God of Odd

11. God of Odd- part four

11. The God of Odd- part four

At the end of every session, the reader would stand, bow his head and turn to the door. Then he would stride out of the room in the same haughty fashion in which he had entered. During this formality, the audience would give enthusiastic applause. When he had left the room, the old lady would appear from the same rear door and request the audience to drop money in the donation box by the front door- if they had enjoyed the readings. The audience would stand up from their chairs and randomly file out into the hallway, usually muttering quietly to each other in a secretive fashion. They'd drop their monies into the box and then either stand to chat or step through the front door, down the front garden path and out onto the pavement.

At the end of our next session, having on the previous occasion heard the tale that somehow had a mysterious link to my uncle, I really wanted to ask the reader how he knew what he knew. However, as always, at the finish of a session, the reader was quick to leave the room- and in any case, I would not have had the courage to ever address him! Instead, I asked the old lady before she could leave the room. When asked, she seemed to be deliberately vague, telling me, 'I don't know dear- neither does the reader!' She had then smiled and, to discourage further conversation with us kids, she quickly turned her attention to a nearby adult and struck up a preferable conversation. 

After every session, all the way home, me and Richie would chat about the strange tales we'd heard. We used to think of the eccentric reader as The God of Odd and the old girl as his wife, but we never really knew who either of them was and never really cared- all we cared for was the other worlds that the reader had transported us to.

All good things come to an end. After a few more sessions, the new age restriction came. It was a great disappointment to us. Richie felt quite angry- he'd call them all sorts of names. Worse was to come, though- much worse. After many months, we heard a rumour that the house was empty. It was thought that the old lady was either ill, and had been taken into hospital, or that she had been moved to a home for the elderly. Nonetheless, even after we had heard the news that there was to be no more God of Odd- not even for the adults- we would still visit to stand outside and stare at the house, recalling the tales and feeling the enticing atmosphere of intrigue that the place still held for us. On one such occasion, Richie noticed the side gate to the garden was open, and on his suggestion, the two of us ventured in to explore.