Madame Zara

Madame Zara

I had no idea how my life would change when my friend, Alison, brandished the winning tickets at me. “I’ve won, Kat! First prize. Tickets for a private reading with Madame Zara.”

“Great,” I said, forcing my face to smile. “When is it for?”

“Next Tuesday. You are free, aren’t you? You have to come.” Alison was hopping from foot to foot; her eyes alight, begging me to say yes. I looked at the slightly maniacal face of my friend and sighed my acceptance.

Alison had written the directions for Madame Zara’s on a scrap of paper. So when we pulled up outside Blackberry House, my first thought was she had made a mistake. Tucked into the corner of a middle class housing estate, the exterior looked tired and unloved. There was a patch of long grass, surrounded by a splintering wooden fence, at the front.

Alison and I looked at each other, speechless. “This is definitely the right address. Look,” she said. I read her instructions and there was no question, we were at the right place.

We trudged through the garden to the front door. “Right, shall I knock then?” Alison said, raising her hand to the knocker. Before she got there, the door opened. We were greeted by a frail, old lady who looked as though she was at least 100.

“Welcome,” she said, “Are you here to learn your future?”

I glanced at Alison and she was slowly shrinking away from the door. I grabbed her arm and pulled her next to me. “Yes. We have an appointment for 7:00.” I figured, we had come this far, we might as well just do it.

The inside of the house reminded me of my grandmother. There was a faint smell of rose water. The walls were covered in faded, flowery wallpaper. It had probably hung there since the 1970’s. As the lady brushed past us, the air was filled with a scent of face powder and extra strong mints.

“Come through, dears. Madame Zara will be with you in a moment,” she said, ushering us into a room at the back of her house. Predictably, there was an orange and red bead curtain we had to navigate to enter the “Room of Fortune”.

The room was claustrophobic, it seemed barely big enough to fit the two of us. The walls were dark purples and the only light was coming from an exotic, blue and green Tiffany lamp. I searched the walls for a window, some connection to the outside world, but there was none.

After a few minutes, we were graced with the presence of Madame Zara. She said nothing, as she entered, complete with burning incense. I suppressed the urge to gag on the sickly smell it omitted. Madam Zara was dressed in a tie dye skirt, which wasn’t quite long enough to hide her sensible, green, old lady shoes. She had a black shawl around her shoulders and a scarf over her head.

I knew she was the same old lady who answered the door to us. All the same, I’m sure I saw a flash of violet in her eyes as she began to speak. “Are we all ready to begin?” she said, her voice more commanding than previously.

Alison and I nodded, words evading us. I gulped when Madame Zara’s attention focussed on me. “You! I sense you are unhappy. Let me look into my ball.” With that, she hovered her wrinkly hands over the crystal ball, closed her eyes and swayed gently. I was just thinking how sea sick I felt, when her eyes sprung open and fixed intently on mine.

I should have had an escape plan, I thought. I could feel a stream of sweat trickling down the back of my next. Why had I agreed to come with Alison? She owed me big after this.

“I will tell you what I see. I am not a medium, I don’t answer questions. Now. You are a…cat, is that right?”

I confirmed that my name is Kat. I think I would have agreed with anything she said at that point. It was clever, though, she genuinely knew my name.

“Kat, okay. The ball is showing me an office. A large, open plan office. Clean, white walls. I see you, Kat. Oh.” At this point, just as I was getting interested, she paused and closed her eyes again. The next time she opened them, there was a bigger streak of violet passing through.

“He was going to kiss you, you know, Kat?” she said, waiting for my reaction. “I can see you know who I’m referring to.” I did. At least, I hoped I did. “You must speak to him, he is due to leave in two weeks. But that is not his destiny. He is in love with you and you, I think, feel the same way. You must make him stay, Katherine.”

Andy. I didn’t realise he was going to kiss me until I stood up and left him hanging. I muttered something about checking emails and hurried to the restroom to die inside a little.

“Okay, fortune over,” said Madame Zara, abruptly. She took the tickets lying on the table and rose from her chair to herd us back to the front door.

“No, wait,” said Alison. “What about me? This was my prize, you have to read my fortune.”

“My dear, I saw nothing in the crystal ball for you. I only saw your friend and I am not going to make things up just to satisfy you.”

Alison mumbled words that resembled, “old witch” and “fraud” and we returned to the car. I, however, couldn’t get Andy out of my mind. I fancied him, I had done ever since he first joined our firm. There had always been electricity between us. I should have made a move sooner, this is the 21st century after all, we no longer have to wait for the men to take control.

When I woke the next morning, I caught myself singing in the shower. I practically skipped out of the house to go to work. As I approached the office, I could make out the tall, muscular outline of a man I wanted very much to see. He was waiting for me, he said. He wanted to talk.

“Is it about you going away?” I blurted out, not thinking first. Andy opened his mouth to reply, but again I had no control over my voice. “Don’t go. Please, Andy. I really like you, in fact, I might even love you. I know you like me too, you tried to kiss me last week. I messed up. Please, don’t give up on me. Stay.”

The smile that spread from Andy’s mouth to his eyes hijacked his face . He pulled me close and said, “Don’t mess this one up, Kat.” We kissed and I relaxed into his embrace. I fit into the crook of his arms as though they were made for me. “I’m not going anywhere, Kat,” Andy said. “I’m staying right here with you.”

I had a warm ball of happiness bouncing around my stomach. I think I really was in love with him all along. As we walked into the office, hand in hand, I thought to myself I must remember to thank Alison when I speak to her.

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