Cindy found a crystal ball in an apothecary shop. “Amazing. So beautiful,” she thought. ”See the Future! Only $50.00! Pays for Itself!” read the sign on the table. The gleaming crystal ball reclined on it’s silver stand.

Cindy paid for the crystal ball and took it out to her car. She had wanted a five inch crystal ball for years. She had found a very special beauty. Cindy thought crystal balls looked magical, like windows to other worlds. She was very pleased with her new magical crystal ball.

When she got home she unwrapped the magical crystal ball. She set it on a round table and began to gaze at it. Mist swirled in the lovely crystal ball. She saw two women talking.

“How have you been?” a woman asked another. “I’ve been ill. I have a very bad cough. Don’t come too close. I don’t want you to catch it.”

The pearly gray mist swirled again and Cindy leaned back in her chair. Her throat felt odd and tingly. She started coughing . . . she coughed and coughed. She ran to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to get some medicine. She swished two tablespoons of cough syrup around in her mouth then swallowed it. The cough, though eased, returned from time to time. Cindy made a pot of tea and brought it back to the table with a teacup. She poured herself some nice warm jasmine tea.

Cindy returned to the crystal ball. She focused her eyes on an imaginary space five inches behind the globe. She looked at the crystal ball’s swirling misty contents. She saw a snowy cabin scene with a man and woman looking out at the snow.

“Hey, Sal, we’ve been here for days. When is Ken gonna get here? He must be lost . . .  There’s too much snow.” Both of them seemed worried.

Cindy reached for her teacup. She glanced at the window and saw . . . snow. . . in July. She made the sign of the cross and began to pray . . . for a miracle? She took a sip of warm soothing jasmine tea.

Her gaze returned to the crystal ball. Specks of gold were floating in the swirling mist. She looked closer. A group of people were dancing, swinging round and round and round in a circular dance holding hands.

“Is it time?” they all asked in cheerful expectation. “One more minute . . . then we’ll be rich, filthy rich,” one of the men wearing a starry wizard cap decreed.

Cindy’s hand flew to her throat. The cough wasn’t so bad and her throat felt ok. Then she looked to the window and saw . . . money flying through the air outside. She went to the window and saw . . . money growing on trees. All the trees and shrubs had money on them.

She rushed downstairs and looked at her own lilacs, maple trees, oak trees and holly trees. All of them were covered with money. Money was growing on the trees and shrubs in her yard. She went to a holly tree and plucked off a crisp fifty dollar bill. It looked great. It looked very authentic. Mad money? The crystal ball, true to it’s word, had paid for itself.