by Tiger Hill
“Wow, look, Rhett! Isn’t it beautiful here?”
He put his arm around her waist. “It certainly is.”
They stood facing the grey-blue facade of the Ferry Building, as beautiful as it was classy. In front of the Ferry Building was a large collection of white tents full of peddlers and merchants. Rhett and Tula strolled down the street, pausing to gaze at photographs, trinkets, art, and souvenirs. Rhett stopped to buy Tula a bouquet flowers and some artisan jewelry before they were stopped by a short old woman. She was dressed in whimsical robes and had on a jingling gold headband. Grasping Tula’s hand without a word, she began intently observing it.
“Excuse me?” Tula inquired, not quite knowing how to handle the situation.
Rhett was about to interject when the woman announced, “You have good lines, my darling, good lines.” She had a thick accent, and if Rhett were to guess, he’d say that she was from some Eastern European country.
“Oh, thanks,” Tula offered awkwardly.
“May I read your hand more thoroughly, my dear? No charge at all, I promise. I simply had to read your fortune when I saw you. Perhaps it will draw a crowd for my pitiful little stand.”
She gestured backwards, referencing a small tent with a wooden sign out front. Inside was a low round table and a few large velvet pillows. Tula and Rhett traded some compromising looks as they thought it over.
The old woman just wants some free publicity, thought Rhett. It couldn’t hurt to let her say a few silly words.
Rhett nodded, and so Tula turned back to the fortune teller. “Sure, go ahead.”
The woman peered down more closely at Tula’s hand, squinting her eyes. “Yes… I see a nice, long life for you, my dear. There will be some health issues as you approach your forties, though nothing too serious.” She mused to herself for a moment. Her breath smelled strongly of some kind of raw mint. “I see some unlucky occurrences. Yes.”
“Unlucky?”
“Mmhmm. Unlucky. You must be wary. You are a good person on the whole, but this bad lucky follows you closely.”
Maybe she isn’t such a crackpot, thought Rhett. We’ve had a lot of bad luck lately. More than I’d like.
The woman continued: “Your money line is strong, though I see your travel line is short. Perhaps try to appreciate more of what distant lands have to offer you, hmm?”
“Yes, I suppose I will try to. It is true that I don’t travel much.”
By then a small group of onlookers had gathered. The old woman let Tula’s hand go, staring at her as if to suggest her dismissal. Tula turned to part her way past the collection of amused tourists, taking Rhett by the hand.
“Well, that was interesting, however brief,” said Rhett. “I suppose she got her collection of potential customers.”
“Yes, I suppose so. It was fun enough. You weren’t interested in getting your fortune read?”
“Nah. I’d rather spend my money on spoiling you. I heard that the Ferry Building has some nice shops inside… A place that sells chocolate, fancy cheese, a cooking supply store. If you see something you want, don’t even stop to think about the price. I want you to really relax and enjoy today.”
Tula looked up to him with a jovial expression, her cheeks red from the mild chill and her complexion a smooth ivory. “I love you, Rhett.”
She stopped to kiss him, pressing her dainty hand against the five o’clock shadow on his cheek. When she stopped to gaze into his eyes, her expression slowly morphed into extreme shock.
“What is it?” Rhett inquired.
Her lips moved briefly as if she had the inclination to reply, but she held her tongue.
“Tula, what’s wrong?” Rhett asked with more urgency. “Tell me.”
As if driven into spilling the beans by an impatient parent, she uttered, “The ring. It’s gone.”
Rhett felt as if his internal organs had fallen down the bottom of his gut. “What?!” He took her hand in his, recognizing that her precious engagement ring was indeed missing from her finger. All that remained was the faint imprint of when it had been there. “Are you sure that you hadn’t left it at home?”
“No, I didn’t!” She said, taking a step back. “I know I wore it, because I was looking at it while we were on the BART earlier.”
Rhett swallowed, trying not to let his rage and shock get the better of him. It was a two thousand dollar piece of jewelry, something he had saved up to buy her for the better part of a month. He didn’t want to make the situation worse by upsetting Tula any more, as she was already thoroughly mortified. “Okay, so when was the last time you realized it was there on your finger?”
She shook her head, trying to think, her emotions a terrorizing roller coaster. “I don’t know. We were here. I mean, we haven’t been out and about for very long. It must have been…”
“It was the fortune teller, wasn’t it?”
She looked up to him, her eyes wet with impending tears. “I don’t know. It must have been.”
Rhett left her there, bounding back along the red brick sidewalk for the old hag that had stolen his fiancée’s prize possession. There were a lot of people still milling along past the tents, which slowed his pace down a bit, but it didn’t seem to matter how fast he went. By the time he reached the location of where the fortune teller had been, there was nothing left there but empty space. That terrible feeling in his stomach became present again, and he knew in a very real way that Tula’s ring was potentially lost forever.
Standing in the sea of people, surrounding by wary and questioning expressions, he felt helpless. It was opaquely apparent what had just happened. The fortune telling tent was gone. The woman was gone. Tracing back through it in his mind, it was obvious—the old woman drew Tula in with a free ‘palm reading,’ made sure to direct her attention to the hand without the expensive jewelry, brought a lot of distracting people around them, and then made a quick escape. Rhett wasn’t quite sure how the woman managed to disassemble the tent so quickly, though he assumed that she had an accomplice of some kind.
