April 15 - "The Palmist"

“The Palmist”
by Andrew Lam
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * * * (Great) Realistic

An aging palmist gives a free reading to a teenager on the bus whose future catches his attention.

There are some wonderful sentences at work in this story. So many, doing so much, that you feel as though you are right there riding that bus, following that conversation between eager palmist and skeptical teenager. This story’s real power comes in its descriptions of both setting and tone. It’s a hopeful story with an open ending that leaves you both curious and yet still satisfied.