Hong Kong. I was exhausted. Just finished a trip and it was constantly 32 degrees, so after sitting at the computer all day I decided to cheer myself up. I headed to Temple street enjoying the cool evening breeze to find a face reader on the night market. One of my favorite films called The Chinese box with Jeremy Irons and Gong Li, is set in Hong Kong and I saw a face map in it. I wanted to have one. I went up straight to the lady who was sitting right there, where the old man in my hotel told me she will, and asked her to read my face. She was happy to have a customer, but she didn’t want to draw. She said these days people just want to talk to her, and she is out of practice. But I wanted to understand how it works, and insisted to get my face mapped properly:)
She started off with some general compliments. 'You are a very kind person. You always have a plan, and never let anyone stop you or divert you.' And then she started analyzing me, ordering certain ages and qualities to different parts of the face. 'Your ears are big and thick, it means your parents loved you very much when you were a child. Your forehead is full, so you were very good at school. Your eyebrows are long, it means good career. Eyes are beautiful: you do good business. Your nose is long and straight, between 40-50 you will make a lot of money. Upper lips means your years between 50 and 60, you will be doing well, the chin over 60. You have to be careful with water over 60. Especially when you have a bath. And your two moles are bad signs, they make you spend a lot of money. You should get rid of them. The lines under your eyes show that your children will be great, they will always listen to you.' I thought I just have lines there because I’m tired, and I was looking at her with such disbelief, that she asked: 'How old are you?' When I said 39 she was shocked. 'I thought you were 34. But it doesn’t matter. Signs are signs.' 'How many children do you think I`ll have?' I asked just in order to participate. She became even more serious, and she was checking my face then my palm for a while. 'Two boys and a girl.' 'Wow!' I was surprised by her firm reply. 'And your eyes are shining which means you love traveling.' I couldn’t deny that, and thought this divination might have been sold to a few more people today already. Thanked the old lady and walked over to an open air seafood restaurant to have some shrimps with cashews and while making some notes, a huge crab walked past under my table. I was shocked first, then touched as I followed him to the door with my gaze. Would he be able to leave the urban jungle and ever make it home? The cook caught up with him just when he made it to the street of freedom. I was thinking for a while about his chances to survive on the streets of Kowloon and find the way back to the sea. Still pondering over the crab, the divination, free will and determination, being caught up in reality which is just a loop in the chain.
