“Business services. From the business. The business I started.” I studied her blank stare. “Remember any of that? You told me it was a ‘fool’s errand’? And I said that ‘The Fool’ is actually a card of optimism and new starts? Then we had that hour-long argument about our interpretation of the tarot?”
She nodded sagely, but I could tell she wasn’t listening. She began to wave her arms around, humming in a low resonance.
I sighed. When she reached the arm-waving stage, you weren’t going to get any sense out of her until she’d imparted whatever it was she wanted to impart. Unless I decided to dart out of the window, at which point she would surely snap out of her ‘trance’ and snatch my ankles with her unearthly strength to prevent me from leaving.
I leaned against the windowsill, the backpack weighing very heavily on my shoulders and twinging my lower-back, and waited. I was half convinced she used her arm-waving time to quickly make up whatever she was going to say next. I’d save that particular theory to posit when I really wanted to piss her off.
Eventually, she stopped totally still, and began to slowly intone in a deep, raspy voice. “The rich man, broken spirit. The broke girl, rich in heart. An angry, red, setting sun. A barren, scorched land that could have been fertile. But – oh – look. Shepherd’s delight. Pink skies, with perfect clouds in perfect pink lines. Two pink lines to bring growth to the land. Trees, an abundance of roots, some twisted, some straight. Cherry blossom in spring. But in winter, the branches gnarl.”
I stared at her as her breathing slowed and her eyes fluttered closed and then open again, looking more tired than possessed.
Then I put my foot back on the windowsill. “Good one, gran.” And I climbed out.
Now that she’d delayed me more than I’d already delayed myself fussing over my appearance, I needed to get a move on. I would pay as much mind as I usually did to her prophecies. So, zero.
Putting the ‘prophecy’ firmly out of mind, I lugged my backpack, back already aching more than I’d like, two blocks down to the bus stop and waited.
It took two buses and the subway to get to the event. For all the help I’d received in attending the event today – the marketing help, the payment, the admission and table price covered – I’d not been sent transportation by my benefactor.
The changeover of buses was blessedly brief. I was making up some of the lost time.
I lugged my backpack onto the second bus and slumped into a seat near the front, staring out at the moving landscape as we made our way further into the center of the city.
These kinds of events weren’t totally new to me. But they had been last week, when I’d attended my first.
That’s where Apollo Brock had approached me with a very generous offer.
I’d known of the Brock family, of course, prior to meeting him. But only vaguely. I didn’t follow celebrities much. That included celebrities of the business and entrepreneur worlds – until recently, when I’d started my own,Tarot for Success.
But since the Brocks had inherited their wealth from the infamous Emory Brock, I’d not focused on them during my studies. Inherited wealth was something I could never amass no matter how hard I tried. Instead, I’d been studying up on people more like me, or more like I wished to be – people who came from nothing and then, with incredible motivation, managed to build a business.
I had strong motivation, even if I had little else.
So, at the event last week, when Apollo had paid my standard fee for a five-minute quick, one card reading, I’d thought nothing of it. Then I’d taken him into the small but beautiful pop-up tent I had for these sorts of events, and he’d told me of his plan.
“My brother Forest, that dear boy, is having some problems with a business rival. He’s really at a dead end with it, you see. I think he could do with some counsel of the... spiritual kind, but he’s quite resistant to that sort of thing. He works in technology. He’s very logical and science-minded. Now, you don’t need to explain to me the benefits of taking a more spiritual angle on things. Did you know, my mother was a fortune teller?”
I had shaken my head. No, I didn’t know that. Wasn’t he the son of one of the world’s most infamous multibillionaires? Had Emory Brock really been married to a fortune teller?
“I can see you’re confused. You may not know this – you are quite young, aren’t you? – but my brothers and I are actually half-brothers. We all have different mothers. And, excitingly, we all grew up not knowing who our biological father was. So really, I can empathize with your position. Your mother. You need the money for her treatments, don’t you?”
I nodded, a little warily. “How did you know that?”
“It’s very easy to know things when you have money. But since I like you, I’ll let you know it was very easy. Your business was only registered last month. You hired the suit you’re wearing today, and not exactly from an up-market hire facility, either. And you’re already in debt from your mother’s treatments so far, to the extent she’s considering stopping them if you don’t find a way of raising the money. It’s not so difficult to put together.”
I stared at him.
“Money has lots of wonderful benefits. Such as healthcare. I have a proposition for you. Please read my brother Forest’s fortune for him. I worry about him. All I ask is that you let me know how it went, afterwards.”
“Readings are strictly confidential.”
“Oh, I know. But I think this cheque should clear things up. And you can impart the information to me in whatever way makes you feel less... morally challenged, bending your confidentiality rule. Mime – even interpretive dance, if you really wish.”
He’d slid a cheque onto the small plastic fold-out table in the middle of the tent. I’d hesitated before picking it up, but once my fingers touched the paper, they’d snatched it and held it up to my face so fast the words blurred and my hands shook. When my vision settled, I wasn’t quite sure I was seeing correctly. It wouldn’t pay for everything I owed, which was already an astronomical amount, but it would be enough to convince my mother I’d one day be able to work us out of the debt we were getting ourselves into. Essentially, this money could give my mother back the will to live.
And from then there was no doubt in her mind about what I should do. There was no real choice here. I had to do it.
Apollo had seemed delighted. “Thank you. This will give megreatpeace of mind, Miss Moon. Now, you’re going to have to convince my brother to accept your reading. Let him pay, if it makes him feel better – he must absolutely not know you’ve been sent by me, or he won’t trust a word you say. Even though I’ve in no way told you to say anything.”