Cartomancy

Cartomancy

By Kristin Cook

Copyright 2014 Kristin Cook

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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of this author.

Chapter 1

Astrid Shims flipped through all
three-hundred-sixty-five cable channels for the tenth time that
morning, and one thought kept recurring to her; Blacks Glenn was
the most boring town in America, possibly worldwide. Nothing even
remotely exciting had ever happened. It was the first hour of the
first day of summer vacation and she didn’t know how long she could
handle the boredom. She had been awake for an hour already. “Mom
I’m bored!” she yelled into space. Her mother didn’t answer. She
suspected that her mother was down in the basement doing laundry,
and while she certainly wasn’t bored enough to go and help, she
rolled off the couch managing to avoid her cereal bowl and walked
to the top of the basement stairs. “Mo-THER! “ She yelled down. “I
am seriously going to die from boredom…seriously!” After a minute
her mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a basket of
towels. “Then go read a book.” This was her mother’s standard
response. Astrid rolled her eyes and shuffled off across the
kitchen. “Why does no one understand my plight?” She thought about
yelling this out loud as well, but really, who would listen? She
even asked the cat as he walked across the floor and plopped down
onto a sunny spot. He looked at her, but said nothing. “I can’t
even get a meow? Thanks a lot.” Astrid went upstairs to her room.
As she reached the top of the stairs she heard a faint but definite
“meow” from the kitchen. “Everyone’s a jokester.” She said under
her breath. A few minutes later, her mother appeared in her doorway
as she was sprawled out across her bed. “I am sorry you are so
bored my love, what can I do to help?” Astrid watched her mother
meticulously hang all of her clean clothes up in her closet. “I
don’t know I’m just bored” she put her hand across her forehead and
pretended to faint. “Well, we could re-decorate your bedroom this
summer that might be fun.” The idea of painting seemed cool, and
Astrid did fancy herself as someone who would suffer for art. “Can
I paint my room black?” she asked. Her mother thought about this
for a minute. “I suppose so…but only an accent wall. The rest will
have to be wallpaper, maybe a nice damask print.” She had
envisioned more of a cave-like atmosphere, but she was open to
compromise. “Mom, since I’m compromising on the paint and
wallpaper, I do have another idea for my room, something more…
gothic.” Astrid’s mother was imagining arched walls and flying
buttresses. Her mother was literally always in the process of
restoring their house, which is known to historians and architects
as a “Queen Anne Victorian. “ To Astrid it looked like a haunted
house with a really big porch, except that it had been painted all
kinds of bright and crazy colors. It was like living in an Easter
egg. Astrid called it the “QAV” for short. The constant upgrading
of the house was slightly annoying to Astrid and as a result she
knew more about architecture than any kid should. Their home was
the love of her mother’s life. Astrid did not understand it at all,
but as her mother loved to say “You can’t even begin to imagine the
upkeep on a one hundred and sixty three year old house.” It was a
source of pride for her and Astrid was sure that everyone in town
knew the exact age of their house. Astrid sighed heavily at her
mother for effect. “Well what did you have in mind? Gargoyles?” her
mother chuckled. Astrid let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes.
“No” she grinned. “I want to sleep in a coffin.

”

Chapter 2

Astrid’s mother dumped a laundry basket of
clothes onto the bed where her husband was sitting watching
television. “Your daughter wants to sleep in a coffin.” She blurted
out. Astrid’s dad pushed the mute button on the remote. “Please
tell me you said okay.” He said sounding rather hopeful. Her mother
let out a sigh, she would expect a little more of a reaction from
her husband. “This isn’t my first day of parenting you know. I told
her it was fine as long as she bought it herself.” Astrid’s father
looked quite impressed with his wife’s notion, and realized for at
least the tenth time that day that he really did marry quite a gal.
“Good. Although, I think you may be underestimating our only child,
she has a knack for getting what she wants.” Her mother thought
about this for a minute and remembered the belly button piercing
debate. “True enough dear, we will just have to keep an eye on her,
and try to be supportive of her money making schemes.” Astrid’s
father took his wife’s beautiful hand in his and kissed it. “Try
not to call it a scheme dear. Anyway we don’t have to worry about
that this weekend, I just spoke with your mother on the phone, and
she wants to take Astrid for a few days.” He winked at his wife. In
the same instant Astrid’s mother quickly had two simultaneous
thoughts: “that’s good” and “oh no.”

