Meeting Madame Zara

"Come back this evening," came a woman's voice from beyond the curtain. "I don't give any readings before six."

"I'm not a customer," Astra explained. "I've just joined the carnival, and Zeke said that I could share this caravan with you."

"Did he, indeed? This cabin is barely big enough for one, never mind two."

The owner of the voice drew back the curtain and emerged, and Astra saw why she might find the caravan on the small side. Madame Zara was a middle-aged, cheerful-looking woman with long black hair, dressed in a caftan covered with a garish red and yellow design, but her most notable feature was her size. She was quite short but very fat. Astra estimated her weight at about eighty zunans.[1]

"Hello," Astra said. "My name's Allyne."

"I'm Bertha. Pleased to meert you, Allyne. I was just having a little snack. Would you care to join me?"

"Thank you," Astra said, pushing her way past the curtain. "But I thought that this was Madame Zara's caravan?"

"Yes, that's my professional name, as it were. But my real name is Bertha."

"I see," Astra said. Looking around, she found that the area behind the curtain seemingly did duty as bedroom, kitchen, dining room and lounge. There was a partition at the far end that probably divided off the bathroom. The place was very cluttered and untidy.

Bertha removed a pair of her knickers and a pack of playing cards from a brown leather armchair, one of two matching chairs on either side of a low table, and indicated that Astra should sit down. She then took a plate from a shelf in the kitchen area and put it down in front of Astra. "Help yourself," she said, sitting down opposite Astra.

Astra saw that an enormous plate in the centre of the table contained several large slices of a cake whose main ingredients seemed to be chocolate and cream. [2] Bertha had a half-eaten slice on her own plate. "Thank you," she said, gingerly taking the smallest slice and putting it on her plate. If she wasn't careful, she thought, then sharing a caravan with Bertha could be a recipe for putting on weight.

"So what are you going to be doing?" Bertha asked. "Trapeze artist, perhaps?"

"I'm going to be telling fortunes," Astra told her, taking a bite out of her slice of cake. It was surprisingly good. She swallowed and went on: "I think that Zeke hopes that you can show me the ropes."

"Oh," Bertha said, sounding a little surprised. "It's up to Zeke, of course, but I'd have thought that one fortune teller was plenty. The way that you're dressed, I'd assumed that you'd be doing something more athletic. You certainly have the body for that. But I suppose that we don't really have any vacances for an acrobat just at the moment. So, Allyne, if you're new to the carnival you're going to be needing a professional name to work under. Now what would suit you? I know, how about...

[1] A zunan is an Aqualarian unit equivalent to about three pounds.
[2] Cocoa beans for chocolate making are imported from the far distant territory of Nom Malbra.

1. "Red Sonja."
2. "Princess Astra. You can't go far wrong with a phoney suggestion that you're of royal blood from some far-off, mysterious land." What a spooky coincidence!
3. "Gypsy Lee Rose."
4. "Come to think of it, Allyne is exotic enough sounding that I think that it would do."

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