In the Cards Chapter 1

The story of Georgia May, a gifted psychic and tarot card reader.

 

CHAPTER 1

 

‘Bernie!  Come here, boy!’

 

Man’s best friend (or in this case woman’s) extra-large, four year old St Bernard leaped out of the stream and bounded up the grassy bank, heading in Georgia’s direction at lumbering speed.  He carefully controlled the big shake until he was perfectly positioned to get her as wet as he possibly could and, bowing to the inevitable, Georgia resigned herself to a soaking as a shower of stream water hit her with precision! Bernie had a thing about soaking his mistress - it was his passion!  Georgia had once tried to put a bit of distance between them; running through the trees to escape the shower in everlasting hope that his automatic desire to rid his fur of water would cause an involuntary shake before he reached her.  Alas, he had wonderful self-control!             

 

Georgia used the towel vigorously on both of them and lay back on the grass, closing her eyes and relaxing as the warm sunshine filtered through the trees.  Bernie collapsed next to her and lay panting; head up and watchful. A picture of Margaret floated into Georgia’s mind and she hoped that her beloved Aunt was happy - wherever she was.                                      

 

Georgia’s mother, Paula and her elder sister, Margaret, were second generation Romany Gypsies but while Margaret embraced her gypsy heritage, Paula did everything in her power to deny her roots. She fled her gypsy camp home immediately after taking her final exams and married a young mechanic.  The marriage ended after just two years, leaving her with the responsibility of a tiny baby girl.  Margaret took them in and Paula was determined to make something of her life. She got a job with a local estate agent and embarked upon a brand new career, selling houses.  Unable in those early days to afford a child-minder, she reluctantly enlisted the help of her sister who stepped in and took Georgia under her wing.                                 

 

Margaret was a gifted psychic and card reader and recognised the same aptitude in Georgia from the age of five.  She set about teaching Georgia everything she knew and although Paula made no secret of her disapproval, she knew she didn’t really have a choice.  Georgia could still remember her school holidays; seated on the carpet at her aunt’s feet, receiving instruction in everything from crystal ball interpretation; palmistry; tea leaves and cartomancy. The mystical Tarot Cards were Georgia’s favourite and she practised whenever she could; becoming more and more intuitive with each reading.   

It didn’t take Paula long to discover that she had a knack for selling houses and she moved swiftly up through the estate agency ranks until she was eventually able to afford a pretty bungalow on the other side of town. Mother and daughter moved in a few months before Georgia started High School.                                              

Georgia loved everything about High School and met her best friend Sandi in her first year. The two girls were so alike in some ways and so different in others. Georgia was slim and petite with dark chestnut hair and green eyes.  Her attire of choice was usually blue jeans and t-shirts.  She was self-confessed “fashion-challenged”.  Sandi was three inches taller than her friend, with masses of blonde hair worn to her shoulders; blue eyes and the figure of a catwalk model - with clothes to match.  The two friends managed to obtain good passing grades in all their subjects and as graduation loomed ever closer they both agreed that financial independence was far more important to them than further education and spent many a long evening discussing various career options.             

 

And then something happened to Georgia to take the decision out of her hands.               

Sandi’s wealthy and successful parents, Glen and Geraldine, decided to throw a party to celebrate Glen’s promotion to Chief of Surgery at St Helens Hospital; one of the biggest teaching hospitals in the country. Georgia adored Sandi’s parents and was always included in their social events, all of which were looked forward to with much anticipation by their guests. She had been invited to stay over at their beautiful manor house for the weekend and eagerly joined the party with her best friend after spending half the afternoon getting “gussied up” - Sandi’s favourite expression.                                      

Sandi, who was extroverted enough to enjoy it, began working the room and introducing Georgia to everyone she knew.  ‘This is my best friend, Georgia,’ she told anyone who would listen.  Georgia self-consciously followed around in her wake; without a hope of remembering all the names and was feeling a bit like a fish out of water until she joined a group of about ten men and women of varying ages, standing comfortably with their drinks next to the fireplace.  ‘This is my best friend, Georgia, and Georgia, this is Mike and Tim and Peter and Julia and…….’  The introductions continued until the entire group had been named.  Sandi jumped right into the discussion as if she’d been a participant since the beginning, but as Georgia stood on the fringes of the group, desperately trying to pick up the threads of the subject being discussed, one of the men began talking about psychic phenomena.  It was at that point that Georgia’s internal radar sprang into action.  Here was something she knew about and could discuss at length!                

