Taos, chapter 6 -- PG-13

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librarian_7
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Taos, chapter 6 -- PG-13

Post by librarian_7 »

It's Wednesday, it must be time for a new chapter of Taos...

Taos

Chapter 6

Madame Sosostris



“I’m still not really sure about this,” Sarah said, as she and Betty got out of the car. There was nothing too frightening, however, about the low adobe house before them. The garden out front appeared to be carefully tended, and Sarah guessed that it contained a variety of herbs, although she would have been hard-pressed to identify any of them. It was just that no one grew weeds in such neat, orderly rows. They had to be there on purpose.

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Betty replied. “Mme. Sosostris is always happy to have visitors.”

She strode forward boldly towards the door, stopping short as Sarah asked, “Have you ever actually been here before?”

Betty grinned, sheepishly. “Well…” she said, drawing the word out, “not exactly. But I know lots of people who have.”

“Oh, great.” Sarah couldn’t help laughing at her friend. “This ought to be just wonderful.”

Betty jerked her head, causing her blonde curls to bounce around her face. “Fine,” she said, “laugh at me. I’ll be laughing later.” She raised her hand, ready to give the door a good solid rap.

Before she could do it, though, the plank door swung open to reveal an attractive, gray-haired woman, neatly dressed in a khaki shirt and matching jodhpurs. She looked like an older New York society wife, ready for a ride in Central Park. Only the deep tan of her face gave the lie to that impression. “Betty Wells,” she said, “finally come around to hear your fortune, have you? And brought that friend from back East, too.”

Betty had the grace to blush. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, it’s about time. When I heard you went off to school in New York, I about gave up. But something told me that sooner or later I’d find you on my doorstep.” She paused. “I expect the two of you had better come in. No sense standing out in the noonday sun.” She gestured them inside, her movements as graceful and easy as her appearance would suggest.

The girls found themselves in a large, sunny room, sparsely furnished with heavy Spanish furniture. Several ristras hung from the beams overhead, the dried chilies providing splashes of color. From what Sarah had learned, it could’ve been a typical room in any traditional New Mexican home. She couldn’t imagine anything less like a fortuneteller’s den; it certainly bore no resemblance to the storefronts she’d passed by in New York, with their neon signs advertising palmistry and horoscopes, open doorways covered with bead curtains, and the tinny recorded sound of gypsy violins seeping out into the noisy street.

Madame Sosostris surveyed Sarah, looking amused. “I wasn’t what you were expecting,” she commented.

Sarah could feel her cheeks growing hot. “Uh, no, ma’am.”

“Not theatrical enough?” Her voice was musical and low, and she sounded as though she laughed a good deal. She spoke with a slight accent; just enough to give her words an exotic flavor. Pulling open a drawer of the sideboard, she extracted a colorful silk scarf, printed with tropical birds, and twisted it deftly around her head. “Better?”

Sarah smiled and ducked her head a little, not knowing which would be worse: to agree and look like a silly schoolgirl, or not, and still look like a fool. She felt, desperately, that this was a huge mistake.

Betty laughed, “Oh, Madame, don’t tease. She’s a little shy.”

“I can see that, child.” The woman extended a hand to Sarah, gesturing her to a table sitting in the full morning sun. “Come. Let’s see what she has to tell me.”

Sarah sat down, a little confused. “I thought – you would tell me.”

“True, true. But I have to read you, first.” She took her seat across the narrow table, and laid her hands on the tablecloth. “Give me your hands, dear.”

Taking a deep breath, Sarah laid her hands in the other woman’s, palms upturned, unsure of what was to come.

Madame Sosostris took Sarah’s hands, holding them loosely from beneath in the bright light from the window. She leaned forward, the ends of the scarf she had twisted around her head falling forward, black fringe and yellow and scarlet embroidery brushing the blues and greens of the table covering in a silent clash of colors. There was no sound in the room, save for the calls of birds from the trees around the house, and the rush of wind across the ground. Even Betty’s chatter was stilled, and she stood back from the pair at the table, watching and waiting.

The time drew out endlessly, and Sarah bit her lip, concentrating on keeping her hands steady. She wondered why Madame Sosostris was studying her palm so closely. Surely, if the woman was as skilled as Betty had said, such an extended examination would be unnecessary, except for dramatic effect. Then, suddenly, without relaxing her grasp, Madame Sosostris leaned back, her eyes closing in concentration, the sound of her breathing harsh in the quiet.

Sarah turned her head, finding Betty with a questioning look. The other girl shrugged, her smile uncertain.

Ten, twenty, thirty seconds ticked by. Sarah was watching dust motes dancing in the sun through the window, fighting an urge to snatch her hands away and run.

Then, slowly, Madame Sosostris rolled her head forward, her eyes opening to pierce Sarah, like twin flames. She blinked several times, as though trying to clear her head.

“Are you all right?” Sarah asked.

Madame Sosostris shook her head. “Yes, yes, child, I’m all right.” She paused. “I’ve never seen a hand quite like yours.”

Sarah’s eyes widened, alarm creeping in. “B – bad?” she faltered.

“No,” the fortuneteller said slowly, “not bad. Just – different.” She released Sarah’s left hand and ran a finger lightly over Sarah’s right palm, sending a shiver down her spine, and raising goose bumps on her arms. “You see, you have a good head line, indicating intelligence, and your heart line shows you to be a sweet and loving woman. But –”

“What?”

