Tarot of the streets

I'm a homeless tarot card reader. Before you make any jokes about why I didn't see it coming, my cards don't work for me only for others. Trust me I've tried many times only to be met with failure. It was always my one wish to be able to read my cards for myself but I just couldn't. I became homeless after a strange set of events that involved some zoo animals and a magician but that's a story for another time. Right now I want to tell you the story of why I'm freezing to death here on the sidewalk of Main street on Christmas Eve.

It all started two years ago when I first became homeless. I managed to grab up a couple of my clothes and my cards before I was evicted. I figured if nothing else I might be able to do readings for people on the street. Pick up an extra dollar or two along the way from it. However what I didn't anticipate was that many of my new friends on the streets would be the ones looking for the readings. I guess when you've fallen that far you'll take anything that might help you. It paid well for me though. I often was allowed around the fires and given the biggest portions of food. People would even be willing to spare a dollar of their earnings for the day for a glimpse at the future.

To understand why you need to realize I am the real deal. I actually speak to my cards and I actually hear them respond to me. Based on the fact that I'm normally right in what I tell people about their future I'm going to assume I'm not crazy. All it took me was telling one of my new homeless friends where to go stand for a day to get everyone to believe me. He came back that night with a full course of hot food for all five of us that had banded together and still had about two hundred dollars left over. After that my mornings were spent trying to divine from the cards where everyone should go for the day.

In the mornings after the others left I would try to do a reading on myself. I wanted to contribute more than just telling people where to go. These actions led to a series of very unfortunate and painful moments in my life. In the first week alone I managed to get almost run over three different times. Thankfully either someone would save me or I'd react just in time. However I kept getting injured which led the others to having to spend their hard earned money buying me medicine. They kept asking me how I had such bad luck and I would always find some lame excuse to hide behind besides that my own cards hated me.

Johnny was the first one to make it off the street. When I looked at the cards for him that morning I drew The Fool, Fortune, and The Star. Immediately I told him to stay with me that day and that later on someone would come by with an opportunity. Sure enough half way into the day a man stopped to talk to me and Johnny. I whispered to Johnny, "Whatever he offers, just go with it. Come this time tomorrow you won't be out here with us anymore." Johnny looked at me like I was crazy but shrugged and agreed to do what I said.

I slowly removed myself from the conversation and let them talk. Within thirty minutes Johnny was walking off with the guy. A week passed and he came back cleaned up and in new clothes. He hugged me and told me how the man had offered him a job and a place to live all because Johnny looked like his estranged kid. I laughed and patted him on the back, "Just don't forget to pay that good fortune forward. Good luck with everything." We'd see Johnny occasionally after that and he always made sure to give us at least a twenty.

After that Sarah was the next one to leave us for a better life. Sarah was a really sad case. She had gotten pregnant when she was twenty and the guy dropped her as soon as he found out. She fell really hard into drugs after that and almost lost her baby. Thankfully her parents took the kid in but told her that until she got clean she couldn't come home. She would try occasionally but something would always pull her back in. Poor Sarah would do many unsavory things to get her fix, many of which she wouldn't even remember later because of how fucked up the drugs got her. She liked to say that the memory loss alone made the drugs worth whatever she was doing, "If I can't remember how fucked up it is then there's no trauma right?" We'd all laugh but I know at least for me on the inside I cried.

One morning drawing her cards for the day I drew The Chariot, The Devil, and The World. I told her that day she was about to start the journey to getting clean. An opportunity was going to come quickly, possibly within the next few moments, maybe hours. When it came it would come from someone whom Sarah had no good reason to trust but today she should. Going with this person today would put an end to her cycle and start her on a new journey. As she left to go head for a corner to beg, a cop car pulled up to her and a man stepped out of the car. He had on a social worker badge and seemed to be at least familiar with her.

They talked for a little while and then Sarah looked back at me for assurance. I nodded, "Today's the day. Get clean so you can see your son." She nodded and climbed into the back of the police car. My other two friends had already left for the day so I had to tell them everything when they got back. At first they were angry that I would let her go but they slowly came around about it. Within a month Sarah came back to say hi and let us know that she was in a program. She finally got to see her son for the first time since she had given him up and that was all the motivation she needed. We still see her and her kid occasionally.

All this time that these other things were happening I kept trying to read my own fortune. I also stopped leaving our little spot so I was getting hurt less but I seemed to be getting sick more often. All I wanted was for my cards to respond to me just once. My wish was ultimately still the same. I'd be willing to die on the streets at this point if they would just talk to me. I would stop asking them anything if they'd just talk but they refused and stayed silent. My mother was the one who taught me the cards when I was growing up and she warned me that a true reader couldn't read themselves. I didn't care though I just wanted them to talk to me directly, not just through me.

