Thursday, September 30, 2010

Scarlett: Chloe At The Psychic Fair

"A psychic fair?" Chloe asked. "I don't think so."

"Oh, come on. It'll be fun," Meredith insisted.

"Fun? It's all fake."

"You don't have to take it seriously," Meredith said, unwilling to give up. "Just enjoy it."

"Right." Chloe rolled her eyes.

Meredith could be persuasive when she was really into something, and Chloe found it easier to give in and allow herself to be dragged along than try to fight a losing battle. She followed Meredith from booth to booth--palm readers, aura photographers, tarot readings, astrologers--amused by the way people eagerly plunked down their hard-earned dollars to learn what the future held for them, as if anyone knew the answer.

Meredith was frustrated. "Are you just going to watch?" she asked. "Get your palm read, something."

Chloe shook her head. "I said I'd come with you. I did not say I'd participate."

"Oh, come on."

Chloe hesitated, then nodded. "All right." She decided it would be a good idea. She'd get Meredith off her back and prove that this was just a load of BS the process.

She looked around, selected her target, and seated herself. The psychic, a pleasant-looking woman in her late fifties, took the twenty-dollar bill and tucked it into her apron pocket. Chloe found it amusing that the woman wore an apron with change pockets. Future for sale, if you can afford to pay.

"What is your name?" the woman asked.

"You don't know?" Chloe asked. Meredith nudged her, annoyed.

"I see pain in your past," the psychic continued. "A man...a lover?"

"You're the psychic. You tell me," Chloe challenged.

The woman was unfazed. "Men disappoint you," she said.

Chloe remained unimpressed. Stock answers, nothing specific.

"It began with your father," the psychic told her. "He left you."

Now she had Chloe's attention.

"He has not been in your life since you were a child," the woman went on. "He died?"

"As far as I'm concerned," Chloe said.

"There has been no man in your life since."

Chloe took a deep breath. "Not for any length of time."

"But that has changed," the psychic told her. "You will meet someone, or perhaps you already have. He is not like the others. You must not shut him out. He will hold the key to your soul. You--"

"Enough!" Chloe stood up abruptly. "This is not real. Meredith, I'm leaving. You can stay if you want, but I'm going. Now."

She was shaking by the time she reached the exit. How could that woman have known? Who told her about Chloe's father...about Gabriel?

He will hold the key to your soul....

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