"Jamaica." As a kid I loved the word. It meant it was time for music, games, cake walks and more at the parking lot of the church I attended. The last one I can remember attending was in my senior year of High School. A friend and I were completing the first circle around the lot. Walking and making plans at which booth we would start the night. We were going to start at the haunted house, especially since it was a cool October evening, but instead we noticed a small tent had been set up on the northside of the lot. Wow, a fortune teller! "Let's start here", my friend said. She was big into tarot cards and fortune telling, especially since she had several aunts who did that for a living. "Fifty cents for 3 minutes", the hand-painted poster read. She went in first. She came out smiling and said "It was great!" I paid my 2 quarters and went in. I was expecting to hear about boyfriends, marriage and babies. Sitting across from her she looked in my eyes for a few seconds and said, "You're graduating from High School this spring and you will go to college just as you have planned. However, you will have to drop out after two years because you Mother will become seriously ill and you will have to care for her. She won't die but it will be years before you will be able to go back to school because of so much responsibility. I also don't see marriage in your future." Understandably I didn't walk out with a smile on my face. My friend started chattering on about how her life was going to be pretty good. She would graduate from college and she could expect to marry a year or so after that. She could expect to have a good and happy life. All I could think about was my Mother. I didn't want her to even suffer a cold much less be seriously ill. I kept telling myself that as serious as this supposed "fortune teller" was, her predictions couldn't possibly be real. Especially at a "Jamaica" in the parking lot of a Catholic church. It was suppose to be all in fun! How dare she not tell me fun things. After telling my Mother later that night, she assurded me she was fine and would remain that way. However, I never forgot her predictions especially since they came completely true...for my friend. And her predictions came completely true...for me.
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