Joie de Vivre

by Micheala Lynn

  “Oh, please. I doubt anything I could say would surprise your friend.” Skye flashed Riley a dramatic wink.

  “Actually I wouldn’t mind hearing some of those.” Riley leaned in close. When it came right down to it, she really didn’t know much about Lisa or her past other than she had lost her partner to cancer.

  “Maybe some other time.” Lisa threw her arm around Riley’s shoulders. “What I want to know is what you’ve been up to, Skye? Is that shop of yours still going strong?”

  “Oh yeah, it’s going great, Lisa. You should stop by.”

  Lisa then turned to Riley. “Skye owns a metaphysical shop in East Town. She started it right out of college.”

  “How interesting.” She didn’t know what more to really say. She had never put much stock in that stuff. Granted, from an anthropological standpoint most cultures, whether tribal hunter-gatherers or modern industrial, still believed in some sort of divinity, so who was she to criticize? Besides, what kind of anthropologist would she be if she didn’t throw herself into a new culture and learn about it?

  “Yep. It’s my baby.” Skye couldn’t look prouder. “We sell all sorts of things and do readings and classes almost every day of the week.”

  Lisa bounced on her toes. “Oh, can I get a tarot reading, Skye?”

  “Of course. That would be my distinct pleasure.”

  Lisa then turned to Riley. “Skye does the best readings. You should get one.”

  “Okay, sounds like fun.” What could it hurt?

  “Great. Then who’s first?”

  * * *

  Although a tarot reading sounded like fun, Lisa simply wanted to catch up with Skye. Jessie wouldn’t have been happy with her if she had known how much she withdrew from everyone after—and that’s how it felt—before and after. Before Jessie died and after. But for the first time since the “after” part of her life began, she felt a sense of freshness, a new sense of life. It was all about Riley.

  She followed Skye to the small table set up behind the tent. As she sat across from her she dug into her small money pouch but Skye objected. “What do you think you’re doing, Lisa? You know your money is no good here.”

  “But—”

  “Your money is no good here.”

  There was no point in arguing. Skye was not going to bend. She should have known better. Skye had always refused any payment for her readings. What comes around, goes around and such. “Thanks.”

  Skye simply waved her off. “Again, I just wanted to say it’s really good to see you, Lisa, and I’m so sorry to hear about Jessie.”

  A lump slowly rose in her throat. “Thanks, Skye. That means a lot.”

  Skye covered her hand with hers and offered a warm smile. She then nodded over at Riley. “So, tell me about this new special someone in your life.” She leaned close and lowered her voice. “She’s hot by the way.”

  Lisa could feel the heat flooding her cheeks. Skye never minced her words. “I met Riley a little less than a month ago through Susan and Caroline. She’s a professor of anthropology at State.”

  Skye rolled her head back and laughed. “You certainly like the smart ones.”

  She couldn’t deny that. Both Riley and Jessie, who had been a mechanical engineer in Ford’s design center, had to be two of the smartest women she had ever met.

  “And Riley’s such an unusual name.”

  “Actually, Riley is her last name. She doesn’t go by her first name.” She stopped to think about it. What was Riley’s first name? Carol? No, that wasn’t it. She racked her brain, sweat beginning to trickle down her forehead, before it finally came to her. Kate. Riley’s first name was Kate. How could she have forgotten that?

  “So, Riley goes by her last name. Interesting.” Skye drew out the last word.

  “Yeah, I’m not really sure why.” She hadn’t really thought about it before but why did Riley go by only her last name and had it always been that way? She would have to ask her when she got a chance.

  “Interesting.” Skye once again drew out the word, bobbing her head and tapping her cheek with her finger.

  “That she is.”

  “Well, let’s see what the cards have to say. Do you want a general reading or perhaps…” Skye lowered her voice. “…a romantic reading?”

  Lisa could feel her cheeks flushing again. By now she probably looked as if she had some sort of funky rash. “Just a general reading would be fine.”

