Blast from the Past. Cathy Hopkins

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СКАЧАТЬ about what you’re going back to?’

      I nodded. ‘I am but I’m determined not to think about it while we’re here. It’s been wonderful to have a break from all my concerns back home. I’ll deal with it when I get back. Heather’s been texting but I purposely haven’t read her or Stuart’s messages.’

      ‘Good for you. Heather’s a good manager so I’m sure will cope if anything’s come up. And you know Marcia and I will do whatever we can to help.’

      ‘I do, but let’s not talk about it now. If I start worrying here, there’s not anything I can do, it’s not going to make any difference, and it would only spoil our last day.’

      ‘Exactly,’ said Pete. ‘Very wise.’

      We chatted away about our plans for Christmas and the time flashed by until Marcia came back with Adita, who beckoned to Pete to go with her.

      ‘So, how was it?’ I asked.

      ‘Not saying. I don’t want to influence you. How about we tell each other what she said when we’re all done,’ she said, and with that, she went over to a sun-lounger, picked up a magazine from a nearby table and stretched out on the bed.

      ‘OK, but good or bad do you reckon?’ I asked.

      Marcia put her hand up to her mouth and zipped. ‘My lips are sealed.’

      ‘Spoilsport,’ I said. I could see she wasn’t going to be budged, so I got out my book of puzzles to do while I waited. I loved puzzles and crosswords; they were great for passing time at airports, on planes and trains, or anywhere I had an hour to kill. I’d even been known to have a jigsaw on my dining table on a rainy weekend, something that Marcia found hilarious.

      An hour later, Pete was back. He looked slightly dazed and, for the first time, I felt a twinge of apprehension. ‘OK?’ I asked.

      ‘Fantastic,’ he said as he went to sit by Marcia. ‘She’s definitely got something.’

      Hmm, I’ll be the judge of that, and I mustn’t give anything away, I thought, as Adita beckoned that I should follow her. I got up and she led me back to the reception area, along a corridor to the left and into one of the hotel rooms. I knew from gullible friends that sometimes fortune-tellers fished for clues. Well, I wasn’t going to give her any.

      ‘Saranya Ji will come in short time,’ said Adita, as she indicated that I should take a seat, then she left me alone to wait.

      I looked around the small suite, with its closed shutter doors that I presumed led to a bedroom. The room was tastefully decorated in traditional style with cream walls, a red velvet sofa and chaise longue with gold cushions, a navy blue Persian rug on the floor and an antique-looking painting on the one wall showing a maharaja riding an elephant. This must have cost a packet, I thought. Gypsy Rose Ji must be doing well out of the psychic business.

      Moments later, the door opened, and I stood as a small Indian lady in a white sari came in. She exuded warmth and came over and greeted me like a long-lost friend.

      ‘My dear Bea, I am so pleased to see you,’ she said as she clasped my hands in hers and I noticed the soft scent of roses and sandalwood. I couldn’t help being charmed by her manner and found myself smiling back at her. ‘Please, sit, sit. Would you like tea? They have mint here, made with fresh mint, no teabags. It’s very refreshing.’ She spoke with a perfect English accent and I found myself wanting to know more about her. I resolved to google her as soon as I got back to my hotel.

      ‘Yes, that sounds wonderful.’

      She picked up the phone and ordered tea then turned back. ‘So my dear, how can I help?’

      ‘Help? Oh no. I don’t need help, no, my friend Marcia, the lady you saw earlier, she bought a session with you for me as a birthday gift.’

      Saranya Ji regarded me in a manner I found a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she looked at me unkindly, more that she stared right into me and I felt exposed in some way. I felt myself blush. After a few moments, she nodded and smiled. ‘OK, a gift. So what would like to know?’

      ‘I … I thought you were going to tell my fortune.’

      ‘Ah. Fortune. I don’t exactly tell fortunes. Is that what you want? Someone to tell you your future?’

      She’s fishing, I thought. ‘No. Not that.’

      ‘Good,’ she said. ‘The past has gone, the future is yet to be written; only the present is real.’

      ‘True,’ I said as there was a knock at the door and a waiter brought in a silver tray with tea.

      After he’d gone, Saranya Ji poured and handed me a cup, then we sat in silence for a while which I found awkward. I didn’t know where to look, so I stared at the carpet. I am not going to give anything away, I told myself.

      Finally Saranya Ji began to speak. ‘I feel sadness in you, Bea, and resistance. I feel scepticism, but this will change.’

      Doubt it, I thought, and as for appearing sad or resistant, that could apply to most of the population. Who hasn’t got to the age of fifty without a few knocks?

      ‘Why are you here?’ she asked.

      ‘We’re on holiday—’

      ‘No, I mean here today, with me.’

      ‘My friend Marcia, the gift, I couldn’t refuse. I … there’s nothing I want to know specifically.’

      Saranya Ji sighed and then nodded to herself, as if accepting that I wasn’t going to blurt out my whole life. ‘OK. Give me your hands,’ she instructed. I held my hands out and she took them in hers, turned them palm upwards and studied them. She closed her eyes as if tuning in to me, then opened her eyes and let go of my hands.

      ‘You have known pain with love in this lifetime, no?’ she asked.

      ‘I … I …’ I blustered. ‘I’ve had good relationships and some not so good, probably like everyone my age.’ I was about to tell her more, then remembered that I’d resolved not to give anything away.

      ‘I mean the joy of love and contentment that comes from meeting your equal and soulmate,’ said Saranya Ji. She looked at me with such compassion that I felt my eyes well with tears. It was as if she knew, she understood how empty my life felt, but that couldn’t be. I’d known her five minutes and some people I’d spent a lifetime with had no idea about what went on in my head and my heart. I had a good public mask of being cheerful, positive, not needing anyone. Only friends like Marcia, Pete, Heather and Stuart knew what went on behind the act. I blinked the tears away. Ridiculous. What was wrong with me? And what was happening here? Maybe Marcia had been filling her in on my past, or Pete? I’ll kill them when I get out of here, I thought. Marcia saw my present lack of love life as her private mission, and was forever trying to pair me off with inappropriate single men.

      ‘You have travelled far through time to be here,’ said Saranya Ji.

      ‘True,’ I said again. ‘It was a long flight from England and we go back tomorrow.’

      ‘No. СКАЧАТЬ