Unmarked Cards

Norma yawned, sat up among her jewels, and walked to the staircase that would take her to the rooms. On the plastic table, on a bandana she had used as a tablecloth, there was a card that was one of the 22 Major Arcana of Marseille. At the top, inscribed in red Roman numerals, was the number 18. Below, a violet and red moon emitted thick, pointed rays. Jana caught her breath and focused her mind on the details and symbolism. Under the rays, small drops of white, yellow, red, and green fell on two animals that looked like dogs and could be wolves, sticking their tongues out in thirst. Behind them, in the background, were two modest fortifications. The one on the left was yellow, the one on the right, white. Both had a red strip before the openings where the lookouts rested their weapons.

One of the dogs was a timid light blue, and the other a shade that oscillated between the rosy color of piglets and snow white. They stepped on an intense green cord like the drops, and immediately after came a body of water that didn't seem like a river or a sea, but a crustacean appeared. In the center, with claws raised, was a lobster.

Jana had gone along with Norma as a game, but she felt that what she was saying was addressing her.

She had said that if that card appeared inverted, it meant lies, deception, hidden loves, conflicts with the maternal image, even cancer, and eating disorders like anorexia. If it appeared upright, it referred to ancestors, sea voyages, parties, past lives, reconciliation, and liberation from complex traumas. "Memory, it's the moon, dear, there's a whole world in it."

When Jana decoded the message, she left the comfort of the house protected by air conditioning and decided to step into the January inferno.