  Skye began to work her magic with the cards. She made it all look effortless. But as much as she tried, Lisa couldn’t seem to get into the reading. For some reason, not being able to recall Riley’s first name was really bugging her. They had been seeing each other for about a month. They had been intimate for half of that. So how could she not immediately know something as simple as Riley’s first name? And as she thought about other aspects of Riley, how much did she really know? She was a professor of anthropology. Riley looked at everything through that lens. She had once been an artist. Her girlfriend had disappeared in college. And she listened to Harry Potter audiobooks while driving. But other than that, she knew precious little about Riley.

  “…and I’m seeing the need for patience.”

  “What was that?” Lisa realized she hadn’t heard a word of what Skye had been saying.

  Skye laughed. “Wow, Lisa, what were you like astral surfing there for a moment?”

  “Something like that. Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Believe me, I consider it a compliment that my reading could lead to deeper levels of consciousness.”

  She wouldn’t exactly say Skye’s reading had done that. More so that she had zoned out with her own thoughts, but she wasn’t going to tell Skye. “Still, sorry. I didn’t get the last part.” Or any part as far as that went.

  Skye didn’t seem upset in the least. “I was just saying the environment in your near future is being highly influenced by the Temperance card, showing that you will need to exercise patience.”

  Lisa could almost hear her mom’s voice echoing in her head—patience is a virtue. But since when had she ever been patient? She was more of a full-throttle, consequences-be-damned type of girl, especially when it came to love. And even now she could feel herself completely falling for Riley. Patience? Who was she trying to kid? She was way beyond patience. However, maybe a modicum of restraint might be in order.

  Skye continued with the reading. Finally she held up one last card. “And now for the biggie—the outcome.” She flipped the card onto the table face up—The Fool.

  Lisa stared at the card. She wasn’t a tarot expert but that couldn’t be good. Was she being foolish somehow? Was she walking off a cliff like that hapless woman in the picture, a dog barking at her heels?

  Skye must have noted her concern. “No, no. This isn’t a bad thing. The Fool is there to remind you to experience everything with a youthful innocence and not be afraid to take a leap of faith.”

  Lisa finally exhaled. She hadn’t realized she had been holding it. She could certainly try. That was one thing that she liked best about being a kindergarten teacher—every day she was immersed in youthful innocence. As for taking a leap of faith, since when wasn’t a new relationship a leap of faith?

  * * *

  When Skye had led Lisa off for her reading, Riley had surveyed her surroundings. She had never been interested in metaphysics or spirituality. She felt religion was only a means of controlling the populace. Besides, most spiritual experiences could be readily explained by science and logic. In dealing with human remains, most of which had met a violent end at the hands of other humans, she didn’t need to believe in some spiritual realm to see evil. She saw that all the time and it had nothing to do with the abstract equivalent of the boogie man. Who needed to believe in the devil when humans were quite capable on their own of committing heinous and unspeakable acts?

  She had just picked up a large amethyst geode when a harlequin jester leaped in front of her. She jumped back, almost dropping the geode.
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br />   “A pretty trinket for such a pretty lady.”

  “Excuse me?” Something about this guy was unnerving.

  “I said, a pretty trinket for such a pretty lady.” He then pointed at the geode in her hands, the bells jingling on his wrist.

  “Ah, okay.” She drew her words out and quickly darted a glance to Lisa and Skye, but they were completely engrossed. No help there.

  “Would you like me to kiss it and make it special?” He now did a silly little two-step dance on his toes.

  “Um, how about not?” If her skin had been crawling before, now it felt as if it had completely turned inside out.

  “Yes, I think I could kiss it and that would make it special. A special trinket for a special lady.” He bowed, a grandiose gesture where the bells on his jester’s hat jangled close to the ground.

  “Yeah, I don’t think so.” It was all she could do not to haul off and bash him in the mouth with the geode. How would that be for a kiss? She turned to the right and he leaped again in front of her.

