NO Quarter Read Online Free PDF Page B

like a degree and a half.
    “Yeah. I know her ... knew her. Damn. She was a nice kid.”
    “Well, nice don’t cut it for armor around here.”
    “Nothing much does except for maybe eyes in the back of your head. Did you see her before it happened?”
    “Not that I know. I had a couple of readings so I wasn’t watching real close, but I don’t think she came by here.”
    “Too bad. Well, I just wanted to check up on you. Watch yourself, okay?” I started to leave.
    “Hey! I owe you. How about a quickie reading?” She stepped back around her table and reached for her cards. “On the house. Payback—for saving a foolish damsel in distress.”
    I hesitated for a few beats. Normally, I avoid the cards. If anything, these days I believe in them too much, and sometimes getting a warning in advance only makes you so wary and nervous that you end up precipitating the very thing you’re trying to steer around. Still, turning down a free anything from someone you know in the Quarter is a sure way to ruffle feathers, and if she felt it would balance the scales, I owed her the chance.
    “Sure. Why not?” I slid into the customer’s chair, trying to appear casual. “So what was that guy mad at you for, anyway? Did you get his reading wrong or something?”
    “No.” She started shuffling the deck. “Problem was I got it right . Cards told me his girl was steppin’ out on him. I told him. He insisted I was full of shit—refused to pay. I let it go. Then, when he found out it was true, he came after me. Said I put some kind of mojo on her to make it happen.” She snorted. “And some people think denial is a river in Egypt!” She set the deck in front of me.
    I did two fast cuts and set it back on the table. Like I say, I believe in the cards. Shuffling doesn’t really do much. If they have something to tell you, they’ll rearrange themselves to deliver the message no matter what you do to the deck physically.
    Rose peeled off the top three cards one at a time. It’s an old quickie reading she’s done for me before, considerably faster than the complicated spreads she does for the tourists.
    “The Moon,” she said as she glanced at the first card. She knows I can read the cards myself, but is in the habit of doing her readings out loud. “A dangerous undertaking.”
    I silently absorbed that.
    The Two of Cups was next.
    “Lovers or partners,” she pronounced, “someone new in your life, or an old friend at a new level of awareness. Looks like it will work out pretty well.”
    I nodded.
    When she turned the third card, we both stared in silence for a moment.
    The Nine of Swords.
    People who don’t know the cards are always afraid of the Death Card. They shouldn’t be. All it means is the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one. The Nine of Swords, however, is the one I always dread. I stared at the card, a very distressed man in bed with nine swords around him—the Lord of Despair and Cruelty. Also known as the martyr’s card, it can mean many things, both internal and external, almost always bringing changes borne out of conflict and suffering. All swords indicate some level of change, but the nine of swords usually involves a lot of change. I have reasons for wanting things unchanged, and I’ve never been a big fan of suffering.
    “Well ... it could mean worry or anxiety,” Rose suggested, then glanced up guiltily. Never kid a kidder. We both knew it could also mean downfall, death, or imprisonment.
    “Yeah. Well, thanks, Rose. I’ve got to get going.”
    I stood up and put a fiver on the table. Even if the service is free, it’s always good to tip well. Besides, the reading had been interesting. I wandered on and hung a right onto Decatur Street as if that had been my destination all along.
    I considered the area where the police lights gathered. That was important. I knew where Sunshine worked and vaguely where she lived. The end of the Moonwalk nearer to the French Market was not along