originally published in Ropes Literary Magazine
Desperate people made Sandra’s job easy as pie. It helped that loneliness and loss were everywhere, all the time.
Yes, you’ll hear from her soon.
No, she’s not cheating on you. I have a very strong feeling about it, trust me.
Like the spiritualists of old, reaching to the other side, if you put your heart into a lie, people believe you.
She made the mistake of telling her boss how gullible they were. He said not to look down on them, because her contempt would show. She shouldn’t think she could take them for a ride, either. He warned about the psychic who got busted in New York City for bilking that dude out of thousands and thousands of dollars. She kept upping the ante, saying another grand would put her in closer touch. Then came the diamond ring she needed to bring on her astral journey to find the guy’s hottie, offer it up, and press his case. Which of course he’d done himself in person, only the lady wasn’t having it. The psychic said she’d get through. What she got through was his bank account.
If the client logged in and wanted to chat with Sandra specifically, she got paid extra at the end of the week. That was only fair. But no private deals, nothing on the side.
She didn’t tell anyone about her new job, except her roommate, Cliff. She had to. She used her laptop on the dining room table and he asked what she was working on. She used to be a web designer until things with her ex got crazy and he went after her with a kitchen knife. Being in fear for her life made it hard to work and she took time off. Then she quit. Then the pandemic hit. One day, fooling around online she came across an ad that said, Do you have the gift? Turns out she didn’t need anything except a computer and a screen name. She went by Marianna. She asked Cliff if that sounded spiritual enough. He had no idea. He wasn’t into psychics.
She’s putting out strong energy. Things are going well for her.
She knows she did wrong. Her heart is sore.
When she started, she assumed the clients would mostly be women, but it was men who wasted their time on money on this nonsense, two to one. They didn’t always want to know about love. Sometimes they…
