Psychic

By Renee Peyregne

She opened her computer and sighed. Fifty years old, and alone again; her daughter said that this "online" thing was how everyone was doing it nowadays, so she thought she would give it a try. She did a query for free dating services, and so many filled her screen she was slightly overwhelmed. She decided to count down to five (her favorite number) and picked the fifth one down on the list. The site was "Pickurmate.com" and when she clicked on it, the first screen that came up was pictures of beautiful men and women with statements under their names of how wonderful their lives were now that they had found their "mate" on "pickurmate.com." She read through a few of the testimonials and decided to build her profile.

She completed her profile by uploading a picture her daughter took of her three years ago when they went on a Caribbean Cruise, it was the best picture she had; a little outdated but showed her best features. Once she hit enter, she did not know if she should wait for responses, or if she should go out and look for profiles of men that interested her. She was not sure what was appropriate. She did not want to call her daughter, because she knew that her daughter would make fun of her and give her a hard time. So, she opted to just wait and see if there were any responses. She did not have high hopes.

Within a short time period, her phone began to buzz, then buzz and buzz. When she picked it up, she saw that she had multiple emails from the pickurmate.com website titled "We have found your Mate!" She went over to her computer and opened her email, as the emails loaded, she was amazed at how, in such a short time, she had received so many interested "mates." She scrolled down to the bottom of the emails and opened the first one, it was a decent looking gentleman, looked to be about forty years old, and had an interesting profile. It did not mention his profession, but that he loved the outdoors. There was a button to click if you were interested in a "date" with this "mate." She was not sure what she should do, and she had so many emails; should she look through them all, or accept a date from one or all of them?

It was such an overwhelming concept, that she thought she would just leave the other emails closed and accept the date from this "mate" even though he looked a little young. She clicked the button and accepted a date with this "mate." It led her to the website, and she inputted the time, date and place that she would meet her mate for the date. The website confirmed her date and said that his name was Francis. When she read the name, her face began to flush, and her breathing started to escalate, additionally, the butterflies in her stomach were beginning to nauseate her. She thought it was just nerves.

Her date was set for this evening at 7:00 pm, nothing like the present, if she did not jump in feet first, she would never do it. She printed off the picture of Francis, noticing the city police station in the background. She thought, 'interesting, I wonder why he took his picture at the police station?' Her nerves started to buzz again. She tucked the picture into her clutch because she wanted to know what he looked like when he came into the Coffee Shop that she had picked to meet him in, downtown; then she set off to get ready for her date.

This was the first date she had been on since her husband had passed away a year ago. Her daughter insisted that she needed to get back out and develop a social life again. Her husband had died of cancer, and she had to watch him deteriorate over three years of fighting the invisible disease. Now she just wanted to find someone to have fun with.

Getting prepared for the date was one of the hardest things she has had to do in years, by the time she had realized what she had done, she had pulled everything out of her closet and drawers and still was not happy with what she was wearing. She decided, the mid-length form-fitting black dress that she had worn on their fifth anniversary, which her husband said was the sexiest dress he had ever seen her in, was what she was just going to have to go with. She applied her make-up, careful not to overdo it, did her hair, trying to ensure it was not too overboard, then looked at the clock; it was 6:00 pm.