Horseshoe (9 page)

“Will our Little League team win the championship?” one asked.

Stevie considered the question over her charts and tea leaves. “If you finish with the best record, you’ll certainly win the championship,” she said. “But if you don’t, there’s always next year.”

I hope they don’t think too hard about that one, she told herself as they left.

A
ND THEN CAME
the moment Stevie had been waiting for. Veronica entered the tent. “Come, come!” Stevie said, gesturing grandly. “Sit and have your fortune told!”

“I’m not sure I believe in this stuff.” Veronica sat and handed Stevie a crisp dollar bill from her leather purse.

“Let me see your palm,” Stevie murmured, taking Veronica’s right hand and turning it over. “Such a nice palm too. Smooth skin, no calluses, a beautiful and expensive manicure. I can see you lead a life of leisure. It will be a pleasure to read the future from a palm like this. What do you particularly want to know?”

“Oh, come on,” said Veronica. “You can’t fool me, Stevie.” But she didn’t pull her hand away.

“Strong lifelines and heartlines,” Stevie said as if she hadn’t heard Veronica. “Definitely a lot of money has come through this hand. I can see you’re a person of taste and experience, a person who enjoys the finer things in life. But you must tell me, what do you want to know?”

Veronica twisted in her seat, but Stevie’s flattery
had begun to sway her. Finally she said, “I want to know about matters of the heart.”

“Matters of the heart. Of course you do.” Stevie dropped Veronica’s hand and leaned backward, half closing her eyes and assuming a trancelike state. “Mmmm-ummm-oommm. I see it—I see him. The man of your dreams is before me. I see him, the perfect match for you. Tall, but not too tall. Good teeth. Wavy brown hair, nice brown eyes, a straight nose, and thin yet sensuous lips. I see him riding a horse. I see him here at Founders’ Day today. He’s new to this area. I see him—no, he’s fading … fading—” Stevie shook her head and appeared to wake up from her trance. “Whew! That was strong! It fades in and out, you know—like a bad radio station. Did I say anything that made sense to you?”

Veronica was staring at her open-mouthed. “You described Michael Grant,” she said. “It sounded exactly like him.”

“Really? Imagine that!”

“Go on,” said Veronica. “Tell me more.”

Stevie shook her head. “That’s all you get for one dollar,” she said. “You’re welcome to come back later if you want to hear some more.” She closed her eyes firmly until she heard Veronica leave the tent.

“All clear,” she whispered. Carole and Lisa burst
out from behind the back curtain. They’d come in through the back tent flap after walking twice around the fairgrounds.

“You were great!” Lisa said.

“Did you hear everything I said to Veronica?”

“Every word,” Carole confirmed. “It couldn’t have gone better! Operation Fix Everything is on its way!”

Now it was Lisa’s turn to be the fortune-teller. She donned the robe, scarf, and earrings, and rearranged the props on the top of the table.

“What were you doing with the cards?” she asked Stevie.

“Shuffling them, really. Like you’re dealing out a poker hand.”

“I never dealt a poker hand.”

“Don’t worry about the cards. Want some fresh tea leaves?”

Lisa laughed. “After walking twice around the grounds, what I’d like is a soda! Shh—someone’s coming!”

Stevie and Carole ducked behind the curtain. Lisa adjusted the shoulders of her robe and thought about the way a fortune-teller should speak. She loved acting, and she knew quite a lot about it. She’d even played the lead role in a community theater production
of
Annie
. The customers paused nervously outside the door. Lisa could hear them shuffling.

“Come in!” she commanded imperiously. “The Horseshoe calls you!”

Behind the curtain Stevie and Carole stifled their giggles. The Saddle Club was off to a fantastic start!

T
HE SHUFFLING AT
the tent flap stopped, and two little girls peered inside. May and Jasmine.

“Come in!” Lisa said in sweeping tones, motioning them forward with her arm. “Don’t be afraid,” she added because both of them looked a little scared.

“We want to know something,” said May. “We have a question for you.”

“You can ask the crystal ball whatever you like,” Lisa said, pointing to the paperweight.

“We’d rather ask you,” May replied.

“That works too,” Lisa said.

