a fresh coat of paint in more than a few decades past when it should have last happened.
“Hello, welcome and come in,” the little pixie of a woman greeted.
“Do you always just invite strangers into your home so warmly?” I asked right away, figuring it was better to be blunt.
“There are things I read about a person long before I open that door. You won’t understand them, so I won’t bore you with the details. Let’s just say, I have an extra set of tools I’m working with.” She winked at me then tilted her head up towards the corner of the porch where a camera pointed in my direction. “Besides, you’re on camera, and my video uploads offsite.”
I chuckled then. “Smart,” I told her while wondering if she was telling the truth or if it was just a dummy for when people like me asked her that same question.
“I have to be. I know exactly what kind of people are out there in the world. I live and work alone for the most part, so one can never be too careful.” She smiled back at me over her shoulder as she led me through the entryway and into a small sitting room. The furniture inside all seemed very old, antique quality stuff that was well kept, even if aged. I noted that there was a table in the middle of the space with a cloth across the top and fresh-cut flowers sitting in a gorgeous bowl at the center.
“You were expecting a crystal ball?” The woman asked, and there was no judgement. She was making fun of herself, not my prejudices.
I grinned at her. “Well, you couldn’t blame me if that’s what I’d been thinking, but actually I was admiring the bowl the flowers are in. It’s stunning.”
Her cheeks flushed with color. “Thank you. It belonged to my great grandmother. She used it as her scrying bowl once upon a time.”
“Scrying?”
“Mmm, yes, it’s a thing where you look into the water and see things like the future or…” she cut herself and waved the explanation away. “No matter, that’s neither here nor there because it isn’t an ability I was gifted with. I’m Avalyn, by the way. You can call me Ava, if you’d like.”
“Avalyn is a gorgeous name, unusual.”
“It has many meanings, they usually revolve around beauty, singing, and things. My grandma told me it meant ‘beautiful bird’ and since I used to go around chirping all the damn time as a child, she thought it was fitting that it was the name my mother bestowed me with before she passed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about your mother,” I told her. “I recently lost my own.”
“Rule number one when going to see a psychic, especially for skeptics, never tell me anything personal!” She winked at me again as we both took our seats.
I laughed. “Well, I must say, you aren’t quite what I was expecting.”
“I get that a lot.”
We sat quietly a moment as I let the atmosphere soak in. “You may think I’m crazy,” I started but she just smirked at me and lifted her hands as if to show the room we were in again.
“Probably not, but I promise, I won’t judge you, if that helps.”
“I was sent here by mydeadbrotherwhovisitedmeinadream.” Okay, so I feared her judgment anyway, even knowing she was a psychic and saw dead people, or talked to them, or whatever.
She laughed. “You want to try that again, but a little slower this time. Maybe, like a whole sentence instead of the longest word in the English language type thing?”
My hands were shaking as I looked right into her eyes and then I stood and started to walk toward the door. I couldn’t do this. There was no way I believed. The address had been right though. How the hell would I have known that. I turned back and Avalyn was just standing there. “I’m afraid,” I admitted. “If this is… if you’re for real… then I – I really talked to my brother last night in a dream.” A lone tear managed to fall and I felt it as the damned thing tracked down my cheek before falling off of my chin somewhere into my clothing.
“Believe it or not, I understand. My life, I grew up in this house. With a father who could talk to ghosts and a grandmother who could do all sorts of things.” She smiled tightly at me. “There was a time when I wanted nothing to do with them,