  “Now don’t tell me such a fair and radiant maiden such as yourself wouldn’t want something special?”

  That was it. She had had it. She had tried to be nice, now it was time for more drastic measures. She lifted her finger and jabbed it right at him. “Listen, you little…”

  His eyes then grew wide, but not as wide as the smile on his face. After all that, it seemed as if he had finally gotten the reaction he was looking for and he danced away in the most lurid fashion cackling like…well, like a fool. Riley then smacked her hand against her forehead. How could she have not seen it? She had played right into his trap. His goal had been to provoke her, much as a medieval jester of the court would do. She should’ve known. Even the word jest meant to jeer or taunt, which he had certainly done as well as given her a nasty case of the willies.

  As she watched him dancing up to his next victim, it struck her—the reason she found him so disturbing was that he reminded her of Joshua Evans, the jackass who was suing her. He had been the same way—the insincere compliments, the false humility, the taunting smugness—in other words, a fool. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if he had baited her in the same way. He had certainly baited Grace, half the women in class and the Anthropology Club. But could that have been his intention? Had it been his plan all along to get her to fail him in her class? He had bragged that his girlfriend was now a lawyer so no one had better mess with him. She wouldn’t put it past him to have concocted some scheme in order to bring a lawsuit against the college. No wonder her skin had crawled. Even thinking about Mr. Evans now sent uneasy ripples up and down her back and a sinking feeling in her stomach. She slowly set the geode back down on the table.

  Deep in thought, she didn’t notice Lisa step up beside her. At the light hand on her shoulder she jumped and whirled around, clutching her chest. “Holy crap, Lisa, you scared the hell out of me.”

  “Oh geez, Riley, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “No, it’s okay. I just thought you might be that jester guy coming back.”

  “Yeah, I saw you made a friend.”

  She flashed Lisa a wry twist of her lips. “I wouldn’t exactly call him that. That guy really creeped me out for some reason.”

  “Don’t worry about it. He creeps me out too. I think that’s his job.” Lisa threw an arm around her shoulder. “But I’ve got something that will take your mind off that—Skye wants to do a reading for you.”

  “I don’t know, Lisa.” At first a reading had sounded fun but now she wasn’t so sure. The unnerving Jester certainly hadn’t helped matters either.

  Lisa took her by the hand and pulled her toward Skye’s small table. “That’s okay. You don’t have to believe in it to have fun. Just see what the cards have to say and you can take or leave whatever you want. Believe me, Skye won’t take it personally. Remember, we’re here to experience the festival to its fullest.”

  Lisa had her there. Besides, what would it hurt? She had never had a tarot reading before, so it might be an interesting experience. “Oh, all right, but only if you sit there with me.”

  “Deal.”

  As she plopped down across the table from Skye, Riley wasn’t sure who was more excited, Skye or Lisa. Both wore the same ear-to-ear grin. She couldn’t say that she was exactly excited—more like cautiously nervous or better yet, nauseously cautious. That thought made her smile. What a better way to describe what she was feeling—nauseously cautious. Sounded like a name of a band Grace would listen to.

  “So Riley, have you ever had a tarot reading before?” The cards whipped through Skye’s hands.

  “Nope, can’t say that I have.”

  “Great, a newbie.” Skye let out a high, musical laugh.

  “Trust me, Riley, this will be fun.” Lisa squeezed her shoulder.

  She took a deep breath. “Okay, nothing fancy though. Just the basic.”

  “Since it’s your first time we’ll do a basic three-card reading—past, present, future.” Skye carefully laid the stack of cards on the table in front of her and fanned them across from left to right.

  “Now, Riley, I need you to draw out one card representing the past and keep it face down in front of you.”

  Riley quickly drew a card near the center of the fan. How this could amount to anything was beyond her.

  “Okay, now draw one representing the present.”

  Again, she pulled a card at random.

  “Finally, draw a card representing the future.”

