The Fortune of the Palms: a long short story

Everybody and their neighbor’s dog thinks they can handle the truth.

But the truth is, they can’t.

Three years ago, Madame Polonaise’s Palm Reading Salon went by a different name: the Scientific Palm Studies Institute.

Decorated more like a dentist’s office than a fortunetelling shop, the Institute suffered from misbranding. Only when Madame Polonaise gave up much of her self-respect (and abandoned words like “objective,” “logical,” and “scientific”) did she manage to revive the business. The keywords she uses nowadays include “mystical,” “esoteric,” and “cryptic”–perfectly in line with her clients’ truly false (or falsely true?) expectations.

But one evening, a man with a palm that is most alien to her wants a reading. And when Madame Polonaise sees him for what he is, she cannot look away from the truth anymore…

*A metaphysical tale of palm lines and wry revelations, with a dash of cosmic dread for those who dare to look beyond their own palms.