by Sally Quinn
Millicent was from someplace in Mississippi, so the story went. It was said that she had been tragically widowed and had sold her possessions and had come to Washington to make a new start. She was young then, in her early thirties, childless and with enough money to buy an apartment in The California House, an old building that was only just now becoming the fashionable place it had been during the turn of the century.
Millicent had started reading palms first at parties, then, when her funds began to run low, for money.
From there she had studied astrology and had begun doing charts for friends. She had managed to present herself to the right group when she first came to Washington and soon developed a devoted clientele: the Georgetown Establishment, the Congress, and a few new people every time an administration changed. Middle Eastern and Latin American ambassadors were among her most noted clients and the most willing to talk about her. She was a favorite dinner guest on Embassy Row and in the more established houses in Washington.
And what so many people often forgot when they went to Millicent, for whatever social or political reasons they went, was that she was a very good astrologer. The downside was that she had a mean streak, and when she felt clients were getting a little out of hand or a little too cocky, she would whack them down. In fact, her power over them was the most appealing part of Millicent’s job. Which made her no different from anybody else in Washington.
* * *
Sadie Grey was only a few minutes late. Millicent thought how much prettier she looked in person. She still had a little tan left from summer, which made her blue-green eyes sparkle, and her auburn hair had a few sun streaks through the top. The minute Millicent heard Sadie’s Southern accent, she knew they were going to develop a good working relationship.
Millicent reminded Sadie of her grandmother Pamela, and Millicent’s apartment, with its fifth-floor view overlooking the Capitol and the Washington Monument in the far distance, was decorated exactly the same way as the living room was decorated at Horace Hall, where Sadie had grown up, in Adabelle, Georgia.
The grand piano had an embroidered, fringed flowered scarf hanging from it. The velvet armchairs were worn and frayed, with doilies to hide the arms and back. Over in one corner, away from the light, stood a card table with a pretty cloth, where Millicent had set her charts.
Sadie felt as if she had come home.
“Why, Miz Grey,” said Millicent with a warmth in her voice Sadie had not been led to expect. “I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to finally meet you. You’re much prettier than your pictures, you know.”
“I’m happy to meet you too,” said Sadie. “You can imagine I’ve heard a awful lot about you. There are a lot of people in this town who say they won’t make a move without consulting you.”
“Well, well, I’d say they’re exaggerating a little,” said Millicent, smiling, but she was pleased. Things were definitely getting off to a good start.
“Why don’t we have a little tea before we begin?” Millicent knew most clients were eager to get to the readings and that she shouldn’t hold off too long, but she always felt a cup of tea relaxed them, made them feel less self-conscious.
She had set up her silver tea service, one of the few things she had brought with her from Mississippi, on a table next to a love seat, and she prided herself on freshly pressed linen napkins, perfect little cucumber sandwiches, biscuits with honey and jam, and some little fruit confection. Today’s were strawberry.
“Oh, my, doesn’t everything look just lovely,” said Sadie as she sat carefully on the edge of the love seat and crossed her ankles demurely.
They cooed at each other for a few minutes in the way only Southern women know how to do as they exchanged small talk about Washington, the weather, and Lorraine.
Sadie finished her tea, delicately wiped the corner of her mouth with her perfectly pressed linen napkin, and put it back on the tea tray. It was her signal that it was time to begin.
Millicent led the way to the corner table and gestured to Sadie to sit in one of the four brocade armchairs that encircled the table.
Millicent had put a large silk folder on the table, and she opened it up with great authority to produce two charts. They were beautifully drawn, with exquisite detail. The circle was large, and the lines through it delineating the various aspects of the chart were painted in watercolors in very delicate shades. The charts could have been framed and hung.
Sadie told her so, and Millicent nodded in agreement, mentioning that many of her clients had done just that.
“I was going to be an artist before I got married and gave up my career, and I dabble here and there,” she said.
“Why are there two charts?” Sadie asked.
