by Sally Quinn
Lorraine had tried to calm her down. It hadn’t worked. Lorraine was trembling as she got off the phone from talking to Sadie. She was so upset with Millicent she didn’t know what to do. She also did not know what to do about Allison. She had better warn her. She knew that Allison, unlike Sadie, had not been too crazy about the idea in the first place.
She called Allison to tell her about it, though she edited the specifics. To her surprise, Allison burst out laughing.
“How silly of Sadie to take anything that ol’ phony has to say seriously! I think astrology is nonsense, and I’m looking forward to seeing Millicent as a part of Washington sociology. Besides, I think it could be funny. Don’t worry about me, Lorraine. I promise I’m not quite as fragile as our Second Lady.”
Next Lorraine spoke again to Millicent. She tried to keep her voice calm. She knew Millicent was upset, but more than that, Millicent might turn mean and give her a bad reading. She had to stay on her good side so that Millicent would interpret her chart in the most positive way.
“Now, Millicent, we don’t want to dwell on this unfortunate occurrence, but you must know how upset Sadie Grey was. In fact, I don’t think you quite know how upset she was. So I don’t need to tell you that this will remain just between us. I can count on you to keep the details to yourself. I know Sadie Grey is not going to talk to anybody about it. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you that I forewarned Allison. As I mentioned to you earlier, she has absolutely no faith in astrology. You are dealing with a different kettle of fish here. My feeling is it doesn’t matter what you tell Allison because she won’t believe any of it anyway. But I just wanted to speak to you about it because Allison Sterling is not someone you would want as an enemy either. You could damage your reputation and your business, Millicent. Now I must run. Good luck with Allison, dearie.”
Millicent never worried much about her clients who were skeptics. All she had to do was tell them one thing that struck vaguely home and they would leave saying they didn’t believe in astrology but Millicent really was amazing. She didn’t think she would like Allison, either from what she had heard about her or from what she’d read of her pieces. The real tragedy was that she had been instantly drawn to Sadie. She had wanted to help her. Now, it seemed, she had ruined that possibility forever.
The doorbell rang. She had put out tea for Allison, but she hadn’t gone to nearly as much trouble with the tea sandwiches and cakes this time. Store-bought chocolate-chip cookies would do very well.
Allison looked cool and reserved in a gray-and-beige silk blazer, a gray skirt, a pale gray silk blouse. She had her hair pulled back and her sunglasses perched on top of her head. A large satchel was slung around her shoulder, filled, Millicent could see, with a tape recorder, notebooks, pencils, papers, press releases. It was a mess, that bag—the only messy thing about this totally pulled-together young woman. Seeing her tape recorder reminded Millicent that Sadie had left in such a rush that she had not taken the tape recording which Millicent routinely made to give to the client as part of the reading. She had left the recorder whirring as she slammed out of the apartment. Millicent wondered if Allison planned to tape her own session.
Allison had a vague smile on her face as she took in the ornate Victorian room. “Perfect,” she said. “Just what I imagined an astrologer’s apartment to look like.”
“Right out of a stage set, you mean?” said Millicent.
“Something like that,” she said. “I would have been disappointed if it had looked like a psychiatrist’s office. You want atmosphere when you have your chart read.”
“Have you ever had your chart read before?”
“This is a big first for me. And I’m counting on you, Millicent, to make it memorable.” There was something a little contemptuous in her tone, but Millicent chose to ignore it. She could not ignore her next comment: “Although I’m not so sure I want it to be as memorable as the reading you gave Sadie Grey.”
Millicent decided it best not to respond. Instead she offered Allison some tea and cookies and motioned her to the love seat.
Allison shook her head.
“If you don’t mind, I don’t have all that much time today. I’ve got to get back to the office to prepare for an interview tomorrow. Do you mind if I just take a cup of tea to the table with me?”
Millicent didn’t like that, but she acquiesced. This woman was too professional, too businesslike. Nevertheless, she walked to the table, sat down, and pulled the charts from her folder.
Allison observed Millicent’s artwork, but said nothing.
“Of course,” Millicent began, “you know you are a Cancer?”
“So I’ve been told,” said Allison.
This was going to be a tough customer. Millicent took in a deep breath.
“A Cancer with Aries rising.”
Allison shrugged.
“Aries rising is an important aspect of your chart. Aries is dominant here. Aries wants everything now, immediately. Aries is a child. An Aries is open, childlike in its demands for instant gratification. Aries wants to know everything. Tell me, tell me. They can be very demanding.”
Millicent glanced at Allison to see how she was reacting. She was smiling with what seemed to be delight. Millicent went on.
“The Aries rising can be very perceptive; they pick up the emotions of others. They have the sheer curiosity and impatience of a child.
