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Authors: Christy Yorke
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still not a single bracelet jingled, and took shallow, short breaths, as if she was close to choking on something.
Emma realized everything wrong with her life was her mother’s fault. Savannah was the reason food had suddenly lost its flavor; she hated health food and still fried everything, even though Emma had told her a thousand times she was on a diet. Her mother was the reason Emma cried every time she saw a rainbow or found a four-leaf clover, because she’d wished for a thousand things, for true love and a million dollars and for her dad to come back, and not a single one of them had come true—contrary to her mother’s promises.
“You know what the tarots are?” her mother asked Maggie. “They are an act of trust in the universe. Selecting cards at random and trusting in their judgment is an acknowledgment that we’re not always in control here. There is a power greater than anything we can imagine.”
“My God,” Maggie said. “You’re worse than I thought.”
Doug laughed. “I wouldn’t mind a reading. I could use some good news.”
“And what if it all comes up death?” Maggie asked. “What if you’re going to die tomorrow?”
Doug took his wife’s hand and massaged the knots out of each of her fingers. “Then I won’t believe it.”
“You’ll believe the good things but not the bad?” Maggie said, tears in her eyes. “You can’t do that. That’s not how life works.”
“That’s how my life works.”
“Then you’re not being fair to the rest of us.”
Emma turned away. Three clouds were gathering in the western sky, and below them a worked-over sports car came screaming down the road. The driver skidded to a stop in front of the house, then hopped out through the car window.
“Hey,” he said. “Jake here?”
“You just missed him, Eli,” Doug answered. The young man nodded. He started to get back in the car, then stopped. He had long brown hair that completely covered his face, and he reached up to part it. Emma could make out two things: a flash of green, and the fact that he was staring at her.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked at the sky. Diana Truff had been the beauty of Mission High School—all blond hair and blue eyes and a C cup by the time she was twelve. No boy had ever shown the slightest interest in Emma, so now she hugged herself and made believe that life could swing on a stare. When those three clouds merged and suddenly thickened with rain, it seemed entirely possible that desire could sweep up out of a clear blue sky, that everything could change in an instant.
F OUR
T HE M OON U NKNOWN E NEMIES
S avannah had four weeks of accumulated vacation and sick time, and she had every intention of going back to San Francisco before they were over. She spent her first few nights in prescott dreaming her father well, but in the mornings found lumps of his hair on his pillow. For days, she felt nauseated at the thought of what would happen if he died, but he felt worse; he spent his mornings in the bathroom, vomiting up everything but cream of mushroom soup. She unpacked her bags and hung her hats on the walls.
When she drew a card for herself and came up with Strength, she decided this was the perfect opportunity to try her fortune-telling full-time, and to stop being afraid of Harry’s attorneys. She placed an ad in Prescott’s
Daily Courier
. AMAZING FORTUNE-TELLER—KNOW YOUR FUTURE. CALL SAVANNAH.
645-1297 .
The ad appeared Monday morning and by Monday afternoon, she got her first call. Unfortunately, Maggieanswered the phone and told the young pilot out at Embry-Riddle University he was out of his mind. “What if she tells you a train’s headed right for you? Do you want to live your whole life in fear? And why would you believe her anyway? Who made her an expert on your life?”
“I just thought—”
“No, you didn’t think. That’s the trouble with you young people. You’re not thinking at all.”
Savannah was
Emma realized everything wrong with her life was her mother’s fault. Savannah was the reason food had suddenly lost its flavor; she hated health food and still fried everything, even though Emma had told her a thousand times she was on a diet. Her mother was the reason Emma cried every time she saw a rainbow or found a four-leaf clover, because she’d wished for a thousand things, for true love and a million dollars and for her dad to come back, and not a single one of them had come true—contrary to her mother’s promises.
“You know what the tarots are?” her mother asked Maggie. “They are an act of trust in the universe. Selecting cards at random and trusting in their judgment is an acknowledgment that we’re not always in control here. There is a power greater than anything we can imagine.”
“My God,” Maggie said. “You’re worse than I thought.”
Doug laughed. “I wouldn’t mind a reading. I could use some good news.”
“And what if it all comes up death?” Maggie asked. “What if you’re going to die tomorrow?”
Doug took his wife’s hand and massaged the knots out of each of her fingers. “Then I won’t believe it.”
“You’ll believe the good things but not the bad?” Maggie said, tears in her eyes. “You can’t do that. That’s not how life works.”
“That’s how my life works.”
“Then you’re not being fair to the rest of us.”
Emma turned away. Three clouds were gathering in the western sky, and below them a worked-over sports car came screaming down the road. The driver skidded to a stop in front of the house, then hopped out through the car window.
“Hey,” he said. “Jake here?”
“You just missed him, Eli,” Doug answered. The young man nodded. He started to get back in the car, then stopped. He had long brown hair that completely covered his face, and he reached up to part it. Emma could make out two things: a flash of green, and the fact that he was staring at her.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and looked at the sky. Diana Truff had been the beauty of Mission High School—all blond hair and blue eyes and a C cup by the time she was twelve. No boy had ever shown the slightest interest in Emma, so now she hugged herself and made believe that life could swing on a stare. When those three clouds merged and suddenly thickened with rain, it seemed entirely possible that desire could sweep up out of a clear blue sky, that everything could change in an instant.
F OUR
T HE M OON U NKNOWN E NEMIES
S avannah had four weeks of accumulated vacation and sick time, and she had every intention of going back to San Francisco before they were over. She spent her first few nights in prescott dreaming her father well, but in the mornings found lumps of his hair on his pillow. For days, she felt nauseated at the thought of what would happen if he died, but he felt worse; he spent his mornings in the bathroom, vomiting up everything but cream of mushroom soup. She unpacked her bags and hung her hats on the walls.
When she drew a card for herself and came up with Strength, she decided this was the perfect opportunity to try her fortune-telling full-time, and to stop being afraid of Harry’s attorneys. She placed an ad in Prescott’s
Daily Courier
. AMAZING FORTUNE-TELLER—KNOW YOUR FUTURE. CALL SAVANNAH.
645-1297 .
The ad appeared Monday morning and by Monday afternoon, she got her first call. Unfortunately, Maggieanswered the phone and told the young pilot out at Embry-Riddle University he was out of his mind. “What if she tells you a train’s headed right for you? Do you want to live your whole life in fear? And why would you believe her anyway? Who made her an expert on your life?”
“I just thought—”
“No, you didn’t think. That’s the trouble with you young people. You’re not thinking at all.”
Savannah was
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