I told her of the freaky meeting through her crystal window, that as I got off, the elderly man appeared to be getting in the way. I wondered how could a hunched man like that amble up the steps so quickly; he must have had an urgent matter to deal with. “It looked like he wanted to maintain his lead” but of course he needed the banister to keep his balance, I mused to myself. So I passed along and walked quickly up the escalator, surely he wouldn't be able to catch up to me, I thought to myself. The man had his day to be ahead of everyone else but not me! “When I got to the top well there he was adjusting his collar to brace the wind!” And when I told her that she glared back with a single word. “Unbelievable!”
I didn't see him pass me along the way and although I didn't see him face on, there he was with the same hat and light grey simmer suit preparing to leave the subway entrance. This was a strange encounter. as if somebody was trying to tell me that I wouldn't have my way and that appearances are not what they seem. You see in some countries a man of sixty can walk as nimbly up a steep slope as a much younger person and doesn't have to exert himself as much as he would by walking up some steps in any North American city. In others they never see the light of day and have to work hard to receive his quota of daylight.
She wrapped up her séance to say “But you'll be different from the rest, won't you? Somehow you'll be able to balance out the negatives and the positives!”
“ I get this creepy feeling that from now on, I will be followed by people from another dimension wanting to see what I will do that they could not fulfill.”
“That is a test of time”, I heard as I handed over some crumpled bills and skirted her glance to leave.
