I/Tulpa: the Seven Year Girl

chapter 2

"How nice! Come in! Come in! ... Delighted to meet you, sir! Overjoyed! Enraptured! Enchanted! All right!"

Finding the card maker took a bit of magic, but between Jon and Loxy, they had more than enough to push a doorway to the world they needed and they traveled under Loxy's lead and arrived on an old dirt road, grass fighting to reclaim it, and with a short walk, they found themselves at a lake, and small gypsy trailer. If that elicited a certain image in your mind, then you need it updated to the modern gypsy. This was not the old horse and buggy carriage. This was a VW Bus, with a pop up camper roof, topped with a solar panel. If you looked beyond the surface, you would find the old petro engine was replaced with an electric motor. If you just stayed on the surface of things, the mural that wrapped around the exterior surface of the van told you the story of strange journeys through strange lands. It didn't matter where you caught your first glimpse, you were instantly drawn into a story, and it didn't matter if you proceeded left or right or up or down, because the story worked in any direction. He was pretty sure he saw a lone 'Tie-fighter.'

"Neither of you look like you need a match maker," the old woman said.

Hearing her voice and seeing her lips move jarred Jon from the story. He hadn't realized the doors to the van was open and the woman was standing there looking at them was not just part of the mural, the part that he was intending to get to. Even the low part of her dress that the wind pushed up against the mural just seemed mural-ish. He blinked. The inside of the van that he glimpsed around the edges of the woman through the twirling of her aura was bigger than the outside.

"Well, don't just stand there," she said. "Come on in. I won't stand for you to have come all this way for nothing."

Loxy took Jon's hand and led him inside the van. "Better than that Scooby Doo van," Loxy whispered.

"Way better," Jon agreed.

The old woman, a modern day gypsy wearing the latest in boho fashion, invited them to sit at a table, near an alcove overlooking the lake. She was humming the chorus to "Magic," by Olivia newton John as she gathered up her tarot cards and put them away in a nifty box, which was then placed in a mobile cupboard, along with assortment of magical tools that seemed haphazardly assembled on the top. She made them tea and set the cups in front of them before warming her own and joining them, her back to the lake. She smiled at Jon staring at her.

"Ahh, sonny, son," she cooed. "I haven't been stared at like that in ages. Thank you for warming the outer edges of my heart."

Jon's eyes went to the table, and Loxy patted Jon's knee.

"Oh, don't be bashful now," the old woman said. "Consider that the down payment for whatever it is you come to me for."

"We would like to have joint cards made," Loxy said.

"Would you now," the old woman said.

"I hear you're the best at this sort of thing," Loxy said.

"You heard that, or you're saying that because your spell dropped you off on my porch?" the old woman asked.

"No, I actually heard of you. You come very well recommended," Loxy said.

"I am just checking," she said. "I mean, it's okay if it's the latter, but I would want to know the exact phrasing of your locating spell, just to make sure I wasn't runner up, or the next available kind of thing. A girl has a reputation to hold."