Tricky
Briefly immortal
I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday and she told me that she'd been to a palm reader over the weekend. This woman (a geophysicist) is normally very reality-bound and so I was surprised to hear that she'd be dabbling in the paranormal. "Well," she giggled, "It was a gift from a friend who was trying to convince me how good this palmist was."
"Were you convinced?" I asked.
"Not hardly," she replied. "Before I went I put on my wedding ring." (She has never been married, but she has a wedding ring she sometimes wears in order to ward off unsolicited advances.) "The first thing she told me was that my husband was not my true soul mate. She went on to tell me how I was going to meet my soul mate at a Mexican restaurant, and that I'd divorce my husband to remarry this new man."
I found this hilarious. A cold reading gone bad because she had been reading the ring rather than the palm. The charlatan went on to say that she had a "dirty aura" and that she needed to have it clensed (at an additional cost, of course.) My friend, who is a pretty good actress, just played along, even managing a convincing sob or two.
Safe to say that not a single thing the palmist said was accurate, other than very general and obvious things like "A lot of men want you". (My friend is drop-dead gorgeous, so duh.)
It made me wonder what other things you could do to mess with palmists or other charlatans? Leave a little dirt under your fingernails to make them think you are a construction worker? Cut your nails into points to make them think you are punk or psycho? Twitch every time she touches your palm?
What about tarot readers? Audibly gasp each time a card of a certain suit turns up? Intentionally read sixes as nines and nines as sixes. Comment on some irrelevant detail of the card design each time a card is turned up?
I would hate to give money to these frauds, but I might enjoy playing them, especially if I had a believer with me.
"Were you convinced?" I asked.
"Not hardly," she replied. "Before I went I put on my wedding ring." (She has never been married, but she has a wedding ring she sometimes wears in order to ward off unsolicited advances.) "The first thing she told me was that my husband was not my true soul mate. She went on to tell me how I was going to meet my soul mate at a Mexican restaurant, and that I'd divorce my husband to remarry this new man."
I found this hilarious. A cold reading gone bad because she had been reading the ring rather than the palm. The charlatan went on to say that she had a "dirty aura" and that she needed to have it clensed (at an additional cost, of course.) My friend, who is a pretty good actress, just played along, even managing a convincing sob or two.
Safe to say that not a single thing the palmist said was accurate, other than very general and obvious things like "A lot of men want you". (My friend is drop-dead gorgeous, so duh.)
It made me wonder what other things you could do to mess with palmists or other charlatans? Leave a little dirt under your fingernails to make them think you are a construction worker? Cut your nails into points to make them think you are punk or psycho? Twitch every time she touches your palm?
What about tarot readers? Audibly gasp each time a card of a certain suit turns up? Intentionally read sixes as nines and nines as sixes. Comment on some irrelevant detail of the card design each time a card is turned up?
I would hate to give money to these frauds, but I might enjoy playing them, especially if I had a believer with me.
: The 947th method (according to Mimbleshaw's classification) of obtaining money by false pretences. It consists in "reading the character" in the wrinkles made by closing the hand. The pretence is not altogether false; character can really be read very accurately in this way, for the wrinkles in every hand submitted plainly spell the word "dupe." The imposture consists in not reading it aloud. (Ambrose Bierce)
