‘As We Walked, We Passed Two Women Sitting on Folding Chairs’

Predictions

Dear Diary:

One evening last spring, my husband and I were strolling in the Village after having dinner out. I was about five months pregnant at the time.

As we walked, we passed two women sitting on folding chairs outside a psychic’s storefront with a table of cards and candles between them.

“August,” one of them said, pointing at my belly.

We continued walking.

“A boy, right?” the other shouted.

I turned around and nodded exuberantly.

“Well, you would know!” I shouted back.

— Emily Toder

Matzo Ball Soup

Dear Diary:

On an October morning, my girlfriend and I dashed up Fifth Avenue through a bitterly cold and driving rain to the Frick Collection. Our pocket umbrellas did little to protect us.