A PIECE OF PAPER

by Tony Rawlinson 

As he walked home on that Friday afternoon he had a vague feeling of dissatisfaction with his life. Where do such feelings come from? He was happily married to Rachel, they had built a home for themselves and their children; Sally aged ten and Peter aged eight. He had a steady job at the local tax office, working with pleasant people. But the feeling persisted.


As he walked through the park he saw that the annual fair had come to town. One stall was up and ready to go and it was entirely understandable, in his present state of mind, that he decided to visit the Fortune Tellers Tent. She stood in the doorway resplendent in yellow and with an obligatory head scarf, also yellow. She looked about 104 and he was worried she might fall over. Inside the tent was a small table and two chairs, in the middle of the table was an apology for a crystal ball.

However, fifty pence was pretty cheap for a “Fortune Telling so he did as she asked and placed his hands on the so called crystal ball. She placed her hand upon his and spoke, “Your name is Michael Fielding, you are thirty eight years old and you were born in Manchester”. He was stunned, how could she know that, before he could question her she spoke again, “At present you work in a tax office and have two children one aged ten and one aged eight”. He was amazed. “You are right”, he said, “Absolutely right….. what about the future?” She closed her eyes, then without warning she stood up and shouted at him, “Out of my tent, be gone”. He refused to leave until she told him what she had seen; she refused to tell him. They argued for twenty minutes and finally came to a compromise. She would write on a piece f paper what she had seen, put it in an envelope, seal it and give it to him. He would not open the envelope and read the contents unless his life was in danger.

By now he was late getting home and when his wife asked him why he told her the whole story of the fortune teller. His wife was made of sterner metal than him, “It’s nonsense”, she said. “Give me the envelope“. “I will read what is on it, you wont have broken your promise about reading it”. He gave her the envelope, she opened it and read the contents. “Out”, she said, “Out of this house right now”. She raced upstairs, got a suitcase, threw some of his clothes in it, put the suitcase in his hand and pushed him out of the front door. He wandered slowly down the drive and into the street. At the corner he saw two policemen on the beat. In a daze he stopped them and explaining the situation asked for help. Would they please read what was on this piece of paper. The policemen were happy to help and silently read what was on the piece of paper. Without further ado the policemen looked at each other and pounced on the man. “It’s down the Station with you my lad, we can’t have your sort just walking the streets”.


A police car was called, he was taken to the Station and locked in the cell. He was told that he would be brought before the Magistrates in the morning. It seemed to him several years had passed when in the morning he was brought before the Magistrates. The Constable outlined what had happened and the Chief Magistrate was not impressed, “I am not sure that this man should even be in Court, but give me the piece of paper and we will sort this in a few minutes”. The Magistrate took the envelope from the policeman, read it and slowly turned another colour, “Get this man out of my Court, in fact, get him out of the country, put the handcuffs on him immediately and deport him without delay”. And so it came to pass that Michael Fielding found himself on an ocean going ship. In his distress he took the opportunity to talk to the Captain of the ship. The Captain was a good man and he offered to read what was on the piece of paper.

The Captain quickly scanned the writing, “Off he said, off my boat immediately, put this man in a boat straight away“. Michael Fielding found himself in the middle of a huge ocean in a rowing boat with no food or water. He believed his life to be in danger, so he decided to read what was written on the piece of paper. He took the envelope out of his pocket, he took the piece of paper from inside the envelope, he opened out the piece of paper and just as he was about to read it a gust of wind came and blew it away.