“Why, one for you and one for your husband. I have been looking at the Vice President’s chart ever since Roger Kimball chose him for his running mate. My, oh, my, he certainly does have a lovely chart.”
“Thank you,” said Sadie.
“Don’t thank me, my dear. Thank the stars. And you should too, with your chart. You have one of the luckiest charts I’ve seen in a long time.”
Sadie was visibly relieved. “Oh, God, I feel glad to hear you say that! I was nervous. I was sure you’d have nothing but predictions of death and destruction.”
“You know I never do predictions. I leave that to the quacks,” said Millicent, a bit annoyed. “What I do is tell the aspects. There are good and bad aspects to a chart. I can tell people when the bad aspects are coming and they then can try to be careful or to take charge of their charts. I am not a fortune-teller.”
Sadie decided to let it pass. She certainly did not want to get on the bad side of Millicent before she did the chart.
“Now, I assume you’ve had your chart done before. A good Southern girl like you.”
“Many times,” said Sadie. “My grandmother did charts, and I’m always attracted to astrology. I’ve had it done maybe four or five times by different astrologers. Usually they say pretty much the same things about my chart. I always expect, though, that sooner or later someone is going to tell me something terrible.”
“Nonsense. Now, you know, of course, that you are a Cancer and that your rising sign is Pisces.”
“Yes.”
“The other important aspect of your chart is that your Mercury is in Leo, but we’ll get to that later. Let me start by telling you about the combination of Cancer and Pisces. It’s so perfect for you. And now that I see you I think it is even more perfect. Cancer with Pisces rising is a charming, seductive, sultry, beautiful woman with a touch of the actress in her. There’s a lot of Scarlett O’Hara in you. Isn’t there? And that’s not because you’re a Southern girl.”
“At least you didn’t say I was a Melanie. I would have hated that.”
“All Southern girls are either Melanie or Scarlett. You are clearly a Scarlett, though there are those who may not realize it right away. You have such a soft, feminine exterior and approach I would imagine that some people are easily fooled. I feel sorry for them.” Millicent let out a gleeful cackle. “Especially in this town. There will be some who think you are a pushover. Oh, that sweet little Southern belle. Oh, will they be surprised!”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Sadie, giggling.
“Of course, with that chart, I don’t know, I just can’t figure out how you came to marry Mr. Grey.” Her tone was suddenly serious, and Sadie’s face dropped.
“You see, you have Virgo in the seventh House, which is marriage, and Mercury rules that House. That would give your marriage a certain masochistic aspect.”
She looked up to see Sadie’s shocked expression. This was not at all what she had expected. She didn’t miss a beat.
“You see, the mind rules most aspects of your marriage. Emotion plays a smaller part. Your marriage has a great deal of sacrifice in it.”
Millicent watched Sadie. Sadie said nothing, but her lips tightened. She hadn’t put in for this. What was she supposed to do or say?
Millicent could see that she had started out too strong.
“Let’s get back to the Pisces rising. This is a most important aspect. It gives you a certain glamour, an artistic bent. Are you creative? From your chart I would think you might be a writer. Maybe an actress.”
Sadie loosened up. “I do write short stories. I’ve never done anything with them.” She seemed shy but pleased.
“This could be very important to you and becoming more important. Do not let this talent go. You could do something important with this talent. The Pisces rising. Yes, it makes you soft; you are a kind person, I can see that from your chart—kind, softhearted, but you have a tendency to wrap yourself around you, to cushion yourself from outside emotions, influences. Yes?”
Sadie could see what she was doing. She was clever. She would make an educated guess, then look for confirmation. It was the way Washington reporters talked to you. They would make a statement which showed that they knew a little something about a subject, then wait for you to confirm their information. Rosey had pointed it out to her and had saved her from finding out the hard way.
But Sadie was not going to play. She surely was not going to give away anything about her marriage.
