By
Johan Smit
All rights reserved.
Note: The names and places have been changed to protect the true identities of those persons referenced or name in this book.
There is a beautiful little Dutch settlement located near the stunning river of Gouwe. The name of this small hamlet, Boskoop, is a mesmerizing place indeed; yet just over the rise and down past the lowlands, which is just a good stretch of the legs, is the cheese market and main townhall of the city of Gouda, a much larger city of splendor, all located in the Netherlands.
The youth of Boskoop dream of one day moving to Rotterdam to find prosperity and happiness in a larger city. Hopes and dreams that would materialize for the majority of the young seekers who dared to venture forth.
There is a man of sixty-two, Johan Smit, who is the proprietor of a tiny repair shop not too far from the center of the village of Boskoop. Not very tall, five-feet four-inches, balding, with some short gray hair which matches his short gray goatee. Slim of build, weighing somewhere around one-hundred and ten pounds or thereabouts. Behind his dark, thick rimmed glasses can be found sparkling hazel-green eyes.
Johan lives a quiet, laidback life, working Monday to Friday from sunup to noon at his little shop; for he has no wife or children. In the rear area behind his shop, he has two wooden rocking chairs separated by a small wooden table, which contains a glass jar of medium size in the center of the table. There are several large trees to provide shade, and there is always a pleasant breeze.
From noontime till dark, and every Saturday he caters to anyone who comes by seeking guidance or information on any topic, personal or otherwise. Johan is known, far and wide, as the local soothsayer. Many in Boskoop, Gouda, and quite a few from all around the world come to have him look into their past, present and future as it were; doctors, house wives, lawyers, city people, entrepreneurs, farmers, spiritual seekers, and just plain everyday common folk.
Johan asks for no money, as he feels this is a service he does freely to help his fellow man; yet many place coins and paper-money in his glass jar for his personal time and answers to their questions.
His ability, to bring forth information from the great beyond came to him in his mid-thirties. It was there all along, but he never paid it no mind until one day, late in the afternoon, he was working in his shop when a voice spoke to him. Startled at first, he sat quietly at his work bench as the female voice told him his father and mother had just perished in an automobile accident while they were shopping in Gouda.
The female voice told him the exact time, place and how the accident had played out. Johan was stunned yet didn’t fully believe what he was hearing inside his own head, so he promptly dismissed it as his own imagination getting the better of him.
The following day, he was dumbfounded when a policeman knocked on his door with the sad news of his parent’s death. The officer explaining what happened almost word-for-word as told to him by the ‘female voice.’
As time passed, he decided to listen to the voice and pass on what was given to him from the great beyond. When he asked what he was to call the voice, she simply replied she went by the name ‘Zelda.’ As Johan didn’t know much about psychic’s or medium’s, later on he simply called himself a soothsayer. No advertising does he do, word of mouth sends most people his way. Whatever Zelda brings forth is what he passes on, he makes no judgment on what is given.
The following are questions asked by various individuals and the answers provided by Zelda. They appear in no particular order or sequence.