Mrs. Wladek nodded. "I am bewitched. A witch has placed a hex upon me, and I come to you to remove it."
There was a little silence. Then Marya Proderenska said: "The powers will not do work without payment."
Mrs. Wladek dug into her ancient beaded purse and found a crumpled dollar bill. She handed it over and the gypsy woman smiled and ducked her head.
"It is enough," she said.
Mrs. Wladek said: "Then you will help me?"
"I will help you," the gypsy woman said. "Tell me of this curse upon you."
"There is a voice in my mind," Mrs. Wladek said. "The voice tells me—even now it continues—to go to an employment agency, to accept work ... and the voice is not of my making."
"Whose voice is this?" the gypsy woman said.
"It is my own voice," Mrs. Wladek said. "The voice is my own, but I did not tell it to speak. Inside my own head, I can hear my own voice as if someone else put it there."
"Ah," the gypsy woman said. "And who is the witch who has put this curse upon you?"