A Year of Progress and Elegance
Want to know the future?
The Prophecy Café is a splash of pink tucked into a quaint strip of greenery-trimmed shops and brick-walled bistros.
Your entrance triggers the hypnotizing jingle of a string of bells hung on the door. The room smells of jasmine and freshly brewed tea.
Lady Eleanor waits for you at a dainty cafe table, and so does a cup of steaming tea.
She nods at you with a smile that says a thousand warm greetings.
You sit, and you sip your tea. With a sparkle in her eye, she looks at you over her own teacup.
“You’ve come to know the future,” Lady Eleanor says– a statement not a question. “You seek foresight into what the new year holds.”
You expect ceromancy, palmistry, perhaps an astrological reading.
When only tea leaves remain in your cup, you expect her to lean over and discern divinations from the amorphous clumps.
“To look forward, we must reflect on the past.” She hands you a glinting gold hand mirror.
When you look inside you don’t see your reflection, you see your past. All the triumphs of the year appear before you in a vivacious rush.
Stunned by such a cinematic vision, you let the silence of your shock hang in the air. And then realize you should probably close your agape mouth.
Lady Eleanor’s grin holds a mischievous excitement, “Let’s walk.”
She guides you through the café–a graceful tapestry of ornate wallpapers and vintage furniture. As you approach the back you hear the gentle lapping of water. She leads through an ivy-wrapped tunnel, into the café’s lush garden.
It is a beautiful tangle of vibrant greens, pinks, and purples you’ve ever seen, circling a bubbling, marble fountain. It’s as if the bushes, vines, trees, and flowers bloom before your eyes.
“Welcome to the garden,” Lady Eleanor pulls on an elegant pair of pink gardening gloves and begins to water and prune the curling plants around her. “Just as the verdure of this garden blossoms in harmony, 2025 will be a year of great collaboration and growth. This new year will be one where imagination is cultivated and partnerships flourish.”
Lady Eleanor opens her gloved hand to reveal a sparkling coin in a currency you can’t place.
“Make a wish, dear.”
Go on now. Make a wish!
You toss the glimmering coin in the fountain and in the iridescent water ripples, you swear you catch the shadow of a mighty kingdom cast over the water.
Lady Eleanor glances over your shoulder and sees the palace silhouette that dances in the fountain wavelets, “This year, our creative kingdom will only rise in power. Our illustrious directors will lead a new wave of cinematic craft and audacious originality. ELEANOR will continue to raise a resonant voice for good taste and unexpected talents.”
With a delicate wave of her hand, she motions you back into the cafe parlor.
A grand feast of chocolates, candies, and bite-size cakes now glisten on the little round table.
“It’s time for dessert,” Lady Eleanor winks.
You sit. You feast. The spread of sweets is like nothing you’ve tasted before, a symphony of perfectly paired flavors each more mesmerizing than the last.
“Delicious?” Lady Eleanor flashes another million-dollar smile. “If 2025 was a banquet table, expect it to brim with creative abundance. Prepare for a lavish feast of innovative storytelling.”
And when all that is left of this confectionary cornucopia is wadded cupcake liners and empty plates, you find a little teacup waiting for you once again.
It exhales a cloud of steam, and before you, the swirling mist forms the figure of a woman winged by the billowing cloth in her arms.
“The Spirit of Ecstasy,” Lady Eleanor admires the steam vision before you. “A gleaming horizon becons you, darling. 2025 will be a year of elegance and progress. Follow your wildest dreams, for in this new year you will achieve more than you could have ever imagined.”
You watch the tongues of vapor twirl and then settle. And when the steam is gone, you find that Lady Eleanor has left as well, leaving only a napkin with the note:
