Page 28 of All In
“You want to leave?” I asked.
She chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “No. I want to go there.”
I followed her pointing finger to a tiny shop with beads and colored lights strung along the window. On the glass was a hand in white paint with an eye in the palm. Above the palm, red neon saidPalm & Tarot Readings.Below, it read,Love, Fate, Destiny.
I frowned. “A psychic?”
“Just to check it out,” she said. “I used to love Tarot cards when I was a teenager. And there’s something about New Orleans. The Cajun history, the voodoo traditions.” She jerked her shoulders up. “I think it’s neat.”
It was the first time she sounded a shade above sad since I’d been here. That was enough reason to let her tug me into the tiny shop.
A bell jingled above the door as we stepped inside, and the scent of incense hit me hard. The dimly lit entry looked like the front foyer of a house, with a heavy, purple curtain with gold fringe separating the shop from the residence. A small, round table with four chairs stood to the right of the front door. An even smaller table displayed trays of beads, rough-cut crystals, and pieces of wood carved with runes. Old books lined the shelves, and between the shelves hung with dream catchers, straw voodoo dolls, and colorful drawings of sugar skulls—large, laughing faces, some wearing top hats and smoking, some wearing wedding dresses with straw hair and sewn lips.
Palm readings and psychic powers sounded like bullshit to me, but I liked the vibe of the place anyway.
“Isn’t this cool?” Kacey said, letting go of my arm to trail her fingers over the purple crystals in their slot on the tray.
The heavy curtain was drawn aside, and the owner of the shop stepped out. I’d half-expected a woman in a turban with a crystal ball under her arm. Or maybe that googly-eyed professor from theHarry Pottermovies.
This woman was neither a cliché gypsy nor a crazy-haired weirdo. She looked in her mid-forties, with long cornrows that ended in colorful beads that clacked with every movement. Her clothes were billowy silk but modern. Thick gold hoops dangled from her ears.
“Welcome,” she said in a smooth voice. “My name is Olivia. You have come for a reading?”
“We’re just looking,” Kacey said. “You have a beautiful shop.”
Olivia smiled and swept across the room to the small table. “That is kind of you to say. But that is not why you stepped inside, no?”
It was an effort not to roll my eyes. I knew the opener of a sales pitch when I heard one.
“Come. Sit.” Olivia gestured to the two empty chairs at her table and pulled out a deck of oversized cards from a pocket in her robes. “You are curious, yes? Maybe a little intrigued?”
“Not really,” I said at the exact same time Kacey said, “Yes, a little.”
Kacey and Olivia laughed, and the fortuneteller tapped long, red-painted nails on the stack of cards. “A full reading is $20. Three card-draw is $10. One card is only $5. A small taste of what I offer.”
“The one-card reading doesn’t sound too bad,” Kacey said.
“$5.00 each. That is cheap, yes, for guidance and wisdom from the Other Side.”
The way Olivia’s voice wrapped reverently aroundthe Other Sidetold me it was a real place to her. I felt Kacey’s hand slip into mine, then she was tugging me toward the table. “One card, Teddy. It’ll be fun.”
Feeling like an idiot, I sat beside Kacey at the too-small table while Olivia shuffled her deck. The backs were black with gold edging. Once shuffled to her liking, she fanned them out on the table.
“These cards tell the future?” I asked dubiously.
“A full reading tells us where you have been, where you are, and where you’re going,” Olivia said. “One card gives us a snapshot of the present. By understanding where you are now, you are able to see more clearly what lies ahead. Clarity is the goal. Wipe away the fog of uncertainty…sometimes that is all it takes to bring a little relief to a troubled soul.”
She said these last words to Kacey, and Kacey nodded hopefully.
“So,” Olivia said, beaming. “Who is going first?”
“He is,” Kacey said.
“I’m not going at all,” I said. “This is your deal.”
Olivia laughed heartily as Kacey jostled my arm.
“Come on, Teddy. What have you got to lose?”
