The night was unusually quiet and the animals were singing a silent melody as Jason was walking though a circus. He was an only child from a good family and he liked visiting new places. Especially in that day, on his 21st birthday, he wanted to visit a place where he could have fun.
Jason suddenly saw a particularly interesting sight- a huge tent with title written in purple, shiny letters "House of Fates". He entered the dark place and was greeted by an old man behind a large table.
"Greetings, my dear son and welcome to the House of Fates!"
Jason smiled a little to this formal welcoming, but he was distracted by a particular detail of the man. He was staring into nothingness with blank eyes.
"Hello... Listen, I don't want to be rude, but are-"
"I'm blind son. If you think that I won't do a good job, there's no problem. You can go to somebody else for this."
"No, I was just curious... how did you know that I was a guy?"
"I smelled the odor of Nivea Men. I could have been wrong, but it was worth a try."
Jason was grinning. "Totally. But how can you be sure people are not taking advantage of you?"
"I lived in a small village in the good old days where people were simple and honest. I grew up to trust people. I tell them what they are paying for and they put some money in the box left to my chair. So sit down. I'm gonna look in the crystal globe."
Jason sat down with interest and disbelief at the same time. Suddenly he had an embarrassing realization. He left his wallet home. He wanted to explain this to the man, but he thought that, if they were all telling lies to naive people to get their money, it wouldn't be such a problem if he would do something bad for once.
"Well, you come from a rich family that spoiled you very much. You were taking good grades in high school, mostly because you had a photographic memory, but you started losing it at 17 and you barely passed in the last year."
Jason was very surprised to hear the old man saying these words, but he was mostly focused on something else.
"You told your parents that you're going to college, but you actually want to make some easy money and go on a long vacation. But little do you know... a quick drift is coming in your-"
"Oh no," he said as he slipped 50 dollars from the box in his pocket, "I just realized we have to stop here 'cause I left my wallet home. I'm so sorry I wasted your time. I've got to go now."
"No, son you have to listen. It's very important to hear this."
"Sorry I really can't, but I will come some other day. Bye."
This were his last words before he left quicker than the wind. The night was quiet again. In fact, quieter than before.
In the next morning, the old man was at the police station.
"So, Mr. Palmer, some people told us that Mr. Harrison visited you last night. Is that right?"
"Yes. He asked me to tell him his future, but he left so fast that he didn't hear the most important part."
"What part?"
"The part where he trips and cracks his skull on a rock after stealing from a blind man."