“Aw come on Golden. You know I don’t have any money. I can barely afford to buy this espresso from you.”
“25,” she insisted before taking another sip.
“Damnation.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out the required money, handed it to her from across the table. He needed information, and badly!
“Good. Now let’s go inside. Did you bring a personal recorder?”
“Well… *no*.”
“Then we’ll have to use mine. I have an hour tape. That will have to be long enough.”
“Well great, since I have to be back at the salt mine in about that time.” He checks his watch. “Exactly that time as it turns out.”
“Nice. We are in sync. Can you feel it?”
—–
“Interesting. So the cards seem to be going only so far. We have a location called Big Sandy with lots of sun. Let’s do a deeper reading now with the crystal ball.” She manifests one on the table, blue-green as Earth. And it was, a microcosmic version. She could see actions anywhere on the globe.
“Yes, sand sand everywhere. Miring sand. *Trapping* sand. Did you bring your shovel?” She delved deeper. “Never mind. The spirits see you did. And you’re digging, digging your way out of the shit with a golden shovel. Has to be gold. And gold digs out gold. Can you see? Never mind, the spirits understand that you see.”
And he did. He envisioned a bug… no, a car shaped like a bug. Golden in the light. Storm approaching from the northeast which is somehow the same as the west, he knew. A big ship out at sea. Sea ship but also space ship. Lots of people on board. It was three… three… He lost it.
Golden was staring at him instead of the globe. Tell me what you saw… apprentice.”
(to be continued)
Sunklands 