Five Fortunes (10 page)

Typical, thought Laurie, thinking that the rules don’t apply to me.

I can climb five miles and then run a marathon without training. No wonder life’s decided to kick the shit out of me.

Five Fortunes / 71

She could picture Jimbo Turnbull, dry-eyed, probably a little drunk, standing in his big front hall as guests drove up from the cemetery. He had said to her, “So you’re in law schoo’. Didn’t have pretty girls in law schoo’ in my day.” Laurie accepted the remark, and made her speech about her mother’s respects, and their condol-ences. Jimbo answered, “But what I don’t understand is, why’d you want to go to Harvard with all those pinkos and homos? Don’t they call it The Kremlin on the Charles?” This was 1969, and Laurie, whose whole soul was inflamed over Jimbo Turnbull’s role among the Senate hawks on Vietnam, was too angry to answer. Her father slipped a hand under her elbow and said, “Well, Jim, she wanted to stay here and go to the university, but I said, ‘Don’t do that, honey, you’ll just be meeting a lot of assholes like Jimbo Turnbull.’” Jimbo roared with laughter.

“I bet you did, Hunt, I bet that’s just what you did say.” He slapped Laurie’s father on the shoulder, and put an arm around Laurie. He lowered his voice almost to a whisper, and said to them,

“Thank you for coming. Means a lot to me. You were some of Marnie’s favorite people.”

When Laurie married Roberto Lopez in 1975, Jimbo Turnbull and his new wife, Barbara, were invited to the wedding, of course. Laurie had dreaded giving Jimbo the chance to make wetback jokes, but he had been utterly gracious to Roberto, and to his family. He had kissed Laurie and told her simply that she was a beautiful bride and he’d known she would be. To Roberto he’d said, “Pleasure to shake your hand. Prettiest serve I ever saw in my life. Take good care of our little girl here.” It had taken her a year to convince Roberto that Jimbo Turnbull was not a kindly old friend of the family. Meanwhile, Laurie Knox Lopez and Barbara Turnbull had given birth to their first children within weeks of each other. Carlos and Caroline.

“You can turn over now,” the masseuse whispered. The monks went on chanting.

R
ae Strouse was feeling so much better than she had when she’d arrived that she had resumed wearing makeup.

Her eyesight was no longer perfect, and since she had to take off her glasses to put on her paint, it was probably the case that she used rather more, and more vivid, color than she would have when younger. With her trademark lids of sky blue, a dot of bright pink on each cheek, and a bright slash of vermilion on her wide mouth, she generally looked like a marvelous old parrot. But Thursday afternoon, she’d had her private session with the Makeup Artist in the Beauty Cloister. She emerged looking ready for a photo shoot.

She strutted around the pool in her bathrobe, causing a sensation of appreciation.

Rae had enjoyed herself so much that she’d bought all the makeup products even though the girl wasn’t on commission. She did this almost every time she came because the staff at The Cloisters was so good and they tried so hard. When she got home, she could give the makeup to Doreen, who looked after Albie. Doreen was too pretty to need makeup, but she studied all Rae’s fashion magazines and liked to try new things.

Carter and Laurie and Carol Haines and Rusty had all scrambled to make appointments with the Makeup Artist, and one by one they had all emerged looking alike—the makeup girl had a predilection for colors that became her own blond, blue-eyed beauty, but by no means went with everyone else’s. Carter’s transformation was the most strik-72

Five Fortunes / 73

ing. She looked, in her short no-muss haircut, suddenly “Very gamine,” as someone said, “very Audrey Hepburn.” This pleased and embarrassed Carter so much that she went into the bathhouse twice to look at herself in the mirror, and the third time to wash the makeup off.

There was such a cry of protest when she emerged, reduced to normal, that she was forced to go back to the Beauty Cloister and buy $87 worth of shadow, liner, powder, and blush. The Makeup Artist had given her a chart with a woman’s face printed on it and appropriate colors applied to the paper in the right places, so Carter could do her own face as if it were a paint-by-numbers.

“You’ll never use it,” Jill teased her.

“I will too, I’m too scotch to spend that much money and not use it,” said Carter, but she did wonder exactly when she would bother.

