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“Could you please stop doing that?” Jair complained as he watched the clairvoyant toss a handful of salt over his shoulder for the millionth time. Félix and Agustín had a gig that evening and invited the seer to tag along. Something about him ‘needing to get out more.’ Jair and his twin Tajo were a part of the group as well, violins in their cases and music folders in their hands. Kiki and Lena were the final members, the first played accordion and the second was a flute player.
“Oh, l-lo siento.” The seer apologized, promptly letting his hand drop to the side. Félix elbowed his friend, fixing him with an unamused expression. “He’s not hurting anyone.” “Well no, but he’s getting it everywhere,” Jair argued. The seer shrunk a little more into his ruana. “You know it’ll get cleaned up.” Tajo defended his friend. “If it’s the rats or Pepa’s rain, it’s never been a problem.” Jair glanced at the seer who continued to pretend he didn’t exist. “But you do it so much, Bruno.” “I know, I can’t help it.” He whispered back. “Lo siento.”
“Why do you even do that?” Lena spoke. “If you don’t mind me asking of course.” Bruno glanced up at the woman. “Well no, actually, no one ever does ask.” The seer opted to hold a rat concealed under the green cloth. If he couldn’t throw salt then he had to settle for this. “It uh, it makes me feel better. Wards off bad luck and spirits. Calms my nerves and such.” “Hold on, back up a step,” Jair held up his finger. “What was the second thing?” “It wards off bad luck?” Bruno repeated. “Is that true?” Kiki raised a brow.
Bruno just shrugged. “Who knows really, but if people want to believe I’m bad luck then I’m inclined to believe this is good luck.” As he spoke he avoided the small cracks in the stone, more out of muscle memory than active focus. “There’s a lot of things I do to help counteract so-called ‘bad futures.’ Salt just seems to be the one people tend to notice the most.” “Oh,” was all Jair had to say, slightly embarrassed by the new information. He didn’t think the habit had any real meaning behind it, just an annoying tick. “Well, if it makes you feel better you can go ahead.” Jair offered an apologetic smile. “And Tajo is right, it’ll get cleaned.” Bruo returned the smile, “gracias, amigos. I’ll at least try to do it less often, especially around your instruments.”