Episode 054 Previous Episode	Next Episode
“Shallow men believe in luck…strong men believe in cause and effect.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Everett stepped out of the car into the soft drizzle of rain. Pelting his black trench coat and his light ebony skin, the gentle message of the sprinkling was lost on him as he appraised the small trailer sitting just off the back city road. A roll of lightning crackled behind distant clouds, the thunder following shortly. “Ominous,” he observed cynically. Marilyn came up behind him, slipping her purse over her left shoulder. “You okay?” she asked. “Yeah,” he said uncertainly. Before him, the trailer waited. A neon letters spelling out ‘psychic’ glowed in gaudy red while the white siding was faded from the elements. The gravel beneath their feet scraped with each step until they reached the single wooden step to the door. Marilyn knocked on the screen door and looked up at the sky, smiling. “I love rain like this. It’s just enough to feel it and know it’s there, without being overwhelming, you know.” “When I was in high school,” Everett said with a nostalgic smile, “I used to call this ‘sword-fighting weather’.” “Sword-fighting weather?” she repeated with a laugh. “Why?” “This is the type of rain you have a sword fight in,” he said with a harmless shrug. “Soft rain that’s warm. A strong, present wind that’s occasionally punctuated with powerful gusts. There’s lighting and thunder, which gives the air an electric charge. Sort of…” “Magical?” she asked, hopefully. Everett smirked, the nostalgia fading into cynicism. “There’s no such thing as magic.” The sentence made Marilyn’s smile disappear, a worried expression overtaking her eyes. Without warning, the front door of the trailer opened. Taken by surprise, Everett’s hand flew into his trench coat. But he stopped once he realized a middle-aged hippie was opening the door. “Hey guys,” the 90lbs. version of Jerry Garcia said in a friendly tone, the potent stench of far too many incense sticks following him into the open air. “Sorry about that. I wasn’t sure if I heard anyone knocking or not.” Marilyn stepped inside first, Everett following her. He ducked his head to make it through the doorway. Inside, he found a spacious living room/kitchen/dining room/home gym/waiting room. He blinked disbelievingly at the space, then turned to Marilyn. She smiled reassuringly. “I’ll make sure Madam Kieri is ready,” the man said, his nappy brown hair beginning to gray at the roots. He headed to their left, down a dark hallway behind the kitchen. “Okay, I am not encouraged,” Everett whispered with a half-laugh. “I know, it doesn’t look like much,” Marilyn allowed. “I don’t know what’s worse, that she has to work and live in the same space,” he marveled, “or that the space is a trailer.” He felt the wood paneling on the walls. “And a cheap trailer at that.” He shook his head as Marilyn sat down on the crocheted couch, petting a long-haired cat that slept on the pillow-like arm. “This woman can see the future, right? Does that not include the stock market?” “Everett,” Marilyn implored. “I’m just tired of every person who claims to have magical powers living in squalor,” he said. “You can command the weather and cosmic forces, but you can’t hold down a job? Or, usually, do a push-up?” Marilyn fought hard to keep from laughing. Giving up, she just covered her mouth. Everett flopped down next to her. He reached across her to scratch the cat’s head. “What did she tell you?” he asked. “When you came to visit.” She smiled and looked at him, her right eye obscured by her long brown hair. “I thought magic wasn’t real?” “A), as I’m sure Ledger and Roland would be quick to point out, this isn’t magic, this is psychic,” Everett recanted, making her giggle. “And B) just because I don’t believe it to be true doesn’t mean I’m not interested in what she told you.” Marilyn nodded, working on swallowing the reasoning. “She told me…” She paused. “She told me I was going to save the world.” Everett covered his eyes. “Not again,” he breathed. “She did,” Marilyn insisted. “She told me I was going to save the world” “I don’t doubt it,” he said as he rubbed his eyes. “Marilyn?” Both looked up as the hippie came back in, his tie-dyed shirt strangely blending in with the surroundings. “Madam Kieri is ready.” “Oh, it’s not me today,” she said. She started to gesture to Everett. “It’s for my…” She stumbled and looked at him. He looked back at her, one eyebrow going up. “My friend,” she finally got out, “Everett.” “Everett,” The hippie repeated. He thought about it for a moment, then turned and dashed back down the hallway. “Friend?” Everett asked, looking at her. “She mentioned you the second time I came here,” Marilyn confided. “I don’t doubt it,” he muttered. “She said that I would find my way to my foe by following the path you presented to me,” she said. “I’m not really sure what the means, you know, but…” “Vague, cryptic words from a fortune teller,” Everett sighed. “Who’d a thunk it?” “Everett?” He looked up as the man stood at the mouth of the hallway. “She’s ready for you.” Everett got up, careful of his hidden sword. He looked at Marilyn and smiled, exasperatedly at her. She smiled back. “I’ll be waiting.” He shook his head and turned. The man at the mouth of the hallway stepped to the side and gestured for him to head towards the doorway at the end of the hall, a dim light coming from behind the draped veils over the doorway. Everett took one last glance at Marilyn, then started down the hall.
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