Page 24 of Fast Forward

I knew very well what my deepest desires were and a crying, messy, totally dependent miniature human being was not one of them!

“Okay, I’m sensing something else now…”

That I was not particularly satisfied with this reading?

“Your mother.”

I sat up tall and pricked my ears. Maybe she’d been warming up and was actually onto something now.

“I feel you haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

Well, that’s true.

“I’m getting the sense that you need to give her a call, perhaps take her out for lunch. Have a good old mother-daughter catch up.”

Strike three. That was it. I pushed my chair back and stood, shaking my head. Rosie was a dud and in fact, I could probably do a better job.

“Wait, what’s the matter?” Rosie asked, standing up.

“Just how am I supposed to take my dead mother out to lunch, huh?”

Rosie’s face went rosy and she sat back down in defeat. I turned to walk away but someone’s hand stopped me. Long purple fingernails gripped my wrist and my gaze followed the length of an arm until it met with the other psychic’s face. Liliana.

“Wait. I can help you.”

I tried to shrug her hand away but it wouldn’t budge. “No, no! You people are frauds!”

“It’s your birthday, today.” It wasn’t a question, but a confident statement.

I narrowed my eyes at Liliana. “How did you know that?”

She smiled.

“No, someone could have told you, or you could have been following me. I’m going now.” Again I tried to move but this woman sustained her grip, even stronger than the breath from Miss Hurricane who was now dabbing at the corner of her eye with a tissue.

“This birthday has not been what you expected, has it?” Liliana asked.

I shook my head and looked down at my feet. “No, it hasn’t.”

“It’s strange, when I read your energy, instead of getting a continual flow, I sense a sudden interruption. Like a big chunk of your life has gone missing – it’s strange, I tell you.”

Intrigued, I looked up into her bright blue eyes. “Go on.”

“Come.” She gestured to her booth. “Take a seat and let me see what else comes up for you. What’s your name, dear?”

“Kelli.” As though hypnotised I obliged, setting my backside down onto the chair, much to the dismay of Rosie, who escaped from her booth into a room out the back of the store.

Liliana took a normal breath like a normal person and continued. “It’s as though you’re living two different lives. I get a sense of the person you were in the past, when you were younger – very strong willed and determined, with your whole life planned out. And now, the person you are at present is more… flexible. More creative. More spontaneous. And yet, it’s like there’s this string trying to pull you back to the past and another one trying to pull you forward. You’re stuck. Stuck in the middle and you wish more than anything that you could go back and live the kind of life you used to live. Is this making any sense to you?” Liliana’s eyes searched mine.

The tingle of goose bumps appeared on my arms and tiny hairs stood up on end. “Yes, it makes perfect sense.” Finally, someone who understands.

“Do you have any specific questions you’d like to ask me?”

Did I have any questions? Boy, did I have questions! Where would I start? How was it possible to wake up twenty-five years in the future, why did I marry William of all people, why did I have children when I couldn’t even handle a pet, and why am I not the world’s most famous supermodel?

I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Liliana, do you believe in…” I glanced around surreptitiously to make sure there were no men in white jumpsuits getting ready to whisk me away to a facility for middle-aged menopausal psychopaths. “… time travel?”

Liliana didn’t gasp, or bring her hands to her mouth, or call security – she didn’t even flinch at the question, as though asked this kind of thing every day. “I’m not totally convinced that it’s possible… in the sense that a person can travel to the future, or the past for that matter, and remain the same age like you see in the movies.”

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