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