“As you know, I have done the chart of Mr. Shaw. It is a very interesting combination, this Cancer with Aries rising and his Scorpio. There will always be, between the two of you, a big clash of wills and a clash of personalities. Usually Aries will break down Scorpio. Aries wins, but sometimes with Scorpio that can mean that she loses. Both Aries and Scorpio are ruled by Mars. Therefore they are both very combative, although they have different styles of combat. The Aries in you will be very straightforward, while Scorpio goes sideways. You are both very aggressive, I see by your charts. Though you go after what you want openly, he will go after it quietly.”
Allison had lost her smirk and was staring at the charts. “Where do you see that?” she asked, almost in spite of herself.
Millicent pointed to several pale red lines on the two charts which made no sense to Allison.
“I also see that there is a great deal of physical attraction between the two of you and always will be.”
There was a long silence as Millicent stared at the charts. The only sound in the room was the slight squish of the tape recorder: Millicent’s.
“You have a lot of conflict in you, I see,” said Millicent. “Cancer is right on your fourth House. There will always be a tremendous pull in yourself.”
“What will I be conflicted about?”
Her voice was challenging and quizzical. The sarcastic tone was gone.
“For one thing, your relationship with other women. You will envy other women, both professionally and when it comes to men, but you will suppress it. You will also be conflicted in other ways. With Mars squaring the sun in Cancer, there will be a tremendous drive of self, a conflict between wanting to show off, wanting to forge ahead, break new ground, take risks, reform things, and the other side of you, which is timid—the Cancer side, which hates to take risks, avoids danger of any kind. Your Cancer side is in constant conflict with your Aries rising. Cancer wishes only that she could have a peaceful life.”
“Ha!” shrieked Allison. “That’s a laugh. Where’s my Cancer side been all these years? I must have been completely dominated by my Aries side. No wonder none of those astrology columns about Cancerians ever made any sense to me. I could never identify with any of that moon-maiden stuff. They always seemed to me to be wimpy. I hated my sign. Well, Millicent, you may have made me a convert. Just telling me I had Aries rising perks me up enormously. I can’t tell you.”
Millicent couldn’t tell whether she was putting her on, but at least she was enjoying the reading. That was the best she could hope for.
“You have your Mercury i
n Leo,” said Millicent. “So does your friend Sadie Grey. It is a very unusual aspect and a highly desirable one.”
“What does it mean?” Allison was getting more interested.
“It means that you are attractive to men, that you will have lots of lovers, that you make people want to make love to you. There will be a ‘Here I come’ rather aggressive, forward sexual approach to men.”
“That certainly doesn’t sound like Mrs. Grey,” said Allison carefully. “I mean, she’s such a Southern lady.”
Millicent was not unaware of the disdain in Allison’s voice. She knew she should keep her mouth shut and move on with Allison’s chart, but as with Sadie the other day, something compelled her to keep talking.
“You are both Cancerians, as you know, but she has Pisces rising. That is different from Aries in approach to sexuality, but no less strong or insistent. She will make the man think it is his idea. It would be my opinion from looking at the two charts that you two would not get along well. I would advise you to keep your distance from each other.”
Why was Millicent saying this? She obviously realized that Allison would listen and be fascinated, not offended. Aries rising.
Sadie, with her Pisces rising, would want her feelings about Allison to remain murky. She would not want to face the truth. Allison was looking at it head on.
“Aries and Pisces rising, both in Cancer, cannot stand each other. The adjoining signs, Aries and Pisces, irritate each other. Forget any friendship there. With Mercury in Leo, you both understand each other, so much so that others may be startled from time to time because of it.”
Millicent sensed that Allison was tensing a little. She decided to change the subject.
“But now let’s get back to your chart. It shows that you can be quick, witty, sarcastic, cutting, satirical. You can seduce men with your charm, your sex, and most of all, your brain. You are like a bee or a spider. With your Scorpio male the sex will be totally satisfying to him, totally pleasing, satiating. For Scorpio, sex has a need for totality of feeling: he must feel that nothing has been missed, and the Aries in you will do that. Because when the Aries in you surrenders, she really surrenders; she is openly sexual. There is an old Southern saying that the more queenly a woman is, the more she desires to be a slave. Because you are aggressive, when you surrender and give all of yourself, it will be irresistible to a Scorpio.”
Allison could feel the blood rushing to her face. This was not something she had planned to get into with this woman. She was astounded that Millicent could sit there in her little frothy pastel lace dress, with her curly hair swept back and her whispery Southern accent, and talk like this.
“You see,” Millicent was saying, peering matter-of-factly at the chart, “Scorpio needs an animal sex life. You can give him that.”
Suddenly Millicent could feel the heat from Allison’s face, and she looked at her.
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear. It’s just that it’s all here on both of your charts. And Lorraine did say that you were a direct person who would want only the truth…”
“It’s all right, it’s all right,” said Allison; “it’s just that it’s a little surprising to hear someone talk about your sex life to you like this. Not that anything you have said is necessarily true, you understand.” She caught herself quickly.
“Of course, my dear. Well, we’re pretty much finished with that section of the reading anyway. I would like to do a few projections for you, see what your charts look like over the next few years.”
