Your Perfect Year(32)

“That’s really sweet.” He smiled at her as he settled down into his pillow. “But once I’ve nodded off I probably won’t wake up again till morning.”

“I don’t mind,” Hannah insisted. “I’ll just stay here.”

“Don’t be silly. You need some sleep yourself.”

“I’ll sleep here.”

“Where?” He blinked. “On that uncomfortable visitor chair?”

“I can lie on the floor if I have to.” Even she could hear how silly it sounded. After all, she was hardly keeping watch over his deathbed.

“Go on now,” Simon said with another wide yawn. “I’d really like to be on my own for a while.”

“But don’t you want . . .” She hesitated, but couldn’t get it out of her mind. What had he wanted to ask her? What? She had to know! He’d been so close just then, so close! “Don’t you want to get your question out of your system?”

“Another time, all right?” His eyelids began to flutter, and Hannah had to concede defeat.

“Okay, darling.” She gave him another gentle kiss on the lips. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning to take you home.”

She got a light snore by way of reply.





15

Jonathan

Tuesday, January 2, 8:17 p.m.

“Well, it’s looking very good already. You have a long and happy life ahead of you.”

Jonathan N. Grief peered skeptically at the thirteen cards he’d selected and which Sarasvati had laid out in a pattern on the table. She called it the Celtic cross, but as far as Jonathan was concerned it could just as easily have been the Bohemian village.

He tapped his index finger on the topmost card. It showed a skeleton in knight’s regalia, astride a white horse. “I don’t like to contradict you, but the first thing I see here is death. It even says so on the card!” He shuddered.

“That’s true,” she replied—and the shudder intensified. “But death shouldn’t be taken literally. It means letting go, a far-reaching change. A transformation.”

“How reassuring.” Jonathan gulped. “I mean, dying is quite a change—but one I’d rather not experience quite yet.”

“As I said, your cards indicate a long, fulfilling life.”

“How nice.”

“But—”

“Ah, here comes the catch!”

Sarasvati Schulz silenced him with a stern look. “But,” she repeated, bending over the cards, “you must also be prepared to allow these changes in.”

“So, what are they?”

“Shhh!” She flapped a hand as though batting away a fly, then slowly traced her finger from one colorful image to the next. “I can see you’re worried about something.”

“Who wouldn’t be worried, given the way the world’s going?”

She looked up and clicked her tongue. “If you’re going to interrupt every word I say, we certainly won’t finish in the time we have.”

“I’ll hold my tongue.”

She turned again to the tarot deck. “Yes, I can see it clearly. You’re full of a great fear that’s holding you back.”

Jonathan swallowed the remark that he really wasn’t afraid of anything. At least, not right then; things could, of course, change during the next hour and a half.

“You have to release yourself from your paralysis and approach things head-on.” She tapped an image labeled “The Fool,” which showed a youth balancing on the edge of a precipice. “The cards are advising you to lighten up,” she said. “Let go of your cares, don’t hang on to your pain, get rid of all your baggage.”

“I don’t have any cares!” Jonathan said again, more loudly than he’d intended. “In any case, if I may be so bold, that young man looks as though he could fall at any moment.”

Sarasvati sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I’m sorry, but we’re not getting anywhere. We’d better stop. There’s no point with you.” She made a move to gather up the cards.

“Oh, don’t!” Jonathan cried, surprised. He shot his hands out and laid them on hers. Noticing her piqued expression, he cleared his throat in embarrassment and let go. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I won’t say another word, promise!”

“Good.” She tipped her head from side to side as if weighing whether or not to grant Jonathan his request. Then she began to trace her finger along the cards again. “This is the knight of wands,” she said, indicating an image of a man who, like death, was dressed like a knight and rode a horse. In his hand he held a staff—or, rather, a branch, since on closer inspection Jonathan saw it had green shoots coming from it. “He indicates that you should act, tells you that something has to happen. The wands symbolize the element of fire; they represent vitality and movement.” She nodded. “Yes, the time has come for you to embark on a whole new course.”

Jonathan would have loved to ask what on earth she meant by a new course, but he didn’t dare open his mouth again.

“You won’t have to walk this path alone; you’ll be given support.” She tapped the image of a woman in a crown and yellow robe sitting on a throne, also holding a long branch. “Someone will give you the first impetus and point you in the right direction.”