The Curse - Book 1 (Completed)

Chapter 5: The Fortune Teller

​The trailer of the Jenkins family is a humble cozy place to live in. Small windows are decorated with yellow curtains and saffron pots. Beside them, there is an old khaki couch with abrasions and indentations, where Victoria is seated.

            Yasmine Jenkins works as a fortune-teller for living. Her customers come to her trailer so she could avoid paying taxes. The little she makes, she is saving up for her children's education. Being a single parent is burdensome, and her measly financials do not make the burden any lighter. However, the taxes are not the only reason she is hiding from the government. Namely, Yasmine is living in the United States as an illegal immigrant.

Her origins date back to Italy. It is all she ever says about her past when asked about it. She doesn't talk much about her younger years, neither about her parents, nor Victoria or Christopher's father. The only thing they know about him is that they're a spitted image of his. Victoria is suspicious of her mother's words, though, since she has never even been given a photo of this alleged father. She is a tough one to please, always asking for evidence.

Although she got used to her mother's introvert nature and stopped asking questions, on the inside, the curiosity is eating her alive. She has always been noisy and persistent. Yasmine found it very difficult to raise her. In spite of all the obstacles, nonetheless, Yasmine made it. And she won't let her kids down.

"Your past life was turbulent," Yasmine whispers. "Your wife died at young age and you never got over it."

Victoria is pretending to be reading a book, but rolling her eyes gives her away. She had to do it, because her mother's pretense psychic abilities always make her want to laugh. At least she is convinced her palm readings are a scam. Yasmine never admitted it, though. She only admitted to not needing a palm or a coffee cup to be able to tell someone's destiny. Mostly, she claims she gets visions of a person's life based on their past lives. She claims she can recognize spirits and match them with their previous lives.

            "I was a man?" the woman seated opposite of her mother exclaims.

            Yasmine nods with certainty. "You see this line", she runs her finger across the middle of the lady's open palm. "It tells me you were a bulky man two lives ago".

            The woman with fine auburn hair and bad tan purses her lips. "I don't know how I feel about that. How many lives did I have?"

            Yasmine narrows her eyes. "Four", a curly lock falls down her cheek "This being your fourth one".

            "Four?" she almost gets a heart attack. "Good grief! And I was happily married you say? Before my...wife died?"

            "You were married all three times. Two of them were happy. And in one, you had seven children".

            "Sweet Joseph and Mary", the woman crosses herself. "I cannot believe this... Am I being punished now by not being able to have children?"

            Yasmine's light eyebrows come together. "Punished? Why would the forces punish you for having had children?"

            Victoria has to contain herself from rolling her eyes again. Hearing her mother use the oh-so-unspecific word 'forces' makes her want to jump through the window. She has to interfere. "Well, mother... Overpopulation is one of today's most preoccupying global problems. Maybe the forces wouldn't like her to make Ethiopia out of Oregon", she shrugs innocently. "Just a thought", she lowers her gaze and continues reading a book, pretending there was no sarcasm in her words. But she can sense Yasmine's wide chocolate eyes piercing her from behind the round glasses. Truth is, Yasmine doesn't need any eyewear. Her eye vision is intact regardless of her age. But she thinks they make her look more professional. As if being a psychic wasn't unprofessional by itself...