Momma Shirley, the chicken, and me.

I learned how to read playing cards from a Filipino woman, whom I lovingly refer to as Momma Shirley. When Momma Shirley was a young girl her great grandmother taught her to read playing cards while growing up in the Philippines.

One day I received a phone call from her and she asked me to come to her house right away. Once I arrived, Momma Shirley told me she had a dream about me. In this dream her great grandmother, in the form of a very large chicken, told her to teach me how to read cards. The dream starts to get a little strange, but bear with me. The chicken was tall enough to reach the second story window of her apartment complex. The chicken began to peck at the window to get her attention. She opened the window and to her surprise the chicken’s voice was that of her great grandmother’s. The chicken instructed her to grab a spoon and come outside. Once outside, the chicken told her to dig with the spoon and started to peck the ground where she should dig. The chicken told her if she digs she will find a ring. The chicken also told her to pass down her gift to me.

Momma Shirley woke up and took this dream as a sign. She grabbed a spoon and went to the spot where the chicken was pecking in her dream and began to dig. This is where I rejoin the story. I was sitting at her kitchen table while she told the story and noticed a spoon on her counter with dirt on it, which is very out of place. Momma Shirley’s house was always kept in immaculate condition. She was also clutching something in her right hand. She came towards me and asked me to open my hands. She placed a clump of dirt in my hands and told me to go wash it. I walked over to the sink and turned on the tap. I started to wash this hard little clump of dirt, and started to grow with excitement once I saw gold. Just like the chicken said, she had found a ring. I got the ring all cleaned up. It was a gold ring that if you turned it to the side you could tell it was two lovers intertwined in an embrace. Momma Shirley told me whoever wears this ring will be married in a year. Being thirteen years old and having a mother that had been married six times (at the time it was six, but in total seven times) I tossed the ring on the table and let out a little scream. Momma Shirley laughed at me and said “No, pumpkin you are too young, but will you learn to read cards?”. I delightfully agreed, as I always enjoyed watching her give readings to friends and family. She showed me that day, and I have been reading ever since.