Sandi, however, had other ideas about her friend being a mere conversationalist. 

Without warning, she suddenly propelled her friend into the spotlight, extolling Georgia’s psychic abilities and offering her services to anyone who would like a Tarot Card reading, in her words, “free, gratis and for nothing!”                                   

 

Before poor Georgia had a chance to protest, Sandi had raced off in search of her mother who, once briefed, immediately began directing waiters to dim the lights, light candles and re-position furniture in the immense drawing room.              ‘Please tell me you brought your cards with you?’ whispered Sandi urgently in Georgia’s ear.  ‘I’m going to have serious egg on my face if you didn’t!’                            

 

‘When have you ever known me not to bring them?’ Georgia whispered back, exasperated.  ‘They are upstairs in my bag. I’ll just run up and get them, but Sandi - you owe me for this!’                                  

 

‘I know, I know!  Sorry and all that, but I couldn’t resist showing you off!’  She grinned so disarmingly that Georgia forgave her as usual and ran in as dignified a manner as possible out of the drawing room and up the stairs to her bedroom to retrieve her Tarot Cards.                                                            

 

When she returned, slightly out of breath, a small table had been set up in the middle of the drawing room with two antique chairs facing each other.  Georgia moved tentatively towards the table, now surrounded by the interested guests who were jostling each other for a better vantage point.  A beautifully dressed woman with a nervous smile stepped forward and asked very politely if she could be used in the demonstration. Georgia nodded and smiled back at her as they took their seats to begin the reading.                        

The room fell silent as Georgia spread out her black silk reading cloth and shuffled the brightly-coloured Tarot cards. Placing the card pack face down on the cloth, she invited Julia Cradshaw to focus her mind on a particular question, while cutting the pack into three equal piles.  After collecting the piles from right to left, she searched through the pack for the Queen of Wands, explaining to her rapt audience that this was the most appropriate Significator card for Julia based upon her age and general appearance.  She placed the Significator on the table and proceeded to lay out ten more cards in the classic Celtic Cross Spread.  This was the part of the reading which required the most concentration as the first look at the lay of the cards set the entire tone of the reading. Georgia relaxed and leaned back in her chair to study the displayed cards on the table.                          

 

Suddenly, the silence was shattered with the loud ringing of a mobile phone.  Peter Cradshaw looked embarrassed and apologised for the interruption before moving out on to the veranda to take the call.  Georgia couldn’t help noticing a look of relief on Julia’s face and sensed Julia’s tension as she stared at her husband’s retreating back.                      

‘This spread of cards tells of a very important secret,’ Georgia began gently.  ‘The Page and the Seven of Swords indicate that something is happening in your life at the moment which you are anxious to share, but are afraid of either breaking a confidence or the reaction you are going to get if you do.  Temperance and The Moon show that you have accepted this situation but you are worried and depressed.’                            

 

Looking up nervously to check that her husband was still talking on his phone, Julia very slowly nodded her head in agreement.                            

 

‘This card,’ Georgia continued, pointing to the Ace of Wands, ‘indicates a new beginning or birth; possibly the birth of a child. This is reinforced by The Lovers, a powerful relationship, shown here in the position of past influences.  In the immediate future, opposition to a situation may come from a strong man, seen here as the King of Swords.’ Georgia carefully watched Julia’s face to make sure her interpretations were clear.  ‘The Seven of Cups shows your confusion but the Ten of Pentacles shows an abundance of support from friends and relatives,’ she continued, noting that Julia was by now looking a bit shaken.                               