“You have very beautiful eyes—those blue-green, shimmering eyes; they look like the sea. Definitely Cancer-Pisces eyes.” She paused. “I noticed you stiffened when I mentioned your marriage. You don’t have to respond. For you power is important. It is necessary for you to be married to someone in power. The way you love is by nurturing, mothering. You can mother your husband, or the men in your life. And you have a great love of children.”
Sadie said nothing. She wondered how accurate that was. She adored Outland; but Annie Laurie, her own daughter—she felt happier when Annie Laurie was not around. It made her guilty. She should love her more. Millicent was being too glib, telling her what she thought she wanted to hear. Life was more complicated.
“Mercury in Leo. In your case,” Millicent continued, “this adds to the sexy, attractive aspect. You are very attractive to men because of this. You will always have lot of lovers…” She looked up and smiled. She paused. “Or potential lovers, I should say.”
What was she implying?
“To men you seem seductive. Let me see. What is the word I am searching for? Giselle, that’s it. Your chart is foggy, smoky, silent, like a Southern city with moss hanging over the trees. You’re from Savannah, aren’t you? That’s perfect too. You are the personification of that city. Soft, feminine, weeping trees, pools of water. That’s all part of the Pisces personality. Mysterious, deep. I can smell it in your perfume. Sortilège? I knew it. My favorite. Nobody wears it anymore. There is a strong side to you, too. Cancer is always deceptively strong. There is an outgoing side. Wherever you go, you leave not only a trace of your perfume lingering behind, but a trace of yourself which people find difficult to get out of their minds. It is hard for you to understand this power you have over people. You are very powerful. You just don’t know it yet. You don’t understand how strong and how powerful you are. You are probably the kind of woman who thinks that because she doesn’t have a job, a career, she isn’t worth anything. Well, don’t fool yourself. You are a force, and you will become even more of a force in this city before you are through. You need really to see yourself for what you are. Your chart can help. It can elucidate for you who and what you are.”
“What do you see for the future? I’m sorry—I know you said you’re no fortune-teller—but what aspects do you see?”
“You have Cancer in your fifth House. That Cancer is afflicted. With Jupiter about to enter your fifth House, which rules children, there is a chance that you might get pregnant.”
“I’m almost forty. That’s totally out of the question.”
“All right, darlin’,” said Millicent. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I stand warned.”
“I want to talk to you about your sexuality. Men will always be taken in by your femininity, what appears to be your pliable nature, your soft seductiveness. But you are never totally able to surrender. It’s like the fog. No man can ever conquer the fog. You will always elude him. That must be partly because you want it that way. You feel more secure when you are never totally possessed.”
Sadie was uncomfortable. For one thing, she was not crazy about the idea of discussing sex with this woman, and for another, what she was saying was too close for comfort. It made her nervous. Like being possessed by a man, she did not like the idea of being understood completely. She didn’t like it. There was something sinister about Millicent. About this reading. She wanted to change the subject.
“And what about my husband’s chart?” she asked brightly. “You mentioned that you had seen his chart. What does it tell you?”
“Of course, he is a Capricorn. Capricorns, though they can be highly sexual, never romanticize. And since he has his moon in Virgo, he will never wholly satisfy the romantic in you. For Capricorn and Cancer, the emphasis is on home, family, stability. He has ambition and drive, but no romanticism. You need to be seduced. Capricorn will not do this.”
Rosey had been absolutely right. She shouldn’t have come. Even if she, Sadie, never said a word or acknowledged anything that Millicent was telling her, Millicent would still tell everybody that she and Rosey had a mediocre sex life. And the tragedy was that she would be right. How could any chart tell her these things? The woman was a witch. Sadie wanted to get up and run out of the room. She could feel the perspiration forming on her forehead. She didn’t know what to do or say. Finally she pulled herself together.
“All right, now, Millicent,” she said with a casual laugh. “Enough. Any more and this session will have to be X-rated. Let’s talk about future aspects. Tell me something wonderful that’s going to happen.”
