“Hello, my dear.” An elderly lady opened the front door and I peered at her in surprise. She was dressed normally, no veil around her face, or mountains of jewelry.
“Uh, hi.” I looked around, quickly. “I think I’m lost. Sorry.” I made to turn around, but her next words stopped me.
“It’s okay, dear, I’ve been expecting you.”
“What?” I felt a little scared at her words. “You’ve been expecting me?”
“Yes, dear.” She smiled at me, warmly. “Why don’t you come in? Let me offer you some tea.”
“Well…” I paused, not wanting to be rude.
“You won’t offend me if you go, but I do think I can be of some help to you in your dilemma, my dear.”
“Hmm okay?” Was she for real? How did she know I had a dilemma? But then I thought back to her street sign. Obviously, anyone who was stopping for that sign was having issues—anyone could guess that.
“I have chocolate chip cookies as well, Lexi.”
My mouth dropped open as she said my name and I stared at her, suspiciously. What was going on here? “How do you know my name?”
“All will be explained, my dear, all will be explained.” She opened the door wider and I decided to follow her in. She seemed so short and frail that I knew I could beat her in a fight if she tried anything funny.
“Would you like tea or coffee?”
“Coffee, please.”
“Have a seat, I’ll be right back.” And, with that, she waddled off to the kitchen. I looked around the room curiously as she left. It was light and airy with two big, yellow couches. I was sitting on one of them next to an old sleeping cat and it appeared as though she had been sitting, knitting, on the other couch. It looked like she was making a scarf, and I wondered who she was making it for. I looked at the walls and there were lots of pictures of different lighthouses, but no family photos. I wondered if her family had disowned her because she was crazy. I mean, she didn’t seem crazy, but if she was passing herself off as a psychic then she had to be.
“I brought some gingersnaps and chocolate chip cookies for you, my dear.”
“Thanks.” I studied her face as she offered me the plate of cookies. She had to have been about seventy-five. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and was pure white; she had sparkling blue eyes that belied her age and quite a lot of wrinkles on her face. She looked as normal as anyone’s grandma would look and not at all like I would have expected.
“The coffee will be ready soon, dear.”
“How did you know my name?” I leaned forward, anxious to understand how she knew.
“Well, dearie, I had a dream.”
“A dream?”
“I know you young folks don’t believe in religion and what not these days, but have you ever heard of Joseph?”
“The father of Jesus?”
“That’s good, my dear,” she smiled at me, happily, “but no.”
“Oh.”
“Joseph was the son of Jacob. He used to interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams.”
“The Pharaoh? Like Tutankhamen?”
“Read Genesis, my dear, you’ll understand.”
“Uh, okay.” Maybe this was a religious cult after all.
“I had a dream about you, Lexi. I always seem to have a dream about the girls who are coming to see me.”
“Only girls?”
“No. But more likely than not, it’s a girl.” She smiled and stood back up. “The pot must be ready. I’ll be right back. Milk and sugar?”
“Yes, yes please.” I watched her walk out of the room and felt a strange calmness in me. My brain was telling me to run, but I felt safe and curious. I wanted to know what else the lady had to say.
“Smile, dear, it’s not nearly bad as all that.” She brought a tray in and I jumped up to help her. It looked too heavy for someone of her stature to carry.
“Shall I take it?” I offered a hand and she shook her head.
“I may look old and frail, but I’m still a very sprightly woman.”
“Okay.” I took the cup she offered me and added three spoonfuls of sugar to my cup. “You don’t look like I expected you to.”
“Oh?” She laughed. “I suppose you expected a mystical looking lady in a dark room with a big crystal ball?”
“Something like that.” I laughed, embarrassed.
“We’re not all frauds, my dear.” She coughed. “Though some of them do have far-sight. Though they shouldn’t be using it.”
“What?” I frowned.
“Nothing to concern yourself with, dear. I suppose you’ve come for some answers?”
“Yes, yes please.” I nodded, eagerly, grateful that she was going to supply me with a way out of this mess.
“Your dad isn’t a bad person.”
“Ok, wait, what?” I frowned at her. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“We don’t always know the root of our issues.”
“I’m here because of a guy…”
“It’s always about a guy.” She smiled at me, gently. “At least, that’s what our heart tells us. Inside our soul we know differently.”
“No, I’m here because of these two guys.” I tried to interrupt her.
“He loves you, in his own way of course. It was your mom he was weary of. She’s not well.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My chest was pounding and I didn’t want to hear what she was saying. “I want to talk about my boyfriend, well, I think he’s my boyfriend.”
“You went to look for him, yes?” She peered into my eyes with a soulful expression and I felt myself shiver.
“Yes, how did you know that?”
“Parents are so important in our lives. You know, there are many people who shouldn’t be parents. Many people who don’t have the emotional capabilities to look after themselves are now having kids. They—”
“—Sorry to interrupt, but how does this affect me?” I frowned at her and she sighed.
“Sorry, dear, I sometimes go off on tangents. Let me focus on why you came. You’re at a crossroads in your life, Lexi. This is an important moment. And it’s not because you feel yourself to be the latest damsel in distress. No. It’s because you realize that the you that you have been portraying is not the you, you want to be. Sometimes we see ourselves as a martyr, and we live our lives as if we are fighting the fight of the world. Unfortunately, many of us are just fighting the fight of our hearts, of our dreams, of our wishes.