New Orleans is a Scorpio

The French Quarter is truly a puzzle when it comes to parking, especially in the morning. But as it so happens, it must've been my lucky day; I found a spot on Phillips St. right off of Decatur. I parked and fed the ticket machine 80 cents from my right pants pocket. I then placed the freshly printed parking pass on my dashboard, locked the car, and went through a short checklist to make sure I was prepard to document my trip properly. Cash? check. Notebook? check. Camera? sort of check. I had just bought some of those rechargeable batteries, but after opening the package and trying to operate my camera with the energy I thought they would provide, I discovered that one must first charge the batteries before one can actually use them. Thus, on my way to Jackson Square, I stopped in a gift shop to pick up some AAs. My checklist was complete.I made my way down Decatur through a stream of older tourists until I reached Jackson Square, which was sparsely decorated with pedestrians, a napping homeless fellow, and puddles from a morning shower. I walked around the park looking for psychics, viscerally heading toward the north side. Two fortunes tellers had set up tables facing the cathedral: a woman with her dog, whom I had heard reputable things about from various sources, and a disheveled man with decrepit lawn chairs and a drinking problem. I knew the woman would be my psychic of choice, but there was a short wait. To pass the time, I decided to wander through the Square. This provided a great photo opportunity, that, I am sure, many people have taken advantage of before. The Cathedral looked very elegant in front of the overcast sky. So did Andrew Jackson. However, I think they looked the most magnificent when they posed together. I walked back to the north side of the Square to find it was still not my turn for a reading, so I walked into the Cathedral to pass even more time. The interior was beautiful. I walked up the nave to photograph the altar and then back to the doors to photograph Louis IX and Joan of Arc.

I left the church and noticed the fortune teller I desired had finished her private meeting with the earlier client and there were no other potential customers in the area. Perhaps this was my chance to move in closer and ask her to read my fortune. Dare I move in and have all of my hopes, dreams, and fears revealed to me? Yes I dare. I greeted her and she greeted me while closing a plastic container with a large chicken finger in it. I asked her about her profession. "You read fortunes and stuff?" I asked. " I need someone who is an expert in palm reading." She replied that her skills were not only proficient in palm reading, but in tarot card reading as well. I sat in her red cushioned chair and we began the typical small talk with introductions. Her name is Terry, but she goes by Velvet. My name is Graham and I am from Kentucky. She wanted to start with a tarot card reading. I agreed. I picked ten cards with my left hand, since, she explained, the right side of my brain is the intuitive side. This was for a general reading. The reading told me about who I am now, what will happen in my immediate future, my personality, my relationships, and my destiny. While she was giving me my general reading, her dog Sangria, or as Velvet called her, Gri-Gri, was constantly whining. After shushing the dog several times, Velvet gave her the last chicken finger from the plastic container. As the dog ate, Velvet gave me another tarot card reading. This one specifically geared toward my love life, a tangent of the general reading. After completing this tarot, she moved on to a palm reading. I extended my right hand and watched her as she studied the lines and cracks in my skin. She told me I had a long life line, that I was an old soul with many past lives, and potentially psychic. She asked me if I ever felt psychic. I wanted to tell her about the time when I hadn't thought about a certain friend of mine in months and then one day, a week or so ago, I was wondering what he was up to and then he called me within an hour of the thought. Instead, I responded "Sometimes." Then it was my turn to ask her any specific questions I wanted answered about myself. This is when I told her about my big idea. I had been curious about the idea of reading into the future or past from lines on a surface. I then combined this with an interst of the lives and deaths of cities throughout history. People have been getting their fortunes read for years, so why not a city? If the lines produced on our hands produced by a certain higher power or DNA or whatever could be read, was it possible for the lines on a city map, designed by planners, to be read? Could she read the fortune of New Orleans? I wasn't comfortable drawing tarot cards for the city, but a "palm reading" seemed totally objective. I took out a map of the city and unfolded it on her table while explaining my idea. She was intrigued and very excited to give it a try. At first, she had trouble reading the map, but a quick orientation of our location and the cardinal directionsgot the stars to start aligning. She was quick to not that the base of the city actually looked like the base of a palm and identified a long life line, which I recognized as I-10. She also picked up on a long heart line, which means the city is deeply loved. Before, I had only noticed this heartline as Earheart Boulevard. She went on to note that she could not read too much more into the map itself, but she knew the city was a Scorpio since it was founded in Novemeber. Apparently Scorpios are related to the Pheonix, a creature that rises from the ashes of its death. All of these are very positive signs: The city is loved, it has a long life line, and pheonix-esque characteristics. I folded the map and she closed with a final personality-related tarot. As it turns out I am too hard on myself. She gave me a green stone as a parting gift. Its supposed to remind me to find serenity. I paid Velvet and told her she had been very helpful. As I walked back to my car I thought about my fortune. I'm a dreamer with money in my immediate future. I will find true love, I have a "star" personality, and I am destined to become very successful. Of course, this was music to my ears. And as I turned the corner to see the hot orange envelope of an NOPD parking ticket on my windshield, all I could do is put my hands deep in my pocket and rub my green serenity stone.