Garfield

Garfield

Louis

I was on my way home from work. I hated work; I was a receptionist at the local bank. I wanted to be a doctor and help people; now all I was doing was helping people answer the phone. I decided I was going to do it. I was going to see Luna, the fortune teller. They said her predictions were never wrong. That she had predicted that John Baker was going to die and that he died the very next day, she even said how it was going to happen, when and where. It was about 8:00pm and I was walking downtown when I stopped by her small shack at the side of the road next to the Chinese food place, Xaio Ping. It was a small, family owned restaurant, but it was one of my favourites.

I stuck my head into the dark shed; I saw nothing, only shadows. "Um, hi, I'm here to get a reading." Then suddenly the lump I saw in the corner rose forward and peeked into the light so that I could see it was a woman. She was young; at least from my perception of fortune tellers, she was about middle aged and attractive. She had almond skin and the black, wild, curly hair that fell over her shoulders and her face looked tired and worn out. She was a shabby gypsy but somehow regal, covered in all that jewelry and huge disks for earrings.

"You want me to tell you your fortune" she said, in a sultry voice. 

"Yes"

She took my palms in her hands almost like a lover. "Hmm" she said. Then she laughed "Don't go around doing anything crazy!" she said. "Are you sure you want me to tell you your future?"

"Yes" I said. She nodded and then she took some cards from a shelf, shuffled them and laid them out on the table. She looked at them with worried eyes. I got concerned. "What? What!" I demanded. "What does it mean?"

She looked up at me with a grave face "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes" I said, hesitantly

She took a deep breath and then she spoke "Death" she said

My heart dropped and my whole body became flushed. She could see it in the whiteness of my now sweating palms palms and face, and in the cold sweat that was starting to trickle down my forehead.

"Would you like to know when and how?" she said sympathetically.

I gulped "No...Thank you" I said and walked off, wondering if what she said was really true, and wishing that I had never went to her. I was so sure she was going to say something good. "Louis is so smart and talented" my mother always used to say "He has so much potential, he's going to do great things" I felt like crying, but I didn't want to make a palm reading into a big deal. I just had to try to be careful that's all, after all it was my life! Some palm reader had no way of giving it or taking it away. It was random. Everything was random. You know that don't you Louis? I told myself.

"Oh and Louis" she said, just as I'd reached the door and taken a hold of the handle. I stopped. "Sometimes, the road we take when we know our future is the one that very well might help it come to pass" At that I made my way out the door faster, slamming it behind me and trying to put that freaky lady out of my head. Then, halfway to my car I stopped in my tracks. My name...how did she know my name? I had never told her my name. Had I? Well maybe I did and I had just forgotten; you know how sometimes your brain can make little things seem like supernatural events? My breathing became labored. I went into my car and sped off, hoping that the faster and further I went away from her, the further I went away from my future. I tried to soothe myself with comforting thoughts of skepticism, I even tried to make a joke out of it, but it still bothered me.

Then I thought about all the things in life I'd never done. I breathed out. I'd always wanted to get married. I'd never done that. Never even come close to that. I'd wanted to date but I'd always been so picky and so guarded. I shook my head. The guys tried to invite me to clubs, a strip club once, but I always made up excuses like, I was busy that day or some shit. I was so busy chasing short lived dreams. I went to college to study medicine but dropped out because I couldn't keep up with work and school, and now I was stuck in the same job for over five years. The last time I had sex was in a bathroom in high school. And I was bisexual, but I'd never been with a man. I used to watch gay porn but I was always curious about...I hope this doesn't make me sound like less of a man, but I always wanted to know how things felt in the rare end. I sighed and then I pulled over on the shoulder. The many cars on the road whizzed by in flashes of light. Maybe I should go back there and ask when? I thought. But then I changed my mind and swerved back on the road.