Mount of the Moon (The Gypsy from Czechoslovakia)



Palmist) (Czech)

It was told her at a young age, by her gypsy mother, she had the strongest looking mount of the moon near her wrist any psychic ever had, meaning in terms of a palmist hand, her abilities could be quite developed, and at an early age, she could read hands and faces, and fingers, in an instant,

One dollar and five cents; that was all they had. All of it was in pennies. Pennies saved after paying the heat bill, the gas invoice, it sucked all the money up, that implied he was next to broke, he was going to go buy hotdogs with it; he had a wife and two kids, stuck in Erie, Pennsylvania after visiting his sister, and then he and his family thrown out of his sister’s house because they were tired of their company, yet they had invited the foursome from Minnesota to Pennsylvania to live with them, so Monica would have company. Roman had to find a job quick, and did, but this week’s check only left one-dollar and five cents, and tomorrow was Thanks Giving.

There was clearly not a thing he could do but lay back in his living room chair and wallow silently over his misery. So his wife, Delia got involved; which might tell the reader women when they are wronged seem to get their revenge in a subtle way, and often in the process can be deadly, in the world of human hearts, that is.
Her plan did not exactly beg for an elaborate description, but it certainly had that finger of doom attached to it.
Joy Li, was the landlady, who had in the summer told Roman and his wife, to pay an extra $20-dollars a month (it was 1972, twenty-dollars was a lot), so when the winter months come, the heat would be paid, and so they did willingly without signing an addendum to the rental agreement. And now winter was present, and Roman got his first heat bill, inexpediently, and after the rent, there was only that one-dollar and five cents left.
Roman now had finished his cry, and blew his nose thru a hanky, threw it at the cat, who ran out into the back kitchen, and out the door, which was slightly opened, he didn’t care for cats they were too sneaky, but his wife did so he put up with them, all fifteen of them.
Tomorrow was the holiday, ‘Thanks Giving,’ and Delia knew they had to pay the invoice today—their gas, or heat would have been turned off (in 1972, they were not required back then to provide heat, if indeed, the bill was not paid), and therefore, this left her family with only hotdog money for one day, and she knew this should have been a happy day preparing for tomorrow: and usually they had plans, but none were arranged this season.
In a nutshell, had Roman known this in advance, the gas bill was forth coming; he could have cumulated this into the expenses. Although I must add to his, he did his fair share of drinking, and smoking cigarettes that might have helped save some money, but again I emphasize, that would have been needed to have been carved out in advance, Joy had surprised them with the additional bill, and like many people, Roman and his family lived from pay check to pay check.
Oh yes, Joy was sterling with her cleverness, a little near worthy of being outright shrewd, especially at another’s expense. But by and by Delia who was of East European origins, from old Czechoslovakia (from a township called Visegrad), a palmist Gypsy, had married Roman in 1971, he was twenty-seven years old, she only nineteen, they had two boys, twins, now were a year and a half old moved from Minnesota to Erie, Delia had been visiting Minnesota and when they first met, they got acquainted, married and now were here. She had met Joy, outside her apartment, a redbrick building with four apartments in it. She insisted she should read her, palm Joy’s palm: Joy feeling, Delia already knew something was there, allowed it, for she was reading not only the palm, but the shape of her hands, fingers and nails, mounts, other formations in the palms, she had read within a moments glass, her enemies, her strong sex drive, her clear thinking ability, and that she liked to work alone, perhaps that is why she had apartments, and she had small hands, indicating she did things on big levels, or tried, and it was hard for her to forgive injustices, a high vitality, and energy level, and told her to call immediately a certain number, she had an inheritance waiting.
Joy feeling this gypsy had her peculiarities, but it would do no harm in investigating, and when she did, it was at a bank, and she had a large sum of money coming. So cheerful, and thankful, was Joy, she called Delia up on the phone, telling her of her good fortune, and asked if her and her family would come over for Thank’s Giving Dinner. Exactly what Delia was hoping for.


“Here is my humble home,” said Joy Li, with on Thank’s Giving Day smile, opening up the door to her home, as the Delia’s family entered one by one, she gave way and greeted each one with a kiss, and the greatest of hospitality and immediately gave out reasonable refreshment. The sum of her inheritance was so great, she had intentions later on to see if she could persuade Delia into giving her another reading to see what other riches were in store for her, and perhaps even a Tarot readings .
And so the dinner was set, and they were served with the greatest of care by Joy’s cook, and often time’s, comforter. She saw the Negress waving her hands as she walked by her side, she had two fate lines, two careers; from her mount of Jupiter, she was not generous, her thumb told her she had courage, and fighting spirit. Joy saw Delia reading her hands almost in detail, big hands, that done intricate things, that is what Delia thought, and she knew what they were up to. Here was a person who liked to lead, but was being lead, who could not, an injustice she would not forgive. Who had a heavy sex drive, like Joy, like to like; two lesbians, whispered Delia, two strong sex drives, two unforgiving persons—and now she knew, what her intuition told her before she even entered the house, she something, but not the whole of it, and now she put two and two together.