He didn’t necessarily want to cry when it all sank in. Rage coursed through his veins and he felt like he was one of the biggest jackasses on the planet. In some way, he thought that he had let his girlfriend down. She did ask if he approved of the fortune telling, and he had. They were both disarmed by the clever woman, but he felt in a paternalistic sort of way that he should have known better. What kind of provider and partner could he be to Tula if he couldn’t even spot danger lurking around the corner?
When he saw Tula slowly approach him, the temptation to cry really hit him. She was blaming herself, he knew, and there was a sense of shame shared between them.
“She’s gone,” said Tula in tired defeat. She was staring out at the sidewalk, holding back her feelings of sadness.
Rhett gently took her by the shoulders. “I’ll buy you another ring, Tula. We were tricked. I mean, we can go to the police and tell them what happened.”
“What good would that do?” She asked. “We’ll never see that woman again. We’ll never get it back. I’m such an idiot. I don’t watch what I’m doing, and things like this happen.”
His eyes widened slightly. He wasn’t accustomed to Tula being so hard on herself, and had a deep-seated distaste for it. Whenever anything went wrong, Tula was always the one to gloss over any bumps in the road. She was his rock in a way, a comforting light in a dark world. And here she was, down in the depths of depression.
“It’s just a ring,” said Rhett. “I can buy you another one. We’ll be more careful next time.”
She slowly shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Bad things have been happening because of me. First it was the oven and now it’s the ring.”
“Tula! Those weren’t your fault. First, that woman tricked us. Two, nobody knows what happened with the oven. And maybe it’s a good thing.” He took her by the hand as they walked towards the Ferry Building again. “It’s testing our love for one another, so we can
see how we handle situations that are less than ideal. Chin up, Tula. This is no big deal.”
She wiped away a tear and forced herself to put on a smile, however jagged it was. “I just feel like I let you down. That ring was beautiful. It was a symbol of our love, and I let someone snatch it away.”
“I have money, especially after moving in with you guys. I can buy another ring.”
She just stared at the pavement. Rhett was no mind reader, but he couldn’t help but interpret the look as her thinking, But it won’t be the same.
As he sighed, trying to form more optimistic thoughts, he saw it: a white van, and the fortune teller throwing something in the back of it. She was only thirty feet away, perhaps completely unaware that Rhett could see her. There was a large road separating Rhett from her with a lot of people dispersed, but if he hurried, he could sprint across traffic and get his hands on her.
She must have thought that we would go the other way or something! Thought Rhett. Holy cow, what luck! I’ve gotta take advantage of this before she gets away!
He dashed off, leaving Tula behind without a word. Cutting off pedestrians and leaping past a few families with toddlers, he threw himself into traffic just as the crossing light pulsed red. He ran across with only an inch to spare, some taxis taking off just as he stepped foot on the sidewalk. As soon as he got to the other side, he knew he was near. As fast as her short body could crawl up into the van, she went. Fearful that she would take off on him, Rhett ran as fast as his legs could push themselves. As quickly as he went, it wasn’t rapid enough because the fortune teller was able to start up the white van and pull away. Rhett’s heart leapt in fear as she drove onto Embarcadero Street. The traffic was moving at a decent pace, and at this point, she had a better chance of losing him than vice versa.
“Stop that van!” Rhett called out, waving his arms wildly. Some walkers stopped to stare at him as he ran along the pavement, and the people driving practically ignored his pleas.
The van weaved through traffic as if the driver were drunk or on some kind of crazy drug. Just as it reaching out of Rhett’s sight, some kind Samaritan had decided to slam the breaks in front of the getaway van. Two other cars coincidentally framed the van in because of a red light. His chance presented, Rhett pushed his aching legs to run as swiftly as they could once more. Rhett ran between a few stopped cars once he was close, and he headed for the driver’s side of the van. Despite the fortune teller’s sleight of hand, she hadn’t been swift enough to roll up her window while taking off.
In a fit of rage, Rhett’s hands shot through the open space and wrapped tightly around her throat.
“Where’s the ring?!” He screamed, tightening his hold.
Her eyes popped out of her skull as if his squeezing was pushing her brains out. He felt a little bad about assaulting a woman, but didn’t know what else he could have done about the position she’d put him in. It wasn’t like he could have calmly made conversation about it.
There were some murmurings from the drivers and passersby while he did this. The situation didn’t exactly make him look like a hero, but he didn’t know what course of action he could take from that point to lighten his image. She struggled to speak, only producing squeaks. He loosened his grip, only to let her explain herself, but worried about the impending green light. It was only a matter of time before she could make another rapid getaway.
As soon as she could make more than a peep, she screeched out, “RAPE! MURDER! Help, help me!”
Shit, Rhett muttered internally. Instead of backing off, Rhett took the opposite approach by unlocking the van door, pulling her out onto the street, and detaining her there. When the light did change, most people buzzed by in their cars as they leered out their windows. Those who were blocked by Rhett’s ‘traffic stop’ simply honked their horns and attempted to maneuver around.
