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‘Thank you, thank you. You’ve been more than kind. I know you’re all here for different reasons. Some of you are hoping to hear from a loved one, some of you may be at a crossroads in your life, some of you might be looking for love and some of you might be here because the other half has dragged you along.’
The crowd laughed.
‘For those people, I’ll be as quick as I can and you can get the football on catch-up.’
Another laugh and already the room was enraptured.
‘For those of you who’ve seen me before, you know how this works, but those of you who haven’t, shame on you.’
The crowd roared.
‘Just joking. I tend to move around the stage wherever the spirits guide me. I don’t always get everything on the nose but I blame the spirits for that. You just can’t get the staff these days.’
The disclaimer Richard had mentioned wrapped up in a joke. Excellent touch.
‘Talking of staff, I have three helpers out there with microphones who will find you if my message is aimed at you. Talking of which, I feel myself being pulled to the centre. Blimey, they’re not hanging around tonight.’
She walked to the front of the stage.
‘Here somewhere. I’m getting the name Derek.’
Three hands shot up.
She pointed to the first. ‘Passed?’
The woman shook her head.
Victoria motioned no and moved to the next.
‘Passed?’
The woman nodded, and the microphone was thrust into her hands by one of the helpers.
‘He’s an older male figure. I’m gonna say father.’
‘Yes, yes,’ the woman said eagerly. ‘He’s my dad.’
Victoria’s hand went to her chest. ‘I’m sensing breathing problems.’
‘Lung cancer,’ the woman offered.
‘He’s a cheeky chappie, isn’t he?’
The woman nodded as tears began to roll over her cheeks.
‘He’s not in pain now. He said to tell you he’s free of all that and when you hear those noises in the house, that’s him. He’s always around you.’
‘I knew it,’ she said with a mixture of triumph and relief.
‘Thank you for coming,’ Victoria said, moving away.
The microphone was removed as the crowd offered a round of appreciative applause, but Kim’s attention was on the woman who’d received the reading. She turned to her friend with a happy, relieved, almost joyful expression on her face. She looked as though a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She was satisfied. She’d come here full of hope and she’d been rewarded. She would not go home and poke holes in the reading. She would not look for reasons to doubt the authenticity. She would take comfort from what she’d been told.
There was nothing factual that Victoria had offered, but that wouldn’t matter. By the time she got home, her memory would have embellished the event so that she would feel that Victoria had known everything about her father, instead of it being a couple of well-educated guesses.
In her mind there was definitely deceit, but a nagging voice wondered where was the harm? The woman had not lost anything. She had gained eternal reassurance and comfort for the price of a ticket.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts she’d missed the second reading. The crowd was applauding again.
