Snow Melt

Good News and Bad News: A Short Story

The August 20, 2013 Fiction Blog Prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  is
A fortune teller at the local county fair tells you two things. She tells you something good that will happen, and something awful that will happen.
What are these events or incidents?

I normally don't go to fortune tellers, but I had spent the entire day at the Clark County Fair and I was tired. I just wanted to sit down for a few minutes in a cool place and rest my aching legs. The only place I could find was in the fortune teller's hut. The sign on the front read "Madam Rosa, Know all and See all. Only $5.00 for a thirty minute reading."

Well, I thought as I opened the door and walked into the cool darkness. That's cheap for a thirty minutes off my feet. If I went to one of the fast food places, it would cost more then that with no guarantee of a seat.

"Welcome," Madam Rosa said. "Please sit down, Miss." She point to a wooden chair in front of a small circular oak table. In the center of the oak table was a crystal ball glowing with a rainbow light.

After I sit down, I took a five dollar bill out of my purse and placed it on the table next to the crystal ball. "What does my future hold?"

She waved her hand over the crystal, then she grinned. "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"

"I'll take the bad news," I removed a small blank journal from my purse and a pen. I opened the journal to a blank page. "You can begin."

"Beware a pair of mourning doves,
They proclaim a returning love,
Seeking an item he thinks you stole,
So he can mend his torn soul."

I wrote the verse down, "Now what's the good news."

"Flight of seven coal black birds,
Foretells a gain from written words."

I wrote the down the couplet, "Thank you." I put my journal back in my purse and left the hut.