This week's
Blues Buster song landed me in New Orleans. I had to tip my hat to David Bowie and the best Lemon Drop shot I've ever experienced. ^.^
Kaylee pulled Amber through the drunken crowd of Bourbon Street with purpose.
"Where are you dragging me?" Amber whined. The afternoon hurricane binge was starting to fade; it was time to start refueling as far as Amber was concerned.
"I saw a fortune teller in one of the shops; I want to get a tarot reading." Kaylee said.
"Kaylee, fortune tellers are a total scam; especially here. Everybody knows that."
Kaylee ignored the chastising tone of her best friend. There was no better place than New Orleans to have her fortune read in her opinion. She spotted the shop wedged between a bar and strip joint. She pulled Amber off the street and into the incense filled air.
"Hello," said the man behind the counter. "Are you searching for something in particular?" Kaylee tentatively eyed the sign next to the register; the man followed her gaze and smiled.
"You're in luck," he said. "Madame Zaroni is finishing a reading now. She will be available in a few minutes. Please, have a look around the shop while you wait."
"Madame Zaroni?" Amber scoffed. "Kaylee, you can't be serious. Fine, waste your money on whatever you want; but we get a drink after this, ok?"
"OK," Kaylee muttered. Just then a young man and woman burst from a back room, arm in arm. They laughed and stumbled to the front door. An older woman emerged from the room after them. The scarves and beaded jewelry were so stereotypical, Kaylee almost lost her nerve. There was no way this wasn't a scam. But before she could collect Amber and leave, the man was ushering her toward the old gypsy-looking woman.
"You have another customer, mama."
The woman eyed Kaylee with distrust.
"Very well, I will see her. Go. Bring her friend as well. No sense wasting time with two readings." The woman turned and walked back into the room at the rear of the store. Unsure of how to back out at this point, Kaylee followed.
"Sit there," the woman barked. "Money first; put it on the table."
Kaylee obliged then sat staring at her hands while the woman rummaged through a small box. She pulled out an old deck of cards and placed it on top of the twenties the girl had just laid down. Amber entered the room then, looking disapprovingly at Kaylee as she took the only remaining seat. The old gypsy ignored the new girl and focused all her energy on Kaylee.
"You have his mark," she said.
"Whose mark," Kaylee asked?
"The man with the power," the gypsy replied.
"What power?" Kaylee suddenly felt uneasy.
"Voodoo." The fortune teller picked up her deck and began to shuffle the cards.
"What, are you channeling David Bowie or something," Amber asked. "Kaylee, come on. This is stupid." Amber grabbed Kaylee's hand and stood to leave, pulling the other girl from behind the fortune teller's table. A gnarled hand latched onto Kaylee's free hand and tugged her harshly back to the table.
"She does not believe; but you do," the gypsy said. "You have his mark and he will come for you. Do not go with him." The warning sent a chill up Kaylee's arm
"Now you're just being creepy on purpose." Amber yanked Kaylee out of the room. "Let's go to the Old Absinthe," Amber suggested.
"Yeah, ok." Kaylee looked back toward the rear room and saw the woman standing in the doorway crossing herself. The old woman suddenly spit on the floor. Kaylee nearly knocked her friend down escaping the store and the odd old woman. The ran back up Bourbon Street, collapsing in a fit of giggles at the bar. They moved to the back corner and ordered the first Lemon Drop of the night. A few hours later, Kaylee saw him. He was sitting across the bar watching her drink. He was beautiful but it was his eyes that sealed the deal. She downed one last shot then walked out of the bar with a strange man full of power and bright red eyes.
