Chapter 13 – Tea & Crackers?

T7S

After the meal was finished, Tatiana led the way to her Airstream where the special evening would continue. Eric was still curious about Leo's comings and goings and hand to ask, "So Leo, when I was on my road trip…."

Kelso sniggered and Eric shot him a glare, "…my video trip….and you asked if you knew me….didn't you remember me?"

Leo flicked the monkey off his shoulder and rubbed his weathered cheek. "Well, you looked familiar man, but I had just come off a bad trip and wasn't sure I was in Point Place or Kenosha or Vermont."

Theo coughed virulently and uttered, "Vermont" within the cough.

Leo continued. "…and when I recognized you and we had some dinner, I knew I needed to find a job man. I forgot where I kept my money! Lucky for me Hyde gave me a job in his record store."

They had arrived at Tatiana's trailer and as she opened the door, Jackie gasped. "Oh my god! It looks just like Stevie's Nicks' closet! I love it!" The brunette saw lace and colorful scarves and silk pillows and feather boas. The quartz pendant warmed in her hand. Jackie stepped into the Airstream and the scent of cinnamon and vanilla welcomed her. Eric stepped in next and admired the bright colors and comfy pillows on the floor.

Hyde was next and after hearing Jackie's exclamation of joy couldn't help but think that someone threw up in Fleetwood Mac's dressing room. Again, his neck felt that hot stinging pinch. "All right!" he grumbled. "It's too chick for me but I won't criticize."

Fez admired the fabrics and one of Tatiana's blouses could look fabulous if tailored for a man….Kelso gave Fez a nudge and he stumbled into the trailer. "Aiyy! Quit pushing!"

Leaving his cousin behind, Leo closed the door behind him and the trailer seemed suddenly small and claustrophobic. Tatiana looked at the Arcana before her and orchestrated a rearranging of seats. She pointed to Fez. "My little Pope…I need you to take your cushion and sit in front of the closet." She looked at Eric. "Temperance, you will move beside the bed."

Eric and Fez swapped places while Kelso looked on amused. "Where to I get to sit?" Tatiana motioned for him to sit on the bed and he grinned and then quickly got serious when the gypsy glared at him. Did she know what he was thinking?

"You. The Hanged Man…you are to sit in front of this table. Not under it but as close as you can."

Hyde argued, "I'm not sitting under some damned….ow!" He slapped the back of his neck and quickly moved his pillow to the appointed spot. Then the fortune teller turned to Jackie. "My little star, you will sit beside the door and the King sits in the center of this circle."

Leo looked happy to be surrounded by his Point Place friends. He grinned, "This is going to be wild man. Hey Toots!."

Long ringlets bounced as Tatiana turned her head, "Yes my King?"

"Did you make a good recipe this time?"

She smiled serenely, "Oh yes…this is very good. Please, all of you sit in your places while I prepare."

-o-

"Red? Red honey? Come here quickly!" Kitty shouted from upstairs. Red put down his paper hoping against hope that his wife hadn't fallen. The kids were gone to some damn carnival and Kitty was supposed to be in bed. He took the stairs two at a time and hurriedly opened the bedroom door.

"Kitty! Where are you?"

His wife emerged from the bathroom walking without a cane and without a limp. She looked astounded. "Honey, I am a nurse and I can't explain this but I have virtually no pain in my back." Almost to prove the point, she did a little kick-ball-chain dance step and it was perfect.

Red frowned, "But the doctor's said…"

"I know! Maybe all I needed was to rest my back…I can't explain it." Kitty was amazed. "Red, let's go to dinner."

Red scrubbed his face. How in the hell did this happen? Not an hour ago his wife went to bed with the pain she had been having all week and now she was dancing? "Sweetheart, maybe we need to take you back to the hospital. This could be a side effect of all that medicine."

Kitty frowned, "Red, I know if my back hurts or not. Say….lets go downstairs and I'll make some brownies."

The elder Forman was at a crossroads – what if this remission of sciatic pain was temporary and they got downstairs and she relapsed? This would devastate his wife! Better to be safe than sorry. "Kitty? Why don't we just call it a night and …turn in early."

Kitty's eye gleamed with mischief. "Oh Red! You bad boy! I'll change into my silk night gown."

Red just sighed patiently. "Whatever you want my dear." What he wanted was an explanation of how his wife suddenly started walking like she never slipped a disc!

