"I put a spell on you, baby."

June 14, 2002

There was something wrong with the woman, but I couldn't tell what. She smiled too plastically, and her money was soaked wet. (With what I did not want to know.) Still, she had good money for a latte, so I took her order.

As I dealt with the other customers, a sharp "No!" came from the other side of the caf�. I didn't pay any attention until it became a "No! Stop it!"

I looked over to my coworker, to make sure I wasn't hearing things. He had no idea what was going on, and then I noticed it was the smiley-wet-money woman, "No! Stop it!"

I sighed, and walked over to her. Her plastic smile returned.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked.

She spoke in halting English. "Energy. My leg. Hurts."

"Excuse me? I don't quite understand."

She pointed to another customer. "He sends energy. He make my leg hurt."

I looked over to the man. He was a regular at the caf�, and I knew he wouldn't cause anyone any harm, much less curse someone with leg pain. He chuckled to himself, goodnaturedly.

"I'm sorry," I replied. "I can't help you with that." I haven't been trained to stop energy emissions, I thought to say, but that would have been impertinent of me. "Would you like to sit outside instead?"

"Yes" She nodded, and she picked up her drink, and sat outside.

I stood there, hunched over the now-empty table, thinking how easy it was to intervene in such a psychic confontation.