The Fool

I pick this one! I flipped the card over. "Number Zero."

She began laughing. "That is the fool. An interesting choice Eddie Hawk."

I raised an eyebrow. "You make that sound like an insult?"

Gemma giggled behind her hand, and plucked the card from mine. "Not at all. New beginnings. Infinite potential, or perhaps recklessness? Who is to say? I only sought for you to pick your own future, but in a way you have, even if you did this by placing that future in the hands of the magician. If you could be so kind to pick up the deck? I will get your book."

"Oh, right. Yeah, no problem," I said bending down. These cards looked really fancy. The fool had infinite potential? That just sounded a bit silly to me. So did new beginnings honestly. She made it sound like a fool could be a good thing.

"Oh, do be careful, those cards are worth Eight Hundred USD," she shouted.

I nearly spit. "They are worth what?" I asked.

"Eight hundred," she repeated.

I suddenly began picking them up so much slower. Why! Why would she let me handle them! Why would these be the cards she uses for this? Like. What? This girl I thought was strange the entire time, now I thought she was clinically insane. I don't think anything else made sense.

I slowly counted and got seventy seven cards. Which was one less then she said was in this type of deck. Which was exactly right, since she grabbed the fool card. I walked over to the counter and set both the cards and the box in front of her. "Were you messing with me?" I asked.

She looked up and tilted her head. "Not at all. They really are worth that much."

"But how?" I asked.

She smiled and set down the box she was working on. She grabbed the fool card and placed it back on the deck. There was a little green glow. "Because, this deck is actually magic and can predict the future. At least sometimes."

I laughed. "Bullshit."

"Such little faith, but well, I don't mind helping. Give me your hand," she said with her the deck face open.

I placed my hand on top of the deck, and she placed her hand on top of mine. I felt a bit of a warm feeling. She then began shuffling the deck and woah. She was doing way more than the ruffle shuffle I know. Like almost throwing the cards from one hand to the others in this like magic shuffle thing. And finally she placed three cards on the table.

"We both know you can well... all of that," I said.

"Which is why I didn't waste your time asking you to pick a card. But here is a trick," she said coming around to my side of the counter. "Arcana it matters if the cards are reversed or not. So, flip the card anyway you want. I placed the cards before you, but I can't force you to decide their place or orientation," she paused and tapped the table. So the left spot is where she wanted me to place the card that represented my past, then present and lastly future.

Hmm. And I guess there. I got zero, ten, and fifteen. "So, what does this mean?"

"The fool is your past, a past that I think ended today. It is upright, so it symbolizes potential. Very fitting. And, for your present, that is the wheel of fortune card, but it is reversed. Representing bad luck for someone who resisted the natural order. Fitting for a reckless fool," she said, looking at the final card with a smile. "The devil, a personal favorite of mine. People think it means bad luck and I can see why, but it represents being trapped by the place you get yourself into."

"Pretty crappy future," I said.

She giggled. "I thought you didn't believe? Plus, I can only tell you what the cards say? Though the devil may be trapped, he is smiling?"

"You're right, I don't believe," I said.

She walked behind the counter, scooped up the cards, and set them on a shelf next to the register. "Maybe one day. Just be another minute."

I walked around the store. I don't think I realized before how creepy everything was. A lot of this stuff looked like it was over sixty years old. I didn't wanna say anything. I had to guess she got this store when her grandma died or something but clearly this kind of stuff meant a lot to her.

She eventually walked over to me, holding a box with a green and pink ribbon. "Done. But, I am about to eat dinner, so I am closing up. So.... thank you for the work and keeping me company, but for now, for now. I would ask you to leave," she said.

The box seemed kind of heavy. I nodded, thanked her and left. At the bus stop I took a peak. Chalk, candles? The deck of cards she claimed was worth eight hundred bucks and a book on arcana? Oh and beneath all that was one of those seven books. I couldn't quite tell which one from this angle. Hmm. The sun was still up. Chrissy was studying with her friends today but they might know about this arcana stuff.