Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (18 page)

“
What happened?” Noelle
asked.

“
Wait for your brother,”
Sandy said.

Nash slunk out of the bathroom.

“
You wanna check my teeth?”
Nash asked.

“
You wanna hear what
happened?”

Noelle nudged Nash.

“
Your Dad called me around
four today. I was doing my bookkeeping when he called. He went to
the dentist today because of his…”

“
Broken teeth,” Noelle said
at the same time Nash said, “Snaggle puss teeth.”

“
Right,” Sandy said. “Some
of the teeth were so bad that the dentist needed to pull them right
away. Your Dad is going to have to see the dentist every day this
week to get his teeth fixed. He’ll get temporary crowns and then
he’ll have to go back for permanent crowns.”

“
What about the teeth in
front?” Noelle asked. “They’re broken.”

“
He’s going to get implants
to replace those teeth,” Sandy said. “It’s kind of amazing. He
hasn’t had his wisdom teeth pulled either. He needs to get that
done. He’s going to have oral surgery tomorrow for another tooth.
Anyway…”

“
It’s a mess,” Nash said
with Sandy.

“
Why did he call you?”
Noelle asked.

“
For a ride,” Sandy said.
“He was too drugged out from the Novocain to drive. I went to pick
him up and brought him back to the studio. He can’t take pain
meds…”

“
Because he’s an addict,”
Nash said.

“
Right, because his
recovery is important to him. Blane is doing acupuncture in one of
the upstairs offices. He gave your Dad acupuncture for pain. Your
Dad stayed at the shop…”

“
Mostly sleeping,” Noelle
said.

“…
until I was done with my
bookkeeping. I took him back to his apartment and went to get you
from school. That’s all I know.”

“
Was he ugly?” Noelle
asked.

“
He was in a lot of pain
and very swollen,” Sandy said.

“
And the soup we made?”
Nash asked.

“
We made some of your Dad’s
favorite soup for him to eat,” Sandy said

“
And we blended it,” Noelle
said.

“
I’ll take it to him when
you guys get to bed.”

“
Why can’t we go?” Nash
asked.

“
Because you need to have a
peaceful sleep,” Sandy said. “Some horrors are for
adults.”

Noelle and Nash nodded solemnly. Sandy
smiled.

“
Now off to bed,” Sandy
said. “I’ll stay for a few more minutes and then bring the soup to
your father. Hugs?”

Noelle and Nash hugged Sandy good night. She
walked them to their rooms and waited a few minutes. She went into
the kitchen to get the butternut squash soup when she heard the
front door open. Not wanting to disturb the kids, she skid across
the kitchen floor in her socks.

The door was open a crack. A man’s hand held
a pint of Sandy’s favorite peanut butter and chocolate ice cream
through the crack. Sandy laughed.

“
Bribery will get you
nowhere,” Sandy said.

Laughing, Aden came in the door.

“
Where did you get this?”
Sandy asked.

“
Walgreens,” Aden said.
“Just a little thank you for making me dinner.”

He hugged her. She kissed his cheek.

“
Can you eat with all that
cotton in your mouth?” Sandy asked.

“
I think so.”

Aden followed Sandy into the kitchen. The
sound of their talking and laughing drifted through the
apartment.

“
Nash!” Getting up, Noelle
went through the shared bathroom. She knocked on his door.
“Nash!”

“
What?” Nash asked. He
opened his bathroom door.

“
Sandy has a man here,”
Noelle said.

“
It’s probably Dad,” Nash
said.

“
It doesn’t sound like
Dad,” Noelle said.

Nash listened to the man’s voice.

“
It doesn’t sound like
Dad,” Nash said.

The children looked at each other.

“
What do we do?” Noelle
asked.

“
We have to do something,”
Nash said. “Sandy and Dad have to get married.”

“
We have to do
something.”

CHAPTER ONE
HUNDRED

Knowing

Tuesday afternoon — 3:30 P.M.

Entering the Castle, Delphie smiled as Katy
continued to talk non-stop about her day. With all the chaos and
press following Jill, Delphie was picking Katy up from school more
often. So far, they’d been able to protect Katy from inquisitive
eyes. Not that the little girl didn’t know what was going on. Katy
was well aware of Evette, the secretary, and her effects on her
father and mother. But unlike Jill, Katy knew how everything worked
out. She maintained her usual Katy cheer.

Delphie had begun working with Katy’s
psychic abilities the moment she’d moved into the Castle. At this
point, Katy was as adept at clearing her mind as she was practicing
the martial arts she loved. Today, Delphie was going to introduce
Katy to the tarot.

As a young child, Delphie had helped her
biological father win at cards. Five minutes after Levi Johansen
won her in a poker game, he had given her a Rider Waite Tarot
deck.

“
Just see what you can do,”
he’d said.

And she did. The Rider Waite deck became her
only friend, almost the mother she never had. She’d relied on it
for advice, congratulations, and a little future sight, even after
Celia had rescued her.

In her professional work, Delphie used a
variety of decks. But at home, in private, she always reached for
her original Rider Waite deck. The deck was tattered and a little
dirty on the edges. Once a year, she cleaned every beloved card on
the anniversary of the gift. When Delphie touched the kind-hearted
deck, she felt like she was at home. Today, she would share her
much-loved deck with her beloved Katy.

With her milk and brownie in hand, Katy
followed Delphie upstairs to her apartment. Katy had giggled at the
idea of playing with cards. But when Delphie gave her the deck,
Katy’s face went instantly Katy-serious. The child’s dark eyes
seemed to echo with the depths of the universe. Delphie’s laugh
caused Katy to giggle. Delphie sat down at her desk and Katy stood
beside her.

“
How do we play?” Katy
asked.

“
I’ll show you,” Delphie
said. “Who would you like to know more about?”

