"What have you done?" Vetri, the soothsayer almost let the glass of coffee slip when his son stormed in and yelled at him, flashing what appeared to be a poster.
"Don't enter my office without knocking and two, never yell when you are here. This is my temple of foretelling..."
"Enough of your temple-of-foretelling nonsense," the son continued yelling. "You are a con-artist. Reserve your sermons for the gullible."
"I am not a con-artist for want of skills," Vetri retorted, snatching the poster from his son's hand. "Kids like you have scant respect for our systems and practices. You clamour for acceptance from people who don't care, and struggle to fit into systems that won't take you. So, I need to find a way into those very systems in order to bring you home. Infiltration."
Vetri's son sighed in frustration. "But this? Explain this," he snatched the poster from his father and flashed it again. Vetri ran his eyes over the contents of the poster.
'The Chennai Champions will defeat The Mumbai Marauders in today's (30-5-18) game.
Accurate prediction of the future.
To consult, contact Soothsaying Sensation "Vetri" on XXXXX-VETRI. Consultation By Appointment Only.'
"Interesting prediction, isn't it?" Vetri said. His son looked away, unimpressed. "Son, listen to me. Every discipline has its time. Imagine this. What if one day scientists make small enough robots that can go into your body, fight pathogens and then come out? That day, allopathy will die. And like me, the last of the practitioners will do anything to keep their trade and homes alive."
"What if your prediction fails? You'll do much worse with all the negative publicity." The son showed signs of relenting and Vetri grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
"I will still win. See, I am too old to learn a new trade. Plus it isn't all my fault that predictions fail. Computers generate horoscopes these days. You can feed anything and the computer will just spit a horoscope out. An expert can tell if you are lying about your date of birth. Times change and with that, strategies too."
"I am not convinced."
"Fine. Tomorrow, you'll find at least five clients here. If you don't, I'll retire. What if you do?" Vetri knew he had his soon hooked.
"I'll learn soothsaying and put it to good use when I can."
...
"Classes start on the Amavasya (new-moon day) ," A triumphant Vetri said the next evening as they stood outside his office.
As the dejected son walked through a narrow corridor to go home, his eyes fell on a pile of posters by the wall. He bent down to pick one up and felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Classes begin on Amavasya. Go home." Vetri's son left without saying a word.
Close shave, Vetri heaved a sigh of relief and held a poster up against the light before discarding the pile.
On a wall some distance away the discarded poster's likeness read:
'The Mumbai Marauders will defeat The Chennai Champions in today's (30-5-18) game.
Accurate prediction of the future.
To consult, contact Soothsaying Sensation "Vetri" on XXXXX-VETRI. Consultation By Appointment Only.'
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Prompt-O-Rama
RandomWriting short stories is delightful, writing them every week is stimulating and when there is a theme/prompt to stick to, it is twice as delightful and stimulating. This book is a collection of random short stories written to weekly writing prompts...
