“I’m not sure,” I lied. “I just said it.” Apparently neither of them were aware that Mom referred to her as Madame in the future. Maybe she’d earned a certificate? How the hell would I know?
“Who are the three Cancers in this household?” Druzella demanded. “And I need to see the cat?”
“We don’t have a cat,” Mom clarified slowly. “And it’s just Michael and I that live here, Druzella. What’s wrong?”
“That cannot be so,” she said, eerily looking around the space and clutching a necklace I hadn’t noticed until it was in her hand being handled like a rosary. The piece she held was a circle with a sun in the center with the astrological signs going around the circle’s edges like a clock.
“His name is Cooper,” I said. “He doesn’t live here but he comes over often.”
She turned to Mom. “Like a son to you.” And then toward me “Likea brother to you,” she stated calmly. “But not quite,” she added, slightly grinning.
“Do you sense danger?” Mom asked.
“Not at all, dear, but there is a force at work in this house,” she announced.
Now normally I would chalk this up to crazy talk. Mom and Druzella, Mom’s potions and her books, their shared spiritual interests and stuff, but I had a different point of view now. I was smack in the middle of crazy. In fact, I was the duly elected mayor of Crazy Town.
“Have I spoken to you about the transitory aspect?” Druzella asked Mom.
I became interested in what Mom’s friend asked and slid into a chair, waiting for Mom to answer the question.
“Is that when a planet moves into position with the location that another planet had on the day you were born?” Mom asked.
Druzella snapped her fingers. “Precisely,” she stated. “The locations of the planets at the moment of your birth are recorded and calculated as part of your astrology chart.”
“Cooper and I share a birth date,” I contributed. “Mom, him and I are all Cancers.” I had a gazillion questions and figured I should tamp down my sudden interest in what this unusual woman was speaking about. “You know, if it matters.”
Her face changed and the alteration was hard to describe. Fearful, grave, dread. Those were words that came to mind.
“There is another commonality,” she began, setting her gaze on me. “But the shared event isn’t about birth.”
“What is it?” Mom piped up, her voice laced with fear.
Druzella grabbed both of our hands. “This Cooper, where does he live?” she asked.
Mom and I simultaneously pointed at the picture window and toward Cooper’s house.
She focused her attention on me, her eyes rolling into her head. “You and Cooper were born on the same day,” she began, turning to Mom, her eyes popping open. “And you and Cooper share . . .” She let go of our hands suddenly and pulled back from us.
A death date.She knew.
I had to change the conversation before things got weirder. “Can I ask you about parallel universes?” I asked.
Mom, who had been entranced with her friend’s words, spoke up. “You’re still interested in that, Michael? I’m sorry, honey, but I keep forgetting to bring home the books from the library.”
“Do you know anything about parallel universes?” I asked Druzella. “How they work, are they connected with astrology or birthdays? Stuff like that?”
“Umm, not really my area of expertise, young man,” she stated.
“Really?” I asked. “You seem like you’d know about that stuff. I mean, you’re so interested in those types of things. Right, Mom?”
“Well, honey, Druzella is experienced in many things but perhaps that subject is not an area she delves into seriously,” Mom said. “I’ll get you some books.”
The discussion got quiet as we looked from one another, checking on whether anyone had another topic. Druzella was gathering her things and pushing her chair away from the table. A minute before there had been tarot cards, a star map, and some small metallic pieces depicting stars and moons arranged on the table. What I needed was a fucking map home before I blew my cover.
“I think I should leave,” Druzella said. She checked her wrist for the watch that was buried between twenty bracelets. “Yes, it is getting late,” she added. “Thank you, Kathleen.. We’ll finish your reading another time.”
I wasn’t prepared to give up so easily. This exotic woman knew things I needed to know and I wanted answers. But how to get them?