It was Friday afternoon, and one by one Amy, then Carter, then Laurie slipped into Carol’s room. The curtains were drawn, and the

“Do Not Disturb” sign was on the outside knob. Carol and her mother, Rusty, were already there.

“Isn’t this fun?” Rusty asked in her wonderful voice that sounded like pebbles being rattled in a can. “I feel so wicked.”

Carol had made Solange an offer she couldn’t refuse, if instead of giving Carol and Amy their body scrubs, which were scheduled back to back that afternoon, she would come to Carol’s room and read palms.

“I’ve never had mine done,” said Amy, wiggling with excitement.

“I think I’m having some kind of breakdown,” said Carter. “First I lose nine pounds and give up smoking, next I’m visiting psychics.”

The door opened, and Solange slipped in.

She looked startled to see so many of them.

“Don’t be afraid, we’re all
sworn
to secrecy,” Rusty said.

“Can you do it with people watching?” Amy asked, quick to sense another’s distress.

“You must be very quiet,” Solange said.

“We’ll be like church mice,” said Rusty. “Who’s first?”

Carol said, “Laurie—you go first.” Laurie, who in the last two days

74 / Beth Gutcheon

had amazed herself by joining in everything, even the water exercises, and feeling better and better, was in a what-the-hell mood.

She got up and took a seat at the writing table by the window. Solange sat across from her and sat looking at her hands. She studied first the backs of the hands, then turned both over at once and compared the palms.

Solange said, “Oh, I see you’re the one.”

“What one?”

“The lady who lost her husband. I’m sorry. And it was a very good marriage. Strong heart, lots of children. It’s fortunate that you have such a strong head line, and so much courage.” The ladies on the bed looked at each other. Of course there were a dozen ways Solange could have known about her husband’s death, and all the children.

Solange was studying the left hand carefully. She looked back and forth between the left and right. She considered.

“You have a very good mind, strongly influenced by your father.

You have let your heart rule your head in the last ten years or so.

You are a risk-taker, decisive, a leader. It appears that you are going to change careers, or have a dual career. There is a strong line of success, here, but I cannot tell if it is going to cross your life line.

See, here? It comes close, and then splits.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means it is not decided yet. I see a good deal of travel. You are a person who plans carefully and follows through well. You thrive on independence. You are healthy and will have a long life. But because you have great gifts, you shrink from anything that does not come easily. And because of this, there is a danger you will not use your gifts to their full potential.”

Laurie felt as if somebody had just undressed her in public. Solange’s eyes met hers. After a long beat, Laurie dropped her gaze and said, “Thank you.”

Amy took her place across from Solange. She was all atwitter. A little guilty for not inviting Jill to join them, but excited, and thinking maybe she would hear things she’d rather her daughter didn’t know.

Solange glanced at her left hand and then turned to the right. She suddenly smiled.

Five Fortunes / 75

“What?”

“I’ve never seen this before. You’re not in the army, are you?”

Amy laughed. “Hardly. My father was, in the Korean War.”

Solange shook her head; that wasn’t it. “This is a very lucky hand.

You have well-balanced head and heart lines, very good health, lots of travel, a strong life line with no breaks. You have one child. I imagine you wanted more, but you had her late.”

“Yes.”

“You will be married twice.”

“Will my husband die? Or do you see divorce?”

“I would rather not say. Let me tell you why I smiled. You have a star, here.” She tapped Amy’s palm on the edge between finger and thumb. “The star is the most auspicious sign there is. It’s very rare…I have only seen two before in my life. But it’s on lower Mars.”

“What does that mean?”

“Military victory.”

Amy laughed.

“I’m sorry to be silly,” said Solange. “There is another way to interpret it, but it’s not coming to me. Never mind. It is very good, whatever it is.”

“I’ll take it,” said Amy.

“I see here a career change, and late in life, a lot of success in business.”

Amy returned to her place on the bed to applause. Carter and Laurie saluted her.

Next Carter, looking sheepish, took her place at the table.

Solange looked at both of Carter’s big, strong hands, backs, and then palms.

Solange asked, “Left-handed?”

