She chuckled, "Hehehe, I thought so. Well now it's time for your future. Are you ready? Here, pick three cards."
She shuffled the deck of cards expertly like a casino dealer and put the cards flat on the table in an arc.
Still amazed at what was going on in front of me, I reached my hand out and pulled up three cards from the same spot. Hmmmm.
"May I say the cards?"
"I already know 'em, hon. Jack of Hearts, King of Hearts, Black and White Joker. You're very lucky to get that last card, it never showed up in my customer's hand before," she chuckled, "Now, stare into my crystal ball. The cards are not enough."
I looked deep into the crystal ball. I was ready for whatever fortune the fortune teller was going to give me. The teller put her hands on both sides of the ball and went up and down. She closed her eyes and murmured in her own mystery language. I wanted to know that fortune. I didn't look away from the ball, not even once. I began to see some colors, but the colors faded away.
"Hmmm… Tails, put your hands on the ball for me."
I did as I was told immediately. I kept staring at the ball. The colors came back. A grin spread across my face. This was super exciting!
Finally, the ritual was over. The colors faded. The murmuring stopped. The old woman opened her eyes as if she dreamt of something sad, something depressing.
"Well?" I asked, anxious for an answer.
"I'll tell you the cards first, I'll put it this way.
The Jack and King of Hearts don't happen every day.
But the hearts mean love and the Joker is a bishop
I'm sorry to say, but Tails, you are gay."
—
"I… I… I'm gay? Homosexual?"
"I'm sorry, Tails, but the cards never lie."
"There, what? This… There must be some mistake!"
"The cards never lie. There is magic in these cards, you can pick again, but the same ones will come to you."
I made her shuffle the cards again and she laid them on the table again. This time, I picked cards from different places in the deck. Jack of Hearts… King of Hearts… no, no, no, no, no… Black and White Joker. I picked up all the cards in the deck to make sure the woman wasn't bullshitting me but all the cards were different. Every single one of them. The cards don't lie. I'm sure this is destiny.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! This… this isn't right! Being gay is illegal! I'll… I'll get arrested!"
"Now hush child! You will get arrested if you yell it to everybody! But I'm not done yet. There's still the crystal ball. There was something dark I saw in the ball. It started with—"
"That's enough. I don't need any more." Tears fill my eyes as I pick up the bag of chocolates. I pick a one dollar bill out of my pocket and toss it on the table. "Tip," I sob as I rush out of the alley. How could I have been gay? This can't be true. How could this explain Cosmo? She wasn't a guy, I'm sure! I just don't get it!
I ran out of the city and flew over the lake, my tears dripping on the smooth, still surface. I land on the other side of the lake, where the suburbs are. I run as fast as I can to my house on Milo Street. "Tails?" called Shadow from his house. "Tails? Are you okay?" I ignore him and jam a key into the door lock. I race into the house and slam the door shut. I slide down the slammed door and I cry. I cry like I did when I was eight. I cry like I did when I died for the first time. Was I going to— lose my new life too? I'm so confused. I just cry. I don't wanna die.
—