“Does Joey Dutton really have to leave?” Jasmine asked. “Because he says he isn’t going unless he has to,
and we don’t want him to go, and we want to know if he really does have to.”

Lisa knew that Joey Dutton, one of Horse Wise’s youngest members, lived near Jasmine and May. She also knew that Joey’s dad was moving his dental practice to the town where Stevie’s boyfriend, Phil Marsten, lived. “Are you guys good friends with Joey?” she asked them.

“He’s our best friend!” said May. “We play at his house all the time, and he comes over and plays with us, and he’s got a tree fort and everything. And now he’s riding, and he’s going to get a pony and he was going to keep it in his backyard like we do. Everything was going to be perfect, but now he’s moving away!”

Lisa knew that nothing she said would keep Joey from moving. “He has to go with his family,” she told Jasmine and May, “but I can promise you that you’ll still get to see him often.”

“We will?” Jasmine asked excitedly.

“Of course we will,” May answered. “He’ll be in the Cross County Pony Club instead, and we’ll see him every time Horse Wise and Cross County have a competition. We didn’t need a fortune-teller to tell us that.”

Lisa could tell she was going to have to do better. “Mmm,” she murmured, waving her hands over the
deck of playing cards. She pulled a card from the pile. “See here, this is the two of spades,” she said, “and spades is trump.” Lisa didn’t know what “trump” meant in cards, but she had heard her mother saying it when she played bridge. “This is a very lucky sign,” Lisa said solemnly. “It means that even without Joey you two are going to have a wonderful summer.”

“Wow,” said Jasmine. Even May seemed impressed. They paid up and left satisfied. Lisa could hear Jasmine repeat “Spades is trump” under her breath as she went out the door. Lisa hoped there weren’t any bridge players standing in line.

She had three more customers, all younger kids who seemed pleased with the fortunes she told them. Of course, Lisa reflected, who wouldn’t be pleased to hear “Your grades will improve,” “Your allowance will increase soon,” and “You will meet a dark, handsome stranger”?

Then in came Michael Grant!

With her finest gestures Lisa bade him to be seated. She inhaled deeply and mysteriously and stared at him for several seconds. “Do you know your sign?” she asked him in a deep and mysterious voice.

“Sign?” Michael looked puzzled.

“Sign,” Lisa repeated. “Like, the sign you were born under.”

Michael thought hard. “I don’t think there was a sign,” he said.

Lisa sighed. “Like, Gemini, that’s one of the signs,” she said. She didn’t know all of the zodiac signs herself, but she knew that “What’s your sign?” was considered a very good question for fortune-tellers to ask. Except, of course, when the person you asked didn’t know what you were talking about.

“I rode a roller coaster called Gemini once,” Michael offered. “But that was three years ago.”

“That counts,” Lisa said. “Let me consult my charts.” She made a big show of checking the astrological charts Stevie had photocopied from an encyclopedia. “Very favorable,” she said. “I can see that Mercury, is rising in—umm—your thermometer, and the moon is pretty far from a solar eclipse. Very favorable signs, indeed.”

She turned and gave Michael another long and very effective look. He shifted slightly in his seat. “I think I can answer a question for you, Michael. You may ask the crystal ball. What is it you would like to know?”

Michael pointed at the paperweight. “Is this the crystal ball?”

“Of course. Ask, and you shall be answered.”

Michael bent low toward the crystal ball. Lisa bent
low, too, so that she could hear his question. Glancing cautiously at Lisa, Michael whispered, “Is she the one for me?”

Lisa bit her lip and assumed the trancelike state that Stevie had used with Veronica. “Let me see,” she murmured. “Yes, yes, I’m getting something. The image of the girl of your dreams. The perfect girl for you—the one ordained by the stars …”

Lisa thought quickly. Who was that super model Stevie’s brothers were always mooning over? “Your dream girl is beautiful in every way,” she intoned. “Very tall and slender, with curving hips and a wonderful figure. Thick honey-blond hair, fair skin, wide brown eyes, a tiny mole on one cheek. Long, luxurious eyelashes. She’s the one for you.”

