Part II | The Paisley Crystal Ball | 1700 AD
“...and the ocean is howlin'...”
- Midnight Moonlight
~
The young French couple sat and wondered what to do with the rest of their evening. They eventually paid for their drinks and wandered off down the narrow street toward the fortune teller's dimly lit shop, discussing past regrets, wondering about the future.
~
They entered the shop and greeted Madam Paisley, the Indian fortune teller with reservation.
"Hello, Madame Paisley." Reńe wasn't sure what to think, so he let Amélie do the talking.
"Why don't we pay her to tell us our fortune?" Amélie spoke kindly and placed two gold coins on the table's silks. Madame Paisley thanked the French couple and put the coins in her purse.
The fortune teller placed her hands on the Crystal Ball and said,
"Why don't you take a look at the Crystal Ball and tell me what you see."
Amélie stared at the purple, paisley pattern briefly and said nothing. Then the small, petite French woman turned to her partner,
"I'm not sure what she means Reńe, all I see are purple and white swirls." Reńe pulled Amélie away from the table by the elbow and whispered in her ear,
"We can leave if you want Amélie. There is better entertainment down the street." Amélie shook her head and stepped away from her partner. She glanced back at the crystal ball and sat down in a small chair with her purse in her lap.
"I want to know what our future holds Reńe. Let's stay and see what she has to say." Reńe obliged and pulled up another chair in front of Madame Paisley's silk covered table.
~
Madame Paisley began,
"Many hundreds of years ago, in the Kashmir region of northwestern India, an ancient Indian snake charmer lived along a narrow border region between two countries. He had a basket filled with cobras and a flute to play for attentive audiences. The charmer stopped often to entertain on the dusty roads with his basket of snakes as they listened to the musical flute. The Indian man lived his life this way for many years, wandering alone along the mountain ridges, following the path of the rivers and valleys between the two neighboring states now known as India and Pakistan."
~
After Madame Paisley had finished, Amélie turned to Reńe,
"What do you think Reńe?" Reńe still had the same dubious expression on his face.
"I'm not sure Amélie, why don't we leave here and find our fortune elsewhere. I was never really fond of snake stories."
~
Notes
[1] Kashmir
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir]
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