The Curse of the Mystic Cats

by R. E. Rose

  Outside the carnival tent, the sun was painting an orange and pink setting. A few children ran around on the quiet fair grounds. As I walked along the path back toward the parking lot, I felt a strong urge and was drawn to Tommy Black’s Abu Dhabi tent.

  I went there and quickly ducked in through the draped doorway, and immediately noticed the partially tarped Wheel-of-Fortune, the same one Temmie had demonstrated to me days earlier. I pulled back the tarp to reveal a completely repaired and polished wheel. It was beautiful to behold. The wheel sparkled and twinkled.

  I ran my hands across it and felt the power there. I was the Divinity Star, the Goddess. The wheel was mine to spin, even though I had no real idea of what I might be doing.

  I touched two of the many planchettes affixed to the wheel and positioned them so that each pointed to a different outcome. One pointed to the past, the next to the present, a third to the future. Then I positioned a fourth to indicate fast. I suppose I should have let things be, but instead, I gripped the black polished knob used for spinning the wheel and rocked the contraption a couple of times before I snapped it into a full spin.

  At that moment, Tommy Black walked in. When he saw what I’d done, he put his hands to his face in horror,

  “No-o-o.” He rushed over to the wheel and put out a hand as if to stop the spin, but in the next moment, Tommy Black was gone.

  I didn’t feel any different. I ran out of the tent to take a look at what might be going on outside. But there was nothing. No carnival setup, no tents or fairgrounds. It was gone, all of it. Even the tent I’d just stepped out of was gone. I was standing in the middle of a fallow field. My clothes, like Cinderella at midnight, were gone. I wore my jeans and a t-shirt. The sun was still setting. My little electric blue car sat parked on the side of a dirt road.

  I got into the car and put on my seatbelt. I checked the rearview mirror and hanging there was a gold chain with a golden horse charm.

  “Shane Apollo,” I said to myself. On the passenger seat was a tarot card. It read, ‘The Force.’ It had no picture on it. It was a blank white card. I opened my purse to place the card there and found the tarot deck.

  I opened the box and dropped the new card inside. I dug through the purse and found two things, the safety deposit key, but I was no longer certain of its security. The second thing I found was the golden, rhinestone bracelet William had given me.

  I started the car and headed for Koldwell Bank, hoping it still existed, but if it didn’t, I’d head for the bowling alley. And if that was gone, well, I’d just keep driving till I found the next town. Hopefully, there was one or two of those left!

  And if not, there was always the rhinestone bracelet and the realm of the Cheshire.

  The End

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