Page 78 of Date with Destiny

We say it at the same time: ‘… Chlorine!’

She laughs. ‘That can’t be true – you’re making that up,’ she says through giggles.

‘I swear!’ I say, glancing briefly away from the captivating, familiar woman on screen. ‘The new store really does attract some, er, interesting people. They’re all too cool to breathe the same air as the rest of us.’

‘I think Sonali and I will call our daughter Charlotte,’ Myfanwy announces, throwing a piece of popcorn in the vague direction of her mouth.

I frown. It’s a nice name, but not really in the spirit of our hilariously stupid baby names chat.

She glances over at me, grinning. There’s a piece of popcorn sticking to her cheek. ‘She’ll be named after my favourite type of potato – I think that’s really meaningful.’

‘Oh phew,’ I laugh. ‘It was a joke; I thought for a moment you were telling me you guys were actually pregnant.’ She doesn’t answer and I sideways look over at her again. Oh my god, she’snot?

‘Sorry, what?’ Her eyes are glued to the telly. ‘I wasn’t listening.’ She furrows her brows, ‘Did you just ask me if I’mpregnant? Ew! Gross, no!’ She rolls her eyes. ‘I think you’d know if we were planning to start a family; it’s a bit of a different experience to hetero-pregnancies, you know?’

‘Of course,’ I mumble, feeling stupid and privileged. She turns her attention back to the TV screen, pointing at the shimmering star up there. ‘She isamazing! Did you hear what she just said to that guy?’

I return my gaze to the woman in question: Crystal Ball.

It took us some time and some serious deep diving into local TV programming, but last week we managed to locate my life-changing psychic’s show. We had to subscribe and download an app onto Myfanwy’s TV, and the whole thing keeps crashing, but all the trouble is so worth it. Crystal is an absolute joy.

I watch her now, completely enthralled.

Crystal has her eyes shut as she awaits inspiration, holding the energy of the room with ease. A quivering young man in the front row awaits his future, and at last her eyes fly openand she shrieks, her huge, untamed red hair flailing in the studio wind.

Her hair is phenomenal, I note. It looks slightly like she’s wearing a wig on top of another wig but that only adds to the fabulous. The colour is fire orange and moving, like something is alive in there, moving uncomfortably under the top wig beneath heavy studio lights. The orangey effect extends to her skin, which is Tan mom-deep and glistening. Her whole head has the vibe of a lit candle wick, flickering and moving, dimming and brightening.

‘I’ve had a vision!’ she hollers now, enormous hoop earrings swaying from her poor earlobe; slightly elongated from prolonged abuse. She gets close to the young man’s face and he isso palebeside her intense colouring. ‘YOU! I can see it – she is coming back to you,’ Crystal hisses at him accusatorily.

‘She is?’ he brightens enormously, some pinkness returning at last to his cheeks. ‘That’s the best news, thank you so much, Crystal!’ He is gushing now. ‘Do you know if that means she’s forgiven me for sleeping with her mum and—’ Crystal doesn’t wait for his follow-up question, moving away and up the audience’s middle aisle.

‘YOU!’ She points at a woman in her seventies with audacious purple lipstick, sitting dead centre of the row. ‘You,’ she says again in a softer tone, getting a faraway look in her eye. ‘You have lost people…’ Crystal reaches across other audience members, squishing them without a care. ‘And I’m sorry, my love, but you will lose more. There will be an illness, but that won’t be the end, though you might thinkit. There is time for another adventure. Another great love is coming for you.’ The woman gasps excitedly and the elderly man beside her looks put out. Crystal turns away from her and towards the camera.

It’s like she’s looking straight at me.

‘There’s something else,’ she says, eyes narrowing. ‘Something new. Someonenew watching.’

Beside me, Myfanwy gasps. ‘She means us!’

‘She probably gets a notification when someone new downloads the app,’ I mutter, a feeling creeping over me. ‘We probably just doubled their viewer subscription.’

‘No way,’ Myfanwy moves away from me and closer to the TV. ‘She’s talking to us – toyou.’

On the screen, Crystal looks dazed and far away, but still addresses the camera. ‘You need something from me. You have questions. Tell me your questions, concentrate, I can hear you.’ Myfanwy makes a choking noise but I am transfixed, staring into Crystal’s deep, eerily green eyes.

They’re probably coloured contacts.

‘Talk back to her!’ Myfanwy whispers intensely.

‘What?’ I scoff. ‘Don’t be silly.’

‘I’m not being silly,’ Myfanwy glares at me. ‘She’s the real deal and she’s talking to you. Talk to her.’

Sulkily, I begin in a quiet voice. ‘I just want to know more about these predictions you made for me when I was sixteen.’

On the telly, Crystal frowns. ‘You’re not being clear enough; I can’t make you out. Focus, I want to help you.’

‘OK,’ I clear my throat, feeling intensely silly andembarrassed. ‘I want to know what the point of it all was, what was I supposed to learn? Was it all to make me a stronger person?’ I pause. ‘And where’s my soulmate? It’s been such a bunch of dead ends this last seven months.’

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