Page 89 of Fling

‘Fashionably late,’ Tara laughed.

‘Anyway, this is where I do all my readings now. Including yours,’ Shannon said, shuffling a deck of tarot cards in her hand.

‘Sure, I’ll take all the guidance I can get at this stage,’ Tara said, sitting down on the large beanbag.

Shannon spread the deck of cards face down on the table in front of Tara. ‘OK, pet, pick your first card.’

Tara sighed and picked a card at random from the spread deck. She put the card down, face-up, and saw that it read ‘Wheel of Fortune’.

‘OK, card number one is the Wheel of Fortune. Upright. The first card is a reading of your past. It represents fate and destiny. With this card, there is no random chance but rather a sense of things that are meant to be.’

‘Oh my God. That could be about Fling. The one hundred per cent match with Jack,’ Tara said, perking up.

‘Choose your next card,’ Shannon instructed.

Tara chose another card at random and placed it down face-up to reveal ‘The Two of Swords’.

‘OK, your second card is the Two of Swords. Upright,’ Shannon said. ‘It represents your present. Here you see a woman who is blindfolded and holding up two swords in front of the sea. The blindfold suggests this woman is hoodwinked and cannot see what is right in front of her. This woman is at a crossroads, unsure of which path to take. She is trying to balance two swords. These could be interpreted as phallic. Perhaps she is trying to balance two men.’

‘OK, this is getting a bit scary,’ Tara said in shock.

‘Choose your third card, pet. The third card represents your future,’ Shannon said, waving her hand over them.

Tara took a deep breath. This was the card that might give her some kind of guidance. Knowing her luck, the card would probably say ‘Death’. She closed her eyes and reached of a card. When she opened her eyes once more, she saw the card read ‘The Lovers’.

‘Ah yes, The Lovers. Upright,’ Shannon said. ‘It represents inner harmony through perfect union. This is the card of kindred spirits bound by fate. This is the card of soulmates.’

Tara was speechless.

‘So in your past, I see a wheel of fortune spinning in your favour. In your present, I see a woman struggling to see what is right in front of her. And in your future, I see two lovers discovering each other. Does that resonate with you, pet?’ Shannon asked, knowing well that it did.

‘YES, IT RESONATES!’ Tara shouted, blown away by the reading. ‘But now what am I supposed to do? The cards are telling me I’m supposed to be with Jack but he still hasn’t responded to me on Fling!’

‘Tara, pet, he’s a man. They never last long at giving us the silent treatment,’ Shannon said with a smirk.

‘But then there’s Colin. I hate him right now but I still love him. Isn’t the whole idea of finding The One that there’s only one of them?’

‘I used to think that too, pet, but recently I’ve started seeing things a little differently,’ Shannon said, coyly.

‘What do you mean?’ Tara asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Well . . . you know how much I loved your father. And I always will. But he’s been gone six years now and I find myself being courted by another man,’ Shannon said, unable to stop herself from smiling.

‘Mam, that’s amazing. Who is he?’ Tara asked, delighted.

‘Tom O’Malley,’ Shannon said.

‘TOM O’MALLEY! You’re joking! I thought you said he was only visiting you to cure his sprained groin.’

‘How do you think he sprained his groin in the first place?’ Shannon laughed.

‘MAM!’ Tara said, mortified.

‘Oh lighten up, pet. I don’t know where you got all that Catholic guilt from. It must have been from your father because it certainly wasn’t from me,’ Shannon said.

‘It was definitely from Dad. And the nuns,’ Tara laughed.

‘Well it’s time to stop feeling bad over things that make you feel good!’

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