about offending his more conservative customers than he had been before, now that his All-You-Can-Eat merchandise was such a big hit with the college crowd.
Veronica said, “I’m glad you’re here, Miss Minnie. I was hoping you had a few minutes free today.”
Minnie didn’t answer Veronica. She turned to the occupants of the table and said, “I suppose y’all have heard about my latest prediction coming true. Charlemagne has opened the gates to the world of shadows to me now that he knows I’ll be coming to join him soon.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked toward heaven the way she always did now when she talked about her approaching death.
Clarice couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. Minnie saw her, and she looked for a moment as if she might punch Clarice. But just then, a woman waved at her and called her name from the client chair at Minnie’s table. Minnie said, “Veronica darlin’, I’ve got this one readin’ to do and I can help you right after.”
She took two steps away in the direction of her table, but then turned around, forcing her cape to swirl dramatically around her. She said, “You know, Clarice, I had a vision last night that I was all set to tell you about. I saw Richmond embracing you on a foggy beach, and I was sure that there was a romantic journey in your future. Funny thing is, when the fog cleared up, I saw that the man in my vision was Richmond, but the woman wasn’t you. Isn’t that strange?”
She stood there grinning, both she and Veronica waiting to see how Clarice would respond. But Clarice didn’t tear up or even do Minnie the honor of casting an angry glance at Richmond, who was busy dragging a spoon across his empty plate and pretending not to hear what was being said just a few feet away. So the fortune-teller twisted her mouth in annoyance and marched off across the room toward her client.
Veronica raised her right arm in the air and snapped her fingers several times. When she attracted Erma Mae’s attention she mouthed, “Iced tea.” As she seated herself in the table’s empty chair, she muttered, “And don’t take a year to bring it.” Then she turned to Clarice and said, “I didn’t just come here to see Miss Minnie. I wanted to ask you to help me with the wedding, Clarice. You did such a nice job on your daughter’s wedding that I thought of you immediately when Sharon got engaged. The first thing I said to Sharon was ‘Let’s call Clarice and have her do your wedding the exact same way she did Carolyn’s, except without the shoestring budget.’ ”
Clarice exhaled slowly, smiled, and said, “You’re a doll to think of me, Veronica. But I’m sure you and Sharon will be able to plan a beautiful wedding without my help.”
Odette, who had been unusually quiet all afternoon, spoke up. She said, “Yes, Veronica, none of us will forget that Easter pageant you organized over at First Baptist. It was spectacular.” Barbara Jean put her head down and covered her laughter by pretending she was coughing. And Clarice made a mental note to buy Odette an extra nice Christmas gift for bringing up Veronica’s Easter pageant just then.
A couple of years earlier, Veronica had played on the fears of the board at First Baptist that their Easter pageant would be outshined by the white folks at Plainview Lutheran. The Lutherans had recently started adding some real sparkle to their Easter show—live lambs and a candlelight processional. She promised them that, if they handed the event over to her, she would produce an extravaganza that would leave the demoralized Lutherans hanging their heads in shame.
From the moment Veronica’s daughters started the show with an interpretive dance, the whole thing was a disaster. Veronica’s older girls were no more coordinated than they were pretty. And poor Sharon, who had been known to become out of breath just lifting a two-liter Pepsi bottle to her lips, got heart palpitations and had to sit down and rest in the middle of the routine.
The highlight of Veronica’s show, a dramatization of Christ’s ascension into heaven, was ruined when the winch used to carry Reverend Biggs up into the rafters got stuck and left him dangling in a harness thirty feet in the air. It took hours for the fire department to get him down. And the worst part was that no