08/17/2021
An example of how Tarot can prompt creative writing.
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Her eyes fell upon the dictionary stand with the volume opened to a plate of poisonous plants. She took in a sharp breath and held it. Outside a treefrog added its voice to the night chorus of crickets and cicadas.
Was pain a reason for action? She wasn’t sure. Her head throbbed. It wasn’t her worst problem. Not her first. Not her last.
She was safe now. Now. Here in the hot and humid South. A small town with history she barely knew, names she didn’t recognize. She could surround herself with cats, flowers, paintings, books, all her pleasures. No one needed to know her here in the quiet.
The moon was waxing, she recalled, but couldn’t see it, not from this window, not in the rain.
“Or about to rain,” she said out loud to the dog who wagged his stump of a tail in agreement. “Outside?”
The cocker spaniel leapt to his feet and danced at her knees.
“All right. Let’s go before we drown out there.”
She padded to the back door, the curly black dog ahead of her, jumping at the doorknob. She felt a cat at her ankles.
“No, kitty, you stay in,” she murmured to the retreating cat. “I have enough trouble.”
On the steps, she felt light drops against her face and looked up to see whether the trees by the door were just dripping or the rain was in earnest.
“Hm, Doggy boy, I think we are in for more. Go. Go on now. Out in the grass.”
The dog hesitated at her feet, sniffing the night air. He looked up at her and stepped tentatively from the brick steps, waiting.
“Fine,” she growled tenderly. “I’ll come too.”
She stopped at the edge of the patio and gave the dog a nudge. He stumbled into the tall grass, nose low to find the bug or toad to entertain him while he avoided his true mission.
A noise beyond the fences snapped his head up and he rushed to the chain links and whined, then barked.
“What’s out there, Davy?” she asked softly. “You got a monster in the dark?”
The dog danced against the fencing, trotted towards the gate and completed the primary task. Sniffing the hibiscus roots and checking the side yard, he returned to the back door, meeting her there.
She mused at the secrets in the nearby houses, the secrets in her own house. Everyone had secrets.
