After five years with one printing company, I took a position, at a much higher salary, with a new company just starting up. For the first time in my working career, I worked with women and was in a position to have friends my own age I could socialize with outside of the office.

Up to this point most of my co-workers had been men. I learned the hard way, a woman can’t afford to be seen with a married male coworker outside the office. Wives are naturally suspicious of women who work with their husbands. I’d even managed to get chewed out by the wife of a man, thirty years my senior, for driving him to the hospital, when he had suffered a heart attack during our lunch break.

One of my new friends was a girl named Maggie. She was a fun-loving little brunette who had appeared in some TV commercials. She was married to a traveling salesman and was the mother of a four-year-old girl. Carolyn, a tall blonde flirt who drove racecars in a Powder-puff Derby, was another coworker. She had a boyfriend for every need. There was a mechanic, a banker, a repairman, and one guy who bought her groceries and met her physical needs.

"Beth, someone told me about this black lady who lives out in the projects who is really good at reading cards," Carolyn informed me. "I’m thinking about going out to see her. You want to come?"

"What kind of cards? " I asked. "Are you talking about those funny looking fortune-telling cards?"

"No, not Tarot cards. I think she just uses plain old playing-cards, but she told this girl I know some stuff, and every bit of it came true. I want to know if there are any new men in my future."

"Well, you don’t need a fortune teller for that. With your track record, I’m sure there are a lot of new men in your future," I said. "I don’t think Evan would want me to go. Why don’t you ask Maggie? I think she’s into that stuff. She’ll probably go with you."

We lived in the heart of the Bible belt. Fortune-telling was considered the work of the devil. Gypsy palm-readers traveled with carnivals, and a lot of black ladies read cards for extra cash. A few years before, I’d encountered one at a neighbor’s Halloween party. Some of what she said was eerily accurate, but other things were open to interpretation. For instance, she told me there was something going on in my stomach area, but it would all turn out fine. I was two months pregnant at the time. Seven months later, it turned out fine in the form of twins.

Maggie came over to talk to me after Carolyn asked her to go. "It sounds like fun," she said. "I’ll go if you will. My husband knows what Carolyn is like. He’ll have a fit if I go off with just her, but if he knows you’re going, he’ll be all right with it."

"Did Carolyn say how much she charges? I don’t need to be wasting my money on that phony stuff."

"I asked her that. She said this lady works cheap. Sometimes she does it for a piece of clothing or a purse. Carolyn says she never charges over five dollars. Let’s go with her. It’ll be something different to do."

"Well, maybe I’ll go just to watch. I don’t know if I want her to tell me anything."

Sunday afternoon found us in a run-down section of the city searching for the house. It was painted a Pepto-Bismol pink and had a swing hanging from the ceiling of the tiny front porch. A large dark-skinned lady with a colorful scarf tied around her head sat shelling butterbeans, on the porch-swing. She appeared to be about fifty.

"Is this where the lady lives that tells fortunes," asked Carolyn.

"Yessum. I’s Miss Lena. Yaw’ll wants yaw'lls' fortunes read? It’ll be five dollars a piece."

We nodded, and she rose and put her pan aside. "I’s gonna takes yaw’ll one at a time. One of yaw’ll come on back wit’ me. The rest of yaw’ll, set thar on that swang and wait."

Carolyn moved forward, and they went into the house together. When she came back out, her face was wreathed in smiles. "You both have to do it," she said. "It’s worth the money."

Maggie went next. She returned wearing a frown. I could tell she was concerned about something, but both girls insisted I go and see what she would tell me.

Reluctantly, I got up and followed Miss Lena. It took several minutes for my eyes to adjust to the gloom. The only light came from a small curtained window. The room contained a soiled print sofa and a couple of stuffed chairs. She led me to a card table with two metal chairs.

As she spread the cards across the table, she started to talk. "You is married to a good man. He be a mighty fine man. You is lucky. He ain’t never gonna leave you. Yaw’ll gonna to be together fo' a lot of years. How many chillen’ yaw’ll got?"

"Three," I anwered, wondering why she needed to ask.

"Well, deese cards here say yaw’ll supposed to have five, so I reckons yaw’ll gotta have two mo'."  I started to tell her about the baby I'd lost, but she continued quickly without interruption. "Dey’s a black-headed woman what comes to yo' house some times. She thank mo' about yo' husband than she do about you."

Hmm..., That had to be my sister-in-law, Shirley. She did date Evan before I met him. She’s the only lady with black hair who’s ever been to my house. Nothing to worry about there. He thinks she’s silly.

"Dat place where you works at, dat job ain’t gonna last. You be changin’ jobs pretty soon. I thank you be movin’ to another state befo’ too long." Oh well, I wouldn't be surprised. Changing jobs seems to be the story of my working career. But moving? I can't imagine leaving Mississippi.

Her next statement shocked me. I wasn't expecting her to go into anything about death. "I sees an old man. He ain’t doing so well. He gonna be dying fo' long."

"Other than them few thangs, you got you a good life. Yaw’ll all gonna be happy and yaw’ll gonna have enough money. I don’t see no sickness comin’ on. Tha’s about all what deese cards say."

I gave her the five dollars and walked out dazed. I hope she was wrong about those two kids, I thought. Susan has to be one of them. I didn’t tell her my first child died. I’ve given birth to four children. That is enough. I sure hope we won’t be moving. We’ve only been in our new house a year. And who is this old man that’s going to die?. Evan’s Dad did have a heart attack a few months ago, but he’s doing fine now. Get a grip, Beth. You don’t really believe this crap, do you?

We compared notes on the way home. She told each of us our jobs wouldn’t last. According to her, all three of us would be moving away. Carolyn was thrilled to hear that she would soon meet a very rich man and get married. Miss Lena told Maggie that she would marry again in the future.

"What will happen to the husband I have now?" Maggie asked her.

"He may have to die, Honey," Miss Lena told her. "But you gonna be alright tho'. He gonna' leave you wid plenty money. You gonna have another baby with that new man."

Evan wasn’t happy with me when I told him about having my cards read. He grinned, however, when I told him the lady said I was married to a "really good" man and we’d have a lot of years together.

Within a couple of weeks, Evan’s father suffered another heart attack and died. After eight months, our company declared bankruptcy and began selling off their equipment. I found a job with another printing company.

Carolyn moved to Memphis. Maggie’s husband was transferred to another Mississippi town. After she moved away, I lost touch with both girls.

Rumors begin circulating that Evan’s company would be relocating to New Orleans. The company would be laying off some of their personnel and retiring others. Would we be transferred? Evan didn’t think so. Neither of us wanted to move from our new house. We liked where we lived.

The cards had been right on many counts, but the move was still to be determined, and I had no intention of getting pregnant again. Only time would reveal whether or not all of the predictions would come true.

As for me, I’d decided to opt for the surprises life has in store. The idea that a deck of cards could predict my future wasn’t a possibility I cared to explore further. Some time has past since that day, and I might as well admit those last two predictions did come true. Still, I never had the desire to learn of my future again.