The Gypsy

“Do you believe in magic?” a boy spitefully called into the windy night. The taunt was directed at another boy a few feet from him, who was pushing his glasses upwards from the bridge of his nose.
“Of course not, Russell. You know me. I just want to get out of the wind. That’s all I’m saying,” the boy with the glasses pleaded to his fellow.
Next to the boys was a circus tent that bore an eerie wooden sign with Madame Mystére stenciled on it. True to his word, a vicious wind tore through the antique carnival. Whirling lights and colorful attendants beckoned the many leaving visitors to stay and wait. Papers and cups flew with the gale that was knocking over signs, lifting blouses, and throwing curtains.
“Ah c’mon, Russ. Let’s just go in. The wind will quit here in a minute,” another boy who was standing next to Russell said.
“Geez! Alright, let’s go,” said Russell, taking the boy next to him by the arm and leading him into the tent.
The boy with glasses remained outside for a moment more to look at the carnival. There stood platforms, stands, carousels, a Ferris wheel, and corrals, all being abandoned so quickly. He looked up at the sign again to see two drawn eyes looking right back at him. The boy lifted the tent covering and stepped inside.
All was dark except for a glowing sphere on a table. The other two boys stood frozen, looking into the ball. The boy with glasses kept his distance; he was nervous and ran his fingers through his blonde hair. As he looked on at the sphere, trails of blue light swirled within it, effectively capturing the attention of the three.
From a veil of darkness emerged ten long, spidery fingers, crawling around the sphere. The long and baggy neck of a gypsy woman also appeared. Her weathered face was embellished with scarlet cosmetics, piercings, and a purple headband. Her long and extravagant black hair covered the rest of her body so that only her arms could be seen.
“What do you boys think of my crystal ball?” she croaked. “It lets me see and know everything.” She stroked the ball, and the images therein danced around the tips of her fingers.
“Why did you come in my tent? To get out of the wind? Or would you like to know about yourselves?” the gypsy spoke slowly.
When the woman closed her eyes and grabbed the crystal ball, the lights inside became faster and began to change colors. When she released her grip, the lights were blue again. She opened her eyes.
“Your names are Russell and Jason. You’re both twelve. Russell, you play football and pick on your younger sister. One day you’ll kill a hundred Germans and become a war hero,” she said, prompting Russell to grin.
“And your name is Jason,” she pointed to the other boy. “One day you’ll get married, have six children, and become a millionaire - as long as you start saving your money.”
The boys looked at each other, smiled, and wondered how the woman knew all of that. It must have been from the crystal ball. The gypsy continued to let her fingers play on the ball and cause the light inside to react.
“Anything else for you boys?” the woman asked.
“My wife,” said Jason, “Will she be pretty?”
“Grow up and find out,” the gypsy chuckled, “Goodnight you two.”
After this, the woman leaned backwards and vanished into the blackness. The two boys turned and left the tent, apparently forgetting the boy with glasses, who was hiding in a dark corner. He watched the crystal ball and its brilliance before being interrupted by the voice of the gypsy. She was still obscured by black.
“Why are you still here?” she said, but the boy did not answer. “I’ve got some things to show you. Please, step forward.”
He did not want to, but the boy left the corner and came before the crystal ball. The gypsy reemerged and moved her hand across the sphere. The boy did not look at her; he only watched the ball.
“I know you,” she began. “Your name is Joseph. Those other boys aren't nice to you, are they? No, and their fortunes weren’t true either. But you - you’re curious. That’s why you came inside. You don’t believe in magic, but something about the tent drew you in.
You’re skeptical, too, you weigh truth by sight, and you believe in the books you read. Heroes, villains, treasures, and monsters are the stuff of your imagination. I will tell you that the world is full of them, but you mustn’t believe in them. I’ll tell you a story.”
As she spoke, Joseph saw a moving picture in the crystal ball of a girl playing in a field of clover. She wore a red dress and stopped to stare at a mountain beyond a brook.
“There once was a little girl, curious about the world around her. Her parents told her that she could travel wherever she pleased, except for the land on the other side of a river near her home. Everywhere but there she was permitted to go. One day, when she was out of her parents’ sight, the girl took off toward a mountain that lied past the river.
“When the girl came to the foot of the mountain, she saw a rocky cave and went inside. She went deep into the cave, and the farther she went, the less light there was to see. She was afraid but decided to go on.
All of a sudden, she ran into a flat wall inside the cave. She felt around and grabbed a round knob that was sticking out of the wall. When she turned it, a section of the rock opened to reveal a long hallway. The hallway was like that of a house, and it was lit by red, hanging candles on each side. And since the door behind her closed, she had to keep going. At the end of the hallway was another door, and when she opened it, uncovered nothing.”
“Nothing?” Joseph, who witnessed the crystal ball become black, inquired.
“Until,” the gypsy continued, “the girl stepped through the door. Her body began to glow, and then she could see where she was. It was a labyrinth of bookshelves that was so high she couldn’t see the ceiling. When she looked at the shelves, the book titles were ones of a strange language she couldn’t understand. The girl walked down one of the passages of the maze, feeling her way along the bookshelves, looking for a way out.
“The girl started hearing the faint noises of footsteps and whispers, but when she looked around, all she could see was light ending in darkness. All of a sudden, on the edge of her light, she saw pale bodies scurrying around her. They ran from the light she gave, until she cornered one in the turn of the passage. She could see it was a person who was frail, sickly, and white with tattered clothes.
“You see Joseph, there are a great many things that you don’t see. There exists beyond the world we inhabit a reality such as this, full of darkness. Whether we realize it or not, there are people there, and sometimes those people are us.”
The woman toyed with the crystal ball, creating all kinds of pictures in it for the boy to see, and she said to him, “O Joseph, the world is convincing, but you must never believe it: it’s all just an illusion.”
The woman took her hands off of the ball and the tent became completely dark except for a sliver of light at its opening. The boy ran out into the night, and when he turned back, the place he left was only a plot of grass.