J. Swift's Paris Travel Journal -- Part IV

After visiting Notre Dame the next morning, Natasha, Bill, and I took a cab to see an old fortune teller who has been a lifeling a friend of Natasha's mother. The woman is considered to be a powerful psychic and many important people come to see here.

We will call her Madame de Volange after the character in [i]Dangerose Liasons[/i]. The title is apt, for this meeting was to prove to be a dangerous liason for Bill. We had to go down the stairs of an old stone building and make our way through a very large old stone wine celler to find the place where Madame de Volange read tarot cards and did readings.

We found old Madame de Volange under the earth napping by the fireplace in the rooms of the cellar where she worked. She was lying on a small sofa while a stereo played the music of [i]Somewhere in Time[/i]. Having helped raise Natasha, Madame de Volange was expecting her child for the air was rich with the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. Madame de Volange awoke as we entered and greeted Natasha and I warmly. She offered me her hand and I bowed and kissed it as a gentleman would do in France.

She did not speak to Bill but instead turned and studied him.

"Scientologiste, oui?" she asked as she looked at Bill.

"Oui, Scientologiste," Bill replied.

They looked at each other for a few moments and then Madame de Volange offered her hand. Bill was not so gallant as to kiss her hand and instead shook it. She smiled and gestured for Bill and I to sit down at the round table while she and Natasha went to take the cookies out of the oven.

"Did Natasha tell her?" Bill asked.

"Yes, she did," I answered.

"Does she like Scientologists?"

"I haven't a clue, Bill," I said. "All I know is that she wanted to meet an OT VII."

"Why?"

"Natasha said that she wanted to see what an OT was like, you know see if she senses any special powers in you."

"Fine."

"Okay."

"Does she know the tech?" Bill quizzed me in that impatient way he has.

"Why would she know the tech? She's a psychic."

Bill smiled that smug Scientologist smile that says, "We know it all and no one else does."

Was he in for a surprise!


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