It's been a while since I've sat down to write something - almost two years, I find. A friend suggested that everyone should write every day, and while I likely won't do that, I should do more often. This friend is also a sometime-gypsy, or perhaps always a gypsy and most of the time pretending she isn't, so taking that cue. . .
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"Please?"
"No! Now go, go evey!"
"But, I, I've heard such wonderful things, you can. . ."
"I told you, no such tings! Dey do not happen!"
A hand that could've been the root of an ancient tree held the brocaded curtain open just far enough for one of her bright, black eyes to peer at him. Heart beating, with fear or anticipation, or both, he pressed his hands together and pleaded again. Even as he spoke the words they sounded crazy in his ears, but in such desperation he would cling to anything.
"I have a, well, a friend who had a problem, and he said that you, y'know, helped him. With his problem, gave him a thing, a kind of magic spell I guess, that let him take care of it. And, well. . ."
Her expression, to the extent it changed at all, only became harder. Now her voice was low; he would have leaned forward to hear better, but something make him keep a distance.
"Dere is noting I can do vor you. Is late, I am olt and tiret.
I haf no magic vor you. You go evey now."
Somehow this tone was more threatening still; and yet something in the way she'd reacted made him try once again.
"Please, please Madam Toltsi. I need your help. I have money, and if you don't want that, I know people, I can do favors for you. Somewhere to park your caravan, something you want done. . ."
He trailed off. It was no use. The stories must have been only that - hell, his friends had told him some crazy things before, why would this be any different. She was nothing but an old woman after all, driving around the countryside and separating fools from their money.
She could see his shoulders sag, knowing she'd won. At least this time. As the cards had foretold - the Five of Swords, victor in battle. But the cards always had more than one meaning. Motionless, she watched as he turned and walked slowly away, waiting until he'd disappeared from the circle of light cast by the caravan lantern. Letting the curtain fall, she addressed the figure behind her.
"Florica, ve vill vatch dis von. He may not give up
so easy. Use de crystal."
She had to know whether this man would take his defeat gracefully, or would need a more forceful message. Florica nodded her assent and pulled aside the silken covering. As the glistening sphere cast its ever-shifting light over the table, she gathered her cards for another reading.
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