 

Georgia pointed to the final card in the spread; the Ten of Cups.  ‘This is a good card to draw in the final position,’ she said, with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.  ‘It tells of family tensions resolved and harmony restored.’                   

 

The guests were chattering among themselves and asking Georgia questions and Julia had visibly relaxed by the time Peter Cradshaw finished his telephone call and returned to his wife.  Georgia could tell that the reading had been significant for Julia and hoped that she would be able to find the courage to face her fears head-on.  Julia’s look of resigned determination told Georgia that she desperately needed to get whatever it was off her chest in order to move on with her life. In Georgia’s experience the Querants often liked to talk about how the lay of the cards related to their lives and verbally dissect the significance of each card, but Georgia sensed that Julia didn’t want to discuss the reading in front of her husband.                                                                       

 

‘Did you find out anything interesting, darling?’ Peter asked his wife, dropping a kiss on her cheek.  Julia smiled and nodded but avoided answering his question.                              ‘Thank you very much, Georgia,’ she said, her eyes begging Georgia not to go into any details in front of her husband.  ‘It’s obvious you have a gift.  Have you ever considered doing this full time?  Please let me know if you do as I have a number of friends and acquaintances who would be very interested in your insights.                                 

 

A few days later, Sandi, who loved a mystery, set about discovering Julia Cradshaw’s “secret”. She told Georgia that she had found out through her “sources” that the Cradshaws’ eighteen year old daughter was pregnant by her long-time boyfriend. Julia’s husband, Peter, had a notoriously short fuse and mother and daughter had been terrified to break the news.  Apparently Georgia’s reading inspired her to come clean to her husband and although, predictably, Peter Cradshaw had hit the roof, he was now well on the way to accepting the situation and even starting to think in terms of being a grandfather.  He hadn’t accepted the boyfriend yet, but the family had high hopes that he would come around eventually.  ‘Baby steps,’ Sandi said.  ‘At least the process has started.’                   

 

From this one-time episode came dozens of requests for readings through Julia’s influence and by the time Georgia graduated, she had a list of repeat clients and her business was born. Strangely though, later on the evening of the party, as Sandi and Georgia were preparing to call it a night, Georgia received a call from her mother to say that Margaret had passed away in her sleep.  She had never been ill a day in her life!  Georgia often wondered if Margaret mentally passed the torch to her that day and, realising that her work was done, drifted off to another plane.  It was too much of a coincidence for her life to come to an end just as Georgia’s began!                           

 

Margaret was as generous upon her death as she had been in life.  She bequeathed her beautiful cottage at the entrance to the woods to Georgia, along with her life savings; some of which Georgia used to buy and decorate a studio on the beachfront.  Georgia was determined not to let her beloved Aunt down.

 

The telephone was ringing when Georgia and Bernie returned to the cottage and she wrestled with the rather stiff lock on the front door before hurrying inside, nearly tripping over the hall mat in her haste to snatch up the receiver before the caller rang off.  It was Sandi, reminding her about the farewell party they were attending that evening.  Sandi was in charge of the arrangements for transport and was calling to tell Georgia that she had arranged for a taxi to pick them up at Georgia’s place at eight o’clock. When Georgia hung up, she immediately noticed that Bernie was trying his luck by making himself comfortable on the sofa.  She shooed him off, threatening dire consequences if she caught him on the furniture again.  He didn’t look very contrite as he listened to her scolding - he’d heard it all before!                   

 

‘You’re on your own tonight Bernie and the sofa is out of bounds,’ she warned him.  Crazy though it probably was, Georgia was in the habit of holding conversations with her dog and swore he understood everything she said.  ‘Jennifer and Ian don’t like dogs in their beautiful townhouse,’ she continued.  ‘Not that I blame them where you’re concerned - you do have a habit of drooling into the snacks and knocking things off tables with that tail of yours!’  Bernie regarded her with his head on one side and tail waving back and forth over the carpet, giving his “anything you say” look.              

