Touched - By Cyn Balog Page 0,37
“No, I was …” In my eyes, you were already undressed.
She cleared her throat. “Did you come to find out more about my grandmother? About what I said?”
I ran my fingers over the counter. There was a splotch of ketchup there, dried and crusty, that didn’t move when I touched it. “Nah.” Yeah. “Where is the charming lady’s booth, by the way?”
She pointed her chin toward the next booth. There was the red velvet I’d seen in my visions. It wasn’t totally a tent; it was a regular storefront, but the thick lush fabric lined the windows and door. There was a sign above the entrance:
READINGS BY BABE,
BIBLIOMANCER EXTRAORDINAIRE.
I stared at it. “Babe? That’s her name?”
Taryn nodded.
“What happened to something mystical, like Madame Paulina or the Great Zoltaire? Babe? That sounds like a little pig.”
“It’s short for Erzsebet or something. Most people can’t pronounce it. It’s Hungarian.”
“It kind of ruins the mystique. I don’t know if I can trust a bibliomancer named Babe.”
She shrugged. “Fine. Your loss. I thought maybe you wanted to find out why you are the way you are.”
“I do. But I doubt Babe over there has the answers.” I hitched a thumb in that general direction and checked out her digs. There was a neon sign that said WORLD FAMOUS and a paper sign that said: SPECIAL: PALM READINGS $10 TODAY ONLY! It was so sun-faded and covered in cobwebs it had probably been up there for years. The red curtain was open a sliver, but all I could see was blackness. Looked like a closet. Or like a place you went into if you wanted to get mugged. “Has she ever read your palm?”
Taryn nodded. “Yeah. Plenty of times.”
“Was she ever right?”
“Oh, well …” She smiled a little. “Of course. Always.”
I couldn’t tell if she was fooling with me. I looked at the placard outside, which said: GUESS YOUR WATE OR YOUR FATE! COME IN AND GIVE BABE A TRY. I smirked. “She spelled ‘weight’ wrong.”
“Okay, so she’s not book smart. But she knows things.”
I stepped a little closer to the booth and smelled some nasty spicy incense. Gagging, I was about to turn away when I noticed a smaller sign, only the size of a business card, in the other window. ABSOLUTELY NO REVERSALS. I pointed to it. “What does that mean? Reversal of what?”
“If you meet me after my shift ends, I’ll show you. Okay?”
I got that feeling again, that familiar feeling that always seemed to happen around her, like being torn down the middle. I needed to run away. Fast. And yet I found myself nodding. What the hell was I getting myself into?
She leaned forward, about to speak, when I felt a presence behind me. “How can I help you? Basket o’ Fries?” she asked cheerily, as a man in a wifebeater sauntered up to the counter. He placed his order and she got it for him. He was kind of an idiot, asking for ketchup and salt and napkins when they were right there in front of him, but Taryn helped him out, the courteous smile never leaving her face. When he started to walk away she turned to me and opened her mouth to speak, but I suddenly saw the guy coming back to ask for her phone number.
“What time is your boyfriend coming to pick you up?” I asked in a really loud voice.
She stared at me, her mouth half-open. “Um.”
“You know, Butch? To take you to the STD clinic?” I motioned to the guy, who was waiting nearby.
She looked over my shoulder at him for a moment, then said, “Um. Four?”
“Cool.” I looked over my shoulder. Idiot was meandering away.
Her eyes widened. “What was that all about? Was he … did you …”
“He was going to ask for your number.”
“Oh. Really?” She pressed her lips together, flustered. “Well, I could have just told him no.”
“I know that’s hard for you.”
“No it’s not. It’s—” She wrinkled her nose. “What do you know about me, anyway?” She got even redder as she thought about it. “You know a lot about me, don’t you?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“What else do you know about me?” She seemed sort of angry. “No, forget it. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“You’re angry?”
She shrugged. “It’s not your fault, is it? But it’s really weird.” Then she smiled. “You are right. It is hard for me to say no sometimes. When I like someone. But I could have said no to that guy. He’s