Photo by Brandi Alexandra on Unsplash
by Francine Witte
When the fortuneteller asks if you are ready, really ready to begin a different life, you say yes, but think she is silently confused.
Your life is ebbing tide-like, pulling its fingers back to sea, and you think your only hope of immortality is a nephew you haven’t seen in years.
You never wanted the weight of children, thought the earth was already child-heavy and why add to that?
The fortuneteller takes your palm and your mind wanders.
You wonder if she means this different life will begin with your funeral, your distant nephew weeping, maybe bothered that now he has no family.
You give the fortuneteller a donation, and walk out ready, really ready to begin your different life, even if it’s years from now, the one that follows your living life, where you live in the green veins of leaves, the gasp of a rainstorm, and not at all gone.
Francine Witte’s latest book of flash fiction is Radio Water (Roadside Press.) Her forthcoming book of poetry is Some Distant Pin of Light. She is flash fiction editor of SoFloPoJo and Flash Boulevard. She lives in New York City. Visit her website at francinewitte.com.
