Elaine Viets & Victoria Laurie, Nancy Martin, Denise Swanson - Drop-Dead Blonde (v5.0) (pdf) by Unknown (howl and other poems .TXT) 📕

the place where a little red dot would appear. I focused for a moment, swirling the mouse in a circular motion before choosing a spot and clicking in the bottom left corner. Instantly a little red bull's-eye appeared just a fraction to the right of my blue dot. I cleared the screen and tried again, this time clicking in the upper right- hand corner, and was rewarded with an almost perfect hit. I played this game through twenty-odd more trials, and allowed Carrot Top to click on the results again. I was surprised to see that I'd performed even better on this test, the odds against chance being in the six-bazillion-to-one range.

``What's your name?'' Carrot Top asked in a voice grow- ing bolder with excitement.

``Abby Cooper,'' I said, extending my hand by way of introduction.

``Zo Schmitt,'' she said, grasping my hand and holding on tightly. ``Listen, you're the best I've ever had take these tests. I would love to study you. Do you think we could set up a time this weekend for a little more testing?''

My response was less than enthusiastic. As a rule, I try to avoid being a human guinea pig. ``Well, I really came here to avoid work, if you can believe it . . .''

``What kind of work do you do?'' she persisted, sitting down next to me, her interest piqued.

Her intensity was starting to give me the creeps, and nervously I looked to the hall door again, silently cursing Cat for taking so long. ``Uh . . . I'm a psychic.''

``Really? That's wonderful! Listen, I know it's a huge imposition, but I've spent the past ten years researching and cataloging psychic phenomena, and, to put it bluntly, I've been waiting for someone just like you to come along. BLIND SIGHTED 281 If you could just spare me an hour or two, it would really help my research--''

Just then the double doors of the hall opened and out stormed Fish Lips, her giant boobs dribbling like basket- balls as she stormed by us, her clothing torn, dirty, and disarrayed, and her platinum locks tossed and frenzied, while her son hurried to catch up to her as he pleaded, ``Mother, please! I had no idea she would attack you like that! Really! I'm sorry!''

Zoe and I stood transfixed by the scene as the two brushed

� past us, followed by a massive wave of seminar attendees streaming out the door, chattering excitedly as they exited the dining hall. Somehow, in all the confusion, I still managed to spy Cat, and while Zoe attention was turned to the crowd

�'s I sneaked off and made my way over to her.

``What the heck's going on, and where have you been?'' I demanded as I took my sister by the arm and tugged her to one side, out of the flood of people.

``Oh! Abby, there you are!'' Cat said brightly, her eyes merry with excitement. ``I was hoping you'd be close by.''

``Why didn't you come out after me?'' I said, the hurt ringing slightly in my voice.

``I was about to, but as I got up to follow you I noticed that my diamond tennis bracelet had fallen off my wrist again, and while I was looking around the table for it, Ce- leste Ballentine--you know, that woman we saw in the ele- vator on the way down--took advantage of the situation you created and jumped right up onstage! And, Abby, that's when the show really began!''

``Ohhh, tell me,'' I said excitedly, finding a sofa in the lobby for Cat and me to sit down on.

``Well!'' Cat began, ``it's a shame you left so quickly, be- cause things really got good the moment you disappeared.''

``It wasn't exactly like I had a choice in the matter,'' I reminded her.

``Yes, yes.'' She waved at me, wanting to get to the juicy part. ``After you left, the audience was just stunned. They were all looking around wondering what had just happened, and Deirdre was simply standing there looking at her man- ager and the audience, trying to decide what to do. Mean- while, I couldn't find my bracelet, so I was just about to duck under the table to see if it had fallen there--remind 282 Victoria Laurie me to report it to hotel security by the way; I couldn't find it anywhere--when Celeste Ballentine walks out onstage like she owns it, and a spotlight turns on her as she intro- duces herself and starts telling the audience all about Deir- dre and her checkered past!''

``No way!'' I exclaimed, and for just a moment I felt sorry for Deirdre Pendleton. ``Go on,'' I encouraged.

``Well, Celeste started talking about what a fraud Deirdre is. She had a long list of affidavits from people who had gone to Deirdre for a reading and swore that nothing Deir- dre had predicted had come true--and one woman even claimed to be suing her! I guess Deirdre told this woman that she absolutely had to quit her job of twenty years, mortgage her house to the hilt, and start her own dot-com, where she'd be very successful within a matter of months. So the woman follows Deirdre's advice, and right around the time the woman gets her name on the NASDAQ, the entire bottom fell out of the dot-com industry and she ends up in foreclosure and bankruptcy!''

``Get out!'' I said, a chill spreading to my neck. As a psychic, I am extremely conscious of boundaries that are never appropriate to cross. Telling someone to mortgage their house, quit a steady job, and throw caution to the wind to become an entrepreneur was just so careless and stupid that, if it were true, Deirdre deserved to get the pants sued off her.

``Yes, and there were several other stones just like it, Abby,'' Cat said shaking her head back and forth.

``So what did Deirdre do?'' I asked.