Lisa opened her eyes slowly. Michael looked a little stunned. Lisa’s description didn’t sound at all like Veronica diAngelo. “Are you sure that’s right?” he asked. “I mean, it’s not the answer I was expecting. Are you sure she’s supposed to be a blonde?”

“Definitely,” Lisa said. “I know exactly what I’m talking about, and this is the perfect girl for you. The crystal ball never lies!” She flung her arms out dramatically, reflecting that what she had said was indeed true. She was sure that Michael, just like Stevie’s brothers, would love to go out with Cindy Crawford.

“Okay,” Michael said, putting down his dollar. “Thanks for the info.”

He left, and in came Jessica. She stood by the door looking shy and frightened.

“Come in,” Lisa said very gently. “What would you like to know?”

“Oh,” Jessica said. “I don’t have any questions. I just thought it would be—fun—to know my future.” She sat and looked down at her lap and then up at Lisa trustingly. “Things have been difficult,” she said in a voice that hardly sounded like a little girl’s. “I thought maybe you could tell me if they were going to get better.”

Lisa’s heart went out to her. Luckily, she knew just what to say. She turned over a few of the cards, had Jessica swirl the cup of wet tea leaves, and consulted her charts with great seriousness. “First of all,” she said, “I can tell that you have a great future with horses. You’re a good rider now, and all you have to do is keep practicing and learning. You’ll be very good someday.”

“Really?” Jessica looked amazed. She smiled into the cup of tea leaves.

“Really,” Lisa repeated. “Also, I can see that you’re going to get a new best friend from an unexpected
source. This friend is going to need your help, your love, and your attention.”

This time Jessica seemed doubtful. She twisted her hands together. “Who wants to be my friend?” she asked Lisa at last. “No one does—not really.”

Lisa felt like hugging Jessica, but she didn’t want to give Jessica any reason to doubt her. She looked at the charts again. “I see a friend,” she insisted. “You’ll have to wait. Patience will bring you a special friend.”

Jessica shrugged and smiled. “Okay.” She left looking a lot happier than she had come in. Lisa smiled; that part had gone well.

The next customer was Veronica, back for more! Lisa could hardly believe her luck.

“I want to know everything else you can tell me,” Veronica demanded, taking a seat on the box.

“Ummm.” Lisa picked up her cards and shuffled them several times. She spread them out before her, facedown, and flipped a few over, and then back. “When were you born?” she asked suddenly. “What was the exact hour?”

Veronica frowned. “Three
A.M
.”

Lisa pulled some of the cards out and set them aside. She reshuffled the remaining cards several times. Veronica began to look impatient. Lisa shuffled again and spread the cards out before her in a different
direction. “What county was the hospital in?” she demanded.

“What hospital?”

“The hospital in which you were born.” Lisa frowned and tried to look superior.

“Loudon County. Look, I don’t see what that has to do with anything. All I want to know is about Michael Grant.”

Lisa pretended not to hear Michael’s name. “The county is very important,” she said sternly. “I’m beginning to get a picture of your ideal man. He has come before—I have seen him before.” Like about five minutes ago, Lisa said to herself.

“Really?” Veronica leaned forward. “What was he like?”

“You’ve already been told that,” Lisa said to her.

Veronica smiled—she hadn’t expected Lisa to know that. How could she, Lisa realized, when she didn’t know that Carole and I were listening to Stevie’s fortunes? “Very true,” Veronica said, relaxing a little bit. “What else can you tell me about him?”

Lisa looked dreamily into the crystal paperweight. “I can see his tastes,” she said. “I know what he likes and dislikes.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Veronica said. “Tell me.”

“He’s a simple man with simple needs,” she said. “He’s looking for a natural girl with simple tastes, without fancy airs. He doesn’t like makeup or”—Lisa struggled to find the right words—“excess personal adornments.” She smiled mystically at Veronica. As usual, Veronica was wearing lipstick and plenty of eye makeup. She had changed from the riding gear she had worn in the parade and was now wearing a pair of tailored and very expensive-looking linen shorts with a sleek silk blouse, large extravagant gold earrings, and leather flats. She’d managed to redo her hair too, and not a wisp was out of place.