Adelaide Confused Read Online Free PDF Page A

times. It was
squished between two gift shops, a small easel sign the only
advertisement. Perched by the front door, it read:
     
    TAROT CARDS
    PALM READING
    ASTROLOGY
    Walk-ins always
Welcome
     
    “Look, there’s a spot! You’ll have to
parallel.”
    “ No can’t do,” I said,
pulling the car in nose first. I popped the curb with my front
right tire, and plopped back down as I straightened out.
    “ What the hell was that?”
Francesca asked as she unbuckled and got out.
    “I heard that’s how they do it in
Germany.”
    “ I heard that’s how you get
a flat.”
    “ In that case, you’ll be
buying me a new one. Consider it gas money owed for all the rides
I’ve given you.”
    She pretended not to hear
me as she stepped through the door, a bell jingled at our entrance.
The dark narrow hall led to a dark narrow room, equipped with a
reception desk. It was empty.
    After a minute of waiting,
I muttered, “You’d think with them being psychic and all, they’d
know when they had a customer.”
    “It doesn’t work that way,” Francesca
replied.
    “ That doesn’t sound like
the comment of a nonbeliever. What happened to ‘it’s just for
fun’?”
    She shushed me as someone
approached. Their clacking footsteps echoed out from the hardwood
floor. A small dramatic woman appeared. Her thick black curls were
held back by a bright scarf. Wispy crimson dress and clicking
bracelets completed the ensemble, adding to the image that most
customers would expect.
    Francesca turned, saying, “Hi, I don’t have
an appointment, but I was hoping to see Madame Bristow for a
reading.”
    The woman had been eyeing
me with no small interest. I chalked it up to the monetary value of
a potential client. She turned in time to answer, “I’m sorry but
she isn’t in today. I’m available for an astrological reading if
that suits you. Or if you prefer, I can set an appointment with
Madame Bristow for a future date.” She rolled her S’s, forming an
accent that didn’t reflect a single nation or culture. She could
have been Asian, but I was guessing Pacific Islander.
    “ Astrology, what is that
really? And can you see details with it.” Francesca’s questions
were for show. I knew she wasn’t leaving here without a reading,
the kind didn’t matter much.
    The astrologist answered in
somber tones. “With the date of your birth many things can be seen
through the use of celestial bodies. Character traits are the
easiest to chart, but to foresee the future is difficult, details
more so. It will require great effort on my part, and I only do it
for those who are in desperate need.”
    “ Yes, I’m interested in
that. Are you free now? I think you’ll find my situation is very
dire.” I almost felt bad for Francesca. She was like one of those
people who checked their horoscope, though they didn’t really
believe it. They did it to feel special, the thrill of hearing all
about themselves, their own possibilities. Why being one of twelve
made the masses feel special, I didn’t know.
“Yes, if you’ll walk down the hallway to room two I’ll be with you
in a few minutes. I must prepare.”
    We did as instructed,
stopping before the door marked two. A metallic gold star and
silver moon hovered near the number just in case you weren’t sure
you’d picked the right room. I followed Francesca inside the small
space, a cubicle really.
    The walls and ceiling were
a dark midnight-blue, covered in posters and tapestries. The charts
and graphs looked like gibberish, and did nothing to impress me.
There were artful depictions of the zodiac, numerous constellation
mappings, and planetary rotations overlapping one another in
disarray. A table took up half the room. Pushed against the long
wall, it was covered in a heap of canvas and aged yellow
paper.
    Francesca sat patiently in
one of the two chairs. I assumed the other was for the astrologist,
so I pressed myself unobtrusively into the corner.
    The door opened as our
entertainer