Catching A Break (FICTOID)
“That’s ridiculous!”
“That’s what the cards foretell.”
“Let me see it!”
The clairvoyant dutifully handed the card over to the client who studied it in disbelief.
“When did Tarot decks start including wave cards?”
“It’s a new style deck. We’re trying to bring Tarot readings into the 21st century.”
“Why would you want to do that? The whole appeal is the wisdom of the ancients.”
“’Wisdom of the ancients’? Please, those people didn’t even wash their hands.”
“Let me see the rest of the deck…sports figures…monster movies…Pokemon?!?!?”
“New symbols for a new age.”
“You just cobbled this together from bubble gum card packs!”
“So?”
“How can this deck be valid?”
“The same way any Tarot deck is valid. The symbols don’t determine the fate, the fate determines the symbols.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You already said that.”
“And it’s still true!” The client threw some bills on the table. “There. Don’t say I don’t pay what I owed – even if you don’t deliver what you promise. ‘Eaten by a wave.’ How is that even possible?”
The client stormed out of the clairvoyant’s parlor and into the path of an oncoming traveling aquarium truck, sent out from the big downtown aquarium to help drum up business.
The truck slammed on its brakes and avoided striking the client, but water from the piranha tank sloshed out, drenching her and carrying enough killer fish to rip her to shreds.
“The cards never lie,” the clairvoyant said to those in the waiting room. “Next!”
© Buzz Dixon
