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Jake continued to use his laptop to check his emails as well as a few job boards for jobs within an hour or so of the cabin in Michigan. With no new emails or jobs he wanted to apply for, he browses the internet as he finishes off the pitcher. It hadn't taken that long, just under an hour to consume the pitcher. The pint-sized beer glass he favored meant that technically he only had a couple of beers. Considering the money he saved, he felt that he should pick up a six-pack before he spent the same amount on two more beers at Mick's. As he heads out of the pub he waves good bye at Mick who asks him what he found out about SNS. Jake replies, "I may not be in Michigan that long unless I find a Bohemian pub out there, but those are more rare to find than a good Irish one." To which Mick adds, "You'll not find either before too long I'm afraid." Hearing Mick's last remark Jake thinks to himself, "There will certainly be one less old Irish pub in Chicago after Saturday."
Jake spends the rest of the week "organizing". He retrieves boxes from the local grocery store and piles his meager belongings into them with little ceremony. His vehicle can easily hold all his things. The furnishing in his apartment was included with the rent, and with the cabin fully furnished, he had no worries beyond his personal belongings. He finished what food he had in the apartment during the few days before the big weekend at Mick's and held back on his beer consumption in anticipation of the event.
By Saturday he had everything ready to go and only had to go to the laundry mat for one last time. The place he used was in a seedier part of town. Old art deco storefronts from the 1930s lined the street with back alleyways you avoided day or night. It is midday and Jake isn't concerned about his trip there and the amount of time he needed to do all his laundry that had piled up over the previous month or so. But something is bothering him, something deep inside that he couldn't put his finger on. The feeling persisted even after he arrived at the laundry mat and started several loads in the washers.
The magazine collection there was sorely outdated and Jake felt too distracted to play with his smartphone, so he sat there looking out the window at the storefronts up and down the avenue. The laundry mat owner and a young woman doing clothes were the only ones there and Jake felt the urge to wander. With little thought, he left and started walking the street outside in the cold windy world of Chicago in the winter. He followed his nose down for two blocks before noticing an odd-looking storefront, one for a fortune teller called "Madame Gentry's Reading Room". "How strange." He thought to himself, "I've never seen that place before." With his first glance, that strange feeling of Deja Vous he experienced earlier came upon him again in an even stronger wave than before. He doesn't realize that once he approached the fortune-telling place he opened the door and entered inside.
It is smaller than Mick's or the laundry mat, dimly light with heavy curtains over the walls and a beaded entryway at the back. Jake finds himself in a waiting area with a couch, a chair, and a coffee table. There is a strange aroma in the air, not incense but more like the scent of an ethnic market downtown. A sign reads, "Please Ring Gong for Service" near a small gong and mallet on the coffee table. Jake strikes the gong that gives off a rather remarkable resonance. Within a few moments, a young woman carrying a Siamese cat appears from behind the beaded entryway, smiles, and says, "Greetings. My name is Jennifer, this is Sam, how can we help you?" Jake looks Jennifer over, and determines she is some kind of hipster. She looks to be in her mid-20s, not bad looking, even attractive if she were to happen into Mick's. She is of medium build and rather shapely. Her fine features, olive complexion, and straight dark hair make her light blue eyes incredibly intense. She is wearing no makeup, her natural beauty is enough, however, Jake's experience leads his thoughts and her overall look causes him to imagine how much unshaven body hair she might have before coming up with something to tell her about why he stopped in. "My name is Jake. I was over at the laundry mat and I happened to see your shop here and became curious". Jennifer replies, "Perhaps a palm reading or my specialty, the Tarot. I have a sense you are going to be leaving soon and are uncertain about the future."