 

Sandi arrived early and found Georgia in the bedroom trying on all her clothes, completely incapable, as usual, of deciding what to wear.  Garments were strewn all over the bed and Georgia was no closer to inspiration than when she started.          

‘Help!’ she cried, peering into the mirror.  ‘I should have thought about choosing clothes two days ago!  I’m useless at last-minute clothing decisions!’                             

 

‘What about this?’ Sandi rifled through the few clothes that were still hanging in the wardrobe and held up a smart trouser-suit in midnight blue. ‘Put this on - let me see!’                      

‘OK, but are you sure this is appropriate?  I always seem to get it wrong!’              

 

Georgia resignedly did as Sandi suggested and took another look in the mirror.  Sandi was right; it looked great!  She quickly finished dressing and Sandi followed her downstairs for a glass of wine while they waited for the taxi.  Both were in pretty high spirits when they left for the party, arriving at the smart townhouse fashionably late, in true Sandi and Georgia style!                      

 

‘There you two are!’ said Ian, taking their coats and ushering them into the living room.  ‘We’d just about given up on you and were going to serve dinner.’                             

 

As always at one of these parties, interesting guests abounded.  Georgia immediately spotted Fred Saunders, a hugely popular comedian and one of her oldest friends. She looked around and recognised a couple of actors; a well-known musician and a fashion photographer with two gorgeous models hanging on his every word.  Her hosts’ fabulously wealthy and ageing next-door neighbour, accompanied by her latest toy-boy was also in attendance as usual!  Admittedly, this was a pretty special occasion.  Jennifer had recently inherited a fashionable hotel in Spain and had decided to move there to protect her inheritance.  Ian and Jennifer were very excited at the prospect of becoming hoteliers and were leaving on Monday morning.                                     

Dinner consisted of the usual culinary masterpieces, lovingly prepared by Jen who was a gourmet chef of some note and afterwards, Georgia, Sandi and Fred moved out to the balcony overlooking the crashing ocean to talk, preferring conversation to the energetic dancing that had started up in the living room.  Drinks in hand, they relaxed and soaked up the seaside smells and sounds; completely comfortable in each others’ company.                                                 

 

‘So, Georgia,’ said Fred, grinning at her.  ‘I haven’t seen you for a while. What’s new?’  His question was rhetorical as he continued, ‘I was talking to my manager about you the other day.  Of course, he claims to think what you do is all mumbo-jumbo, but he asked where a “friend” of his could contact you.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you received a call from him soon.  His name is Mike, by the way, Mike Hanlon, " “friend” indeed!’ He snorted derisively into his glass of champagne.                     

 

Georgia grinned back.  She was used to mixed reactions about her chosen profession and it didn’t bother her a bit.  She knew that despite his flippancy, Fred believed in what she did unquestioningly and was a frequent visitor to both her cottage and the studio!  As she looked at him she was suddenly struck by the fact that Fred was alone at this party.  He was extremely popular with the ladies and it was a rare occurrence to see him at a party without the decoration of some gorgeous creature or another.                             

‘No date tonight, Fred?’ she teased him.  ‘This is the first time I’ve seen you at a function alone since you made that date with those two girls on the same evening and they both found out!’  Georgia still found that particular episode really funny and so did Sandi.  Fred had done his best to juggle the evening, but to say it didn’t work very well was an understatement!                                          

Fred had the grace to look ashamed.  ‘Not a situation I’d care to repeat!  I’m strictly a one-date-at-a-time guy now!  Heather, my current girlfriend is in Paris for a photo shoot and only due back on Monday.  Despite my rather tawdry reputation, I’m trying out monogamy for a while " oh knock it off, Sandi!’  Sandi had choked on her drink and was trying hard not to laugh at this outrageous statement from the man who had once boasted that he’d never had a relationship that lasted longer than a week - and even that was because there was weekend in the middle! Amazingly, this new romance had apparently just passed the five-day mark!                                                         

‘Seriously though, Heather is different,’ Fred said earnestly.  ‘We met on Tuesday in the supermarket. She’s terrific! We hit it off immediately and went for coffee.  That night we had dinner at that new Italian restaurant down by the harbour!  She’s a freelance makeup artist and travels all over the place to modelling assignments.  She’s away for a couple of days but we talk on the phone all the time.  It’s going very well!                               

