Chapter 6
The CD played static for a few moments before a gentle Cornish female voice kicked in.
‘Hello Sarah, my name’s Madame Louisa. It’s the twenty-second of April. Your friend, Mandy, has asked me to do a reading for all her friends as a memento for her eighteenth birthday. It will be a general reading covering the next ten to fifteen years.’
‘Oh my God.’ I pressed the pause button. ‘It’s the clairvoyant CD. But I lost it. How the hell…?’
Elise looked as shocked as I felt. ‘We trashed Mandy’s house and yours looking for that.’
‘I know! So how did it get in there?’
‘What is it?’ Clare asked. ‘Did you say clairvoyant?’
‘Yes.’
‘From when you were eighteen?’
‘Yes.’
Clare rubbed her hands together. ‘This should be interesting. And who’s this Mandy? I’ve never heard you mention her.’
‘She was a friend at college but we lost touch. She had this clairvoyant party. Her mum was into stuff like that. We’d been drinking cocktails all evening and, by the time I went in, the room was spinning.
I had my reading, came out, fell over, threw up and my dad had to collect me.
The next day I couldn’t remember a thing about my reading.
We’re talking major alcohol blackout here, but I figured it was no problem because I had a CD.
Only the CD had gone missing and remained missing until right now. ’
Clare sighed. ‘Things don’t just disappear then re-appear. You obviously didn’t look hard enough and—’
‘But we did,’ I protested.
‘Obviously not,’ Clare said. ‘Let’s hear it then.’
‘I don’t know if I want to.’
Clare raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.
‘She said the reading would cover ten to fifteen years. It’s twelve years on now. What if she predicts bad things are about to happen?’
She shuffled her bum round so she could lean against the wardrobe and face Elise and me. ‘Or, what if she just comes out with an absolute pile of crap? I know what I’ll be betting on.’
‘What do you think?’ I asked Elise.
‘You never know till you try,’ Elise said. ‘There’s always the eject button if you don’t like what you hear.’
I looked from one eager face to the other, my two best friends united in opinion for once, but I still hesitated.
What if she said I was going to contract an incurable disease aged thirty-and-a-half?
What if she said the biggest mistake I ever made was taking over Seaside Blooms and I’d end up homeless and bankrupt?
And what if she said I was never going to meet Mr Right or that I’d already met him and let him slip through my fingers? Andy perhaps?
‘I don’t know,’ I said eventually.
Clare sighed. ‘Jesus, Sarah. What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘That’s what I’m worried about.’ A flashback hit me. ‘Uncle Alan,’ I gasped. ‘I spoke to him.’
‘You did what?’ Clare asked.
‘When I came out of the reading, I told everyone I’d spoken to him.’
‘I remember that,’ Elise said. ‘But you didn’t tell anyone what he said…’
‘And I couldn’t remember the next day.’
‘Well, now’s your chance to find out,’ Clare said.
I took a deep breath and leaned forward. With shaking hands, I pressed play again.
‘Let me explain what’s going to happen. I’ll be using my crystal ball to help me, as well as a guide from the spirit world.
I’m recording our discussion so you can listen to what I say on another day in the quietness of your own home where it will be easier to take in.
Although I’ve been asked to give you a general reading, is there anything you’d rather I focus on? Any burning questions?’
‘Er no, well, erm… maybe work and men?’
‘You sound so young,’ Elise squealed, ‘and drunk.’
I hung my head in embarrassment at the sound of my childish squeaky voice and the slurred words. This was going to be cringe-worthy.
‘Work and men?’ repeated Madame Louisa. ‘I can certainly make sure I cover those topics. Let’s start. I’m contacting the spirit world. I have a lady with me. An elderly lady. She says she’s on your mum’s side of the family.’
‘My grandma?’
‘She says yes.’
‘Bollocks,’ Clare said.
I pressed pause. ‘What is?’
‘You led her. She mentioned an elderly lady and you immediately let her know your grandma is dead so now she can pretend it’s your grandma she’s communicating with.’
I scowled at her and pressed play again.
‘She says you look like your mum and that, if you find the photo taken at the lighthouse, you’ll see that you look just like your grandma too, except you don’t have the heart shaped birthmark on your cheek that she has.’
Goose bumps pricked my arms. I wasn’t familiar with the lighthouse photo – I’d have to ask Mum about that – but I could clearly remember the birthmark. I stared at Clare, trying to mentally convey that the birthmark couldn’t be a lucky guess, but she wouldn’t catch my eye.
