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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1980)
l- > a\ms read UKe open OooK life, and mostly a happy one.” Now this is what I expected. She starts talking faster, getting more personal. My mouth starts dropping open. I’m nodding and looking into her brown eyes. “Yes, yes, how do you know all these things about me just by looking at my palm?" Shock. This woman is reading my personal problems from a ticker tape. How does she know these things? Wish I had a tape recorder. This is cheaper than psychoanalysis (so I have heard). How can I write a How does she know? She says its a gift she’s always had. Feeling vibrations through the hand, read ing the palm and having a sort of ESP. “You have a lot of luck coming your way. Let your heart rule your head. “Don’t tell anyone what I have said or done, and your three wishes will come true.” We leave. “How was it?” my friend asks. I don’t know whether to cry or pretend I’m still a non believer. “She told me everything about By DEBBIE NELSON Battalion Staff Don’t tell my mother or my minis ter. I spent $15 having my fortune told. This was going to be a “great Halloween feature” exposing a for tune teller as a corny hoax. But my stereotyped conception of a for tune teller and the flesh and blood version just didn’t light the same candle flame. Before ever seeing the consul tant-advisor-palm reader, I thought I knew what kind of story to write. Years of hearing horror stories about solitary souls who ventured to strange places and never return ed made me take a friend along for moral support. Rain slapped our faces as we approached the bland house. No moonlight, bats or howling ban shees. No growling-lion’s-head door knocker jutting from a creaking door. Only a normal-looking orange-lighted doorbell by a screen door. No gyspy woman with hoop ear rings beckoned us inside. Only a dark man in a wrinkled white shirt. “Hello girls. Come on in. I’ll tell her you’re here.” No “Come into my parlor” or “I’ve been expecting you.” He walked back into a dark room while we sat on plastic-covered chairs and waited. And waited. If I’d been alone, that screen door would have said goodbye to me a lot sooner. My friend had to make some comment about 12 boys who dis appeared inside a house and were never seen again. Thanks. Just what I needed to hear. Look at all these statues and Bibles and holy pictures. Doesn’t look like the sort of place to house a Satanic cult. Maybe they’re trying to fool us. Footsteps. No, its just the man again. He smiles, totally destroying the sinister impression he made the first time. “She’ll be here in a few minutes, girls.” Wait some more on the straight- backed chairs and listen to coun try-western music coming from the next room. No incense haze. Only the smell of dust. A shadow falls on the screen door. Someone else goes to for tune tellers in the middle of the morning? Does this place double as a doctor’s waiting room? The door opens and the shadow smiles. “Sorry I’m late. What can I do for you girls?” You mean ... this is her? She’s just an average-looking Mexican lady. No embroidered shawls or fringed skirts. Bobby pins stick out of her hair and she’s wearing poly ester. We “girls” look at each other. Here goes nothing. We make up stories not all so tar-fetched about being concerned about our futures and wanting to have our palms read. After a little good-natured price bantering, I’m sitting in the next room with this woman. She says to hold $15 in my hand and make three wishes. $15 for a fortune may seem a little steep, but she first asked for $35. Maybe she noticed my friend and I drove up in a Z-28. Three wishes ... maybe I’m only doing this for a story, but I might as well think of something decent if I’m giving money away. Oh, how to think of wishes while sitting on a couch in a well-lit living room listening to loud country- western music? Do I have to close my eyes? Okay, I’ve got my wishes. Why am I holding the $15 so tightly? Taking the money, she makes the sign of the cross over my palm. The money disappears when she starts talking. “Hold out your palm. Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. If I bite you, you can bite me back.” What kind of incantation was that? No blood red fingernails or six teenth-century rings on her hands. She doesn’t even have exception ally long fingers. “I see you will have a very long story on this? 10 more minutes of revelations while I wonder, “If fortune telling is for real, who’s to say there is no mummy’s curse? I’ll never sleep again.” myself. I can t write the story. “What did she tell you?” “I’ll have three boys and one girl. That’s all I’ll say.” Who could risk wasting three perfectly good wishes? AFTERNOON 2:00© THE PLUMBER A woman (Judy Morris) isolated from her friends and family experiences five days of mental torment that change her life when a plumber (Ivar Kants) comes to her house for a simple maintenance job. Peter Weir directed this psy chological thriller. (R) 2:30 HBO WHISPERS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE “Facts Your History Teacher Never Told You About The Presidents” come to light