The Star Man

Sitting and waiting for the most ancient of buses in Bangkok (no bus fare up front, there's a ticket-taker on the bus who goes from person to person, asking them where they are going and telling them how much it will cost, shaking their cylindrical metal coin carrier and ripping tickets out in a don't care attitude), I watched a tall, dark and handsome Indian man approach the bus stop. I saw him seeing me, and glanced sideways, inconspicuously, but oh-so totally conspicuous.

He sits down on the bench. I feel him looking at me and then glancing away, and then he says "Excuse me" and he stands up. "Excuse me" he says again.

"Yes?"
"You have a very lucky face."
"Excuse me?"
"Your face it is lucky."
Silence.
"You have three lines in your forehead, and this means three good things will happen to you next month. In October."
"Oh, really?"
"You do not believe me? I know this. I study Astrology 11 years in Singapore, Malaysia."
Nodding.
"I do not know you. You do not know me. I do not call you. You do not call me. Three lines in your forehead is very lucky thing. I can tell you everything."
"How much do you charge?"
"Excuse me?"
"For this reading where you reveal everything to me, how much will it cost me?"
"I am not interested in money."
Scoff.
"Your face is very lucky, but your heart is sad. The last five years are bad. The last five year you go up and down. Someone is putting bad thoughts and wishes on you. You try for success, but never make it, only 40 percent - 50 percent success because woman with bad thoughts."
"So somebody has a voodoo on me?!"
"But your face is lucky. Three good things in October."

Not to be greedy or anything, but only three? Maybe he read my heart as sad because I was at the time, and lonely, too?

He was tall and slimish, wearing a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow and dark jeans. His face was happy, and he wore his hair shaved close to his scalp. When he smiled he exposed a diagonally chipped front tooth that I imagine he ran his tongue across a lot as a child, trying to come to grips with the fact that it would never grow back and stay that way forever, as a result it's now so smooth.

He gave me his contact info, and was excited to hear that I'd be in India next month - so will he! He exclaimed as excitedly as an Indian Astrologer can be. He told me he would take care of me and that I would not have to pay for anything while there. And while that's all well and good, it'd probably be coupled with a marriage proposal at the end - not to be judgmental, but it's happened before on Daechon's beach in South Korea.