‘Your grandma says she hopes you enjoyed your drinks but doesn’t envy you the headache you’ll have tomorrow.
‘You’re a warm and caring person, Sarah.
You’re always there for your friends and you’re a great listener, doing your agony aunt bit when they’re in trouble.
Your friends always come to you first with their problems and you like feeling you can help.
Yet, when you have a problem yourself or are worried about anything, you put on a brave face and try to work through it by yourself or you bury your head in the sand, hoping things will get better on their own.
This approach doesn’t work. As you get older, you’ll realise that being more open about your doubts could have prevented you from getting stuck in a rut with your job and your relationship.
‘In years to come you’ll find yourself in a relationship that should never have lasted as long as it did. It would never have lasted that long if you’d talked to your friends about your concerns.
‘You need to hold on to the beliefs you have of love and marriage because you will find it; it will just take quite a bit longer than you’d hoped in your great plan of life. But, when you find the right one, you’ll have exactly what your parents have; just like you long for.’
I stopped the CD and looked at Clare then Elise. ‘Do you think she could be talking about Jason? And she mentioned my life plan. And my parents.’
Elise nodded but Clare just pulled a face that I knew meant, ‘What a pile of crap’.
‘Will you just press play, please?’ Clare said. ‘I don’t think we need to be analysing every sentence, do we? And she didn’t say “life plan”. She said, “your great plan of life” which is very general and very different, so it is.’
‘You’re very close to your family. I see two mother figures in your life. Do you have a stepmother? No. Not a stepmother but definitely a mother figure. Godmother? I see her surrounded by flowers. Do you know who I’m talking about?’
‘My Auntie Kay. She owns Seaside Blooms on Castle Street. She’s my auntie and my godmother.’
‘I see. She’s a very important influence on your life, isn’t she? She’ll be pivotal when you reach your thirties but I’ll come back to that later. We’ll return to the more immediate future for now. You’re going to university after college. You’re currently planning to become a teacher.’
‘Did Mandy tell you that?’
‘No. As I said, the spirit world and the crystal are guiding me.’
Clare raised her hand and I pressed pause again. ‘Well, that was a load of old tosh.’ She pointed at Elise. ‘She’s the teacher, not you.’
Elise and I exchanged looks.
‘At the time the CD was made, I did want to be a teacher,’ I said.
‘But you did business studies. You wanted a job in marketing or PR like me.’
‘I know. But I used to want to be a teacher.’
‘Since when?’
‘Since I was little.’
‘We both wanted to be teachers,’ Elise said. ‘I wanted to teach English and drama but Sarah wanted primary school.’
I nodded. ‘College released me for work experience after my exams finished and I hated it. As soon as I got my A level results, I went through clearing. I thought business studies would help keep my options open.’
‘Can’t imagine you as a teacher,’ Clare muttered. She held out her glass. ‘I need a top up.’
‘The bottle’s empty.’
‘Drink.’
I sighed and headed for the kitchen to reluctantly open a third bottle. I returned to a heated debate.
‘It’s lucky guesses,’ snapped Clare.
‘It isn’t. It’s a gift,’ Elise insisted.
‘Bollocks.’
‘That’s intelligent, Clare.’
‘It’s more intelligent than some charlatan pretending she can predict the future.’
‘Just because you don’t understand something, it doesn’t mean it isn’t true,’ Elise retaliated.
‘And a few lucky guesses don’t mean it’s true either. Plus she said Sarah wanted to be a teacher when Sarah obviously didn’t want to be one so it’s not even accurate.’
‘She said Sarah was planning to become a teacher which, at the time, she was.’
‘You’re just trying to fit things to—’
They both stopped when I coughed loudly. Elise muttered ‘sorry’ and Clare just looked at me with sad eyes. Without a word, I topped up Clare’s glass then pressed play again.
‘You’re the sort of person who’ll always work hard and make sure they do their best in their career.
You won’t become a teacher, but you’ll still go to university.
After graduating, you’ll stay in the city where you studied, then move to London with work a few years later.
After many years of the same career in the same company, your auntie will offer you an opportunity, out of the blue, to make a fresh start and make a career out of something you love.
It will be something completely different to what you’re used to and will enable you to use the creativity that your job stifled.
The opportunity will be presented to you when you’ve reached a crossroads in your life and, even though you’re desperate for a change, you’ll feel like you shouldn’t take it.
It will excite you and scare you at the same time.
You’ll doubt you can do it, but you should know that you have what it takes to be an amazing success at it. ’