T7S

"Sorry I took so long." Tatiana apologized. She was carrying a tray with a steaming tea pot and six delicate china cups. 'There was a wrong I had to make right. Temperance, you will thank me later."

Eric didn't know why the gypsy kept calling him Temperance or what it was supposed to mean but apparently he'd be thanking her later for something. "Uh…you're welcome?"

The tray was set on the small card table and Tatiana clicked on some music and a flute and violin played softly in the background. She waved her fingers at some fat yellow candles and they seemingly lit by themselves.

Kelso woofed out a "whoa!"

Carefully, Tatiana poured a small measure of liquid into the tiny cups and handed one first to Hyde and indicated that he should pass it around. When he got his own cup he sniffed the stuff that looked like tea and it smelled like his very favorite herb.

Tatiana smiled, "This is Sensimilla Tea. It will not taste good but it will relax you. There is a high level of THC which I'm sure the group of you are familiar with."

Hyde looked at Leo who downed his cup and asked for another. "Toots, you outdid yourself with this batch." He looked at Hyde, "its good man. It's like smoking film without the coughing.

Jackie lifted her up and pretended to toast Fez and Eric. "Cheers!" She swallowed the tea and felt like puking but refrained because she was a little afraid of insulting the gypsy.

The group watched as Tatiana pulled out a huge copper knife which glinted in the candlelight. The Zamfir flute composition was relaxing and as she spread a green type of butter on the tops of saltine crackers, the tea was already starting to work its magic.

Tatiana held out the first cracker and Leo took it. He sniffed the butter and licked it and smiled before shoving the whole wafer into his mouth. "I think this is your best batch yet!"

Could fortune teller's blush? Tatiana's cheeks were warm and it wasn't from the tiny heater or the candles. It was from the kind words from King Leo. The Romanian love song of her youth, was playing in the background and she recalled when it first played at the camp when the King shared a lunch with her. She could still feel the same emotions from the lyrics of "How Much I Love You."

Leo was sitting with a young Tatiana on a Cypress log while some children played with buckets when a voice from the old country sang from the tiny transistor radio, "….Atunci cand nu ma vezi….Stiu ce-ti imaginezi… the melody and words warmed her heart.

"…When you do not see me know what you imagine…." Did he imagine her at the tender age of 17? Did he see the woman she would become?

Jackie could feel the emotion in the song even if she couldn't understand it and totally related to the odd tear in Tatiana's eye. But she felt so relaxed and yet there was nothing she wanted to do in that moment. She looked at Steven who was smiling like he had the best buzz ever and Michael was grinning like a loon. What did the guys say? "This was some good shit!"

The fortune teller waited until she saw the tell tale glaze in the bright eyes of the young people. She spoke softly and addressed Eric first. He managed to tear his eyes away from the wavering candle as she said, "Temperance. You have a charmed life and yet you are easily frustrated because of self-administered chains that hold you back from your full potential. Eat this morsel of cracker and I will take you on a journey."

Eric's hand reached out and the beautiful gypsy whose kind eyes smiled at him as she lay a buttered cracker into the palm of his hand. He bit into the disgusting mush of peyote, mushrooms and paste of herbs and licked his lips like it was the best thing he'd ever ate.

"Temperance, I'm bringing your friends on a journey with you and without you so just sit back and enjoy the experiences you will encounter."

Eric closed his eyes and he could actually see the cells on the backs of his lids and he could feel the hairs on his arm growing. It was surreal and vivid and when he opened his eyes, Jackie was looking at him curiously. He tried to wink but was sure his eye got stuck in the closed position. His lips flapped uselessly when he tried to talk but damn, he felt wonderful!

Tatiana handed a paste covered cracker to Hyde. "You are my sad little Hanged Man. You are an underachiever and there is so much success on the horizon for you yet you fail to open your eyes and see your full potential. I will help you get there."

Hyde thought, "What the hell, I'm getting weed tea and something crazy Leo likes so let's take a ride!" Tatiana had that scolding look in her eye but she watched as he plopped the whole thing in his mouth. She smirked slightly as he nearly gagged at the taste.

Three down and to go.

This was going to be an interesting evening!

T7S

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A/N:...please everyone, do NOT try to eat a peyote butter covered saltine cracker okay? I'm sure it's probably disgusting and very unhealthy for you.