At first, it was fun. Telling a bunch of old, superstitious Filipinos that they were going to live to be 100 - and their husbands were NOT cheating on them (even though I saw one card that said he was cheating - I didn't mention it).

All of a sudden, things took a surprising turn for the worse... There was a young couple at the party - she with pierced face, and he with perpetual sad expression. They asked for their readings. Now, I read the cards like it says in the book. I just read them, and try to make out some kind of story. I don't ask what the question is - I just read what I see. I read the woman. I saw that she wanted to get out of a relationship, but she didn't want to get out of it. I saw family pressure on her to leave. I saw disharmony in the relationship. I saw a withdrawl of love. Oh, Shit! And, I could have lied - but she told me she also read the cards and knew instantly what they meant. She also told me the cards were true, and proceeded to tell her boyfriend what they meant. It was their relationship I was reading!

Then, sad-face sat down. His was no better. Because she wasn't right around us, I sort of bullshitted him, and told him that he might feel some pain in his heart soon, but not to worry. Everything would end up okay, and nothing was etched in stone... Fat chance. Girlfriend came back with a more specific relationship question. She got the same kind of answer from the cards! And, she pointed it out to boyfriend! So, of course, HE wanted another reading - with her standing over me. Fuck! Bad, bad, bad... She saw it. Another party guest, who reads cards noted it too. I was so stuck! I couldn't lie my way out of it to make boyfriend feel better. (Because I would have - since I don't believe in Tarot afterall...)

Poor boyfriend. His girlfriend was a bit of a psycho, and he would probably be well rid of her, but I didn't want to have anything to do with that process. Not my business. Leave me out of it!

What was interesting, was, as I read, it became more and more easy to put the cards together and make a story out of it. And, the "customers" were impressed with my accuracy. I only had a few folks I couldn't impress. We made $75.00! Plus, all the party food we could eat.

I only hope nobody does anything rash over what my little cards told them...

Yep. I'm thinking it's time I hung up my gold tooth, and retired from the gypsie business...

September 29, 2002