Star Reader

There was once a star reader. That is, someone who read the stars. And she read the stars without needing a primer on how to do so - it was natural to her, like breathing. When others said they couldn't read the stars for tomorrow's weather, or the way to best get from point a to b, or a prediction about tomorrow's day, she was rather surprised.

Some came to her to read the stars, and she did so. The line became longer and longer - some evenings she could hardly do her chores. She had to turn a few away. But it was her life; she had spent her childhood in the stars, and now her adulthood continued on that way.

One who was turned away was a great cardinal. He had come to see her wonder, and he sniffed and held up his robes at the grime of her humble walkway, the stench of the dirty old woman in front of him. He was turned away just like the rest. He stalked away that day, a backward glance full of venom cast at the house.

That autumn a group of strange men came to her house. She claimed she could read the stars, and this was heresy. She was dragged away to the jail, and left there for many weeks. She was bereft, aghast, and abandoned. Those she had read them to before ran from her - she was the devil's servant - they went to church to cleanse themselves of her polluting presence.

The day of her trial came, and she went before the tribunal. They asked her question after question - what could she say? She did her best to answer them, but she had no answer. They wanted to condemn her, to see her burn. But that same cardinal, in seeing the dirty, hungry, humble woman before him, could not stand for her to be burned. He forbad her to do it any longer, and pled her ignorance to the circle. They were eager to finish, to go home and fondle their lovers, and they agreed.

And so she stood the next day, reading the stars regarding tomorrow's weather, and the fates of the cardinals whom she had so hated just this day, and found solace in the vagaries of the planets. A cat ran near her, and made for the street. She saw an oncoming vehicle and without thinking scooped up the cat. He struggled and scratched and she let him go as soon as it had passed. Poor thing, if not for her it would be dead. Head in the stars, head on the ground. The world had given her a secret - it was hers and she would keep it, a secret, a beautiful thing. But she would keep her head about her too.