Fry by Lorna Dounaeva

people.”
    “I know,” I agree. “If only we were allowed to run this place properly, without interference from that idiot.”
     
    * * *
     
    I pop round to Kate’s house for a cup of tea on the way home. I’m thinking about sharing my concerns about Alicia with her. Maybe she can tell me if I’m worrying over nothing.
    “Come on in!” she says, as she answers the door. “Alicia’s just made some tea.”
    “Alicia’s here?”
    I don’t know why I’m even surprised anymore. She seems to pop up everywhere I go these days. I’m tempted to leave, but I make myself sit down at the table. I’m determined to play nice.
    Alicia smiles at me.
    “Would you like a cup, Isabel?”
    For a moment, my suspicious mind works overtime, wondering if she’s somehow poisoned the tea, or if she wants me to leave fingerprints on the cup so that she can plant more evidence at crime scenes. Given my misgivings, I should just say no, but instead I nod, numbly.
    I watch as she pours the tea and swirls the leaves around in each cup, muttering something incomprehensible.
    “What’s she doing?” I whisper to Kate.
    “She’s going to read our tea leaves.”
    “Seriously?”
    “It’ll be fun!”
    Reluctantly, I agree. I’m not sure I trust Alicia as far as I can throw her, but what harm can she do with a few tea leaves? And besides, it would be good to know what fate has in store for me, for a change.
    We gulp our tea quickly, eager to get to the leaf reading. I’m not used to drinking tea made with loose leaves, and I splutter a bit as some of it goes down the wrong way. Kate pats me on the back.
    “Do me first,” she says eagerly, once I’ve stopped coughing.
    Alicia leans forward and examines the little patterns in her teacup.
    “What can you see, Kate?”
    Kate scrunches up her face in concentration.
    “Looks like a present?” she says, hopefully.
    “Yes!” Alicia takes a closer look. “A parcel. That means a surprise.”
    “A good surprise or a bad one?” I ask.
    Alicia shrugs. “It doesn’t say.  Maybe that depends on you.”
    Kate raises her eyebrows at me and I smile.
    “So what about yours?” I ask.
    Alicia gazes down at her own cup and a slow smile spreads across her face.
    “I see a lover,” she says, blushing.
    “Ooh!” Kate claps her hands together. “Maybe it’s that hot new pizza guy!”
    Alicia giggles. “Let’s do yours, Isabel.”
    I offer her my cup.
    “What can you see?” she asks, as the three of us pore over the splattered tea leaves in the bottom of my cup. Mine looks a bit messier than the other two.
    “Well, that blob looks a bit like Fluffy,” I say eventually.
    “Yes, a cat.” Alicia confirms. “And next to it is a wolf.”
    “What’s that, then?” asks Kate, pointing to the biggest shape of all.
    “That’s an hourglass.”
    “So what does it all mean?”
    Alicia takes a deep breath. “Well, the cat is for deceit, or a false friend.”
    “Oh.”
    “And the wolf?”
    “The wolf is for jealousy.”
    “And what about the hourglass?”
    “Yes, the hourglass,” Alicia looks me right in the eye. “That means that time is running out.”
    “Time for what?”
    “Who knows? Maybe it means you need to make a change in your life, or get something done. The signs can be very vague.”
    “You couldn’t magic up a couple of lovers for us then?” I ask. “Not that I’m not grateful for my assortment of strange animals and warnings about punctuality.”
    Alicia laughs her squeaky little laugh. “Maybe next time. I can only work with the what the tea leaves give me.”
    “What do you think?” I ask Fluffy that night, as we watch Neighbours together.
    “Can she really read tea leaves, or was she making it all up? ‘The cat is for deceit, or a false friend,’” I say, mimicking her high-pitched voice. “She’s obviously not a cat lover then.”
    Knock! Knock!
    Who’s that?
    “I’m coming,” I yell. I don’t know why people don’t just use the doorbell.