Julia and Natalie lingered at the storefront window. They glanced at the amethyst
cathedrals and giant quartz points, but the smaller and rarer stones grabbed their interest.

“Let’s go in,” Natalie said.

Julia shook her head no. “It’s a metaphysics store,” she said and pointed to the sign above the window.

“Givingana,” Natalie read aloud and squinted at the sign. She looked at Julia and
shrugged. “I don’t have a clue what that means. It doesn’t matter. It’s a store with rocks. Come
on.” Natalie grabbed Julia’s arm and drug her to the door. Little bells chimed as Natalie pushed
the door open. They paused inside the door to let their eyes adjust to the dark interior of the shop.
Julia glanced upward. The ceiling had no overhead light fixtures to illuminate the space.

“Maybe they’re closed,” Julia whispered. The shop’s musty smell mingled with burned
incense. “Let’s leave,” Julia said. The thirty-three-year-old geologist didn’t believe in
metaphysics, but the darkness of the store invaded Julia’s core and sparked her fight or flight
instinct. She started to turn for the door, but stopped when a small elderly man stepped through
the dangling beads that draped the doorway to the back room. He halted in front of the beads
when he looked at Julia. She watched the beads settle. The man looked sixty or seventy, but his
stature matched that of a twelve-year-old boy. Gray stubble covered his light brown scalp, but
his face was freshly shaved. He didn’t look Australian, white or aboriginal. He seemed of Middle
Eastern descent. Julia’s active mind speculated how he came to work in a small Brisbane shop.
He stood straight, clasped his hands, and revealed a chipmunk-tooth smile.

“G’day,” he said. He took a few steps toward the friends. “May I help you?”

Natalie stepped forward and closed the space between them. She said, “We’d like to have
our palms read.” She pointed to the banner above the register. In bright rainbow colors, the sign
read: Palmistry, Numerology, Psychic readings, Aura cleansing.

Julia rolled her eyes and raised her voice, “No, we don’t. We were just leaving.” Julia
hated metaphysics, fortune tellers, and con artists. She lumped them into one equal group.

“I’m Joaquin Yamurru,” he said. “Welcome to my shop.” He bowed his head and offered
a Namaste pose. Julia sighed. Natalie mouthed the words, “Shut up.” She opened her eyes wide
to emphasize her point. In return, Julia mouthed the words, “Make me,” and raised her
eyebrows. They’d been friends for years and could fight like sisters. The man, Mr. Yamurru,
held his pose, oblivious to their silent argument.

He lifted his head and faced Julia. He stared at her, or through her. Julia turned, looked
behind her, and saw nothing there. She wondered if they were alone in the shop.

“All right, mate?” Julia asked. The lilt in her voice surprised her. After only one week
consulting an Australian mining firm, she’d picked up some of their phrases and tones. She
enjoyed Australia, but she felt eager to return home tomorrow to the United States and her
family. She missed her four young children. She would’ve headed home right after work
yesterday, but Natalie convinced her to extend their trip and enjoy some sight-seeing. Mr.
Yamurru continued to stare through Julia.

Natalie broke the awkward silence and asked, “How much to read our palms?”

Mr. Yamurru extended his hand to Julia. “Say, complementary today.”

Julia shoved her hands into her jeans pockets. “You can read Natalie’s.”

“Yes, please,” Natalie said and stuck her hand out toward the small man.

He considered her and stood motionless. His eyes scanned her up and down. “I’ll give
you an aura cleansing,” Mr. Yamurru said.

“But I want my future read.”

“Hereabouts, we don’t always get want we want.” He turned back to Julia and said,
“However, Julia, I can offer protection for your son, Luke.”

“What are you talking about?” Julia asked.

“How’d you know her name?” Natalie said. Mr. Yamurru extended his hand again to
Julia. Julia took a step backward. Her breath shortened. Thoughts darted around in her head as
she rationalized how this man knew not only her name but also her son’s name.

Natalie moved next to Julia. She said, “Maybe he’s a real psychic. Give him your hand.”

Julia snapped her eyes toward her friend and doubted her sanity. Julia looked back at the
stunted, chipmunked, and stubbled man. He stood there with his hand out, smiling. Creepy.
Julia’s heart raced. She worried for her seven-year-old son’s safety as well as her own. Natalie
poked Julia’s shoulder and mouthed the words, “Do it.” Julia extended her hand palm up. Mr.
Yamurru accepted her hand but instead of looking at the lines in her palm, he covered it with his
other hand and closed his eyes. Warmth pulsed through her veins. The fluid surge made Julia
dizzy. A wet sensation pushed perspiration through her pores. She wondered if she wet herself.
She couldn’t check. She stood paralyzed, unable to even blink and clueless to the passage of
time. Mr. Yamurru released Julia’s hand, and she immediately felt her jeans. Dry. Thank
heavens, but the sensation felt real.

“You okay?” Natalie asked. Julia noticed her tanned friend had paled a few shades.

“Say Julia,” Mr. Yamurru said. “I need a more comprehensive reading.” He behaved as
though nothing weird happened. “Will you sit with me?” He motioned to the back room.

“Uh. No.” Julia stepped back and wiped her hands on her jeans. “What did you do to me?”

“No worries. I only looked for your son.”

Without another word, Julia walked to the door and pushed it ajar.

