Parking Lot Prediction

Last week I went to the supermarket to buy some food. Not a very unique trip, really; I go to this particular supermarket about once or twice a week since it's near my workplace and it has cheap gas (well, cheaper gas). On this particular day, I got out of the car and was hailed by a short old woman. Somehow she could tell I was foreign, even though I hadn't said anything. She started by asking if I had ever visited Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer (The Saint Marys of the Sea, a town in Camargue), and was very surprised when I said that, in fact, yes, I had! This quickly tipped me off that she was a gypsy, or a tsigane as she called herself (in fact, she called herself la mamie tsigane, the gypsy granny). The reason I figured it out is that Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer hosts a huge gypsy festival every year, and there are always gypsies hanging out there. You see, one of the Saints of the church, Saint Sarah, is the patron saint of gypsies, and they light candles in the church basement and accost every tourist who comes to visit the town.

When she saw that I wasn't disgusted or frightened or just plain old not interested, she immediately launched into telling my fortune. She told me that I was a sensitive person with an open spirit and lots of other stuff like that. I thanked her and walked away when she said, "Wait, wait, mademoiselle! I'm receiving three letters in my mind!" I felt like I was on Crossing Over with John Edward! How could I walk away from that?

"I'll tell you the letters, and you tell me if they have a meaning for you," she said. "The first letter is . . . G!"

Wow, I thought, she got "Gem" on the first try! "Yes, yes, it means something to me," I said.

"The second letter is . . . J!" she pronounced.

Impressive! I thought. "Jube" on the second try! "Yes, that one too is meaningful," I said.

"And the last letter is . . . F!"

Hmmmmmm . . . "Not so much," I told her.

"Well, I got two out of three." [She seriously said that!!] Then she told me that the letters were very important to my "sentimental" life (I think in English the best translation is "romantic"), and that all my plans for the future would turn out all right. Then she gave me a lucky charm, "bound with nine prayers." [Yeah, it's just a plastic bead ripped off of a necklace for a little girl, as seen above.] Then she said, "Whatever you want to give to the gypsy granny is fine, because I know you are a generous person with an open heart and you will give whatever you can to the gypsy granny."

Well, normally I wouldn't give her anything (I'm that generous, yes!), but since I had really enjoyed myself for the past five minutes, I dug into my change purse and gave her two Euros. "And you don't have any restaurant gift certificates?" she asked me. I think she could tell from my face that I didn't want to give her anything else, and more asking would get her nowhere, so she then said, "You are a good person. You come from a poor family but you will end up rich! Thank you so much and give whatever you can to other gypsies when you see them in memory of your gypsy granny!"

We'll see how well my future plans work out, and then I'll think about giving to other gypsies in your memory, Mamie Tsigane.