Outrageous fortune

Danette Goulet

FAIRGROUNDS -- The hustle and bustle of the fair faded and

disappeared behind me as psychic Diane Stevens clutched the fingertips of

my increasingly sweaty right hand.

Her eyes bore into mine as she conveyed her message.

I don’t know what I expected to think or hear as I took a seat in the

small white tent at the Orange County Fairgrounds, but I relinquished my

hand fearlessly and with a fairly open mind.

Although I have never been one to denounce psychics as a whole, it’s

difficult to put a lot of stock in one at a fair.

But before I stepped up to the psychic plate, I chatted with a few of

the other patrons.

“I come every year -- just to get a path to follow and to see if I’m

on track,” said Sandy Smyth of Newport Beach.

Smyth does not rely solely on Stevens and her daughters, who own a

shop in Costa Mesa. She goes to several psychics and compares the

readings.

Krista Austin of Harbor City was waiting to have her palm read for the

first time. Austin’s take on the craft was not quite as serious as

Smyth’s; she just wanted to try something new.

Her boyfriend, David Deringer of Harbor City, came out smiling.

“She said I’ve been blessed, that I was close to death at one time,”

Deringer said. “Yeah, I’ve been close to death a couple times, actually.

It all sounded pretty good though -- positive and fairly accurate.”

All right, enough stalling, I figured. Bring it on; tell me what you

see. I was ready.

What I didn’t bargain for was her eerie accuracy. As I tried

diligently to remember all that she told me, I found myself forgetting my

purpose.

She didn’t pull any punches, either.

“You have been in limbo this past year,” she told me. “Not yourself.”

She told me that I am an extremely strong-willed person but have lost

some of my direction and zest in this past year. Although many who know

me now might not believe it possible -- it is, sadly, true.

She said I was going to take a trip and that it would help me regain

focus. Before I headed out to the fair, I bought an airline ticket to see

my family, my first real visit in many years.

Now I’m not telling you what to think. I’m just presenting facts.

There was one freaky part for me, though.

As I sat in my overalls looking like an overgrown kid, she told me

that I had an “old soul,” that I have always related well to all ages but

as a child I was beyond my years, that I had wisdom. That is her word,

not mine.

What makes it so strange is that when I was a child, my mother used to

tell me the same thing.

Oh yeah -- I’m also going to live a long life and have two children.

Ugh.