Moondance (21 page)

“So what do you think? You gonna ditch Michelle and get a session with this chick?”

Althea laughed. “I haven’t seen Michelle in ages! Although I’m sure she misses arguing with me.” Althea loved Michelle but didn’t need her any more. She was past all that. “No, I doubt if I’ll get Ivana to do a chart for me. She’s an author, part of my job.”

“So have you told Vince that you’re also a writer?”

“He should know, he’s seen my chart — that’s one of the things they did when they hired me, even though it’s probably illegal. No I haven’t.”

“Really, Al. When you told me that you took a job with a publisher, I thought it was perfect. I know you haven’t done it in a while and I’ll stop nagging you if you want. But the writing you showed me was really good. I showed it to Tomas and he agreed. You could do something with it if you wanted to.”

“Thanks but that was so long ago and I really don’t have it in me any more. I think I’m best in the background. Those who can’t publish, promote — or however the saying goes.”

“About the karmic astrology chick. If you’re not interested, then maybe you can get me and Tomas a session and give it to us, oh I don’t know, as a wedding gift or something.”

“No way!”

“Althea.” Stacy stood next to her. “Vince wants to see you.”

• • •

“SO HOW WAS SHE? Do I need to call her?” Vince was worried about his star author.

“Sorry. I should have touched base. I kind of interrogated her, which maybe wasn’t appropriate.”

Vince laughed. “Always the skeptic.”

“Do I have to be a believer to work here?”

“Nope. Ivana can handle it. Just believe we can make money.” Vince passed a bowl of Werther’s Originals to Althea and she took one. “Even if you don’t buy her, get to know her. It’ll be good for business.”

Althea nodded slowly and Vince grinned at her, his eyes shifting to his hands, as if he was switching channels. When he spoke again, the levity was gone.

“Althea, there’s something we need to discuss.”

And then it was if Vince kicked her in the stomach.

• • •

“SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?” Sophie asked. She was making dressing for a tossed salad, while Althea marinated two pork chops in a soya, orange and ginger. It was asparagus season. Sophie had just purchased ten pounds of the stuff. They’d be eating it for days.

“Well, Vince said that they’d be in next week. To meet everyone, get a feel for the place, start their due diligence. They’ll have access to everything.” Exeter was an international publishing house based in England, with branches in New York and Toronto. It represented the politics and bureaucracy that Vince routinely mocked.

When Ivana’s first book became a best-seller, Exeter had contacted Vince with an offer to buy. Vince turned them down. This time, he called them.

“I wanted to wait until the deal was signed, but then ...” Vince had shrugged. “I can’t wait any longer. I’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Althea. This is the second time around for me, I’ve been in remission for five years.”

“Will Vince look out for you?” Sophie asked.

“No guarantees. I’m sure he’ll try, but it’s hard to know how much energy he’ll have. I’d say I’m on my own.”

“Are you going to start looking? You wouldn’t consider consulting again, would you?”

“I have no idea. I want to stay at White Light. But even if Vince gets better, I don’t want to work for a large organization. I’ve been there, done that. Maybe if we’re profitable, they’ll leave us alone and not try to ... assimilate us.”

Althea considered an acquisition of a small company by a large company, especially when they intended to integrate the people into the corporate culture, similar to Star Trek’s character, The Borg. Resistance was futile. She should know. When she was in consulting, she helped more than a few clients work through their acquisitions.
Sometimes, an acquiring company wanted to maintain the brand, which
in this case was strong, or sometimes, they might want a complete integration. It was possible that they’d be left alone, but more likely, they’d combine their operations under one roof. From a business point of view, it made sense.

Althea pried open the barbeque, added damp hickory chips, plopped the pork chops on the grill and stepped away from the smoke.

“What shall we drink this evening?” Sophie had been making her own wine as long as Althea could remember — not great, but passable. The first one was dicey. But after the second, it was pretty decent.

“White, please.”

“How is he feeling?”

“Depends on who you talk to. He says fine. Phyllis says, putting on a brave face, and not out of the woods. I believe Phyllis.”

Sophie finished the salad and began working on the dressing. “How are you feeling?”

Althea thought about how she felt when she left Vince’s office.
Completely numb. Here we go again
. “I’ll just stay on guard, and watch it unfold,” she said.

White Light was Vince’s life and he was selling it. Truth was, the more she thought about it, the more it didn’t feel right to her.

For some reason, Vince was lying to her.

• • •

LATER SHE DREAMT
SHE
was buried up to her waist in sand. A hand appeared and she took it, and it was her step-father Albert, circling, pulling her up from the earth, a cyclone opening behind them like a red and black camera lens, and she felt simultaneously drawn to and repulsed by the water that threatened to engulf them
.

Then she was sitting on a chair and a doctor with fiery red hair, and gangly legs stood in front of her. She flopped over until her head rested on her knees, her hands clasped in front of her. She could hear the rising water behind her.

Are you ready for the truth? the doctor asked Yes I’m ready she said, then her fingers fell to one side, cleanly severed at the joints. She looked up and the doctor was gone. One by one, she placed her fingers back on her joints and she stared at her hands, willing them to heal.

chapter 33

IT HAD BEEN ALMOST years since she had seen Michelle. Not since Daniel. She had mixed feelings about calling her. On one hand, she loved Michelle for their differences. They always managed to work them out. On the other hand, for the last couple of years, her life had been going as planned. More or less. Visiting Michelle was like admitting failure. Again.

