Chapter 20, Sherman Oaks, CA 1998

CAPTAIN KIRK

It’s another sunny warm winter day in southern California. After having coffee at King’s Road Cafe, I call my mother and tell her “I can’t believe it’s February and I’m wearing a tank top. This weather never gets old. Snow days are a world away in Minnesota!” She laughs, saying she could use a “thaw out visit.”

Over coffee, a friend bragged to me about her amazing session with a visiting psychic in the San Fernando Valley. My new relationship with my boyfriend Dines is making me wonder what might happen down the road. What is my future? Is Dines “the one?” Will we get married and have kids? I am an impatient twenty six-year-old, waiting desperately for some sign that my real life will soon begin. I call the number my friend scribbles on a napkin and book an appointment.

My psychic session is set for Saturday in the back room of a clothing store on Ventura Boulevard. The psychic, a man named Andrei, looks more like a rock star than a mystic. He is tall and dark, has minimal facial hair and pronounced brooding eyebrows. He could be a relative of David Copperfield, the magician. I am invited to sit at a table in the back of the store. It is dimly lit with candles and a few streaks of light that emerge from under a back door. “I see a small boy who so strongly wants to come into your lives,” he begins.

“Our lives meaning me and my boyfriend Dines?” I question.

“Yes. But not in the traditional way. He will find his way to you. He knows his path. He chooses it.”

“Is it a dog?” I ask.

“No no. It’s a real boy, a round-faced cherub of sorts..he will look a lot like you.”

“I’m on the pill,” I confess. “I’m not planning kids anytime soon.”

“You don’t give birth to him. But you will help raise him. I think this is a few years off.” Suddenly the back door opens. William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, walks inside. I pinch myself. Am I dreaming some crazy dream?

“Ohhh, pardon me,” says Mr. Shatner. He closes the door. I sit dumbfounded. “His daughter owns this store,” says Andrei. “Thank God!” I exclaim. “I thought I was losing it.”