A REVERSE SIX OF RODS, THE WORLD AND A REVERSE FIVE OF CUPS

Cindy leaned over Chris’s shoulder in order to read the card description. “Ha! It’s the end of Return of The Jedi!” Chris turned his head to look at her and ask “What do you mean?” Cindy pointed at the last line in the description for a reverse Five of Cups and read “Strength and hope return. Actually…all of those cards you pulled are the plot of the Star Wars movies combined. Figures.” Chris shook his head and replied “That’s only because the Star Wars movies all have the central of theme of good versus evil.” Cindy sat back on her heels and reached for a handful of grapes. Then she flipped over, laying back on the picnic blanket and looking up at the sky while she munched on a grape. “Does it bother you that there is this whole stretch of time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens? Like what happened in those years in between? How did the Rebels go from destroying the Empire back to hiding on obscure planets?”

Chris picked up the tarot cards and started shuffling them again. He smiled and said “That’s the beauty of the time line. We have this whole section of time of stories to be told. We don’t know the whole story between Leia and Han. We don’t know the whole story of what happened to all of the Jedis or why Luke disappeared. These are stories that are just waiting to be told. It’s why the Star Wars Universe will go on forever. Here.” He handed her the deck of cards. “Draw your cards.” Cindy sighed and propped herself up on her elbows. Chris held out the deck of cards and gave her a wicked grin. She pushed herself up to a seated position and grabbed the deck from him. “This is stupid.” She said as she laid out the top three cards onto their picnic blanket. Chris picked up the list of descriptions and frowned. “Well that first one says ‘fear, disloyalty and betrayal’. That doesn’t sound good.” Cindy laughed and said “I told you this was stupid.”

Cindy laid back onto the blanket and popped another grape into her mouth. “Okay…fear, disloyalty and betrayal. That card is talking about my insecurities.” Chris coughed and sputtered because he’d just taken a drink. “Wait! Are you afraid that I’m going to be disloyal?!?!” Cindy was quiet for a moment, contemplating. Then she said “No. I don’t believe you would ever betray me or be disloyal. I think what I am saying is that the card speaks to a general insecurity of not ever being enough and the consequences of not being enough. It is an insecurity that existed well before you showed up on this screen. What’s the next card say?” Chris held up the card and said “The World! Attainment of wealth and prosperity. Recognition and rewards from earnest labor. Change in status.”

Cindy rolled over to her belly and propped herself up with her forearms. “Ah…well. That card just means that I over come those ‘not enough’ insecurities and go on to rule the world. It says that I’m going to be just fine because I’m smart and a hard worker. I told you this was silly. You can make up anything about the cards you draw based on what ever mood you’re in.” Chris started gathering up the cards and putting them back into their box. “Maybe we should set up our own fortune telling booth on the weekends. Free Tarot Readings! Then we give people excellent tarot fortunes.” Cindy grinned at the idea. “Yeah.” She said. “We give them fortunes that make them feel good about themselves no matter what the card is. We spin it into something positive. We’ll give them good fortunes.”

Chris laid himself down next to Cindy. Cindy turned back over onto her back. She felt Chris clasp her hand in his. They stayed there for a while, lost in their own thoughts, watching the clouds float by.