The gypsy’s tongue darted quickly out like a snake to moisten her thin twig-like lips. There was something else she had seen. Something bad. She knew she ought to tell her but the knowledge would break the girl’s heart. She sighed, conflicted, but decided to only focus on the positive. Sometimes destiny was meant to be a surprise.
A small smile slowly spread over Madam Theodora’s face. Perhaps there was one way she could save the girl without having to reveal what she had seen. After all, why break the girl’s heart and make her worry?
“May I have a lock of your hair?”
“Um … okay,” Angie said not sure what she needed her hair for.
Madam Theodora got up and took a pair of rusty shears out of an old wooden cabinet. Angie gasped as she stared at the size of them, they could cut a man in half with one swipe.
“Don’t worry dear,” Madam Theodora soothed her as she lovingly caressed the rusty shears. “I know what I’m doing.”
Carefully, Madam Theodora cut off a lock of Angie’s hair. She held it between her fingers and studied it as one does a fine wine.
“Very pretty,” she said. “So soft. It reminds me of a piece of silk Cleopatra gave me as a gift for telling her fortune.” Closing her eyes, she moved it across her cheek. It smelled so good. So fair. So innocent.
She placed the hair in a small bowl on the table and seemed to forget all about it.
Sitting down at the table she looked at Angie. The gypsy’s face was blank, betraying no trace of emotion. Angie wondered what she was thinking.
“May I see your hands?”
Angie held out her hands. Madam Theodora placed her hands on Angie’s and gently kneaded her hands and knuckles, smooth as a newborn baby’s skin. Angie watched in rapture as the fortune teller left no part of her hands unexplored. The old woman’s eyes were closed. Her hands were rough as aged leather.
Angie gasped when Madam Theodora opened her eyes. Staring back at her were two pools, the color of fresh milk. Her pupils were completely back in her head. Angie’s body shook like Jell-O as she watched the gypsy’s eyes slowly roll out of her skull and return to their God-given place.
“There aren’t many girls like you left in the world. You’re honest. Real. You know what you want and don’t play games.” Madam Theodora’s statement made her blush. “But I sense great conflict. A division of loyalty. You and the boy Jesse have been best friends since kindergarten, yet you’ve only known Chase for two and a half years and you feel like he knows you better than Jesse ever could. You are confused. Jesse is still your best friend, but you find yourself growing closer and closer to Chase. You want to be a good girlfriend but you don’t want to be disloyal to your friend.”
“Yes.” She leaned in close. “What do I do?”
“Only you can make the decision about what is right for you.”
“They’re the most important guys in my life. I don’t want to hurt either of them. I love both of them so much.”
“I know you do dear. But you are only having a baby with one of them.” Angie looked up stunned. “You have a baby growing. Inside,” Madam Theodora whispered the last word as she smiled knowingly and patted her massive stomach.
“How did you know? No one knows. Not my parents. Not Jesse. Not even Chase. I … I’m not even showing yet.” Self-consciously she looked down at herself just to make sure.
Madam Theodora merely smiled offhandedly. “Don’t doubt the powers of a carnival psychic.”
“Should I tell Chase?”
“Yes,” the gypsy nodded confidently not even needing to think about the answer. “He wants kids. He wants them with you. Besides your virginity, this is the greatest gift you could give him.”
Angie felt her body surge with confidence. She had been terrified to tell Chase, scared he would hate the idea of becoming a father and leave her. Chase had never indicated that he ever wanted kids. Angie hated herself but she had actually contemplated having an abortion. She was grateful to God that He had brought her to the kindly old gypsy. She had really helped Angie make the right decision about her baby. Madam Theodora had revealed everything Angie needed to know. She didn’t care about anything else her future held. She should have cared. If the girl had known what bloody carnage Madam Theodora had witnessed, Angie would have gotten down on her knees and begged like a gypsy in an airport for the fortune teller to reveal a way to change destiny.
“Thank you, Madam Theodora,” Angie said rising.
