Two Children?!?!

My favorite author of all time is Maeve Binchy. Her novels draw you in with well-rounded, realistic, and often relateable characters; believable situations and circumstances, and a touch of magical comfort and hospitality that makes each page a delight and wonder to traverse. To me, her novels are the ultimate comfort, and they allow you to immerse yourself in a different scan of our own real world.

Recently, however, one of her novels --or should I say an element of one-- caused me a bit of a fuss. In the novel "Tara Road", which I have read countless times, central character Ria Lynch and her companions visit, on several occasions, a fortune-teller (palm reader), and are subsequently told their fortunes. Now, this distinct aspect doesn't really phase me; while I don't believe in fortune-telling, etc, I was always totally fine with this in the story.

What caught my attention this time around happened very early on in the book, with Ria as a young girl with her older sister Hilary. Hilary has visited the fortune-teller and is in the process of describing her fate to a very skeptical young Ria:

" "And where did she see all this good health and the fellow called M and no children? In tea leaves?" [Ria said]
"No, on my hand. Look at the the little lines under your little finger around the side of your hand. You've got two, I've got none."
"Hilary, don't be ridiculous. Mam has three lines..."
"And remember there was another baby who died, so that makes three, right."
"You are serious! You do believe it!" "
(Tara Road 4-5, Binchy)

For some reason, the notion of telling how many children one might have simply by looking at the side of one's hand distracted me. Could such counsel hold true? I wondered. And against my general better judgement, I thought I'd check it out.
You read your left hand, that much I know, so when I looked at the side of my left hand just beneath the crease of my pinky finger, I saw two lines. Which, as we now know, means two children.

Now, I believe that this whole children-hand-reading thing was in part fueled by the fact that I currently do not want children at all, and that I was curious to peek into my future to see if my mind would somehow change. Of course, I have no idea of the actual future, since I don't quite believe in palm-reading and I also don't believe in deciphering one's own future.
But still, the temptation was too great, or my will was too weak...so now, after "learning" that I may or may not have two children in the future, I am not really satisified, but rather filled with a lingering curiosity as to whether it is true or not. I suppose this is a lesson for me, something about not opening a door if you can't handle what is inside the room...and a nod to the old saying, "Curiosity killed the cat."

-Amaranth