Tornado

“Ah, you don’t believe?” whispered the fortune teller.

Even the low light of her hut couldn’t hide her long, crooked nose spotted with boils.

Okay, yes that was a characterization of a witch, but her breath WAS awful. Like a mix of dill pickles and mint.

Hate to break it to ya lady, but the gum ain’t cuttin’ it.

At Emily’s request, I had agreed to come and pay fifty bucks for some weird lady, that doesn’t understand the term personal hygiene, breathe garlic into my face and recite my future. It’s her birthday so I guess she should be allowed to do whatever it is she wants. But man, her new school friends were weird.

I still remember the first time Emily told me she loved me. I opened my front door to the smell of fresh rain and a breathless Emily on my front porch drenched from head to toe in her workout gear.

‘What, were you running in the rain!?” I asked incredulously.

Laughing so hard she couldn’t catch her breath, she replied, ‘it wasn’t supposed to storm until 4:30!’

“You have to quit relying so heavily on that weather app, Em! Let me get you a towel you wild girl!” I started to turn away to get a towel, but her wet hands had grabbed my arm and twisted me back. She looked up at me as giddy as I’ve ever seen her, and stated, ‘I love you.’

We’d been inseparable ever since.

But once she moved out here, we started drifting apart. I’m still not sure if us drifting drove Em in to the arms of this spiritual hippies or if they caused us to drift. But even though we dated all of high school we didn’t seem to have anything in common anymore. She was now obsessed with crystals or vibes and listening to your inner child.

Give it time, she’ll come back to you my mom kept parroting at me but, if I heard, “just trust the universe babe,” one more time today I was going to lose it.

You have to work hard to get what you want out life you can’t just put up a vision board and expect a million dollars. Her plan was to always go to school and then work at a huge corporation climbing the ladder until she was CEO or whatever, I just can’t understand why she couldn’t do that in New York and I said as much.

“This doesn’t have anything to with us or our relationship. You knew it was always my dream to go to school out west James.”

Yeah, I did know. I just thought dreams changed.

So, after flying across the country to surprise her, here I am. In a hot, sweaty hut that was constructed of PVC pipe that’s been covered with a tarp. And to be honest I’m not completely sure whether the candle was lit for ambience or if it was an effort to hide the stench coming from the back corner. Either way I wanted my ½ hour over as soon as possible so I could breathe again.

“Mm, no not really,” I gruffly replied.

What am I suppose to say? Yeah, no shit I don’t believe, you’re a quack?!

“But you will listen, yeah?” Her eyes prodding mine in a pleading manner.

“Yes, of course. Can we just go?” I gestured to the cards on the table as my eyes were starting to burn from the candle and general unwashed smell.

Tsk, tsk, tsk she muttered and shook her head.

“As you wish. We will begin,” the fortune teller whispered with sorrow.

Drama sells in the West Coast, apparently.

“Mmmmmm,” she began humming as she reached for my hand. “Physical contact with you allows me to contact your spirit guides and provide a better insight to your reading.”

Sighing inwardly and trying really hard to shut my eyes before they rolled out of eye sockets, I sunk deeper in to my chair trying to limit her touch to just a few fingers.

You are such a scam artist. Preying on naïve, young girls.

The teller’s left eye peeped open at me like she was a child pretending to be asleep.

I chuckled nervously and mockingly asked “oh well, is anyone home?”

Drawing her hand back the teller calmly said, “as I shuffle the cards open your mind, heart and soul while asking a single question. You will feel a small tug in your tummy when the truth is close. Stop me when you feel it.”

She began shuffling and I watched as her fingers seemed to fly across the flipping cards.

She could work in Vegas, easy. A card dealer probably makes really good tips there.

I felt a tug in my tummy.

Stop.

“Are you sure?” Her voice brought me back to the stinky little tent.

Whoa, that was weird.

“I mean sure, yes, whatever,” I laughed nervously and sniffed back the tears that started to blur my vision.

The teller nodded sympathetically like she knew what I was going through.

Just back off lady you don’t know me, I thought getting angry with her for presuming to know anything about me just because she could shuffle a few cards around. It takes a lifetime to get to know someone and sometimes that’s not even long enough.

“This card is the tornado. It represents chaos. Do you feel your life is a bit chaotic lately?”

“Um, I dunno, maybe, I guess. A few haphazard things I suppose.”

Imploring me with her eyes she states, “sometimes chaos is needed for healing. The tornado churns up the soil in ways that rejuvenate the earth. Perhaps you need these ‘haphazard things.’”

“Yeah, maybe,” I replied starting to realize it was getting tougher to see again. I rubbed my eyes with the palm of my hand surprised to find it comes away wet.

Snuffing back snot I whisper to the teller, “But, I’m not ready to let her go.”

“I know sweety, I know,” she whispers back to me rubbing my hand the same way my mom used to.

We continued to sit in silence until my tears and moistened the top collar of my shirt. Accepting the Kleenex she offered me I soaked up my tears and asked her “what should I do?”

Pensive, the teller twiddled her thumbs and then shrugged nonchalantly and asked “do you like storms?”

“Thank you, again,” I told the teller appreciatively as I flipped open her tarp and headed out in to the sun-filled park where Emily and her friends were waiting.

As I walked across the grass towards them, I could tell Emily was apprehensive about my experience so I shot her a reassuringly smile. I mean I had ended up tipping her quite generously if only to ensure she would never tell Emily I cried, so safe to say it ended up being a success.

“Well, how was it?” Emily asked with eyebrows raised.

“Ha, you know, it was surprisingly okay,” I replied. Her blonde hair was sun kissed and she had a glow about her that I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Is it over between us?

“Just okay? Give us some deets, man!” Her friend Jasmine practically shouted. Fortune telling is big here, I guess.

For now, it is.

I felt a tug in my tummy.

“Um, well I got the tornado card?” I laughed hoping that was enough information to shut the conversation down.

“But hey, uh Em can we talk?” I asked.

“Um yeah sure I guess,” she replied as she was already starting to get up.

She was ready too.

We walked away from her friends toward the path that lead around the parks’ perimeter. I cleared my throat, “so, your friends seem nice,” evoking a shy smile from her.

“Yeah, they’re really great. They get me.”

She must have seen the disappointment on my face because she quickly said, “at least the me I am right now.”

“Yeah, my mom says we’re like, 10 different people in a life time or something like that.”

Laughing she says, “I’m sure she’s right.”

We walked in silence for a bit and finally between swallowing the lump mounting in my throat I asked, “does this new you want to explore who she wants to be without obligation to another person right now?”

She looked up at me with tears brimming in her eyes and with a trembling lip whispered, “I think so.”

And our tears began to fall.

Sniffing, she whispered, “I will always love you.”

“Me too.”