“Thank you?” Madam Theodora had never had anyone leave so soon. “You mean you don’t want to know about anything else? You don’t want to know about your future? You don’t want to know what the fates have in store for you?”
“No. You’ve told me everything I need to know.”
Madam Theodora rose, conflict still eating her insides. Sometimes the images she saw disturbed her. Frightened her. She wanted to tell the girl. Maybe if she revealed Angie’s fate, Angie could do something to change it.
Madam Theodora sighed and shook her head as she and Angie returned to the boys, the fortune teller had learned long ago that no matter what she did, you could not change the future anymore than you could change the past. Sometimes it was best for the future to be a surprise. Sometimes people weren’t supposed to know what was waiting for them around the corner.
Chase and Jesse were sitting at opposite ends of the tattered sofa. The tension was thick as the fog ghost ships are so fond of. The two boys had not spoken one word to each other. Their hatred was greater than the gypsy had first thought.
“Come with me.” She helped Chase up.
“So how corny was it?” Jesse asked after Chase and Madam Theodora were out of earshot.
“It wasn’t corny at all,” Angie said honestly. “She gave me some great advice. She really helped me.”
“Oh come on, Ang. You don’t believe that gypsy bullshit. Madam Theodora is the most fake name I’ve ever heard. And that accent isn’t even passable. Who would buy that? She doesn’t have any magical powers.”
“You’re wrong, Jess. She knew things. Private things. Things that no one knows.”
Angie did all she could to convince her friend of the fortune teller’s authenticity but her words fell on deaf ears.
“I can’t believe we’re sitting here like a bunch of losers. We could be out there enjoying the rides like everyone else. If I wanted to sit in a stupid stuffy place and listen to someone spout a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, I’d go to church,” Jesse scoffed.
Angie merely chuckled. “Come on Jesse. Sometimes you just have to accept the stuff that science can’t prove. You just have to believe.”
Jesse snorted and checked his phone. He hoped this wouldn’t take much longer. He was getting hungry and wanted to get another pretzel before the stand sold out of them. If Chase made him miss out on a pretzel he’d kill him.
Meanwhile, Madam Theodora was telling Chase about himself with the help of her tarot cards, a personal gift from Anne Boleyn.
“Is that good?” Chase asked staring down at the image of the man and woman locked in a passionate embrace and staring into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two people in the world.
“The Lovers is a very good card,” Madam Theodora nodded, fighting off a yawn. Chase was very boring, just like every other good looking jock who came to her tent.
“What does it mean? That me and Angie will really last?”
“You’ve had doubts.”
“Yes,” he answered even though she had not asked a question.
“Don’t. Angie loves you with all her heart. This card means that even though there are differences, difficulties, and obstacles you two will overcome them and be together forever.”
Chase’s smile overpowered his face and his chest puffed out with pride. He ran his fingers through his long hair, a habit he did whenever he received good news, he had done it ever since he was a small boy.
Angie was the greatest girl he had ever known. This was the best relationship he had been
in. He was relieved that Madam Theodora and her cards believed in their relationship. Even though him and Angie had been going out for two years, Chase still wondered what she saw in him. He still wondered why Angie, a girl who could have any guy she wanted, who had guys standing in line waiting to get with her, would pick him. Even after all this time he still expected Angie to come to her senses and break up with him; start dating someone who had money and could give her the lifestyle she was use to. He was still sure this was all some long epic dream and any moment he would wake up and find that Angie had never been his. He wondered if Madam Theodora knew all this. If she knew that he still got nervous around Angie.
“I honestly didn’t think we’d last,” Chase confessed embarrassed that he truly didn’t have as much confidence as people thought.
“That’s normal. You two come from different worlds. Beautiful rich girl. Her family important not only here in the states but also back in Italy. Money’s no object to her.
“You, an orphan. A greasy car mechanic. Living day to day. Sometimes wondering if you’re going to eat. If you’ll be able to pay your rent. Scared to tell her that you don’t know how you’re going to pay back your student loans. That the only reason you’re going to college is to try and make yourself good enough for someone like her. Every time she smiles at you, kisses you, makes love to you, tells you she loves you, you question what she sees in you.”
