In the Cards

by Mark Anthony Garcia

Patricia Reid had never done anything like this before. Going to see a psychic would have seemed ridiculous to her two weeks ago. She had never even thought about it before until she saw the ad for a free psychic consultation in the college newspaper. She wasn’t sure what to do with her life and had difficulty in choosing a major. All of her friends had already declared something and were working toward making their goals a reality. She needed guidance.

“Maybe this Dr. Katz can help me figure out what I should do,” Patricia said to herself. “Besides, it’s free so, what have I got to lose?”

When Patricia had arrived at the address that was printed on the ad she felt that maybe she had made a mistake. “This can’t be the place,” she muttered to herself as she looked around. The rows of buildings all contained shops of various types. There were small retail shops, food shops and even a bookstore. She looked at a small, handwritten note on the door to the bookstore. It read: “Dr. Kelly Katz’s office is located in the back of the store.”

She walked in the door and walked to the back of the store where she found a door that read: “Dr. Kelly Katz: Medium and Psychic Advisor.” “This must be it,” Patricia whispered as she opened the door.

As she walked in, she noticed that the single room was vastly different than the rest of the bookstore. The room was not large, but did not have the feeling of being cramped or uncomfortable. There were no windows and the only light came from candles that were lit in various places around the room. There were a couple of bookshelves that were filled with what appeared to be old books because many of the books spines were torn and ragged. There were many little statues on small altars around the room. Some of the statues Patricia recognized. But, there were some that she didn’t recognize at all. At the center of the room was a small, circular, wooden table draped with an emerald green, velvet cloth. Sitting on the opposite side of the table was Dr. Katz. She was a middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair. She remained seated as Patricia walked inside the room.

“Please, come in,” Dr, Katz said warmly. She gestured to the empty seat in front of the small table across from her. “What has brought you here today?”

“Well, I…” started Patricia, unsure how to begin,” I saw your ad in the paper and I …”

“Stop!” Dr. Katz interrupted. “You need help with your love life. Right?” Dr. Katz looked at Patricia through her bi-focal glasses.

“No, I was wondering if you could…”
“Help you win back your old boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Girlfriend?”

“No!” Patricia exclaimed. “My problem doesn’t have anything to do with love!” She was beginning to think that this whole thing was a bad idea. She got up and started to walk out. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come.”

Dr. Katz reached out for Patricia. “No, wait! Please don’t leave! I can help you! I really can! I’m sorry if I offended you at all. It’s just that most girls who come to me from the college usually have some sort of love problem and I just assumed…”

“How did you know I was from the college?” Patricia asked with astonishment.

“Well,” Dr. Katz replied, “didn’t you say that when you came in?”

Patricia just looked at her in amazement. “No, I didn’t.” Patricia closed the door and sat down again. Maybe she was in the right place after all.

Patricia explained her problem to Dr. Katz. When she was done, Dr. Katz reached under the table and lifted a small, wooden box with strange markings carved all around it. She placed the box on the table and opened it. She pulled out what looked like a deck of playing cards. But, these were no ordinary playing cards. Patricia could tell that they were very special cards because of the way Dr. Katz handled them. It was an old deck of tarot cards. Each one had an image of some kind printed on its face and some words written underneath the picture. The images were worn and almost completely faded. Patricia had seen tarot cards before in movies and in bad TV commercials but never in person.

“Take this deck,” Dr. Katz placed the tarot deck in front of Patricia, “I want you to shuffle the cards nine times. As you are shuffling I want you to concentrate on your question. When you are done, cut the deck into three stacks with your left hand and restack them.” Dr. Katz pulled out an incense stick from underneath the table and lit it. “Then, I want you to select three cards again with your left hand and place them face down in front of you.” Patricia noticed that Dr. Katz’s voice had changed slightly as she was talking. She sounded serious and very solemn.