Witch Woman

Have you ever met a witch woman? How about meeting a witch woman in a secluded African village?

 

Sheree and I did on a hot afternoon in January. We were going to a school, but the principal seemed to think we wanted to meet the village witch woman first.

 

There were two young men out front, eying us suspiciously as we neared.

 

Inside the hut...and it WAS a hut...she sat on the floor, contemplating a pile of sea shells, coins and beads in front of her.

 

I always view fortune tellers with a watermelon sized grain of salt. (If they're so good, how come they didn't buy Google stock fifteen years ago?)

 

Anyway: our escort told us we could ask anything we wanted.

 

"Will I ever find a woman?" asked one of men on our tour. His voice quavered just a little.

 

She consulted the sea shells. She pushed them around with a cane. Then she nodded. Yes...the lonely man would be lonely no longer. He settled back, content.

 

There were a couple more awkward questions...no one got bad news. Everyone got good news. Most tipped her. Am I cynical for thinking that no one would have tipped at all if they'd gotten bad news?

 

It was an experience...a great experience. Interesting, even.

 

Gee...I guess she knew I'd say that one day.

 

Damn.

Done