Though she was speaking lightly, there was an underlying tone which Millicent did not miss.
It was Millicent’s turn to get nervous. She didn’t want to lose this client. Nor did she want Sadie bad-mouthing her. She could be hurt by her. She had gone over the line with Sadie. She was absolutely serious about this reading. There were extraordinary things on this woman’s chart, and somehow she had to be prepared for them. Millicent realized, though, that she had better bring the reading back to the realm of social astrology or something terrible was going to happen. Sadie was shaking.
“Now for some fortune-telling,” said Millicent lightly, making fun of herself. “As I said to you earlier, there is a chance you may get pregnant. And”—she looked Sadie in the eye and did not flinch—“there is a strong possibility that there is a love affair on the horizon.”
Sadie sat back in her chair in disgust, let out a sigh, then gave Millicent a warning look.
“I really don’t think this is what Lorraine had in mind,” she said. She hadn’t meant to get angry.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Grey,” said Millicent very softly. “But I’m not a carnival act. I am a professional astrologer. I read the charts. This is what the charts indicate. You don’t have to believe it or take it seriously, and the interpretation of the charts is not always right. I am only telling you what I see.”
Millicent was serious. Sadie could see that she was upset. Then why did she go on in this vein? Why didn’t she just tell her she would take a long trip and come into a lot of money? But Sadie knew why. Millicent was telling her what she saw. She decided to let her finish. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her.
“All right, I understand, but you must realize this isn’t all that pleasant for me. And I don’t have much time. Could we get on with this?”
“Of course,” said Millicent softly.
“If you had an affair…” She paused, took a deep breath. “…it would shake you to the roots. You would wish for all your life that it had never happened. I do not know whether it would culminate in marriage or not. I do not see your own marriage broken, but it is not clear to me. I don’t understand what I see. Maybe you don�
��t get pregnant but would treat your new lover as a child. I just don’t know. But there is something very important which happens to your chart at that time. And to your husband’s chart. There are changes in status, and you are thrown into prominence. Something happens with your husband. Prepare yourself. There is another aspect in your status, both of you. Around the same time.”
“Millicent,” said Sadie, standing. She was white now with fury and with indignation. “Millicent, I think I have heard enough. I am terribly sorry. This is not at all what I had in mind. You will excuse me.”
With that, she turned and walked to the front door, which she opened and let herself out. The door slammed behind her.
Millicent sat in her chair for a long time without moving. She could not believe she’d done what she had just done. She had ruined things. Finally, as the room was filling with the shadows of dusk, she got up. She walked over to the telephone by the window and watched the sun setting over the Capitol dome. “It’s so beautiful,” she said to herself as she had done many times. She picked up the phone and dialed. “Hello, Lorraine? Millicent. I think I went too far.”
* * *
Millicent was not “whistling ‘Dixie,’ ” as Sadie might say. Lorraine was shocked. She had listened with some sympathy as Millicent described the session to her, but of course Millicent had managed to leave out the worst parts, such as Rosey and Sadie’s sex life, or Sadie’s affair.
“I was only speculating in an amusing way, sort of having fun with the charts” was the way Millicent had put it.
“Vile woman” was the way Sadie had described Millicent. “Telling me that I would go off with another man and that the whole thing would cause a great scandal. Even if she thought she was just having an amusing little afternoon. What was I supposed to say? I couldn’t believe it. How could anybody ever go to that woman? What gives her the right to impose herself like that into other people’s private lives? It is an outrage. And I simply don’t understand how you could subject me to it. I really don’t, Lorraine. If Rosey ever found out about it, he would be wild. For God’s sake, don’t ever mention it to him. I’ll just tell him she said I was going to take a lot of trips and that I had good aspects. He would positively go crazy if he found out what she had told me. And there is not one shred of doubt in my mind that that woman is now telling her next client that the Greys have a terrible sex life and that I’m about to take a lover.”