as trivia items about past chief executives and the First Families are present ed. 3:30© THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE WATER CLOSET This humorous musical film docu ments man’s ingenious attempts over the years to deal with human waste. (R) 4:00 O © FAMOUS CLASSIC TALES “Davy Crockett On The Mississippi” The legendary frontier hero and his pet bear help a 10-year-old boy cross Indian territory to find his uncle. (R) 5:00© MEET THE CANDIDATES Candidates for state senator from the fifth district, Brazos County attorney and county commissioner from Precinct 3 will answer questions. EVENING 7:00 O BILLY SMART’S CIRCUS 9:00 0 © THE BODY HUMAN: THE SEXES PART II The mys tique of human sexuality is explored in this special, focus ing on the physical and emo tional maturing process in both sexes and one couple’s prob lem with sexual dysfunction. (Network advises viewer discre tion) 11:45 HBO WHISPERS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE “Facts Your History Teacher Never Told You About The Presidents” come to light as trivia items about past chief executives and the First Families are present ed. MORNING 10:00 Q FRED AKERS 11:00© BUM PHILLIPS 11:30© BILL YEOMAN © © NFL ’80 O DALLAS COWBOY WEEK LY Host: Tex Schramm. AFTERNOON 12:00© NFL FOOTBALL San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals O NFL SYMFUNNY A humor ous look at pro football is set to classical music. Q © NFL FOOTBALL Region al coverage of Baltimore Colts at Kansas City Chiefs; San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals O TOM LANDRY 12:30 © O © NFL TODAY 1:00 O O © NFL FOOTBALL Dal las Cowboys at St. Louis Cardi nals 3:00 © © NFL FOOTBALL Hous ton Oilers at Denver Broncos © NFL FOOTBALL Regional coverage of Houston Oilers at Denver Broncos; Miami Dol phins at Oakland Raiders; New York Jets at New England Patriots EVENING 8:00 © COLLEGE FOOTBALL SMU vs. Texas A & M 10:30 0 TOM WILSON 11:00© MERRILL GREEN 11:30 0 GRANT TEAFF MORNING 10:30© ★★Vz “Don’t Give Up The Ship" (1959) Jerry Lewis, Dina Merrill. A couple’s honeymoon is interrupted when the groom is called to Washington to account for a destroyer lost during World War II. AFTERNOON 2:00© ★★'/z “I'll Take Sweden” (1965) Bob Hope, Tuesday Weld. A wealthy man tries to break up his daughter’s romance by taking her abroad. 3:00© ★★★ “Fitzwilly” (1967) Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Fel- don. While her servants cover for her, a philanthropic old lady not realizing she is actually penniless continues to spread her wealth. © ★★ “House On Telegraph Hill” (1951) Richard Basehart, Valentina Cortese. At the end of World War II, a displaced European assumes the identity of a deceased friend in order to immigrate to the U.S. 3:30 HBO “Lawrence Of Arabia” (1962) Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness. A member of the British general staff leads the Arabs in a revolt against the Turks, resulting in the birth of the Arabian kingdom. (G-3 hrs., 26 min.) EVENING 7:00 O © ffi ★★Vz “A Star Is Born” (1976) Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson. Feeling his own popularity slipping as his young wife’s career is on the rise, a big-name star turns to the bottle for comfort. HBO “Hide In Plain Sight” (1979) James Caan, Jill Eiken- berry. A divorced man begins an eight-year search for his children, who were relocated by the government after their stepfather testified against a pair of crime bosses. (PG-1 hr., 29 min.) 8:00 0 © © ★★★ “The Gaunt let” (1977) Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke. A police officer is assigned to escort an uncoo perative witness against the syndicate from Las Vegas to Arizona for a trial. 8:30 HBO “Avalanche Express” (1979) Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw. An international spy fakes his own death and runs into natural disaster while attempting to smuggle a defec tor out of Europe aboard a trancontinental train. (PG-1 hr., 28 min.) 10:00 HBO “Save The Tiger” (1973) Jack Lemmon, Jack Gilford. A middle-aged dress manufactur er, sinking into a deep depres sion because of his inability to recapture his youth, decides to collect on his insurance policy by setting fire to his factory. (R- 1 hr., 40 min.) 10:30 0 “A Place To Die" (1973) Alexandra Hay, Bryan Marshall. The young wife of a new doctor in town bears a tell tale sign that convinces a cult of devil-worshippers that she has been sent to them for a purpose. © ★★Vz "Diamond Head” (1963) Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux. A wealthy Hawaiian practices a double standard when he opposes his sister’s plans to marry a half-breed Hawaiian while he himself has a pregnant mistress. © ★★★ “Pocket Money” (1972) Paul Newman, Lee Mar vin. An itinerant cowboy and his alcoholic sidekick are hired by a rodeo promoter to pick up a herd of cattle in Mexico, ffi ★★★ “We’re No Angels” (1955) Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray. Three escaped convicts take over a French shop. the perfect place for a quiet Sunday evening of dining open 5-12 p.m. Sunday and the perfect place for happy hour 4:30-6:30 p.m. monday-friday _ woodstone commerce center on hwy. 30