“Let me help you. Otherwise, your son will die at sixteen.”

Julia walked out. Natalie followed.

“Wait. We have to get the full reading,” Natalie said.

“No. He’s a con artist.”

“What does he have to gain by conning you?” Natalie asked. “Besides, he said it would be free.”

“He’s lying.”

Natalie grabbed Julia’s arm and made her stop walking. “Then how did he know your
name and Luke’s name? We’re seven-thousand miles from home. There’s no way he could know
anything to scam us. He’s psychic.”

“Maybe he got our info from the hotel, or the mining company,” Julia said.

Natalie tilted her head and glared and Julia. “That’s unlikely. No one knew we’d come
here to shop today.”

“So, because he knows my name and Luke’s, you think he knows when Luke will die?”

“That’s why we should go back. We need to hear him out.”

“What good can come from it?”

Natalie squeezed Julia’s hand. “Maybe he can tell you how to stop it, avoid it, or change
it somehow. Maybe by knowing, you can alter Luke’s future.”

“No,” she said and dropped her friend’s hand. Their sight-seeing and shopping came to
an abrupt end. They returned to their hotel and spoke little for the remainder of the day. During
the night, Julia tossed with nightmares.

In the morning, they finished packing their suitcases by nine, five hours before they
needed to arrive at the airport. They sat on the edges of their beds and faced each other.

“We have time,” Natalie said.

“Okay.” Julia relented.

They checked their luggage at the bell desk and headed for the rock shop. When they
reached the store, they stood in silent frustration and stared at the door. The sign said closed.
Natalie shrieked when the small man jerked the door open.

“Julia,” he said and waved her into the shop. Natalie followed close behind. Mr. Yamurru
locked the door and led the ladies to the back room. They sat around a dark rosewood table with
intricately carved feet. The highly polished table top contradicted the rest of the room. Dust
particles floated in the streams of sunlight that shone through the high windows. A thick layer of
dust blanketed the shelves around the room. Mr. Yamurru selected a Kyanite crystal from a clear
container shaped like a pyramid and handed it to Natalie. He instructed her to hold the fibrous
blue and silver piece in the palm of her hand and wrap it with her other hand. She complied.

He sat across from Julia and unrolled a burgundy velvet pouch on the table. Smaller
pockets formed a grid across the velvet. He slowly moved his hand over the pockets. He paused
and moved his hand back to an area he’d already covered. Natalie started to say something, but
he shushed her and lifted one finger to indicate silence. The friends exchanged looks, but kept
still. Mr. Yamurru’s hand hovered. He reached into the pocket and pulled out a single polished
piece of Boulder Matrix Fire Opal. Julia recognized it, because she spent the previous week
consulting with a mining operation in Queensland for this very type of rock. The rare stone was
only mined in Australia and boasted a hefty value. Mr. Yamurru set the stone in front of Julia.
She looked at him. He motioned for her to pick it up. She did. She examined the stone and
admired the flashes of green and blue opal threaded throughout the brown matrix.

“A beautiful piece,” she said and placed the stone back on the table.

Mr. Yamurru picked up the Boulder Matrix Fire Opal and held the stone against his
forehead directly in line with his nose. His eyes closed, his mouth opened, and his breath
stopped. He sat frozen for many seconds, maybe minutes, without taking another breath. Then he
casually put the rock on the velvet pouch and clasped his hands. He took several deep breaths before speaking.

“Julia, indeed, Luke will be shot dead at sixteen-years-old,” Mr. Yamurru said. “But, you
can save his life.”

“How?” Julia whispered.

Mr. Yamurru stood and went to the cupboard. He pulled a burnished wooden box from
the dusty shelf. Various hues of browns streaked in uneven patterns across the wood. Brass
bands, hinges, and a lock decorated the elegant wood. He brought the box to the table, situated it,
and lifted the unlocked lid. Inside, on a navy velvet pillow, rested a bracelet of Boulder Matrix
Fire Opal beads, each about the size of a pea. Mr. Yamurru lifted the bracelet with reverence
and cupped it with both hands. He closed his eyes and huffed on the beads methodically, three times.

He looked through Julia and said, “If you want to save your son’s life, make sure he
always wears these beads.” Mr. Yamurru bobbed his head up and down and raised his eyebrows.

“How will that save his life?” Julia asked.

“Trust me,” he said.

“I don’t know you. Why would I trust you?”

“Take the beads.” He held the bracelet out to Julia, but didn’t release it when she touched
the beads. She sensed Mr. Yamurru as he flooded her with psychic fluid and pulsed through her
veins. She saw. Linked to him through the beads, she saw Mr. Yamurru’s vision. Her son fell to
the ground. Blood covered his chest. The images jumped to a hospital room. From the bed, Luke
asked for his fire opals. Julia pulled them, crusted in blood and dirt, from her pocket.

Mr. Yamurru released the bracelet. The vision ended. The beads dangled from Julia’s
fingers. She gasped for a breath and touched the bracelet to her chest.

“What happened?” Natalie asked. She leaned forward to make eye contact, but Julia
shook her head. Tears streamed down her face.

“Say Natalie, your aura’s been cleansed,” Mr. Yamurru said. Both friends looked at him.
He smiled at Natalie. He extended his hand for the Kyanite crystal, and she returned it.

“Let’s go home,” Julia said.