Stupid Bar Tricks #4 - The Secret Fortune Teller

2 or 3 years ago, Sheena stumbled into what has since become one of her "Happy Places" here in Toronto. The Library Bar at the Royal York. Signature drink is the Birdbath Martini (aka the Bathtub Martini in SheenaSpeak). Served on ice in a big snifter so you can pour your own.

Walked out of the Go Train station this evening and decided to grab a paper and sit in a quiet candlelit corner before hopping the TTC home. Went for the Trius Riesling with a very reasonably priced plate of 3 kinds of olives for a paltry $3. And an appetizer sized Quebec foie gras/chicken pate.

Remembered the game Sheena invented with a couple of her redneck compadres/bodyguards during that first visit years ago: Sit against the western wall, in the cozy armchairs beside the bookshelves. Close your eyes and think of a number. Make sure the number has some special significance. When we invented this game, we ran the gamut of birthdays, anniversaries, number of people boinked, street addresses, and so on. Randomly pull a book, sight unseen of course, from the wall of books. Open the book to the page number of the number you have in your head. Read the first full complete sentence on that page. Ponder the significance the line has in relation to the number's meaning.

Tonight my number was 8. The book was "The Mystery of a Public Man: A Historical Detective Story" by Frank Maloy Anderson. The sentence on page 8 was "I could not help observing the disorderly appearance of the place, and the slovenly way in which service was done". Sheena shuddered as a cold dead ghostly hand passed before her face. There's a spooky magic in that room. Sheena implores her readers to not jump to the conclusion that the secret sentence was in reference to her sommelier experience. Nothing farther from the truth. Rather it felt my anguish over the number 8, and delivered an unsurprising message.