  Riley took another deep breath and grabbed a final card without even looking. She couldn’t see how any of it could be anything more than complete chance. There were X amount of cards and she had X amount of chances of drawing one—simple as that.

  “Remember, Riley, just have fun.”

  Now she was busted. Lisa must have read her thoughts. Still it was hard for her to accept anything on blind faith. Maybe it was simply the logical scientist in her. However, like Lisa had said, she needed to experience the festival to its fullest. That would be the anthropological thing to do.

  “Okay, Riley, are you ready?” Skye’s hand hovered over the card for the past.

  “Let’s do it.” She could feel Lisa give her shoulder another squeeze.

  Skye flipped over the card and Riley stared down at the crumbling architecture and falling people in The Tower. The hairs on the back of her neck rose up. That couldn’t be a good card to start with.

  “Ah, The Tower.”

  Skye’s voice seemed almost excited. Maybe it was a tarot thing but she couldn’t see how people plunging to their demise out of a crumbling, flame-filled tower could be anything one would want. “That can’t be good.”

  Skye was unfazed. “On the contrary, The Tower isn’t bad. It actually means sometime in your past you experienced something that led to a major change in your life or belief system and that experience is directing your present. It’s usually one of those events that when you look back on, you feel there’s a definite before and after—a shattered belief or even a traumatic loss.”

  Riley wheeled around on Lisa, her eyes wide, but Lisa only smiled softly back. She turned back to Skye, her mouth now gaping.

  Skye laughed. “I always like the look on someone’s face when the cards are right on the money. There’s something like that in your past, isn’t there?”

  “Well, yeah, there is.” She then rounded on Lisa again. “You must have told her.”

  Lisa quickly shook her head, waving her arms in front of her. “I swear, Riley. I didn’t say a thing.”

  A big part of her was still skeptical. It was much more likely that Lisa had mentioned something than for a set of cards to magically pick up on her past. Perhaps most people by her stage in life had experienced something that affected their value system.

  Again Skye seemed completely unfazed. “Actually, Lisa didn’t tell me anything. It’s just how the cards fall. You’ll be surprised at how many times they are freakishl
y accurate. So, if I may, what life changing event came to mind when you saw The Tower?”

  She had might as well share. “Actually, I lost my girlfriend in college—she mysteriously disappeared from where she worked—and that one event caused me to change everything in my life. I changed my major right after that and poured myself into the Anthropology program.”

  “Yes, yes. That would certainly be something represented by The Tower.” Skye reached out and flipped the next card. “For the present, we have the Two of Cups—not surprising at all.”

  She was still trying to process the previous card and here was another—two people holding up a goblet, their arms entwined. She stared down. “Why is that not surprising?” She was almost afraid to ask.

  Skye again smiled, while Lisa murmured her assent. “Well, the suit of Cups usually represents matters of the heart and the Two usually represents a new union. You wouldn’t by chance have had something like that happen recently, have you?” Both Skye and Lisa were laughing openly.

  “Okay, yeah.” She couldn’t argue with that one. “Let’s see what the future holds then.”

  Skye slowly flipped the last card.

  Riley gaped at the figure lying face down with a load of swords sticking out of his back. She gasped. “Oh dear God, that can’t be good at all.”

  Skye squinted down at the card for a long while, her forehead crinkled. “Hmmm. Let’s just start by saying that the Ten of Swords isn’t as bad as it looks. I know, it’s pretty shocking at first.”

  “You can say that again.” She felt Lisa give her shoulder another firm squeeze.

  “Even the most shocking cards can have positive aspects. Like here, the Ten of Swords being in the future position is giving a bit of warning or advice. One warning could be literally to watch out, someone may stab you in the back.”

  At those words, she couldn’t help but think of the frivolous lawsuit. How much more of a back-stab could that be?

  “Or…more likely, it could be pointing to internal fears coming to light. The warning would be if those fears are allowed to overwhelm, they may lead to ruin and despair.” For the first time, Skye was not smiling.