Madame Sosostris shook her head again, thoughtfully. “You will find love, that is sure. From what I see, a great love, a love without end.” She tapped a forefinger against her lips, and her eyebrows drew together as she stared once more at Sarah’s palm. “And that’s—that’s what I don’t understand. You see, my dear, love is mortal. Sooner or later, all love ends. It may end in parting, or it may die while a marriage goes on, but we humans all die, and if love lasts beyond death, no one has ever proved it. But your hand—your hand is telling me that you will be loved past death, past time itself. And your own life line…I don’t understand it. I learned to read palms from my grandmother, when I was a small child, and I’ve never seen this before.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s as though your life…pauses. Not life, not death, but something else.”

“That makes no sense.”

Madame Sosostris shrugged, and stroked Sarah’s palm again. “What can I say? The hand never lies, and destiny is not always easy to interpret. But you are meant for something special, of that there is no doubt. All I can tell you is, when you find your grand passion, be careful. Be careful, and be very, very sure.”

Sarah went still. Special, she understood. She’d always felt it, she’d always known that something was awaiting her. Like a movement just outside her field of perception, more imagined than seen, she knew she had a destiny. She’d never spoken of it, but it had grown with her all her life. “Thank you,” she murmured, “you’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“I can ask for no more.” Madame Sosostris’ grasp shifted subtly, and Sarah knew the reading was done, that her hand was being held now for comfort and support, not as an object of scrutiny. Now the sunlit room seemed homey, cozy.

Betty cocked her head to one side. “I think…it’s time for us to go. Thank you, Madame.”

“Betty, my dear, one of these days you should sit down at my table. I can tell you many, many things you need to know.” Madame Sosostris’ smile took on an edge Sarah had not noticed before.

Betty’s laugh was just the slightest bit shaky. “I feel better not knowing, I think.”

“So you believe now.” Madame Sosostris opened a carved box at the end of the table, extracted a black cigarette with a gold filter tip, and lit it with a silver table lighter. Her laugh now seemed darker, less pleasant. She inhaled deeply and blew out a cloud of bluish, heavily scented smoke. “These taste like street sweepings from Piter,” she commented. “But you begin to miss home, when you get older. Keep that in mind, Betty. You can roam too far.”

Suddenly, Sarah thought, the dark beams overhead that supported the ceiling seemed crushing, as though they might fall and trap her in a living grave. She couldn’t breathe, the strong aroma of the cigarette smoke stifling her. She was almost stumbling as they crossed the threshold, and the bright sunlight hammered at her. She took several great gulps of hot, sage-perfumed air.

Sarah had loved the landscape, the desert floor rising into pine and fir covered mountains. But now it all seemed alien and strange, and she yearned for the concrete valleys and soaring skyscrapers of her city, her home. She wished she could close her eyes and be transported into the cool safety of her bedroom.
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allegrita
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Re: Taos, chapter 6 -- PG-13

Post by allegrita »

I. Love. This. Chapter. :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

You are so deft at creating a mood, and the mood here ranges from funny to creepy to downright supernatural. And it all works perfectly. Madame Sosostris is a very perceptive woman, and she sees something otherworldly about our seemingly earthbound Sarah. She sees that Sarah has a destiny for... something... and I'm thrilled to learn that Sarah has always known it too. This is a wonderful parallel to Beth's feeling of being protected all her life. It's one of those impossible-to-explain things that one just knows.

And yet, as wonderful as this chapter is, it's also very sad. We know that Sarah's destiny is as tragic as it is epic, and we fear for her. Because you've made us love her a lot in this story... and you've shown us why she is the sort of person who might just knock the socks off a 350-year-old, jaded vampire.

It's not at all rational, but I wish there were a way to keep her in Taos. She could avoid that destiny, go out dancing with Jim, have a happy life there. It's like a shimmering dreamworld of "what if". I don't want this lovely young woman to go home and meet her destiny! :hankie:

And speaking of destinies... what the heck is Madame warning Betty about? What's in her future?? :gasp:
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Re: Taos, chapter 6 -- PG-13

Post by darkstarrising »

Wow!! As alle said, you really are quite deft at creating the mood, in this case one that shifts from lighthearted (let's go get our fortunes read) to one that reflects Sarah's fear. Madame Sosostris clearly wasn't what Sarah was expecting, and I love how she places the scarf around her head showing Sarah that she knows what her visitor is thinking.

But all isn't fun and games. Madame Sosostris is puzzled by what she reads on Sarah's palm, but Sarah's skepticism vanishes when she's told she is destined for something 'special', something Sarah always believed of herself. If only she knew.

But what of Betty's fortune? Madame Sosostris seems anxious to read Betty's palm while Betty is just as anxious to remain in the dark.
“But you begin to miss home, when you get older. Keep that in mind, Betty. You can roam too far.”
Wonder where Betty roams off to.....and if she already understands Madame Sosostris' warning.

As for Sarah, home is starting to look pretty good right now. Her grand adventure has been eye-opening, but after this reading, she feels just a little out of place in this exotic place, perhaps even a bit frightened by it. Still, when she returns home, she's not going to be the same sheltered little girl she once was.

Looking forward to the next chapter, Lucky :hug:
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Re: Taos, chapter 6 -- PG-13

Post by Shadow »

Whew, I am totally with Betty here .... some things it's better not to know. I've been really getting fond of Sarah in this story, and Madame's reading is quite the cold splash of a reminder that Sarah will have such a tragic fate, which is actually coming up extremely soon. Sarah's fear at the end, the way the landscape she'd come to love suddenly seems frightening, is so very evocative. The seer's words to Betty are quite alarming, too. All in all, I'm quite glad that Betty chose not to get a reading herself. And what a mystery for Sarah, who obviously at least half believes what she's been told here. It seems sure that this warning about her grand passion will come back to haunt her later, and that she'll make her decision to try to be with Josef despite it.
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