S. A. Gorden

by The Duce of Pentacles

  Andrew furiously tried to plan an escape. He decided to try to settle with Lori first, since after all, she was not tenured and they would be legally within their rights to not renew her contract. After the two re-entered the room, Jack tried his opening gambit again.

  “I think our offer of one year’s salary is more than fair for Miss Waithe. After all, she has no tenure and we have no obligation to renew her contract.”

  Jack immediately braced himself for the verbal onslaught from Thomas.

  To avoid her, he made the mistake of looking at Makinen. Jack had always considered Makinen a nerd, one of the boys you teased in gym class, one of the boys the jocks would push around to impress the girls they wanted. Jack had been a jock in school. He had always had his way with the nerds. Thomas confused him. He never understood tough women. Maybe he could get back in control by pushing the nerd around.

  But something happened. As Jack snidely pointed out Lori’s lack of tenure, Makinen’s face changed. It was as if he had been walking in the woods and he rounded a bush and came face to face with a cougar. Jack suddenly remembered that this nerd had fought a half a dozen young punks with his bare hands. He had thrown Jones through a window, a serial killer who had murdered two armed policemen. In panic, Andrews gave up.

  After they left the lawyer’s office, James turned to Lori. “At least you have a job this fall if you want one.” Lori put her arm around his waist as they walked. “I don’t know if I could stand working in that place. Do you think they will hold with their deal?” Jim’s voice was hard when he answered. “They will honor their deal with you. They will probably pay most of what they promised me…” His voice softened as he concentrated on the emotions he felt in the room. “I think they will renege on my retirement and health insurance. I also think they will only hold to their agreement with the union for a year or two. They don’t want to give up their power.” He turned to look at her, wanting to change the mood. “I want you to meet my kids. Let’s drive out to California.” He watched her face as she nodded her head ‘yes.’ He couldn’t understand how such a beautiful creature could want him. He hesitantly put his arm around her shoulders as they walked down the street to their car.

  Jim dropped Lori at her father’s. He drove down the road to Jack Andrews’s home. It was a large two-story, brick-faced house on a small lake in an exclusive section of town. Every house on the lakeside of the street was owned by a banker, business owner or a lawyer, except one. That one house belonged to the ninety-year-old woman who had originally owned the land the homes were on. It had three rooms and a porch. The porch was collapsing with the weight of hundreds of potted houseplants the old lady grew. She was too old to mow her lawn so grass and weeds grew knee high between the visits from her nephew. Jim parked his car on the lawyer’s side of the boundary between the homes. He climbed up on his fender and leaned on back until he was lying on the windshield. He would wait to be noticed. He closed his eyes to nap.

  Jim heard a car pull up. “Hi, Jim.” Henry’s voice said. “What are you doing?” Jim sat up. He motioned next to him on the fender. “Come on up, Henry.” Jim waited till Henry found a comfortable place to sit. “Jack Andrews and the school board made some promises today. I wanted him to know that I expected him to keep them. Did you know they were going to fire Lori? They implied that since Jones tried to kill her, there was something wrong with her.” Henry sat still, his anger building. He was back in front of Lori’s apartment. Jones jumped through the window, landing on the lawn in front of him. He saw Jones cower in fear of what was behind him. Even when Jones saw the pistol in his hands, Henry knew he was more afraid of what was behind him.

  Henry never understood what had happened but he was satisfied. He had seen the pictures of Charlie Manson, Ted Bundy, and the others in jail. It had always bothered him that in all the cases he had seen about serial killers, they never experienced the terror they inflicted on their victims … until Jones.

  Jones felt the terror before he died. Somehow James and Lori had brought retribution to Jones.

  “Don’t worry, Jim. I know what you and Lori did. Most of the boys who worked on the case know what you did too. They all liked Al and Frank. We’ll make sure Jack keeps his promises. You go home now. I’ll talk to Jack.” After Jim drove away, Henry walked up to the door. Perversely, he knocked instead of using the doorbell. Mrs. Andrews answered the door.

  “Is Jack home?”

  “He’s still at the office. Thank you for getting that man to leave.

  Jack told me to call the police when I called him about it.”

  “Well, ma’am. You have nothing to worry about. That man was just waiting for your husband. He wanted to make sure he would honor the promises he made today. When your husband comes home you tell him everything was fine.

  My name is Deputy Sheriff Henry Hakanen. He can call me if he has any questions. I’m the one most people talk to if promises are not kept, so I will be checking up on things, making sure everyone lives up to their promises.”

  The dark figure enters the room. Instead of heading for the table with the cards the figure goes to the window. The shades are opened just enough to illuminate the interior of the room. The figure, backlit by the window, goes to a bookcase in the corner of the room. There, a new deck of cards is taken, still in its cellophane wrapper. It is placed on the table. The hands start to collect the open deck but stop. They pull the last card from the top of the deck.

  A man juggles two disks with pentagrams inscribed on them up and down.

  A continuous ribbon tied in a mobius strip signifying the infinite encircles both coins, while in the background two ships ride up and down the rolling ocean waves.

  PAGEBREAK

  She understood the official meaning of the Deuce of Pentacles, but both her mother and herself interpreted the card in a different way. There would be ups and downs, good and bad, love and sadness. The cards were refusing to tell what would happen next. You had to live with the joy of surprise, a life full of the infinite cycle of possibilities. In many ways, The Deuce was her favorite card.

  A voice called through the doorway, “Lori, are you upstairs in your mother’s room?” The hands collected the used cards. She yelled back, “Yes, Dad. Just tidying up a bit before I leave.” She put the used deck in the desk drawer, positioning the unopened deck exactly in front of the empty chair.

  Her father came to the doorway. “God, how I miss your mother. You’re a lot like her.” “I love you, Dad.”

  “The room will be waiting for you when you get back and so will I.” “I know.”

  “I think he’s a good man.”

  “He is.” She leaned up and kissed him on the forehead. She gave him a hug. Before the tears could start, she said, “I love you.” Another hug and she ran from the room.

  Jeffrey sighed and slowly closed the door. The silent room, the table and lamp, and the new tarot deck rested in front of the empty chair.

  THE END

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