SECRET SIBLING
A psychic reading at a funfair led to an amazing discovery.
The air was filled with the scent of candyfloss and steam engines. I was so excited – it was 1970 and the travelling fair had come to my hometown, Southampton. I was 10 and my mum, Patricia, had let me go with my friends Paula and Rosie.
As we passed a canvas tent advertising psychic readings, Paula nudged me.
‘Dare you to go in!’ she giggled. I’d never been to see a psychic and was fascinated, so I went inside.
A lady was sitting at a table. She didn’t look very mystical, but she asked if she could hold my hand to do her reading.
‘Don’t tell me anything apart from your name,’ she said. She thought for a while.
‘Hmm, you like classical music,’ she nodded.
‘You’re right,’ I blushed. It wasn’t cool to like string quartets – my friends were into pop.
Next, she told me I had five brothers. I was amazed – until she said I had a sister, too.
‘No, I’m the only girl,’ I replied. ‘There’s six of us.’
The psychic went on to say I was psychic like her. But I felt like any normal 10-year-old. Besides, she was wrong about me having a sister.
As I grew up, I started to think she might have been right about my gift. I’d often know who was going to call before the phone rang. Once, I sensed a relative had been burgled before they’d told anyone about the robbery.
In 1985, I fell pregnant with my first daughter, Laura.
Mum was thrilled. But then, her face saddened a little.
‘You know, you were a twin,’ she said, ‘You had a sister, she died before you were born.’ What?
Mum hadn’t told many people about this and my brothers knew nothing about it either.
It was only after Mum left that I had a flashback to that day at the fair all those years ago…
‘You have five brothers,’ the psychic had said. ‘And a sister too.’
For 50 years, I’d ignored her message. But she’d been right all along!
I didn’t tell Mum about the psychic as I didn’t want to upset her, but it did encourage me to tap into my own abilities. So, last year, I did an online palmistry course and was surprisingly accurate. I could tell what job people did just by studying their palms.
I was amazed – so much so that it inspired me to write a book about my experiences.
Called The Gypsy Diaries, it follows a young gypsy called Lavinia who works at a travelling fair. I loosely based her character on the psychic who’d told me about my twin. After all, if I hadn’t crossed paths with her, maybe I wouldn’t have recognised my own gift all these years later.
It goes to show that some readings might not make sense at the time, but perhaps we’re not meant to discover the truth until we’re ready.