I Can Be Convinced.

"Who's the businessman?"

The reader at Marie Leveau's House of Voodoo looked directly into my eyes and asked me again, "Who's the businessman?"

I stammered. I smiled. I told her I knew who he was. She turned over the next card.

"He has to travel? He's some distance from you?"

My heartrate increased. I felt the hammer of my pulse in my chest. What could be next?

She continued to turn over my cards, one after the other, telling me things I already knew. Through the first set and into the next. I left a little shaken, but happy. I walked out of the crowded shop and stepped onto Bourbon Street. My friends decided to pay for readings and it would be awhile. I walked to the bar next door and ordered a vodka tonic. I stood on the street and sipped it while I watched people pass in front of me. I walked back into the store when my friend asked me to sit in on her reading.

The reader started turning over cards and set one horizontally, carefully, deliberately on the table.

She asked my friend, "Is there a Pisces that could be influencing you emotionally?"

I offered to leave the room. Both told me to stay.

My cards were suddenly appearing in my friend's deck. This was bizarre - and disconcerting. I felt as if I'd ruined her reading. How was that possible?

But how was it possible that I'd thought someone had climbed into the small double bed with us the night before? I felt someone climb onto the bed, twice, and it wasn't our male roomie.

How was it possible that our other friend woke to see a dog sitting between the two beds?

Granted, we were staying in a hotel known for its hauntings.

But, I didn't expect to experience anything to do with the paranormal. Well, I admit, I'd wanted to have my chakras read. I wasn't planning to have a Tarot card reading. The voodoo shops kind of creeped me out. Until I had a reading that felt so accurate, and pleasant, and exciting.

I admit that I was having a fun time with our hotel, joking around about the hauntings. I asked on more than one occasion if the people in the hall were "real people". I even teased my friend about the handsome doorman. He had such fabulous ice blue eyes (her weakness), but he only worked at night. I told her he must certainly be a vampire.

Now I kind of wish I hadn't been so flip about it all. I bought a juju to bring home - just in case. It's at the entrance to my office at work. I collect skulls and I found one with a tiny skull and feathers. I'm sure my office mates will have an opinion about it. I will have fond memories of New Orleans when I see it. I certainly am anxious to see how my reading turns out, although how can I really see the ending? My final card was the infinity card, after all.