“Yeah,” was all Chase could say, his lips and throat had suddenly gone dry and felt like cotton.
She had hit the nail on the head. Unmasked all his fears. Revealed the true Chase. It was scary. No one had ever been able to see through his façade before. Maybe she really did have magical powers. Chase drew his body into himself, a very eerie air had suddenly invaded the tent.
Madam Theodora didn’t spend a lot of time with Chase. She didn’t need psychic abilities to see through his badly tailored costume or tell him what his future was. Wasting no time, she led him out of the room so she could read the other one. She wanted to get through with Jesse as quickly as possible, it was getting late and she had work to do.
“Last,” she said watching Jesse rise and leading him from the others.
“Look, no offense but this is bullshit. You convinced Angie that you’re real and you probably convinced that idiot Chase but nothing you can do or say is going to make me believe any of your Voodoo nonsense.”
“Jesse Raphael Von,” her voice was firm as granite. “Didn’t your mother teach you to respect old women?”
Jesse had to force every muscle in his body not to show his shock that she knew his full name. Just a lucky guess the skeptic reasoned.
“Why do you look surprised, Jesse? Why should you be surprised by a bunch of gypsy bullshit, a woman with a fake name and an accent no one would buy? What were your exact words?” she questioned in mock thought, “that my accent wasn’t even passable?”
Jesse’s eyes betrayed his true feelings of disbelieving fear. A smug smile tattooed itself on the gypsy’s face.
“Okay smart ass.” Jesse cockily sat down, leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the table. He still wanted to prove that the old woman was a fraud. “Prove me wrong. Tell me something no one knows.”
“Okay big shot,” she said imitating the manner in which he had sat down. Putting her own feet on the table she kicked his feet to the ground. “It killed you when Angie moved into Chase’s apartment. You had asked her if she was interested in moving into your penthouse—a gift from daddy for getting a full ride to Regis University—hoping your relationship would blossom but it was not in the cards. She turned you down and three days later moved in with Chase.
“You pretended to be happy, even helped her move her stuff, but inside a murderous rage was boiling over. You wrote down a plan to kill Chase and wrote down the best places to hide the body. Places a body would never be found.”
“Why would I do that?” Jesse asked, voice low, even and calm though his heart was beating so fast he was sure it would explode like a bomb. How did she know? No one knew.
“You would do that because then you could comfort the fragile, heartbroken Angie and maybe, just maybe, she would realize you’ve been her knight in shining armor all along. Not Chase.
“You still keep your plan in your drawer underneath your briefs. I’m seeing sea-foam green briefs with blue and red polka dots.”
Jesse blushed at hearing her describe his underwear, but still convinced himself that it was just lucky guesses.
“It’s not lucky guesses, Jesse. You’ve wanted to execute that plan. You’ve even circled dates on your calendar in red, a little cliché for my taste but hey whatever. You write Chase’s Death Day but you’ve never been able to go through with it. What if you get caught? What if Chase doesn’t die? Or gets away? Or overpowers you? He is a lot bigger and stronger than you.
“But the one thing that keeps you from killing him is Angie. What if she finds out? If she finds out she’ll never forgive you. You will lose her forever.”
Madam Theodora sat back in her cushioned beaded chair with a victorious smile plastered on her face.
“I was wrong about you, Jesse. You’re more interesting, more complex than I thought. A lot more interesting than Chase. He may have the body but you have the brains. Drive.
“And that plan of yours is very ingenious. Who would suspect that someone who looks like you would be capable of murder? Just flash that little I-can-do-no-wrong grin you’ve perfected and you’d be acquitted in a heartbeat.”
“Um … thank you.” Jesse wasn’t sure that was the appropriate response but she had complimented him and it felt like it was his turn to talk. “What are you doing?” he asked, watching her spread her tarot cards out on the table face up.