Georgia and Sandi exchanged amused glances.  Could Fred actually be heading for a serious relationship?  Georgia couldn’t resist teasing him. 

 

‘Am I hearing violins, Fred?  I don’t remember you being this enthusiastic about any of your other dates.  I, for one, would love to meet the girl who has captured your heart - how about you Sands?’                                                          

 

‘Absolutely!’ Sandi was nodding her head enthusiastically.  ‘A meeting will have to be arranged - somewhere relaxing where there’s no pressure!  After all, we wouldn’t want the poor girl to think she was on display and frighten her off, would we?’ She winked at Georgia.                                      

 

They agreed to give the venue some thought during the coming week and shortly afterwards, the party began to break up.  They collected their coats and when Georgia went over to say goodbye to Ian and Jennifer, Ian drew her to one side.                                   

 

‘Jen’s going to miss you and your readings, as will I,’ he said.  ‘We’re only a short flight away, so please pop over to see us whenever you like.  Accommodation will be on the house, of course!’  She hugged them both and promised to visit as soon as they’d had a chance to settle in.                                 

Fred offered to drive them home and they accepted gratefully; a comfortable trip in Fred’s enormously expensive, custom-built Jag being infinitely preferable to a bone-shaking ride in a taxi!  Fred declined Georgia’s offer to come in for coffee and departed in a cloud of dust after promising to ring her later in the week.  Sandy was also flagging and left soon afterwards, leaving Georgia to open the door to the rapturous welcome of Bernie, who deviously believed that the more spectacular the welcome, the more his mistress’s attention would be diverted from his hairs on the still-warm sofa!  His scolding was a foregone conclusion!

 

 

Reviews

[extrapolatingnonsense]

just want to say, this story is pretty great. very great, actually - work out a few of the kinks and i could imagine reading this as a novel. your characters are well-written and your prose is wonderful, though it can get choppy at times. however, it's not an overt thing at all, and the text usually flowed. if anything, i'd recommend you get an editor, but other than that, this is pretty fantastic.

[Aarea]

This was good. However, at the first I was getting sick of explanations and just wanted the story to start which you did in a minute, which was good. A little bit sooner would have been better for me though. I liked how you wrote, it reminded me of real people, not just fictional characters that are unlike anyone in the world. I like Georgia and Sandi, they seem great. The ending however could have just as easily been an ending to an entire book rather than a chapter. Where are you going with this? Other that that, it was great!

[Veronica]

I like the variety of different typs of people, though not anything I would personally know about, thats due to my own limited life experinces. The normal people/gipsie heritage is a nice and has lots of possibilitys. I enjoyed most of the detail about the dog/owner time and interaction, but it did run a bit long at least for me. Over all, it could use a bit more direction, what was the oer all point of the story or its direction? Still it was interesting, with many possiblies of ways to go where you left off. This is the first review I have ever done. I hope I haven't been offensive, it's my understanding that a review is basicly a persons personal opinion of what they are reading.

[Jay]

Jacqui...I would like to start off by saying that I am as new to writing as can be. So please take my review lightly. I have been reading and researching screenplays so I may be wrong in the following. I am not sure of the structure of writing a book but it seems like you introduce too many characters in the first chapter. In the first chapter these are the characters that were introduced: Georgia, Bernie, Margaret, Paula, Sandi, Glen, Geraldine, Julia, Peter, Jennifer, Heather, Fred, Mike and Ian. It is difficult to keep track of each person and who they are. I am not sure how significant these characters are in the rest of the book but I would suggest, instead of saying "Glen and Geraldine" you can just say Sandi's parents. In some instances you write "Sandi" and in others you write "Sandy". Other than that the story seems interesting. Again, I may be wrong but just what I noticed. This is also my first review so I am not sure how the rating system works.