Chapter 3

If there was one thing Astrid knew for sure
it was this: her grandmother would give her anything she wanted.
This was not false pride talking; her grandma pretty much said it
to her on a daily basis. “You are the love of my life, precious
girl, and I will give you whatever your heart desires.” This was
her grandma’s response anytime Astrid asked for anything. It drove
Astrid’s mother crazy, but somehow she got away with it. Astrid
supposed there were special rules set aside just for grandparents.
However, a coffin from one’s own grandmother was too ghoulish, even
for Astrid, especially since her grandpa had just died the previous
winter, plus she wasn’t trying to freak her grandma out. She dearly
loved her grandma, and she felt sorry for her now that she was all
alone. They spent lots of time together doing crafts and going to
the library. Astrid’s grandma dearly loved to toy with Astrid’s
parents and she supposed it was her grandma’s only form of
entertainment besides going to bingo. “I was thinking about what to
do for a summer job.” Astrid said to her grandma. “Oh exciting!
Tell me what you’ve been thinking.” Her grandma put down her
crochet needles and turned off the television. “Well, I was
thinking about Fortune Telling, what do you think?” Astrid asked.
“Well, my dear you do come from a long line of travelers.” She
winked at Astrid. “Come on grandma, you always say that and I have
no idea what it means. Every time I ask mom she says it isn’t true,
and that we really come from a long line of accountants.” Her
grandma scoffed at this idea. “Your mom says that because it’s what
your grandpa always told her. Some people don’t like the truth
Astrid my dear.” She said continuing her crocheting. “So, what do
you think?” Astrid asked again. “Well I do have an old deck of
cards in the attic. I haven’t used them in years. But, if you’re
going to do this properly, we need to get some books on the
subject. I can only teach you so much.” She got up and kissed
Astrid on the forehead. “Teach me what?” Astrid asked rather
confused by the entire conversation. “Fortune telling, haven’t you
been paying attention?” She laughed. “Get your stuff together;
we’re going to the library.” Her grandma said looking for her keys.
“Grandma, I have my tablet, I can just search fortune telling
online.” Astrid said reaching for her backpack. “Oh no ya don’t
missy, computers make people lazy. We’re going to the library to
check out actual books.” Astrid rolled her eyes “Come on grandma,
computers aren’t as bad as you think.” She held up her tablet to
her grandma. “It won’t hurt you I promise!” She laughed. “When I
was your age all we had was the library. We looked for books in a
card catalog and wrote things down… on real paper and with
pencils!” Now her grandma was getting all worked up. “Ok, calm down
grandma.” She said laughing. Astrid had no idea what a card catalog
was. But, she could look up subjects on a computer and write things
down. She found quite a few books on different kinds of fortune
telling, but nothing that really seemed feasible. However all of
that changed when she ran across a book on the subject of
Cartomancy. It had lots of cool pictures and diagrams for reading
tarot cards and Astrid thought this seemed like the easiest form of
fortune telling that she had seen so far. Astrid was sure that all
she had to do was read the book, and the money would start rolling
in. She ran to find her grandma in the library. “Are these the kind
of cards you were talking about?” Astrid had never seen cards like
this at her grandma’s house. “Yes, but we’ll get you your own
deck.” Her grandma said in a way that seemed weird to Astrid, but
she didn’t care. She was too excited. “This is going to be so easy
grandma; I’ll have a great summer job in no time!” Astrid’s grandma
moved her glasses down her nose and smiled. “Whatever you think
dear. But a word to the wise: be careful what you wish for.”