“Wait,” she said not taking her eyes off the cards. “Just as I thought.” She slowly looked at him.
She was holding a card with an ominous looking clown on it. Jesse had always suffered from extreme coulrophobia and the photo on the card only increased it. He wanted to look away, but was hypnotized by the blood red lips that formed an abnormal smile, showing off his yellow teeth, sharp as steak knives. They reminded Jesse of a vampire’s fangs. The clown’s beady black eyes seemed to be alive, staring right into Jesse’s eyes. His suit was torn and baggy, the color of the fires of Hell. He was one step from plummeting over a precipice but whether the clown noticed or cared, he did not reveal it.
“What do you mean?” Jesse finally found his voice. “What the hell does It have to do with me? And what’s with Cujo?” He gestured at the vicious looking little black dog, teeth bared, saliva dripping off them as he bit the clown’s foot.
“The Fool,” Madam Theodora smiled as she laid the card down.
“You callin’ me a fool, bitch?” Jesse felt his temper rise as he sprung up, knocking his chair to the ground with a loud clatter.
“Sit your dumb ass down,” the gypsy ordered. “Pick up my chair, sit down and watch your tongue around an old woman.”
Jesse did as he was told, still pissed that she had picked The Fool card.
“If you would let me finish, big mouth, I would have explained that The Fool does not mean an idiot, though in your case …” She trailed off for effect. She even let out a little laugh which angered and embarrassed Jesse. He felt himself shrink and grow smaller and smaller.
“So what does it mean?” Jesse asked through gritted teeth, trying to stay calm.
“Of all the cards in my deck, The Fool is the card of infinite possibilities. It possesses the warning of keeping at least a small amount of your attention in front of you, lest you stumble and become The Fool. Confront your fears. Take risks. Take action even when the circumstances are unknown.”
Jesse rolled his eyes, wondering how long it took her to memorize that gibberish.
“Cujo is there to remind The Fool of the real world. He provides him with a reality check if you will. The cliff could mean either one of two things. Either The Fool is making a mistake o
r he is taking a leap of faith. You be the judge.”
Jesse digested this before responding with, “So what are you sayin’? That Angie will never be mine? That I should give up and find another girl?”
“I didn’t say a thing. I just translate for the cards and the future.”
“Well, relay this message to your cards and future for me, will you,” Jesse said, defiantly standing and staring down at the old woman. “You’re all wrong. Angie will be mine. Forever.”
He walked back to Chase and Angie. Madam Theodora shook her head, she had never met anyone as arrogant as Jesse Von.
“He is a fool,” she told the emptiness.
A small smile drew itself upon her face. He may be what she needed. She had been formulating a special plan involving the beautiful Angie Fico. Lovesick, jealous Jesse may be the key to making her plan a reality.
Two
“What a load of shit,” Jesse said as the three walked through the almost deserted parking lot.
It was late, later than the three had thought. Except for the carnival workers cleaning up the remnants of the patrons and a few drunken stragglers trying to hit bats with sticks and rocks, they were the only ones left. The pretzel wagon had long ago shut down. Jesse was pissed. Naturally they would be closed. He had the shittiest luck in the world.
“I didn’t think it was a load of shit,” Chase countered, making Jesse roll his eyes.
“Neither did I,” agreed Angie. “I think she’s real.”
Jesse lagged behind a couple feet, pissed that Angie agreed with a poor nobody over him. Shoving his hands deep inside his pockets he kicked a couple of rocks, and that’s when it hit him.
“Fuck!” Jesse screamed out so suddenly Chase and Angie almost had heart attacks.
“What’s wrong?” Angie asked.
“I left my hoodie in that crazy bitch’s tent. Shit.”
Stamping the ground, Jesse looked back toward the entrance. It looked creepy. Like the mouth of a monster. The bright lights no longer lit up the night sky like a Christmas tree, now the giant darkened limbs of the rides reached up toward the sky like demons trying to escape from Hell.
In the Tarot Page 2