“
Mommy!” Katy jumped up and
down. “My Daddy!”

“
Anyone else?”

“
Auntie Valerie!” Katy’s
face turned serious. “Really, I’d like to know about
EVERYBODY!”

Delphie laughed.

“
But mostly Paddie,” Katy
said. “Will he always be my friend?”

“
That’s a good question,”
Delphie said. “When we use the tarot, we can ask open questions or
yes/no questions. Should we ask about Paddie first?”

Katy shook her head.

“
Don’t want to know?”
Delphie asked.

Katy nodded.

“
We’ll ask about Paddie
last,” Delphie said. “Who should we ask about first?”

“
Auntie Sandy,” Katy said.
“I love, love, love my Auntie Sandy. But lately, she seems kind of…
muddy.”

“
Confused?”

Katy nodded.

“
She does seem confused,”
Delphie said. “Some people are just like that Katy.”

“
No,” Katy shook her head
violently. “Auntie Sandy has never ever been like this. Ever. Ever.
And I would know! I’ve known her all of my life.”

Delphie smiled at the little girl. Katy knew
so much about, and loved with such intensity, all of the people in
her life.

“
Let’s do a Past, Present
and Future reading for Sandy,” Delphie said.

“
Yes, yes, yes!” Katy
jumped and clapped. She stopped for a moment, “What’s
that?”

“
I’ll show you,” Delphie
said. “First we shuffle the cards.”

“
I can’t do that,” Katy
said. She looked at her little hands. “Mommy says my hands are too
small. But I’ll get big one day! Then I’ll shuffle.”

Shuffling the cards, Delphie smiled.

“
I always say a little
prayer: ‘Help me to see the truth, beauty, and love in every
situation.’ Go ahead.”

“
Help me to see the…” Katy
started.

“
Truth,” Delphie
reminded.

“
Truth, beauty and
love…”

“
In every
situation.”

“
In every situation,” Katy
repeated.

Katy clapped.

“
OK, think about your
Auntie Sandy. When did you meet her? What did she look
like?”

“
I’ve
always
known her! After Mommy, she’s
the first person I met.”

“
Think about it while you
touch the cards,” Delphie said. “I’ll do the same.”

Katy put her hand on the deck.

“
Ok, now split the deck
with your left hand.”

“
How?”

“
Like this,” Delphie cut
the deck with her left hand. “Go ahead.”

Katy split the cards.

“
Here we go,” Delphie
said.

Delphie turned over three cards and placed
three more cards on top of the first three.

“
This is the past,” Delphie
said.

She pointed to the first two cards – the Six
of Wands and the Page of Cups.

“
The Six of Wands shows us
that Sandy had triumphed over really difficult things.”

“
Like her mean
Daddy?”

“
Exactly. This guy, the
Page of Cups, says that she met someone, a man, who she had a
playful relationship with. This is an important relationship to
Sandy.”

“
Aden?”

“
I would think so,” Delphie
said. She pointed to the two center cards. “This is the Present –
the King of Wands and the Ten of Swords.”

“
I don’t like that one,”
Katy pointed to the card with a prone body with ten swords
protruding from its back. “Is she going to get hurt like Auntie
Honey?”

“
No,” Delphie said. “Let’s
go in order. This guy is the King of Wands. He’s a wand so we know
he represents the active business of Sandy’s life. See these
leaves?”

“
The stick is
alive!”

“
Exactly,” Delphie said.
“This card tells us that in the present Sandy is doing really well.
She’s in a place of self-sovereignty.”

“
What’s that?”

“
She can be her own boss,”
Delphie said.

“
She owns her new place,”
Katy said.

“
This is bigger than just
work,” Delphie said. “Sandy can own her life. She’s also a person
who can jump in to get results. She’s done a lot of that for Aden –
taking care of Noelle and Nash, moving to the Castle.”

Katy nodded.

“
But see this card? The one
with the swords?” Delphie asked. “This means that she’s struggling
with a real loss. She’s very sad and scared. But, her suffering is
more dramatic than real. So we have to ask ourselves why Sandy, who
is strong and capable, needs to hold onto this suffering. Any
ideas?”

“
She’s scared,” Katy
said.

“
I think so,” Delphie said.
“Ok these last two are the future. This card, the Empress, shows us
what she might do.”

“
She’s going to sit on that
throne?”

“
No,” Delphie laughed.
“She’s going to dig deep within herself and look beyond what’s
obvious to what is hidden. Does that sound like Auntie
Sandy?”

Katy nodded.

“
This guy, the Seven of
Wands, has a lot of meanings,” Delphie said. “When this card is in
this position, it’s about Sandy and Sandy alone. She’s going to
break free of all of this stuff and begin to care for herself. So
now we look at the whole thing. What do you see?”

“
Auntie Sandy is very
tough,” Katy said.

“
Right,” Delphie move the
cards from side to side. “I think this card with all the swords is
about Sandy’s triumph. I bet all the giving and caring…”

Delphie pointed to the King of Wands.

“
Reminds Sandy of when she
was hurt. But Sandy’s going to sort this out and learn to take care
of herself. She’s going to have to. But she has all this great
energy of the Empress and the King of Wands to help her. She’s
going to be fine.”

“
Will she and Aden get
married?” Katy asked.

“
Why don’t you ask?”
Delphie said. “Touch the deck.”

She turned over the Seven of Cups.

“
Seems like they have a lot
of options and you have some wishful thinking.” Delphie tickled
Katy and she giggled. “Would you be all right if they don’t get
married?”

“
Do they live happily every
after?”

Delphie turned over the Three of Cups.

“
It looks like they do,”
Delphie said. “But only when they’re focused on taking care of
themselves. Look. When they care for themselves, they dance.
See?”