We were on the way home with our motor home when a huge, colorful banner invited us to visit the country fair. We could not resist.

The fair was a lively place with the typical Western atmosphere; good fellowship, lots of laughter, everyone being a friend, whether you knew them or not. So we decided to stay a while, have a hot dog and a coke. Looking around for a place to sit we found none, except a single chair about 25 feet away to the right of the hot dog stand.

The chair belonged to a lively middle-age lady who told us that she was a fortune teller. Well, I don’t believe in fortune telling and I told her so. I also told her that I respected her conviction and she said she certainly respected mine. And so we had a friendly, animated conversation that ended with her challenging me. She would tell me my fortune at half price of only five dollars if I was willing to listen with an open mind.

My lucky numbers were 5, 10, 48, and 55 she told me and wrote them down on a slip of paper for me to keep. Otherwise I was promised good health (I didn’t ask for how long). I was cautioned to manage my investments prudently (investments, what investments?). Our marital problems would evaporate soon, (what problems? We are known as The Love Birds among our friends). There was more but it was time to go on.

We tried our luck at the wheel of fortune but no fortune materialized. What the heck, we had spun five times, spent 10 dollars cash and had had a bit of fun. It was time to travel.

We saw the constable as soon as we turned the corner. He was writing a fifty-five dollar greeting from the local police department. We were parked in a fire lane, he explained, pointing to a smudged, old, and faded sign affixed to the chain link fence. We decided to settle our fine now instead of waiting for a judge sometime next week.

We were ready to leave when he pointed out a low tire on our left dual wheels. He then piloted us to the only place in town that could still fix the tire. Maybe he felt sorry for us, having written a parking ticket.

Two days later we were back home and I had forgotten the fortune teller at the fair when Margo found a piece of paper in my shirt pocket. It had hour numbers on it. They were written in a column instead of a row, one below the other.

I could not resist completing the list like this:

55 - parking ticket
38 - wayward nail in tire
10 - five wheel of fortune spins
  5 - to have my fortune told and receive four lucky numbers.

At that point my slightly open mind shut with a bang. And I still don’t believe in Fortune Telling.