don’t play games, and I’m not just a
reader of palms. Besides, your eyes show your future, not your
hands.”
“So what do you see?” I said, a little
breathlessly.
“Two paths are open to you. One is distinct,
happy, a very clear future.”
That sounded promising. Despite my not having
come in to have my fortune told, I was intrigued nonetheless.
“What else do you see?” I asked her.
“A handsome man who will become your husband,
children, a nice, respectable life here. A large white house.
Definitely a cat.”
My future was looking brighter and brighter.
I assumed she meant Ben, and I smiled.
“You said you saw two paths. What’s the other
one?”
“That’s what I’m trying to uncover. For most
people, they have very clear futures. They have choices, yes, and
that can alter their future. But generally, I can read their paths
clearly, even taking free will into consideration. For you, I see
one vision, but the other…” She let her sentence trail.
I had the impression she could see something
but was reluctant to tell me.
I laughed nervously.
“No ax murderers, I hope.”
“No, no ax murderers,” she said quietly,
giving me the idea that she saw something or someone equally
dangerous.
“What then?” I whispered.
“I do see evil, but I’m sorry; it’s very
unclear.”
I gulped. What did it mean? Would I die the
way I had in my dream?
“Okay, well, thanks for your time,” I said
abruptly. I felt the need for fresh air.
I stood up to leave, disturbed by her
fortune-telling and wanting to get away from the odd feeling that
she gave me.
“Wait!” She stopped me, grabbing my arm and
almost forcing me back into my seat. “We are only at the
beginning,” she continued.
“What do you mean?”
“I can read your future, however unclearly,
but the answer you seek will emerge from your past.”
Was I supposed to understand these cryptic
remarks?
Again Ramona gave me that mysterious
half-smile.
“Relax,” she said. “I want us to try
hypnosis.” This sounded a little more plausible, at least, like
what I’d read in the library.
She asked me to lie down on a nearby couch,
to rest and clear my mind. There was something soothing about her
voice, which calmed me, and I felt my breathing become more
even.
“Emily, I’m going to start counting. Then
you’ll tell me who you were and where you come from.”
She began counting backwards, and my
breathing fell into a regular pattern, as though she could control
my physical reaction as much as my psychological one.
By the time she got to one, I knew that I’d
left behind Emily St. Clair for a different person entirely.
I heard Ramona’s voice as if from a
distance.
“Tell me who you are,” she directed.
In a strange voice I didn’t recognize as my
own, I answered her, “Lady Emmeline de Vere.”
“Lady Emmeline, what year is it?” she asked,
as if from a distance.
“1216,” I automatically replied.
“Where do you live?” she asked, but her voice
was growing fainter.
“Montavere,” I heard myself reply.
“And where is that?”
“Sarum. Near the stones.”
“Now, Lady Emmeline, I want you to describe
everything you see, everyone you meet. What does it feel like,
sound like, look like…every detail is important.” Her voice
continued to drift and a buzzing replaced it so that I could no
longer hear her.
I could feel myself falling, the darkness
closing in as I left one world and entered another one.
Emmeline
And what the dead had no speech for, when
living,
They can tell you, being dead: the
communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the
language of the living.
T. S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”
Chapter Five
"Dream Kingdom"
Time past and time future
Allow but a little consciousness.
To be conscious is not to be in time
T. S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton”
The sun beat down on us. I could feel the
sweat beading on my brow despite the chill in the