The Skye in June Read Free Page B

cowl. Her boney knuckles rapped on the first door. She pressed an ear to it in hopes of sounds of life.
    The laughter of young children grew closer from behind the closed door.
    Cathy MacDonald flung open the door to find the gypsy. The old woman stood still, except for her eyes, which slowly peered up at the younger woman. A tiny smile crept over the gypsy’s face. “Read yer fortune, missus?”
    Mary and Maggie, Cathy ’s two middle children, stared at the old gypsy woman with wide-eyes. Maggie loudly announced the gypsy, “Granny! Come see the witch!” Mary jumped up and down. “Witch! Witch!” she chanted. Baby June perched on Cathy’s hip began to babble along with her excited sisters.
    Exasperated, Cathy ’s eyes didn’t meet the woman’s as she sighed and said, “No, I don’t think so.” She started to close the door.
    The gypsy moved quickly, placing a hand flat on t he door to stop it from closing. “Ah can see ye long for a lost love.” She peered into Cathy’s face. “Am I no right, missus?”
    Startled , Cathy locked eyes with the gypsy. She opened the door a little. The two girls stood motionless on either side of her, mesmerized by the tinkling of the gypsy’s bracelets. “Come on, gie’s yer hand. I’ll tell ye more for just a shilling.”
    Digging into her faded, flowered apron, Cathy pulled out a couple of coins.
    Granny B popped her head out from the kitchen and looked down the hallway toward the front door. “Tell that tinker to go away. You’re too busy for that malarkey!” she yelled.
    Quickly, the tiny old woman grabbed the coins out of Cathy ’s hands and stashed them in her tattered clothing. “Let’s see yer palm, lady.”
    Cathy looked nervously over her shoulder and down the hallway. The two girls tried to see what was happening, but she eased them out of the way to conceal what the gypsy would say. Balancing the baby on her hip, she held out her free palm. The old gypsy gently cradled it in her hands and moved her fingers across Cathy’s palm as though to smooth out the crisscrossing lines.
    Suddenly, baby June reached out to the old woman ’s face, touching a deep crease. The ragged gypsy reciprocated and patted a curl of the baby’s flaming red hair. “Aye, this wee lassie, Ah can see she’s a special wean. The seventh child of seven, is she no? That’s good luck. She can see what others canne. She’s fey,” the gypsy declared, nodding her head knowingly.
    Cathy was surprised to hear that her youngest child was predicted to have the inner sight.
    “And ye, dear,” the gypsy’s dark-brown eyes looked up to the sky-blue eyes of the young woman. “Yer going to move far away from here,” she said and then sighed loudly. “Sorry to say but ye’ll nay find the happiness ye seek there.”
    The young mother moaned lightly. The old woman, seeing sadness cross the younger woman’s face, added soothingly, “Sometimes we think that we’ve lost something only to find that it was still there all along. Ye ken?”
    No, she didn’t understand the mysterious message. She sharply pulled back her hand and put it on the door behind her. “But this wee one,” the old gypsy nodded to June. “She’ll bring ye the love yer aft’r.”
    Granny B ’s voice interrupted them. Cathy placed a finger over her lips to quiet the gypsy.
    The door suddenly swung open. “Away with you,” said Granny B, angrily waving a dishrag at the gypsy. “An’ you, get in here,” she said as she pulled Cathy into the flat.
    “ Them tinkers. The whole lot nothing but troublin’ thieves. You didne give her any money, did you?” Granny B asked.
    Cathy walked silently past her into the kitchen. “You’re so gullible, girl,” chided Granny B. “You’re lucky she didne steal one of your weans right out from under your nose.”
    “ Oh, Mammy. They can’t even feed their own weans, let alone mine. Anyway, I felt sorry for the old woman. Her hands were like ice.” She put June on the