It was January 1985.  I held a secretarial position in the Public Works Department for the City of Santa Barbara in California.  My work station was directly across the hall from the Conference Room.  I was the Senior Steno in charge of every meeting held there, taking minutes. One day the Mayor dropped by my desk with a bowl of purple plums she picked from a tree in her yard and offered them to me.  We chatted, and she asked if I had time before the meeting to read her palm, saying she had heard of my reputation of my being a Palmist.

In the Conference Room, we closed the doors and settled down in the corner. She confided she was anxious to hear what I would see. I requested a handwriting sample which the Mayor produced. I felt it with my fingertips and began her session.  I described her personality and she admitted I was right.  The Mayor and her husband were lawyers; he was a Judge, she chose politics.  She asked specifically if I could read her past. 

I studied her hand and recounted they had two grown children. A cold chill hit me.  I explained I saw a blackish cloud hanging over the family many years ago.  I felt they had children close in age, a boy and a girl.  She offered the information the children were twins.

“What can you pick up about their early childhood?” she asked.

“There was a near tragedy in their fourth year when you and your husband went out of town on business.  An older woman was hired to stay with them for a few days,” I reported.

Anxiety-ridden, she said, “Go on.”

“I believe your twins were kidnapped. The woman was bound and gagged, left in the living room on the floor.  The incident occurred on the first day you were away.” 

“Oh my God!  That's exactly the way things happened!

I continued, “Two days later you returned home to discover the woman in your living room.  She was dehydrated and weak, but still alive. She recounted a few details concerning the kidnapping but her mind wandered. She was in shock.  The police were notified immediately;  they called in the FBI.  No ransom note was found on your property, the phone remained silent.  It was determined by the authorities you weren't being extorted for a ransom. Someone simply wanted the twins.  Local newspapers carried stories of the kidnapping and printed numerous family photos, baby pictures of the boy and girl and current shots too.”

The Mayor tensed as she listened to my dissertation.

“On the fifth day after the kidnapping a miracle occurred.  The twins were deposited on your doorstep in the middle of the night.  A police officer, routinely surveying the property at 4:00 AM stumbled upon them. There was confusion and a wonderfully tearful homecoming when everyone was reunited.  The children were disoriented, hungry, dirty and near shock.  The police were unsuccessful in obtaining viable information from them.  No description was considered right, therefore no composite drawing could be produced. The sitter, admitted to Cottage Hospital, was still there on the day they were returned. Family and friends were ecstatic, but concerned.  Police were assigned to remain on the property for several weeks afterwards.” 

The Mayor said she had been unable to function for many months after the incident.  She couldn't force herself to leave the house or her children, she attended no meetings and conducted limited law business from home. Visibly shaken by our conversation, her eyes watery, she asked me to continue.

“How did you get all these details?  Who told you about us?  Did you read the newspaper accounts or what?” she demanded.

Her children were in their late twenties as we spoke, and I had never been told of their abduction.  “I didn't live in this state when the situation occurred, and I have never read any articles about the kidnapping,” I replied.

I realized she had no idea I would uncover her past when we began her palm reading session. She didn't think about what I would uncover from her past simply by studying her palm. I saw she was agitated so I suggested we terminate the reading.  I offered to finish it at another time.  Weakly she said thanks.