Despite this, she envisioned the reading, the questions she would ask. Althea had always liked the look of the cards. They were rich with symbols and held meanings on so many levels. Since working at White Light, she learned that some authors used tarot cards to direct the plot of their story and to enhance character development. But this wasn’t a story, this was her life. And here she was, fifteen years after meeting Michelle for the first time, asking the same questions, like nothing had changed.

And she hated herself for it.

Althea wriggled out of her windbreaker and threw it on the passenger seat of her rental car. She had laid her Omni to rest three years before. It had died the same month she officially received her MBA. She groped for the button that controlled the driver window. The air was damp.

• • •

AT MICHELLE’S, SHE HADN’T even sat down before they were into it.

“So what’s the point?” Althea said.

“She’s been coming here for how many years and she still doesn’t get the point. The point, Althea, is to be conscious of challenges, to know when to take advantage of opportunity and when to hold back. The cards provide information, based on the energy around you the moment they are drawn. What you do with that information is up to you.” They had had this conversation before.

“So if the cards say something bad will happen?” Althea said.

“Bad is a useless black and white term.” Michelle shook her head. “But that’s another argument. I’d say be conscious of it, take steps to influence the outcome.”

“And if they say something good.”

“Ditto with “good” being useless, by the way. And yes, with some effort, you can screw it up.”

“So what’s the point?”

“What’s
your
point?”

“Way back, you said to look for the King of Cups.”

“Well, did you?”

Althea thought about the green-eyed man, how he had haunted her, how she wanted to find him now and how he had eluded her. She tried to think of someone else that she had missed. She drew a blank.

“I met George and Daniel, and look how they turned out. You said it would be good.”

“I didn’t say anything. You got involved with George and Daniel. You pulled the cards. I just read them. Shit, you’re stubborn. You’re so stubborn that a nice guy could have waved his bare ass in front of your face and you would have missed it. Will you please sit down now before I hit you?”

Althea sat down. Michelle pushed the cards toward her.

“Shuffle. You know the drill. Though sometimes, I wonder.”

Althea picked up the cards and shuffled, then pushed the deck back toward Michelle.

“Cut them into three piles. Please touch one. Thank you.” Michelle took the pile that Althea had touched and buried it in the center of the deck. She then drew cards from the top of the deck and began placing them in a pattern in front of her. The first card placed face up, Althea knew, represented her present. The second, which crossed the first, represented whatever was crossing her path at the moment.

“This is your present, the Chariot, reversed. This says you’re experiencing a fall from power. Is this you?”

“I bet that’s Vince. What’s happening is —”

Michelle raised her hand, and shook her head.

“Not yet. And this is what’s crossing you — the King of Swords reversed, another man, but this one’s darker, more dangerous.”

“Could this also be Vince?”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s someone you haven’t met yet. And
this
card represents your past. You can see the man with his eyes in the distance, his hand on the staff, and in the past, Althea, you’ve received material resources, yet on a deeper level, they haven’t been enough for you. And
this
card represents your near future. Oh ho! The gentle King returns.”

Despite her efforts to be indifferent to the cards, Althea’s heart quietly flipped. “The King of Cups.”

“He must have heard you curse his name. He wants you to know he’s still there.”

“Yeah, right.”

Michelle ignored her. “This is also your future. Okay, I’m curious now, what’s happening?”

“My boss is sick. He wants to sell the company I work for.”

“The Tower represents a fall, Althea. See how the woman is falling from the tower and the crumbling of its foundations? But what to keep in mind here is that, whatever happens, the changes happen in order for you to experience re-birth, a shedding of those things in your life you really should be without. Once the foundation is gone, it can be re-built so it’s stronger. This card also represents Scorpio.”

“I’m not Scorpio. Sophie’s Scorpio. But that doesn’t make sense.”

“No, this is about you. This is about old habits, old beliefs that need to be let go. I won’t lie to you Althea, this can be a painful card, especially if you resist. But if you work
with
it, you’ll discover depths within yourself you never knew existed. Now let’s get into the meaty stuff.” Michelle gathered up the cards, and passed them to Althea.

“Shuffle. Think about what you want to ask.” Althea shuffled the cards, her mind on Vince, White Light, the next direction in her life, then passed the shuffled deck back to Michelle, who spread them out face down.

“Okay, what’s going on right now? Bottom line. Pick a card.” Althea
pulled a card, flipped it, and handed it to Michelle who placed it on the table. “This is a beautiful card, Althea. You know this one.”

“Death. New beginnings.”

“Yes, Death. It’s an exciting card. Maybe the Tower starts it all off, sometimes the Tower can represent one pivotal event. Remember that this card is about cutting ties with the past, re-building a new way of life. This says within a year.

Let’s ask, while all this is going on, what you can do to take care of yourself during this time.” Althea pulled a card. “You can seek wise council. The High Priestess is a wise, compassionate and spiritual woman to whom you could go for advice.”

“Like you?”

“Could be me,” Michelle said. “It could also be someone else. The High Priestess is about seeking wisdom, but not in an intellectual sense. This is a very spiritual card. That’s a good sign, Althea. You’re not alone in this. Remember that. What else can you do for yourself right now? Pick a card.” Althea looked at the man and the woman holding hands. The Lovers.

“I can have an affair?”

“I don’t think in this context that’s what it means. The Lovers are ruled by Gemini. Have you thought about
writing
about all this?”

“No. Writing is the last thing on my mind.”

“Okay, well, this says finding a way to communicate what you’re feeling would be really good for you. Remember, the universe can give us talents and gifts, but if we don’t use it, we lose it.”