This tale captures an unforgettable moment in the life of a traveling nun who stumbled upon an unusually perceptive fortune-telling machine in a crowded airport. It’s a humorous reminder of how unpredictable both travel and life can be.
While waiting for her flight to the major city of Chicago, the nun sat in a busy terminal surrounded by the constant movement of passengers. Her attention drifted toward an old-style, coin-operated device—one of those vintage machines that not only gave a person’s weight but also dispensed a printed fortune.
Curiosity eventually won. Thinking, “Why not see what it says?” she stepped onto the scale platform and dropped in a nickel.
The machine buzzed briefly, then produced a small card. To her surprise, the message was spot-on:
“You are a nun. You weigh 128 lbs, and you are going to Chicago.”
She brushed off the accuracy at first, assuming it was a generic statement printed for everyone. But the more she mulled it over, the stranger it seemed. The coincidence nudged her to test the machine again.
Intrigued, she decided a second try couldn’t hurt. Another nickel went into the slot. Once more, the machine printed a card, but this time it included a new statement:
“You are a nun. You weigh 128 lbs. You are going to Chicago, and you are going to play a fiddle.”
Immediately, she dismissed it. “Impossible. I’ve never played an instrument a day in my life,” she thought.
But fate had other ideas.
Moments later, a cowboy-type traveler sat beside her and set a musical instrument case on the seat between them. On a whim—perhaps influenced by the fortune—she opened the case. Inside was a fiddle. Without fully understanding why, she picked it up and began to play. To her astonishment, she produced genuinely lovely music.
Shaken by how the second prediction had come true, she told herself, “This is unbelievable. I have to try it again.”
For a third time, she approached the machine. After inserting another nickel, she received a new, more embarrassing fortune:
“You are a nun. You weigh 128 lbs. You are going to Chicago, and you are going to break wind.”
She scoffed internally. “Absolutely not. I have never done such a thing in public.”
But as she stepped off the platform, she slipped. While struggling to keep from falling, she strained so hard that the unfortunate prediction came true on the spot.
Stunned, she sat down, completely bewildered by the machine’s accuracy. “This is astonishing. I must try once more,” she muttered.
Using her last coin, she returned for a final reading. The machine delivered a summary of her entire bizarre day:
“You are a nun. You weigh 128 lbs. You have fiddled and far.ted around and missed your flight to Chicago.”
And so, the lesson becomes clear: sometimes indulging every strange curiosity in a bustling airport can distract you long enough to miss something very important—like your flight.
My grandmother Rose has never done anything to hurt another person in her eighty-six years.…
“Did you print this at the library, hon?” The deputy held my mother’s license up…
Ithought my husband’s late nights were just another sacrifice we were making as new parents.…
The uncertainty had followed the employee home, costing them sleep and making each workday harder…
The knitted baby booties should have made Andrew smile. Instead, my daughter’s doctor-turned-husband went deathly…
The bottom half of my white garage door was covered in black paint. I noticed…