It was in
the cards,
Jeffrey had
made a grave
mistake. While
it wasn’t exactly
a regular event,
Jeff cajoling his
friend Stu into doing
one of his tarot readings,
it seemed important
enough to Jeff this
evening to coax Stu
into getting out the
worn set of cards.
Jeff had this flirtateous
way of convincing Stu
of just about anything,
anyway, so that part
was easy peasy. And
Stu’s mastery of the
hopeful magic of his
set of cards was un
deniable. Stu did a
quick couple of shuffles
of the deck upon the
fabric of his faded denim
jeans that Jeff noticed
had Stu looking even
more desirable than
ever. Quick as the
clear skies in Arkansas
can twist with tumult
into an ominous, purple,
twister-replete storm
cloud, Jeff put this
thought out of his
mind and concentrated
on the issue at hand.
He’d been feeling app
rehension for some time
now and decided—the
big truth of the problem
which he would not men
tion to Stu—that the
apocalypse must be
coming soon. Was it?
He had to know. So
there they were,
Stu passing him
the shuffled deck,
as usual, with the
request to “open
sesame” – which
Jeff knew just meant
that he was to cut the
cards. And this he
did. Then he watched
as Stu spread the cards
out like a fan and asked
him to pick six. “Don’t
we usually do five?”
asked Jeff. Just pick
six, and place them
face up in a row,
right here – and he
drew an imaginary
horizontal line on
Jeff’s side of the
fanned out deck.
Jeff did as he was
told, and as he placed
the cards face up, had
no idea the names of any
of them, just trusted that
Stu would do his usual
astute assessment of the
problem so that Jeff could
decide how to deal with his
insecurities about the world
ending and concentrate on
those things that keep the
world, his world, going.
“Ooh,” said Stu, after
quite the pause, “you’re
in an arboretum.” “The
golden necklace!” pro
claimed Jeff. “Some
thing like that, yes.
Only you get lost
and wander into a
deep dark wood.”
“Huh?” “Yes, and
you wander this
wood, lost, for an
entire week. And
then, you find yourself,
finally, at a vast opening,
an exit from the wood.”
“And what’s this place?”
Jeff was, as always,
holding on to Stu’s
every word. “It’s
a red rock desert.”
“A what?” “Well,
the skies are clear,
not a cloud can be seen,
and it’s sunset, dusk,
the moment when
there’s a big halo over
the top of the sun as it
is being swallowed by,
in this case, the earth.
The lapis lazuli sky
turns the red buttes to
a bright orange, oddly
enough. A bit like the
orange that folks wear
in the woods or doing
highway or construction
work, for safety, you
know?” “Yes, okay,”
Jeff was lost in the
vision, so lost that
he had no idea
how uncomfortable
it was making Stu.
“Is that it?” “Yep,
that’s, um, pretty much
the entirety of what
this odd set of cards
are telling me.”
“Great, so it means
I just need to go
wandering around
through the jewel
necklace this weekend,
surely. And just get
lost. This could be
fun.” Jeff seemed
quite excited by this
prospect. Stu was
just sort of staring
into space. “Would
you like a dumpling?”
Jeff asked, “I’ve plenty
left over from lunch
in Chinatown. Jeff
got up to go to the
kitchen, even though
Stu didn’t say a word.
Just sort of sat there
staring in no particular
direction. Jeff loved
those hazel eyes of
his, and thought as
he made his way to
his kitchen that Stu
almost looked as if
he’d been hypnotized.
