Carl evaporated from his chair and is replaced by a tall elegant slightly awkward blond woman with irregularly cropped hair which has come into style again. She carries a small black lacquer tray with two bone porcelain cups. To my surprise I recognize the fragrance of green jasmine tea. After the sun went down I can see the crescent moon through the canopy and the dome. I again detected a fragrance and I realized it's the night fragrant moth orchid behind me. Sweet strains of Mozart filter into the misty atmosphere. I get a chill and discover I'm not cold. It's the harmoniously orchestrated environment that's making shivers run up my skin.
"Hello, My name is Bettina," she said as she sets down the tray and places before me the cup and saucer. I'm grateful for the prop as I need to re-enter the space before I leave again for the next reading of this new person. "I'm told that you would be reading for me tonight." She speaks well through a slight but distinctive Dutch accent that is so common for her nationality, education and pay grade. I sip my tea only to discover that Bettina touches me first on my left hand where she silently sat down before I even notice. I flinch, which makes Bettina giggle and she removes here hand. "You are a funny little man." she says with a mischievous smile. She looks into my eyes like we have been friends for life. By now, the hair on my head is standing on end.
"Hello," I said trying to clear my throat. "I'm a friend of Gretchen's and,"
"We know," she interjected. "We all wanted to meet you during your dinner." "But I think we all felt a little threatened when we saw you scanning "Gretchen." I sense a kind of power from Bettina that is making my head spin. I could barely think, and I like it. Again I detect a sweet essence, not a product, not the tea, not the orchid over head which is now draining it's full bouquet down on me. It's coming from her, and for all her subtlety I doubt she even cares that I am beginning to palpably shake.
"Would you excuse me for a moment I need to stretch my legs?" In reality I need to compose myself. Bettina stood up with me and immediately starts doing some gentle stretches like she's a teacher prompting class to follow in kind. Her movements are utterly infectious. I take delight in following her lead. As the movement takes effect my mind starts to fill with impressions of this woman's hard life as a child of misfortune. Soon the images of a boarding school with cruel children mocking this giant of a skinny girl for her quiet genius, floods my senses. I fight my way back, up into that dining hall that I haven't left. I feel like crying, but I have to surface back and I look, up, into her eyes. She is smiling down on me. We are still. I hadn't noticed how tall she is until now. Just like Carl, she telescopes down to look like any other short person, as tall people tend to do when they meet me. After a quiet pause we sit down again and she repeats that I am a funny little man. I have so much I want to ask her but I have by this time completely lost my train of thought and she gets up just in time to be replaced by a very petite woman with shocking straight black hair cut in a bob with a yellow head band behind her ears. I can already understand why they have stopped talking to each other, much less do they talk to anyone else very often either, ever. Their inner quiet is deafening.
"My name is Maria." And no sooner than when she sits down, again to my left, she shows me both of her hands. I'm afraid there isn't enough light, but that isn't a problem yet and my eyes are strangely clear. Maybe I not going to need my eyes anyway. I take my hands and place them prone on her supine palms and feel waves of warmth emanating from her. She spontaneously starts to cry. I started to feel a weight in my chest. This is going to be a weird night indeed.
