The Fortune Teller

“This is a child. I do not predict the future of children.” - The old woman said, turning her head away.

“I’ll pay you more than you make in a year.” - The lady hissed haughtily in front of her.

“Money doesn’t build a happy life, dear child.” - Matilda, the old woman, replied. - “But if you want that so much, fine. Give me the child …”

The lady handed her baby to the old woman, who shuddered slightly, but did not show it with an expression. She picked it up and looked into its eyes, blue eyes as deep as the ocean, light skin as soft as sunrise. Matilda touched the baby’s forehead, then grabbed the little hand and her eyes turned white.

“What do you see?” - The lady asked.

“A lot of things, it depends. The girl will enter prestigious schools, a high-class university. She will probably become a doctor. Her future is pure, like her soul.” - The lady smiled smugly. - “But there is darkness, my dear, there is sadness.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” - She shouted.

“Predicting and divining children is a bad thing. I have warned you many times, ma’am. The child will be without friends, without love and happiness from people around her. Money does not bring love and happiness, remember it well.”

“Oh, please, I won’t leave you a penny to see what happiness is to be hungry! Fool.”

The lady took the child and left the fortune teller’s tent. When she turned to spit angrily at the place, the tent was gone. It had disappeared like magic. The lady got scared and ran to her car, then went home.

Years passed, the girl named Dahlia entered the most prestigious school, with children whose parents were rich. Everyone was so nervous there, in a hurry, ready to grow up and spend their parents’ money. Dahlia wanted books, lots of books to read in her spare time. This caused the sloppy kids to harass, insult and ignore her.

“Mom!” - Dahlia was crying. - “Nobody likes me, today I was sitting alone at the desk again and everyone was shooting at me with clippings from my book!” - The girl was devastated. - “I don’t want to go anymore!”

A few more years passed, Dahlia entered the most elite high school, where she was in a profiled class with Italian and French. The years that had passed so far had created in her a sense of self-isolation, self-defense, and silence around others. No one treated her like that here anymore, because no one had a reason. Dahlia had no friends, never complete happiness.

“How was it today?” - Her mother asked one day.

“Same as any other day.” - The girl replied indifferently.

One day she walked along busy corridors with students, holding a book - “Sense and Sensibility” by Jane Austen. As she walked, as she always looked down at her feet, she collided with someone and dropped the book. She looked ahead and saw a boy leaning in front of her and picking up her book.

“A beautiful book with a beautiful message. Good choice, sorry I bumped into you!”

“I’m sorry, it was my fault.” - She replied.

“I’m Ronald, by the way!” - He held out his hand.

“Dahlia.” - She smiled and they shook hands.

“Can I accompany you after school, Dahlia?” - The boy asked with a unique smile.

“It will be a pleasure, thank you.”

That’s how the romance between the two began. This was Dahlia’s first friend, and her first boyfriend! She finally felt a dose of happiness, it was amazing. At some point, however, this ended. The fortune teller’s third prediction came true. Dahlia was without friends, without happiness and without love. She cried constantly and became very depressed. Her mother was heartbroken as she looked at her, and one evening she went to her room and sat down next to her.

“I have something to tell you, darling … Something I’m ashamed of and regret all my life.”

“Whatever it is, it’s all right, Mother.” - The girl replied.

“When you were born, I kept going to a fortune teller to tell me your future, I wanted to know. She kept saying that a child’s future should not be predicted. But I resisted, and one dark night she agreed. I promised her a lot of money, but what she told me was not worth a penny. She said you would be unhappy, without friends and no love. I got angry and as soon as I left her tent, everything disappeared and she herself. But she was right, money does not bring happiness.”

“How could you do that! Because of you I have an unhappy life and everything is upside down!” - Dahlia cried hard. - “I hate you, Mother!”

Dahlia was angry for a while, but somehow managed to forgive her, she was still her mother. From that moment on, everything seemed to clear up, more students befriended her, many people were around her. She got everything her mother had deprived her of with what she had done many years ago. Dahlia and Ronald got together, love prevailing over the other. The old fortune teller, she died, managed to calm her soul after the mother’s repentance and after the girl’s forgiveness.

One chooses what to be, how to treat others and what to do with one’s actions. When something is predicted by someone and it concerns you, you start thinking only about what will happen and thus you make it come true as a prediction. Fortune tellers around the world - many, sensible people - few. You create the future yourself, with your own (not other people’s) thoughts, desires, actions. Do not challenge fate, especially at that age.

The lady’s money led Dahlia to an expensive education. What did it lead to? Unhappiness, no friends, no love. If she had left her child in ordinary schools, this would not have happened.

Money does not buy happiness, nor does it create it. They satisfy a person’s material needs, which are not always important. The person with people around him is happy. Be happy, this is the greatest wealth!