Flesh Failure by Sèphera Girón Page B

and gait no doubt mesmerized them into letting me pass so as to save themselves potential trouble.
    Besides, for many of these folks, I knew their secrets. I could look into their guilty eyes and see their pleasures and their pain. So many of them had opened the doorways into their worlds, creating passages I could slip through and imagine their thoughts.
    Their secrets became my secrets and I greedily drank them in as lustily as I had drank the blood of the man who had tried to attack me.
    My power swelled and I dreamed the answer would come to me. How could I see for others but not for myself, what was going to happen?
    â€œMiss, oh miss.” A young lady scurried after me. I turned to look at her well-worn face. The poor thing was barely sixteen but looked at least ten years older and worn out at that.
    â€œI’ve heard you’re the best. Can you help me please?”
    We found an alleyway where people weren’t bustling and jostling us. I produced my cards from the pouch and she slipped two coins into my hands.
    â€œThat’s all I have,” she said.
    â€œNo, it’s not,” I said, not even knowing I was going to say it. But there it was. Out there between us.
    â€œYou’re right, I do have more money but I need to spend it wisely on food.”
    â€œI understand,” I said, looking at her pale, gaunt face painted with large circles of rouge. “What is it you need to know?” I asked her.
    â€œI…I’m not sure. That’s the problem. I don’t know what to do. There are pains and wounds I can’t explain. My body…well, I can’t speak of such delicate issues but my lord, it hurts.”
    â€œLet’s see if this will pass for you.”
    My stomached tightened in fear for her. Besides the devil and the tower, the facts indicated that she too was on the killer’s list.
    â€œYou need to steer clear of the shadows,” I warned her.
    â€œI do and will.”
    â€œIt’s more important now than ever.”
    â€œOf course, Jack the Ripper and all.”
    I nodded.
    â€œYou need to see a doctor or a healer for your pains. You have a disease, likely syphilis.”
    â€œI figured as much. I can’t afford a doctor. What can I do?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œI’ll give you a pound if you can heal me. Light a candle or something.”
    I knew that she wouldn’t last the night because she would be sliced and diced in an alleyway. No point in a thief taking her money when she was willing to pay me to pray for her.
    â€œI will go home and light a candle for you and I will pray for you every night,” I told her.
    â€œI know you will. Everyone says you’re the best.”
    I laughed and accepted her money.
    After she left, I continued on walking. My new shoes had been custom made and cost a lot of money but they were worth it. I could walk better in them. It still wasn’t ideal but part of that was my whole body being made off balance. Aesthetics are one thing, equilibrium is quite another.
    However, long walks were part of my routine to pass the time and find new places to tell fortunes. The river glistened in the distance. It would be nice to walk along the river banks.
    I stepped onto the bridge and stared down into the river. How delightful it must be when the river was warm. Today, the breeze from the water was chilling.
    It was so very cold I didn’t think I could stand for it. As I wandered along, a sheet of paper blown up against a fence caught my eye. The words “human reanimation” was printed in bold on the page.
    The flyer was for an evening of whimsical talks and lectures by professors about the mysteries of science. I noted the day and time.
    It dawned on me that I had to discover what the day was today and if I’d missed the lectures already.
    I looked at the flyer again. My heart beat so fast I thought I would pass out.
    The names on the flyer. Dr. Rueben, Dr.