ‘No name,’ said Lily. ‘I don’t always get a name.’

  And how will I know who my soulmate is?’

  Lily seemed to suddenly tire. ‘Why are you here? What do you want?’
Her grey eyes pierced into me. I found I couldn’t lie.

  ‘I . . . I’m doing research for an article about clairvoyants for a magazine–’

  Her expression turned to sadness. ‘That is not why you’re here. You are here to know the joy of love. To lose your fear. Trust in your destiny. Trust in your heart.’

  She handed me back my watch, stood up and opened the door for me to leave.

  Meeting over.

  I handed over a ten pound note then went back in to join Effy. I felt in a daze. I had a hundred questions I wanted to ask but an elderly lady was waiting to see Lily, and Effy and I were quickly ushered out by the grumpy man.

  ‘How did it go?’ asked Effy when we got back onto the street and went through our usual ritual of checking for texts. ‘Another waste of time?’

  ‘Not sure,’ I answered as I looked on my phone but there were no messages. ‘She said that–’

  ‘Oh no!’ Effy exclaimed as she looked at her messages.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Tash. Cassie’s gone missing since this morning. She wants to know if we can go round and help look for her. I’d better let Mark know I can’t meet him.’

  ‘No way!’ Cassie is Tash’s cat, a big, dopey white creature who hardly ever moves from the sofa and certainly never leaves the house. ‘Text her back and tell her not to worry. She’ll turn up.’

  ‘Jo! This is Cassie. You know how much Tash loves that cat. We can’t just tell her to chill.’

  ‘I can. Cassie will turn up.’

  Effy sighed with exasperation. ‘You can’t know that.’

  ‘I can. Lily just told me.’

  ‘Lily just told you? So suddenly you believe in what clairvoyants tell you? Can you be sure it was about Cassie? What did she say exactly?’

  ‘I–’ Effy was right. I couldn’t be totally sure but Lily had been spot on about a friend’s cat going missing so maybe she was spot on about her reappearing too.

  Effy’s phone bleeped again before I got a chance to tell her what Lily had said. ‘Tash again,’ she said as she read her message then sighed with relief. ‘Phew. Drama over. They found her in the laundry cupboard.’ She put her phone away. ‘You were right. So what exactly did Lily say?’