the fortune teller

I stop by to see my gypsy friend
rosa lee.
she lives in a little beat
up house
down by the railroad tracks.
she hears me pull up in the gravel
lot and goes to the window.
as I come up the porch
I see her putting on her lipstick
and getting out her crystal ball.

my friend, she says, swinging the
screen door open, I haven't seen
you in so long. how have you been?
what's it going to be today.
a little crystal ball, some cards,
palm reading? I've got a special on
the trio.
she's holding a fly swatter in
her hand. come in, come in, she
says. Quickly, the flies are so
bad this year.

I want my money back, I tell her.
you told me that she was the one,
that the person I was with was
going to be the love of my life,
and that i'd be happy with her
until the day I died.

oh my, she says. i'm so so sorry
things didn't work out,
but, you know my policy.
no refunds, come, come.
sit down. let's talk.

take off your coat. let me get
you some tea. earl grey okay?
cream and sugar, I tell her. okay,
okay, relax. breathe. breathe.
I have some oreo cookies too,
if you'd like some.

sure, I tell her. bring the bag.

she comes in with the tea and cookies
and sits across the table from me.
tell me, dear boy. what happened?

I don't want to get into it,
I tell her. it just went crazy,
the whole thing fell apart in no time.
kaboom.

give me your hand, come on,
give me both your hands, let's
take a look. kaboom? she says,
really?
I reach out and stretch open my
hands.

oh, oh, she says, after a minute
or so of studying them.
she shakes her head.
I see now. I see where we went
wrong.
we?
relax, relax, she says. okay.
I may have made a tiny little mistake.
I think I misinterpreted this little
line right here, the crease in
your palm. it's not natural, it's
a scar right? I didn't realize
it was a scar. it threw me off.
I just had my cataract surgery
the last time you were here,
remember, so maybe my vision was
a little blurry.

what the hell, I tell her. you're supposed
to know what you're doing here,
this is your profession for crying out
loud.
she pushes the bag of oreos towards me.
I have some vanilla ice cream in the
fridge, she says..want some? small bowl
maybe? I can't eat it, i'm watching my
figure, going to the beach next
week with Anzio.

no, now tell me what you see today.
are your eyes okay? not blurry?
so mean, so mean, she says. let me
see.
okay, okay. I see it now. I see
about your future. forget about
the other one, the other woman,
there's someone else.
she's different. she's fun and smart.
very very successful and a good cook
too. funny! you like funny, don't you?

sure. I like to yuk it up sometimes.

good, good.
she's quite interesting this one.
I see her with one small suitcase.
very light baggage. a carry on,
in fact. you can put it up in that
over head storage bin on the
airplane. oh, and she has a dog,
are you okay with dogs?

I take a cookie from the bag and
dip it into my tea. yeah, I like dogs
as long as they don't shed too much.
but
how can I believe you, this time,
I tell her. how can I be sure you're
not steering me down the wrong street
again, sending me down another
dark alley?

oh no. this is not the wrong street.
no dark alley. she's the real deal.
you can trust me on this one.
she knocks her knuckles against the table.
this, my friend is your true love,
she says, then stands
up and smiles, hands on her hips.
well, I think our time is up again.

cash or credit card today?