way of answers, but we’ll see what we see, I guess.”
“Why would you assume I was in the ‘trade’?” Kate asked.
“Honey, you got vibes coming off you like a freight train,” she said.
The inner-editor in Kate noted that vibes do not come off freight trains, but she held her tongue.
“I still don’t follow…”
“Your aura?” Zora said. “You got a psychic vibe coming off you. I'm surprised I didn't notice it ‘till I saw you.”
“What did you see?” Kate asked.
“You’re psychic,” Zora said.
“I’m not psychic,” she replied.
“Well, I don’t really care if you think you are or not. You are.”
“Wouldn’t I know?”
“Not necessarily, honey,” Zora said and tapped her brightly-painted fingernails on the table. “Your aura-well, you got a lot of juice. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Okay,” Kate said and scribbled in her notebook.
“Believe me or not, sweetheart,” Zora said. “It’s your call.”
“Well, let’s get started with the interview then,” Kate said.
“You already turned on the tape recorder,” Zora said. “I thought we had started.”
Kate felt a little taken aback.
“I didn’t think you noticed that,” she said.
“I know all,” Zora said and smiled. Her far left visible tooth was gold-capped. “Well, I suppose this would go better if I was in character, wouldn’t it?”
“In character?”
“Okay,” Zora said. “You see all this bulldiddly around me, right? The beads, the kewpie dolls, the scented candles? That’s all a joke to you, right?”
“Well…” Kate said.
“It’s okay,” she replied and spread her hands. “It’s a joke to me too. Even the smoke machine, though I really do think it’s impressive. Had to order it special and everything.”
“Then why…”
“Why do it?” Zora laughed. “Because that is what people expect. Believe me, when I started out in this business, I didn’t want to be anywhere near this stuff. I thought I could remake how people saw psychics. But I was young and stupid.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn't get any customers,” she replied. “I went under my real name-Carol Cuthberson-and put out a helpful sign. This was the 1970s. I thought my power alone would keep me going.”
“It didn’t?”
“Heck, no,” she replied. “You wouldn’t believe it now, but in those days I was a looker. And all they saw was a pretty girl who told them some things they wanted to hear, but mostly stuff they didn’t. I was right, and I knew it, but they didn’t. They felt ripped off without the theatrics of the psychic scene. They had seen so many movies, even by then, that it didn’t feel real to them without all the fake crap surrounding it.”
“So you played along?”
“Eventually,” Zora said. “I worked as a secretary right out of high school. I did the whole 9 to 5 work thing. And it wasn’t for me. For starters, I got tired of knowing things I shouldn’t, like who was real sick and probably going to get cancer and whose wife was cheating on them.”
“You saw that psychically?”
“Saw is probably the wrong word,” Zora replied. “But, yeah, I knew it. It was like a gut feeling. I have had it since I was a kid. Sometimes I just knew stuff. I found that the more I listened to that voice, the more I knew. Sometimes all it took was talking to the person, other times I would shake their hand. I used to amuse my girlfriends at Lincoln High by telling them all sorts of gossip. Nobody knew how I got it-and sometimes even I wondered if I was making it up. But this one time, I knew this girl called Colleen had slept with my best friend Jeanne’s boyfriend. I told Jeanne and she cried a fit, denied it, and said I was a liar.”
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I proved her wrong,” Zora said. “I told her to wait by the girl’s locker room on Thursday night and see for herself. And sure enough, she saw that little hussy getting it on with her ‘loving boyfriend.’ If I had a nickel for every time I knew about some adultery, I would be a rich woman.”
“So you decided to take up being a psychic as a job?” Kate asked.
“I hated being a secretary,” she replied. “Just hated it. I wanted to be my own boss. But I hadn’t gone to college and this was the only talent I had.”
“You opened your own shop,” Kate said.
“I did, right on the outskirts of my hometown,” she replied. “And I stayed away from the theater at first. I really did. But while being psychic is a talent, I figured out pretty soon it isn’t enough. People want the theater. They need it. It’s the same type of person that keeps going to Catholic mass when they don’t believe a word of it. People like being mystified. They aren’t going to take psychic advice from Carol from Keystone, West Virginia. But they will take the advice of Madame Zora-Psychic of the East.”
With that, both Zora’s countenance and voice changed. Instead of seeming tired and resigned, she now appeared regal and in command of the room.
“Let me tell you your future, Kate,” she said, and Kate was blown away by the change. She seemed like a wholly different person. “Let me gaze through the sands of time and tell you what the goddess Fortuna has in store.”
And as quickly as before, Zora slumped back into her chair and returned to her regular voice.
“Be honest-who would you believe? Me or Madame Zora?”
Kate smiled.
“Exactly,” she said. “So I left Keystone, moved to Leesburg, and opened up this office here. The worst part about it is that so many people think you’re a fake. They see all this bulldiddly and think, ‘No way.’ I get that. But you know what? Most of those people wouldn’t believe me anyway. I’ve convinced plenty of people I was for real, but I’m not sure if it is the talent or the theatrics that does it.”
“You seem somewhat irritated by that,” Kate said.
“Do I?” Zora asked and sat up. “I’m not, you know. In a way, I’ve grown to like it a bit. It’s like an actor must feel giving a real fine performance. When you see some people walk out of here, you can just tell their whole world has expanded. They believe, Kate. And I know I delivered it to them.”
“But you know some of the stuff is fake?”
“Does it matter?” she asked. “They get the real stuff too.”
Kate paused.
“How much of this are you going to want me to print?” she asked. “Surely, it won’t help business.”
“Sweetheart,” Zora said and cocked her eyebrow at her. “You can print what you like. People see what they want to, anyway. And, not to break your heart, but I’m not too worried that the readers of the Loudoun Chronicle will have much effect on my business. There aren’t that many.”
Kate chuckled a bit.
“Maybe not,” she said, smiling.
“I like you, Trina,” Zora said and the color drained from Kate’s face.
“What did you call me?”
“Are you okay?” Zora asked and a look of genuine concern was on her face.
“What did you call me?”
“Trina. That’s your nickname, isn’t it? I didn’t really think about it…”
“It’s not my nickname,” Kate said evenly. She was flustered but let it go.
“Oh,” Zora said. “That’s odd. Well, maybe it’s just an off day. First, my botched entrance and then…”
“Have the police ever used you?” Kate asked suddenly.
Zora leaned back in her chair.
“Oh,” she said and put her hand to her lips. She then pulled idly at her ear.