“Oh, yes, good,” said Allison. “Let’s look into the future. Give me some good predictions.”
“I can’t very well do that, but I can tell you what the aspects are and possibly give you some advice as to how to deal with some of the things I see looming up in the chart.”
“What do you see?”
“I see that you will be sorely tested in the next few years and that you will need all the energy and the stamina and self-confidence you can muster to sustain yourself over this period. You will come out of it, but it will be hard for you.”
Allison could feel a quickening of her pulse, and she began to perspire. It was fear and nothing else. She was annoyed with herself for letting this fortune-teller get to her, but she was too curious to make her stop. So she just waited for Millicent to tell her the specifics.
Millicent sighed. Allison became more nervous. Her impulse now was to get up and walk out; but she couldn’t do that because it would look as if she cared, as if she believed. She couldn’t tell whether Millicent was indulging in histrionics or whether her sighs were genuine.
Finally Millicent spoke.
“Well,” she said slowly, deliberately, “I’m sorry to have to say this, but I think you should prepare yourself for a breakup with your Mr. Shaw. It looks like there might be a breakup which comes unexpectedly to you. It could be about one year in coming.”
Allison felt slightly faint. She put her hand up to her forehead to wipe her brow and tried to smile. She felt as though her stomach were falling in.
“It seems to be the result of what you may do because of your personality, something that you may indirectly precipitate. If I may give you some advice…”
Allison said nothing.
“I would not be so competitive. With his Scorpio, your combative forces go after each other. What could cause a breakup is that Scorpio cannot be pushed too far. If he is pushed, he will finally not be able to stand it and he will walk away. I would try the mellow approach. I would try to be more cooperative, less combative.”
This was making Allison furious. “I didn’t come here for a lecture,” she said, her voice rising more than she would have liked.
“I’m not giving you a lecture, dear,” said Millicent. “I am only giving you advice based on what I see in both of these charts. You may follow it or not. But the consequences are not to be avoided.”
Allison was less hostile when she asked her next question: “But how can I change my personality? I have my own identity. I’m my own person. I can’t just acquiesce. I don’t know what you are advising. It’s not clear.”
“Dearie, if you love this man and want to hold on to him, then you will take my advice.”
Allison was stunned at the hard edge in Millicent’s soft Southern speech.
“If you whistled all the time and he hated it, would you continue to whistle?”
Allison just stared at her. Millicent saw that she was upset and confused. Her face softened.
“Look, Allison, I don’t mean to sound harsh. But I hate to see someone mess up something good in her life. Your two charts are karmically linked. There may be a lesson to be learned here and you will have to learn it.”
She could see Allison’s puzzlement. “Karmically linked means that the two charts may have been linked in another life or may be linked again. It means often that people are destined for each other. But it may be that you will have to find out what is more important to you. Where do you draw the line?”
“Why should anyone have to make that choice?” said Allison. “That’s outrageous. That is something I simply cannot accept. I will not accept it.”
“I am not telling you how I believe things ought to be in this world,” said Millicent with another long sigh. “I am only trying to tell you how they really are. You are still young. I have had my share of compromising. And maybe I haven’t done enough of it. I’m still alone, as you can see. All I can tell you is that if you can work out a compromise with yourself on this issue with your Scorpio, the break may not be permanent. The question I want you to ask yourself is this: Would you be as competitive with a woman friend you were living with? Would you be as uncompromising? Would you be as combative? If you were competing for a story, for instance, would you let a woman friend fall on her face? I am not asking you to answer these questions for me. I am only asking you to think about them. Only you will know when you have gone too far.”
“I thought I was going to get an amusing little reading,” Al
lison said. “I’m not sure I’m up for this. I particularly don’t like the part about how I’m going to be tested in the next few years.”
“You are a survivor,” said Millicent. “You will make it. You are someone who gets up when she’s knocked down. You have the energy and the determination to transform your pain into something productive. You will always have that.”
“Oh, great,” said Allison. “That’s a relief.”
Millicent had a somber look on her face again. But this time she hesitated, then held back. “I can’t say if it is just a breakup with your boyfriend on the chart or if there is something more. There could be illness—a sudden illness, even sudden death involving members of your family.”
Allison laughed. “Well, at least I know that can’t happen. I don’t have any family left. They’re all dead.”
“I don’t know,” Millicent was murmuring. “It all comes pretty much at the same time. It appears to be simultaneous. All I can say, my dear, is I would prepare myself.”
“So, on that happy note, I think I had better get back to the office.” Allison’s voice was much gayer than she felt. She said goodbye quickly and disappeared down the corridor of the apartment house. Millicent closed the door and walked to the phone.
Lorraine answered right away.
“I’m glad,” Millicent told her. “I’m really glad she doesn’t believe in astrology.”
* * *
“So how was it?” Des asked on the phone that afternoon. She was calling to say she would be late.
