Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen by Wendelin Van Draanen

Author:Wendelin Van Draanen [Draanen, Wendelin Van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-54518-3
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2004-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

It's interesting enough, listening to a fortune-teller and all the bogus stuff they say, but when you realize that the person whose fortune is being told might be someone you know, well, your ears perk up, and forget about politeness—you listen.

Madame Nashira's voice massaged the air. “I can't see his face … there's too much … what's that? Aaah, it's money! Yes, he's handing it out… he's throwing it around…”

“When! When is this going to happen?”

“It feels very near…”

“Friday? Can you tell if it's Friday?” the man asks, and boy, does he sound spun up.

“Oh…,” Madame Nashira says. “Oh dear, he's fading…”

“Wait! Can't you bring him back?”

“But someone else is appearing… Aaah, it's the same woman who appeared before…the one with the”—her hand swooshes around her head—“hair.”

I snicker to myself as she drones on, saying, “And there you are beside her. She's reaching out… she's… oh, I see lips! Lots of lips!”

“Can you get back to the guy with the cash? I need to know more about—”

“Shhhhhh!” Madame Nashira whispers, swirling the air above the crystal ball. “I'm seeing lips, and… roses… and…white.”

“White? You're seein' white?”

“Long… flowing… white.” Her hands stop. “Are you considering marriage?”

“No!”

She swirls her hands over the crystal ball again. “So maybe it's a funeral.”

“Same difference,” the man grumbles.

“Oh… there she goes. She's floating… floating… floating away… !”

“And?”

“Oh, she's gone…,” Gina says. Like she's so, so sorry. Then she sighs heavily and says, “I'm afraid the spirits have retreated. Perhaps next time.”

After a minute the man stands and grumbles something as he hands over some cash of his own. She takes it and says, “I can only help summon the spirits. I cannot control them. But here's another discount card should you decide to come back again.”

“Aw, come on. How long do you expect me to keep doin' this?”

“You can stop anytime,” Gina says in her dreamy Madame Nashira voice. “It's entirely up to you. The spirits do seem to have a strong connection to you. They seem to be trying to tell you something.” She laughs softly. “But life itself will tell you these things… in time.”

The man grumbles something, but he takes the card anyway. Then the gauze curtain moves aside, and as they start coming through, I grab those three throw pillows, curl up in the chair, and cover myself the best I can. Then I hold my breath and wait. And when I see Gina's customer come through the gauze, I about bust up. I was right! And I'm dying to pop up and say, “Hey-hey, T.J.!” but I just stay curled up, holding my breath.

“Hello?” Gina's saying into the room. And lucky for me, it's a really dimly lit room with black walls, and she doesn't look my way. “Hello?” she says again, this time more firmly. And that's when I realize that she knows someone's still inside her House of Astrology because the bells on the door never jingled a second time, only that first time, when I'd come inside.

Now, if I was trying to hide from Gina I would have been sweating it out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.