One sunny Sunday afternoon a young woman was shopping in the streets of Manhattan. On any given day in the city one can take a turn down a block and by some serendipitous twist of fate wind up at a street fair. Vendors upon vendors line the street as the smell of dirty water dogs and fried foods fill the air. As if New York wasn’t already alive, the chattering of customers at booths and the sound of vendors selling their goods give the streets even more life. The young woman shopping was none other than Melissa Triker, a short quirky young woman who constantly flocked to street fairs like a moth to a flame. She figured it was the only place she would not be judged for buying ghetto gold jewelry and sunglasses that had the shelf life of a short week. Her blue high heels clacked across the pavement as she stared at the goods on display in the various booths. Cashmere sweaters, vintage rings made from bent spoons, and rows of cupcake earrings only a kindergarten teacher could pull off were proudly on display.

Then it happened, Melissa was walking past a booth that read, “Psychic readings, 10$”. She raised her eyebrow at the booth as she instantly convinced herself there were hundreds, maybe thousands of ways to spend $10 in a more productive fashion. But as she walked past the booth she heard a voice. “Miss, you come over here. I need to tell you something.” As Melissa turned she realized the voice was coming from the woman running the fortune telling booth. The lady wasn’t wearing a turban or a thousand rings on each finger. There were no snakes in baskets, just a frumpy grey haired old woman in pink from the Bronx with hazel green eyes locked on Melissa.

As Melissa inched toward the booth doubt flooded her mind. “This will be bullshit,” she thought as she sat down in front of the woman. “You have been in very long relationship. In this relationship you have given so much. Give, give, and give. Take, take, and take he does. That is the name of the game with the one you love. He takes and you give. It is exhausting, no? Well, he is your soulmate and your future is bright. However, you must regain your spiritual balance in order for this relationship to be what it is meant to be.” The old woman said as her clunky bracelets clattered together drowning out the noise around the booth from the street fair. The truth was Melissa had been in a relationship for a while now. She was dating a lovely loyal man who she treated like a million bucks. However, even she noticed that these days treating her man better than royalty was taking a total on her. She had grown tired, and he had grown accustom to living the high life. However, in their relationship what went around did not always come back around. And lately it was becoming very clear to her that that was indeed the case.

Melissa took a second to consider that maybe this woman wasn’t a lunatic after all. She had pulled Melissa off the street for a reason, maybe it was fate? Maybe the old woman saw something in Melissa’s aura? Oh, and maybe she was being charged for this conversation! As this possibility crept into Melissa’s mind she found herself fondling her wallet hoping that this little bit of insight was free of charge. She had never agreed to do a reading after all. The old woman kept talking, “Lovely a man is he. However, he has plenty of skeletons in his closet. There are things about him you do not know. In fact it is fair to say you are both loving each other with broken hearts. The past has not been fair to either of you. But in love you shall stay.” Suddenly Melissa could feel her heart sink to her chest. Were things about him she didn’t know? Like what? Maybe he was a serial killer, or worse a serial cheater! They had discussed their past together but he was always quick to close his storybook. The rest of the telling was a blur to Melissa as insecurities and questions danced around her head.

She got up from the conversation with the old woman, free of charge of course and headed off the street from the fair. As she walked next to the beautiful thousand and something dollar brownstone apartments, she couldn’t help but feel her stomach doing summersaults. “What should I do? We’ve been dating for so long. How do I not know everything? What if he isn’t who he said he was? What if it’s only a matter of time until he hurts me and I find out that the skeletons in his closet are too scary for even me to bare. Its only August, I’m not ready to deal with Halloween just yet.” Melissa thought as she bit her nails while nervously walking the Upper East Side.

A few hours later after a cappuccino at a café and at least seven panic attacks, Melissa sat down at on a stoop in front of a worn down brownstone apartment. She stared up at the shadows of the green trees decorating the streets as she began to think. “Maybe we all have skeletons in our closet. Maybe just maybe, it is healthy to keep some things to ourselves.” After all, there were a few things about her past even Melissa hadn’t discussed with her boyfriend. She never told him how and why she fell in love with the man before him. She hadn’t told him how she broke his heart over one little mistake. And perhaps it was for the best, maybe in order to put your best foot forward in your current relationship you need to leave some parts of your past behind. Melissa then began to consider that the skeletons in her boyfriend’s closet didn’t mean he was psychopath. Maybe it just meant there were things he didn’t think were worthy of being brought up. Maybe he had a heartbreak or two he didn’t want to relive with her. And for the first time since the encounter with the physic her heart rate steadied. Mellissa then took a big sigh, stood up and walked away from the stoop

After all, how well do we ever really know the people we’re dating? Married couples of 50 years don’t even know everything about each other. Besides isn’t that what we’re in the game for? To learn new things about the ones we love every day. Later that day as Melissa returned home to her apartment she ran straight to her closet. Sitting next to her Calvin Klein sweaters and Louis Vuitton bags was a box of memorabilia. It contained photos of her and her ex when they were happy. She never got around to throwing them out simply due to the fact she couldn’t bare the pain. But that night, Melissa began to face the skeletons in her closet. In the end they weren’t so scary. Maybe his weren’t either. Why was she so worried? After all, skeletons aren’t even that scary.