Happy got his break less than a week after Sarah came to see us. We called him Happy because the man didn't even know what a frown was. No matter what happened he was always smiling. To be honest it bothered me sometimes but he never did anything to hurt anyone so I let it slide. That morning when we all woke up something was already nagging at me to grab my cards. Happy was always interested when I had these moments so he came over to watch. I sat and shuffled for much longer than usual before suddenly stopping. I split the deck in two and looked at Happy, "Pick one." He grabbed the deck on my left without a thought.

I then drew the first three cards. The Priestess, Strength, and The Tower. I looked at Happy, "You will meet a woman today. Slightly older than you and well learned. She will ask you to perform a feat that will require great strength and sacrifice on your part. If you do though all the barriers that have been holding you here will crumble and you'll be able to move on. Go now Happy! Remember though to spread that good fortune around."

With that Happy took off at a dead run that big smile still plastered on his face. John and I didn't see him again for three months. When he first walked up we didn't recognize him. It wasn't the fact that he was cleaned up or in nice clothes. It was because he didn't have that smile on his face anymore. It wasn't until he grinned that me and John both yelled, "Happy! How have you been, man?"

Happy dropped the grin but honestly he looked happier now than he ever had before, "You can actually call me Steven. That was my name before I came out here. The woman you told me about was my ex wife. She asked me to stop being happy for even a moment. It took a lot of willpower but I did it and for the first time since my daughter died twenty years ago I mourned her passing. She died because I fell asleep at the wheel and it broke me. After that day, the only thing I could do was grin. As long as I was happy then none of it was real and it couldn't hurt me. I'm with my ex again and we're trying to work through things. She's forgiven me so I guess it's time I do too. I'll see you all around."

John finally got his big break about six months after Steven came back to see us. We had been doing alright for ourselves but John had been getting antsy wondering why the cards didn't give him an opportunity. I had to tell him repeatedly that they weren't giving opportunities, they were just letting us know about them. I could tell he was starting to distrust me which is why when his day came I sighed in relief. When he got back from panhandling that night something buzzed in the back of my head.

I grabbed my cards and started shuffling while John was getting out our food for the day. I could feel him watching me and finally he said something, "So is it my time?"

I nodded, "I think so John." Once I was done shuffling I drew three cards from the bottom of the deck this time. The Priest, The Lovers, and The Sun. I looked at John, "Later tonight a man of high authority will stop to talk to you. He's an old friend, somebody you hold closer in your heart than your own family. When he talks to you, be proud of who you are but don't let it dominate the conversation." John was a veteran of the Iraqi conflict after the towers fell. If he was to be believed he got injured on a top secret mission and because the mission will never be made public he was denied any benefits from the government. He had a damaged hip and bouts of PTSD occasionally. Some of the stuff he would say in his sleep definitely sounded like things the American military might not like getting out to the public.

Far later into the night John was about to go to sleep. He had been sitting up and waiting for the person to appear but it was almost two in the morning. He looked at me, "You better not have lied you card flinger. If you did, you know what's going to happen to you." I gulped and hoped I hadn't made a bad read.

Suddenly a man came stumbling into our alleyway drunk as a skunk looking for a place to piss. He stumbled on us as John stood up ready to fight. The man looked at John staring real hard at him before exclaiming, "Oh shit John my boy! You're still alive."

The man gives him a giant bear hug and I see John's face change, "Captain Andy? Is it really you?"

The man nodded, almost falling over, "Sure as hell is boy. Let me drain myself real quick and then we can talk." The man relieved himself and they started chatting. For the first time since I've known John he's standing straight and at attention yet still relaxed. He's smiling and having a good laugh with the man. Finally the Captain offers him a place to stay for the night.

John walks over to me and puts five hundred dollars in my hands, "Thanks card flinger. Sorry I didn't trust you. Spend it wisely and hide it when you're not spending it. You know how it is out here." I nodded and congratulated him, wishing him the best of luck before he left. That was the middle of the summer and now it's winter. I've been pretty frugal but I'm down to my last hundred and I haven't really been able to make much more. I try to read myself occasionally but it just makes things worse each time.

Which leads us back to the present. I'm freezing to death at three in the morning with nowhere to go. My money doesn't mean a thing because I can barely even walk to try and find somewhere to stay at this point. I pull my cards and weakly shuffle one last time. The whole time I'm focused on my wish which at this point I'm considering as my dying wish. "Please just talk to me this one time. I'm about to die and that's all I want. Just this once."

My hands flip out the cards feebly into the snow and I almost start crying in joy when I hear the voices of my cards. I don't care that they are all foretelling my death at this point because my wish has finally come true. I looked down at the cards. The Hanged Man, Judgement, and Death. Due to my stubborn nature I've put myself in this bad position and now my time has come. As I lay my head down and begin to accept the drifting off I hear John's voice, "Diane! Diane stay with us! It's your turn now."

I hope you enjoyed this tale which was based off of a wild tangent thought line one night. If you did then please heart, subscribe, and feel free to leave a tip. You can now also pledge 3 dollars a month to me to help support me as a creator and bonus for you is that you'll always have my stories at the top of your subscription feed anytime I post something new. Till next time.