“I know,” Bette smiled in return, taking Tina’s hand and kissing her fingers. Tina turned the page over and continued to read,

“When I was calm enough to tell Katie what happened, she told me about the lady after we got home safely, “This old lady, Clarice is her name I believe, is said to be an oracle but I think that she’s just an old crazy woman, gypsy, who takes people’s money for predicting their future. All are lies and only gullible people believe her anyway. It was just a crazy talk of a crazy woman, no need to worry.”

Tina frowned when she read that entry and bit her bottom lip, “This name, Clarice, sounds so familiar. And it’s not from ‘Silence of the lambs’.”

“What do you mean? Did you hear it or saw it written somewhere?” Bette asked, looking at Tina with hope.

“I’m not sure, Bette…I just know that I heard this name before but I don’t remember where or when. And it’s not such a usual name so it has to be something special for me to remember. Damn…” Tina shook her head in frustration, “I wish I kept a diary like you did.”

“So you don’t remember anything at all? Think, T…it could be something important.”

“Sorry, baby…I can’t think of anything,” Tina sighed.

“You know what…do you want to try something? My sister Katie did it to me once. When I was 9 years old, I had to memorize a poem that I was supposed to read at my mother’s birthday party. I spent all day learning it but an hour before the party I got extremely nervous and couldn’t remember even the first line. Katie found me crying in my closet and told me to lie down, close my eyes and she did sort of a relaxation chanting that helped me to get over my anxiety. While I was lying down in bed, she read the poem with me and helped me to remember it. I still know it by heart.”

Bette closed her eyes and slowly recited the poem:

Go and catch a falling star,
Get with child a mandrake root,
Tell me where all past years are,
Or who cleft the devil’s foot,