“You want help, you old hag? I’m calling the police!” Rhett announced, holding her by the scruff of her neck. She tried to twist and turn to get out from under him, but his grip was too strong. When she planted her sharp teeth into his skin, he let out a high-pitched yelp.
She leapt from his grasp, but before she could land herself back into the van, a man with a low voice called out, “What is all this?”
Next came the shining lights of blues and reds, followed by the brief horn of a cop siren. Rhett turned and saw that he wouldn’t need to call the police after all—a black heavy-set cop on a motorcycle was approaching them.
“Office, so glad to see you,” said Rhett, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. The fortune teller had the look in her eyes like she still wanted to make a run for it. The policeman scared her, but she wasn’t dumb enough to try and out-drive a crotch rocket with a clunky old van on narrow San Francisco streets.
“Hands up, sir. Ma’am, I’m going to need you to park on the shoulder nice and slowly,” the policeman commanded.
They both grudgingly did as commanded, with Rhett walking his way back towards the promenade in front of impatient drivers as the old fortune teller double parking next to a limo. By the time Tula arrived, there were four police officers present and a few squad cars.
“Rhett! What’s going on?” Tula asked, her forehead full of worry lines. He was standing in the middle of all the commotion, kept safely away from the fortune teller. “Why did you run off like that? Why are there police here?”
The police officers in question eyed her with a mixture of desire and curiosity. One of them, a tall man with short-cropped blond hair, asked, “Do you know this man, ma’am?”
“He’s my fiancé!” She responded.
“I was chasing after that old bat,” said Rhett to Tula. “I don’t know if you noticed, but she was getting her stuff into the van and running off. There was some guy in the back that the police found, too.”
Tula looked over and saw a lanky teenager with frizzy black hair. He had the same eyeliner on that the fortune teller did, and had a depressingly guilty expression on his face.
“Was the ring found?” Tula asked. “Are you getting arrested.”
“A ring, you say?” The black police officer inquired of her.
“Yes!” Tula responded. “Was it found? This woman played a trick on me to steal it away. I don’t even know how she managed to get it off my finger, but by the time we walked away, we realized that she had taken it.”
“What does the ring look like?” The officer asked.
Giddy with excitement, Tula responded. “It’s got a round ruby in the center with a diamond halo. Inside is our names—it’s inscribed with ‘Rhett and Tula forever.’”
“Well, you’re in luck because we shook her down and found something like that, along with a lot of other junk.” The officer turned to one of the other men and produced the jewelry between the tips of his fingers. Tula jumped up in delight, taking it back to place firmly on her finger.
An officer with brown hair and dark sunglasses mentioned, “This woman has been around for a while. We let her out and she goes right back to her same old song and dance. Every few months we hear about tourists who have been tricked out of their valuables. You’re both very lucky that you got them back. If she hadn’t been tracked down, the ring would have likely been lost forever. There’s a chance we could have found it at a pawn shop, but no guarantee.”
“Do you guys need me to stay for questioning?” Rhett asked. “There were people who saw me… stopping her.”
The black cop waved him off. “Don’t even worry about it. It’s not like she hasn’t been caught before for the exact same thing. Enjoy your Valentine’s Day in San Francisco.”
Rhett went to Tula, and they joined in an embrace. Kisses were shared, and the cops smiled as they looked on at the happy couple. As Rhett and Tula walked away back towards the Ferry Building, their emotions were sky high with happiness.
“I can’t believe that you caught her!” Said Tula, hugging his arm tightly. “I thought that the ring was good as gone.”
&
nbsp; “Me too,” responded Rhett. “I mean, I would have been more than happy to buy you another one. But when I saw her, something just bubbled up inside of me. I had to stop her.”
“My strong, sexy man,” stated Tula with a saucy smile.
Rhett looked down at her and felt himself blush.
“I’m so turned on right now after all that. But unfortunately, I’m also really hungry. We haven’t eaten since we woke up this morning.”
His stomach gurgled at the mention of food. After the high adrenaline, the last thing on his mind was having sex. He wanted nothing more than to dig into a nice meal and relax on a lawn somewhere.
“We’ll find somewhere in the Ferry Building to eat,” said Rhett. “Then maybe we’ll watch the boats come in and leave the pier. Does that sound nice to you?”
“Uh huh, of course. I can’t wait to see what it’s like inside.”
Tula very much enjoyed her trip inside the Ferry Building. There was a giant selection concerning food, and she had so much fun looking at all the different little shops that she couldn’t decide on where they would eat. Eventually they settled on waiting in line for a nice Asian fusion place, watching the bay as they waited for their names to be called.
Everything had turned out so well. They enjoyed their meals, spent some more time shopping down at Union Square, and then got on the BART to go home. The day had gone by so fast after the exciting events earlier in the day, and the two of them were exhausted. When Tula began resting her cheek on Rhett’s shoulder on the ride back to the car, he knew that making love was probably out of the question that night. Not that it bothered him too much considering how perfect the day was, but it would have been nice to complete the day with more intimacy than they were accustomed to in the last few months.
