Clarity Read Online Free PDF Page A

lease price went up and Andrea couldn’t afford it anymore, so she retired. I remembered my mother feeling so bad for her.
    “First, Andrea lost her location and now this con artist, Madame Maslov, snapped it right up,” Mom said.
    “Let’s not jump to conclusions about whether she’s legit or not,” Perry said.
    “She claims to see the future,” I said, shaking my head.
    This wasn’t good for business. First of all, people would much rather hear about their futures than listen to what we do, which is tell them something they already know. Second, it wasn’t possible to see the future, so this Maslov person was definitely a scammer. And anytime someone is scammed by a psychic, they generalize from that point on that all psychics are fakes. Scammers bring us all down.
    “Let’s not panic,” I said, trying to prevent a complete Mombreakdown. I widened my eyes at Perry and tilted my head toward Mom, telling him to work his magic.
    He caught on quickly, laying a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to head over to Staples and have the copy center make a bunch of color flyers for us. Then I’ll distribute them around town, ask some people to display them. We can’t afford a huge ad like this, but we can do a five-dollar-off coupon on the flyer.”
    “Five dollars off?” Mom was teetering on the edge.
    “It’s only temporary,” Perry continued. “We’ll put a two-week expiration date on it. Just to boost business in the short-term. we haven’t lost any clients to this Madame Maslov yet and we have to nip it in the bud before it starts.”
    Mom nodded slowly, clearly thinking Perry’s idea over. The phone rang and Perry jumped up to get it.
    “Readings by the Fern Family,” he said. “No, we don’t.” He frowned. “Oh, are you sure?” He paused for a long moment. “Okay then, good-bye.”
    He turned around slowly. “Our three o’clock has cancelled.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Because we can’t see the future and Madame Maslov can. They cancelled with us to schedule with her.”
    Mom threw her arms up into the air. “That’s it! I’m going to see Phil.”
    “What can he do?” Perry asked.
    “I don’t know!” Mom yelled, grabbing her car keys off the hook on the wall and tearing out the door.
    Perry looked at me. “I’ve got to get those flyers made. Will you go with her? The last thing we need is for Mom to go crazy and cause a scene at the town hall.”
    I agreed and caught up to Mom, sliding into the passenger side of her Prius a moment before she started backing out of the driveway.
    Phil Tisdell was a longtime friend of my mother. He’d worked many jobs in town over the years and was now elevated to town clerk. Phil had a little crush on my mom, and watching her put lipstick on in the rearview mirror made me think she was planning on using this fact to her advantage.
    “I don’t understand why you felt it necessary to come with me, Clare. I don’t need a babysitter.”
    I was about to deny babysitting as my intention, then remembered Mom could read minds and had probably plucked that very word from my thoughts on the car ride over. I shrugged. “I’m just trying to help, Mom.”
    I followed her up the concrete steps to the heavy wooden door of the town hall. The building had to be over a hundred years old. On the outside, it had the look of a church that had been renovated into something else. All the town offices were housed inside. A large annex was built onto the east side of the building about ten years ago and that contained the police station.
    We marched up a flight of stairs and into the office of the town clerk. Phil was seated at a desk strewn with papers, both of his hands atop his bald head in frustration.
    “I’m up to my eyeballs in dog license problems here,” he called out.
    “Okay, I can come back later,” Mom said.
    Recognizing her voice, his head snapped up. “Oh, Starla Fern! I didn’t know it was … um, if I had