Carter nodded. Solange looked relieved.

Carter said, “You’ll find the dual career there…I’m on my second one.”

“Many women have that now. Perhaps most.” She studied Carter’s hand.

“The marriage line is not strong.”

76 / Beth Gutcheon

“I’ll say,” said Carter, and there was laughter.

“But it’s clear. You are very strong-minded. You are the kind of person who makes friends easily; you are exceptionally curious and outgoing. I see strong success in both careers.”

“Financial?”

“Not so much financial as on your own terms. You are very good at what you do. You are a particularly good manager. Good at leading, good at delegating. You are not reckless, though you take risks. You are not reluctant to let other people shine.

“You have a talent for friendship, and I would say you are a particularly good mother.”

There was an intake of breath in the room. The first complete misstep. Solange looked up, unperturbed.

“I don’t have children,” said Carter.

Solange looked at the hand. “I see a child, very clearly.”

“Then you see a medical miracle. That, or I didn’t understand the menopause lecture last night.” Solange squinted slightly and turned the palm slightly to angle the light across it.

“You have a niece? A nephew? A godchild?”

“Maybe I better get a dog,” said Carter.

“Yes,” said Solange, “I think you better. And be very careful in your work. There is a break here that could mean illness, but more likely accident. Your work is dangerous?”

“Can be. Is this something that
will
happen?”

“Nothing in the hand has to happen. It is waiting to happen, but whether it does or not is up to you.”

Solange told Carol that she was hard-working and artistic, and would change careers; she mentioned no children. She told Rusty that she had a cross, an ominous sign, indicating an injury to the head. That she had healer’s marks, meaning she was a kind person, a good listener, who would be a wonderful doctor or nurse, but in any calling would make people feel better just being around her.

Rusty beamed. Everyone wanted to know if she saw Rusty recovering or dying, but of course, no one asked.

Five Fortunes / 77

Friday night at dinner, the conspirators sat together and shared a wicked buzz of elation.

“What do you think, Laurie?” Carol asked. “Are you going to run?”

This again. Laurie thought for a bit about whether it was time for a jolt of reality. She said, “Did you know I ran for Congress twenty years ago?”

“You did? No, I didn’t know that. What happened?”

“I got buried. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. At the time.”

“Oh god,” said Carol absently, “I’m sure. But at least you know how to do it. Doesn’t it make you want to roar back and stomp them this time?”

It did not make Laurie want to do that. It made her feel like telling Carol she had no idea what she was talking about. But she left it unsaid, because she thought, How do I know what she knows? You probably get knocked around in her line of work too.

Rae was watching closely and thinking it was about time to let up on Laurie.

“This omelette is wonderful,” she said.

“Could I have the salsa?” Amy called.

“
Certainement, mon général
,” said Carter, snapping a salute. The conspirators laughed. Jill looked at her mother, questioning. “I’ll tell you later,” Amy whispered.

A
familiar and very bad thing had happened to Jill. Depression closed down over her like a bell jar. When the phone rang in her room at five forty-five, she could hardly stir herself to lift the receiver. She felt as if a miasma of something dark and heavy, like lead in the form of a vapor, had invaded her chest. With every breath she wanted to weep. The room, still full of the dark of night, had become a cell in a nunnery. She had committed herself to a future without light or joy or pleasure, in the hope of a heaven that didn’t exist. There was no light, anywhere. Nothing ever changed, nothing would ever get better. No one told the truth, nothing was possible.

There was a knock on the door.

“Sweetie?” Amy chirped. She slipped into her daughter’s room.

“It’s the most heavenly morning,” she said, and pulled the curtain cords. Outside, the world was bathed in silvery blue light and filled with the sound of birds.

“Better hop it, little lamb. We’re going to do the Five-Mile Mountain.”

Jill thought about telling her she didn’t feel like it. She thought about telling her she didn’t feel like getting out of bed at all. She thought about the effort it would take to open her mouth and tell her cheery, happy mother anything she didn’t want to hear, and she thought that she knew exactly why Solange had asked her mother if she were in the army. Yes, sir, ma’am, General Burrows. Up and at ’em.

Jill, without a word, dragged herself out of bed.