This short story follows a dissatisfied young woman who, on a whim, visits a fortuneteller at the pier and receives cryptic advice: she will find happiness only by cultivating a relationship with a red-haired person. Restless and uncertain about her dead-end job and recently ended relationship, she sits on the pier watching the sunset and strikes up a conversation with a kind elderly stranger. His quiet wisdom — particularly his parting suggestion that she "cultivate a relationship with herself" — echoes the fortuneteller's language in a way that triggers a sudden, intimate revelation. The story explores themes of self-awareness, identity, and the unexpected paths through which we arrive at self-knowledge.
The fortuneteller at the pier said I would find happiness only if I cultivated a relationship with a person with red hair.
"This is important to your happiness," she said.
"Red hair? Are you sure?"
"Absolutely sure. A red-haired person is where you will find happiness, but you must cultivate this relationship."
I decided not to argue with her or tell her to look at her cards again. Maybe I should have asked her to get out the crystal ball — if she had one. All fortunetellers had crystal balls, didn't they? I was wishing I hadn't paid the ten dollars for her unhelpful advice, but I had nothing else to do that day, and if I hadn't spent it on her I would've spent it on something else entirely useless most likely — so what the heck.
I didn't know anyone with red hair. In fact, in my whole entire life I had only known one person with red hair. His name was Kenny, and he was the fattest boy in school. He had to sit at the back of the room in a special desk because he was so much larger than all the other children. I hadn't seen Kenny in twenty-two years, so I doubted that the fortuneteller was referring to him. Besides, I had already cultivated that relationship back in the third grade when I let him sit by me on the number seven bus going home from school one day. There was nowhere else for him to sit, so I allowed him to plop down next to me, my body squished against the cold metal side of the bus. He breathed heavily and told me that he had failed the spelling test. I didn't care. I got one hundred percent.
But this fortuneteller — I was hoping she would tell me I was going to win the lottery or meet the man of my dreams sometime in the near future. Preferably within the week would have been good for me. I had gotten out of the awful relationship with Bradley a good nine months prior, and I felt like I was ready to move on. I also hated my job and would have given anything to quit. Life as a data entry clerk in an insurance office was as soul-draining as it got.
I took my useless information and decided to park myself on a bench at the end of the pier and watch the waves roll into shore. Why couldn't I just find happiness in the soft breeze of the Pacific? Or in the fact that I was probably going to have the best seat in the house for a sunset that tourists came from all over the world to see?
"Do you mind if I sit down?"
I looked over and saw an old man with a cane. He had a kind face — wrinkly, but kind.
"Not at all."
"I like to come and watch the sunset whenever I can," he said. "But then it reminds me that each sunset I watch is another day gone, another day that I am closer to not being around anymore."
Wow, this guy was more depressing than I was.
"I never thought of it that way," I said. "I don't come here often."
"What brings you here today?"
"Good question," I said.
"Sometimes it's good to not have plans or reasons for doing things. Sometimes it's good to just — how should I say? — go with the flow."
I never thought of myself as a "go with the flow" kind of person. I liked planning things. I didn't like surprises and guesswork. This was probably the reason for being stuck in such a dead-end job. But why? Why didn't I do something more with my life?
"Elderly stranger offers quiet wisdom about cultivating oneself"
"Mirror reveals narrator as the red-haired person"
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