They are here either way

Oh. Dang. The seven books on a shelf, the same row, but they had some space between each other and little stands to rest on. "You said they were important?" I asked.

"They are very important," Gemma added.

"You can't give me something... so valuable! I just did like, fifteen minutes of work!"

She just smiled, but then coughed a bit. I looked around for water but she waved me off. "Not to worry. Eddie. This is a store. I plan to sell them. If the one you pick can help you for this week, and then you can sell it or do anything else with it. Why not? I only ask you treat it delicately. They are old."

"This still seems, a bit much?" I asked. I wasn't used to this kind of thing. I mean. I didn't even know the basic ballpark? Three hundred? A thousand? More? Old books had to be worth a lot right? I was a college athlete and seven of them plus some protective stuff was hard for me to lift.

She rubbed my shoulder. "I told you. I have traveled everywhere. Why is it, I wonder, for the people to pray for kindness and generosity and yet, so often refuse it? Well. Each life to their own. The most beautiful thing I have learned on my travels is the joy in life we find in our own mistakes. If you reject my offer, well, so be it. But, then I would kindly ask you to leave. I have nothing else to offer you."

"I..." Crap. I was making a woman feel bad again? And she was offering me something nice? Ugh, what to say. What would Chrissy say? Ugh! How are people supposed to guess what women are thinking! Well, "Okay wait a second."

She paused and looked at me. Her eyelashes fluttered. "Yes?"

What to say? Hmm. A girl like this doesn't want a wimp. She wants the classic man I think? I puffed up my chest. "I'll take the offer."

She smiled and clapped her hands together. "I'm delighted. So Eddie Hawk, which one will you take," she said waving her hand out.

"Wait, but, which one is on the topic I was looking for?" I asked. Like, what if I got the wrong one?

"Weren't you listening? The best parts in life is finding out mistakes. You should find yours," she said.

"That doesn't make any sense," I said. "Like. You went to school. I am in college, learning is to avoid learning mistakes."

She looked down, almost said. She was... quite interesting. I was beginning to think she was a bit crazy? I would need to ask Chrissy later. I could never quite get a read on girls. Well, maybe Trish? They were the only girls I could talk to beside my family... and well, on the wrong day even they didn't wanna talk to me.

She picked up a deck of playing cards. "I'm a magician. We have a trick, we call it a force," she handed me the deck. "Only a fool would let a magician handle the deck."

"Hmm. Okay," I thought shuffling.

"..."

"Huh? Did you say something?" I asked.

"No, nothing. But pick a card. Any card, it will be the 1," she said.

Hmm. I cut the deck in half and then took the eighth card from the top half. An ace? She didn't declare a suit though, so what that was one in thirteen then? "Huh. Oh. Number 01, the Magician? What's that?" I asked. Looking at all the cards I realized it wasn't a standard playing deck. Wait is every card different? "What kind of deck is this? Why is there so many?"

"Seventy-Eight cards," she said. "Tarrot cards."

"That... well, anyone can get lucky once."

She smiled. And kept smiling. And kept winning. She never touched the deck. What was the trick! The cards, they had to be marked.

"Figure it out yet?" she asked. "One last try. How about this. If I can't predict your card this time. Then, I will help you pick a book. Just like you wanted. But, if I can still guess it right. Pick it on your own."

I smiled. "I gotta say. You are one wild lady. Hmm. So I can randomize the cards I want in any way I want?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Then what's your guess?" I asked.

"The Wheel of Fortune," she said.

I smiled and tossed the cards into the air. Come on! There is no way she could or see or manipulate things in mid air! No way she could just randomly pick the one in seventy-eight! I would say again but she didn't do it! That had to be a trick! So if this was the first real attempt, then no way! Come on! What card!