Chapter 4

Astrid and her best friend Waverly sat on the
railroad trellis and threw rocks into the creek below. They most
definitely were not allowed on the railroad tracks whatsoever, but
they figured that if a train ever came, they could just jump into
the water. “So, your mom didn’t react at all?” Waverly asked.
“Nope, and I had it planned out so perfectly, but she didn’t even
care! I would have at least thought there would be a mention of
therapy or something… but nothing.” Astrid let her shoe dangle off
her foot over the water below. “Well, you’re lucky, my mom would
have totally freaked.” Astrid knew this all too well. Waverly’s mom
flipped out over everything she did. She seemed convinced that
Waverly would die or be kidnapped on a daily basis. Astrid knew
these things but didn’t comment. She felt sorry for Waverly because
of this, but ONLY because of this. Otherwise Waverly was a
beautiful girl with long dark hair and very blue eyes. All the boys
wanted to talk to her, and they all seemed to drop their pencils
around her. Not a lot to feel sorry about there. Also everyone knew
that there weren’t any kidnappers in Black’s Glenn. “All she said
was: “they’re too expensive.” Astrid said in her best mom sounding
voice. “So I said, well what if I get a summer job and pay for it
myself?” Waverly nodded in agreement. Then Astrid imitated her
mom’s voice again “You can do whatever you want with your own
money, dear.” Astrid used finger air quotes this time, which
Waverly hated as they usually never applied to any situation in
which they were used. Waverly laughed a little at this and wondered
if maybe Astrid wasn’t taking the boredom thing a little too far.
Coffins just seemed creepy and vampiric to her. “I swear all my mom
cares about is restoring the Queen-Anne-Vic. SO, anyway, I walked
over to the funeral home on Greenlawn Avenue to see the coffins.
They cost like $3500 dollars! Can you believe that crap? Coffins go
in the ground for cripe sakes! You just lay in it and rot for all
of eternity; they could just put you in one of those long, plastic
containers, like we keep our fake Christmas tree in.” Astrid was
exasperated and Waverly was stunned. “Dude, I can’t even believe
you went inside a funeral home. You’re gross.” Waverly said shaking
her head back and forth.

“Hah! Judgmental much? You made out with
Jordan in the cemetery in sixth grade.” Astrid reminded her for the
hundredth time. Waverly blushed and seemed super flustered. “First
of all we were in sixth grade like a year ago and second, we were
playing Ghosts-In-The-Graveyard and it was dark, what else was I
supposed to do?” Astrid laughed at her friend. “Yeah, I know, but
Jordan? You’re the gross one.” Astrid just rolled her eyes and
played with the two dimes that were in her pocket. “It’s really not
that big of a deal Wave. I told them why I was there, and they
didn’t seem to mind. They’re kind of like car salesman, when no one
is actually dead.” Astrid said putting her shoe back on. “Yeah,
seems legit.” Waverly said sarcastically. Astrid took the dimes out
of her pocket and handed one to Waverly. “So what is your great
plan for finding a summer job? You have no skills, unless taking
selfies has suddenly become a profession.” Waverly poked Astrid in
the ribs. “Oh ha- ha, I am laughing quite loudly at that one.”
Astrid said standing up. “I don’t need to find anything, it’s
already been found. Just stand up please and turn around.” Waverly
knew the drill. The girls put their heels on the very edge of the
trellis and stood on their tip-toes. They closed their eyes and
threw the dimes over their shoulders and into the water. “What did
you wish for?” Astrid asked as if she didn’t already know. “Duh,
that the dentist will finally let me have braces this time, same as
always.” In reality, Waverly had wished that Jordan would kiss her
again. “What did you wish for?” Astrid usually just wished that
something cool would happen, but not this time. “I wished for my
summer job to make me rich and popular.” Astrid laughed and started
running towards the end of the trellis and back to their bikes.
Waverly began to run after her. “Are you gonna tell me what this
freaking job is?” The girls stopped running and got on their bikes.
“But of course” Astrid said. And in her best spooky sounding voice
she added, “The ancient art of Cartomancy.” Waverly paused with one
foot on a pedal. “How are maps going to help us make money? Hasn’t
everything already been charted, like a long time ago?” Astrid
closed her eyes and rubbed her temples like she had a headache.
Then she got on her bike and started to ride past her friend.
“That’s Cartography duh… what I’m talking about is much different,
although we will be charting courses.”