Readings, with Confidence

Readings, with Confidence by J.B. Pravda

"Always a reader" confessed Madame Selenka, the jangling curtain of
beads behind her a second-rate symbol of reassurance. She had developed
a sort of litany of assurances usually triggered by the same inquiry
she had just half-listened to so many times.

This customer reading would be like most others' who, for years
uncounted, had found their way to her dimly-lit parlor seeking
knowledge of the unknown; this couple seemed more than usually eager,
it having been set for her day off, at considerable extra cost to
Ted.

"This is the first time for me&;#8230;&;#8230;and my friend"
Lorraine-and Teddy: it was first names only, of course----the young
lady announced, needlessly.

Amidst the paradox of her glowing kerchiefed visage and her autopilot
awareness, she counseled against her only adversary, fear.

"Do not be but calm and serene; I will take charge of your energy, but
you must turn off all distraction, yes?"

Having, per ritual, asked Ted to wait in an anteroom, Selenka went thru
the motions with Lorraine.

After some time, Selenka, for the first time, became fully
engaged---she became enervated, stroking her brow with the back of both
bejeweled hands, as though dabbing at uncharacteristic
perspiration.

"Tell me, is it not so that your Teddy is new in your life?"

"Why, yes----is it that obvious?" Lorraine rationalized.

"My dear, only the na?ve see anything as obvious---no, I getting strong
energy of hunger about him----he likes money, possessions, true?"

Gasping audibly, Lorraine grew defensive.

"Oh, I suppose---- he is kind of wealthy, I think----he always has
plenty of cash and, well, is very generous----won't let me pay for, or
do, anything" she gushed.

"You, you are from a wealthy family" Selenka posited.

Lorraine replayed in her mind, as if prompted by Selenka, the
circumstances of her and Ted's meeting, how it was he, who had
suggested the reading, which, now that she thought about it, was on a
day of the week Selenka's sign said she was 'CLOSED', and how he had
avoided meeting her parents.

"Your father is important man, a judge, your mother
heiress&;#8230;&;#8230;I fear they are in danger of losing
priceless thing" Selenka pulled away abruptly from the small table
between them.

Later, as they separately viewed the TV news, Selenka and Lorraine
thought about Teddy-----son of a defendant sent to his death by her
father.

The police had, discreetly, asked Selenka to assist them in tracking
down a vanished Ted.

Selenka, shaken by her guilt at not diving sooner his intentions,
clicked on the radio; it was playing 'Never on Sunday' in Italian, as
she drifted off to a hopefully productive sleep.