And so the dinner went forward, refreshments and some hosted ham, a bottle of wine.
“Eat, drink and be merry, I am indebted to you,” she told her guest, having inherited a fortune. One that she would not have known about had not Delia not told her, but Joy was wondering also if there was anything else, more money laying about that is.
Delia knew every foreign woman living in another country needed to be shrewder if they wanted to compete with those in their environment, and so not to spoil the dinner she did not tell Joy everything.

She had taken the future of Joy, in her hands—her personality was embedded into those fingers and palm, and she knew what was to happen should she respond a certain way, saw the money stored away in a bank vault, and had created a long conversation in-between, called a diversion to get her senses correct, and now the invitation, a bazaar situation, that she got a free meal out of.
The earth, solar system, even the universe seemed to flow through her palms, always feeding her, and now she and her family were finished at the dinner table, and she wanted to leave quickly. And Joy was a bit surprised, not quite putting two and two together, but sensing something was wrong.
And so Delia and her family left, and Joy sat back at the long dinner table doing a manicure on herself, her hands.


Now before I go on with this story, it is worth a sentence or two to say that, this incident about to take place this scene could not have been witnessed and perhaps for the better of the reader, and the characters, only Delia could see it, and it is best left that way, but it is not insolvable, I will piece this part together for you.


As I have said, the family, Delia’s family had left, and she, Joy started to give herself a manicure, her long dark hair glowed and reflected in the chandelier, lights duplicating it a hundred times over, she must had been thinking I would guess, of the great sum of money she had gotten, or would get, it was already verified it belonged to her, it was just a simply task now to go pick it up. She was, as we often all do—starting to spend the money inside her head before she got it within her grips. Her feet were even tapping a joyful tune on the floor nervously, automatically. And as she looked out the widow beyond the table, she noticed night had fallen upon the house in a deep dark hush.
Now everything quiet in the house—her maid cleaning up the kitchen, her thoughts started wandering into a different arena, not once did her maid come out after Delia had looked her in the eyes, read her swaying palms. She picked up the phone, her maid, whom she did not see, was watching from the crack of the door. Delia answered the phone, surprised to hear Joy’s voice,
“You left so quickly,” she began, “thought I’d give you a call, I never did get to ask you if there might be some bad news in my life, near or far?”
“Why yes, there was, but everybody has bad news, I try to avoid that area, people get so panicky, and don’t enjoy the moment,” said Delia.
“Oh, but you must tell me dear, it is most important to me, I will make it worth your while,” she commented.
Said Delia, with an apprehensive voice, “I’m not sure if that is possible.”
“Why, of course my dear that is,” said Joy, almost with a chuckle as if it was silly.
“Well, if you insist, please take a piece of paper now, and write down, you owe me $2000-dollars, and put it underneath the doily of the table, so no one can find it.”
“Oh, how silly that is, it must be great news, good or bad” commented Joy, but she did it, and then said, “ok, it is done,” and somehow, Delia knew it had been done, said, “Now sit back and listen and do not get too excited: between the red cabbage and the stuffed green peppers was the item, odorless and tasteless poison was injection into those foods, that is why your cook only brought out enough for you, and of course that is your favorite dish, and the cabbage that was left, I told the kids and my husband not to eat it before we came to the table, I told them it was too spicy for them, and they’d get sick stomachs.”
“Oh my gosh,” she screamed, “What can I do! Who did this?”
“Look in the crack of the kitchen door, you will see your maid’s eyeballs watching you (and she turned to see, and she was watching, and staring right at her), oh yes, yes she is…!”
“I see you dead in the next five or six minutes, she killed you, you know, and she is hoping the poison takes effect quick, so you can not retaliate, you have willed her everything you know. So I’m sorry to tell you the bad news, you will not be inheriting that money, but your maid will.”
“But why did you not tell me this before?” asked Joy.
“Simple things to some folks are major things to others, had you not billed the heat bill to us, we would not have needed your dinner, we would have had enough money to buy our own turkey. And you would have been poisoned anyhow, and I would not have known it, to tell you because I would not have found the need to read your palm, and feed my family…” and Delia went on explaining to her how she felt, but Joy never heard the all of it, she was already dead.

It was a week later, Delia received a phone call from the police, saying there was an IOU, under the doily, and that the maid, would be paying her the sum on the note, as soon as she collected the money from Joy’s will.

8-4-2008