Day Tripper

“In some way…” Carolyn conceded after thinking about Sybill’s words. “In some way, yes. It’s just that for a moment I thought you were talking about setting an example on a larger scale, and not about just the way I style my hair or I peel oranges,” she explained, curling her lips into a small smile.

Sybill shrugged. “It could be on a larger scale. It’s a bit hard to tell with general readings, they do tend to have vague answers.”

“That’s quite heavy.”

“A bit yeah, but I promise it’s much better than I’m making it sound.”

“They’re a big hit with the kids, and cheaper to make than Menagerie cat food, too. I’m thinking of selling them for about five knuts each… Come to think of it, it should be fishballs, shouldn’t it?”

“Fishballs sort of sounds ick, though doesn’t it. You’ve gotta come up with something catchy if you’re going to sale ‘em.”

“That’d be up other people’s interpretation, though,” Carolyn said, shrugging in return. “Anyway, that seems to be an unfair amount of responsibility,” she joked, making her voice sound light and bright, acting more at ease than she actually was.

“I think you’re right. Not sure that’s an unfair amount of responsibility though. Everything we do is an example in some way to someone isn’t it?”

“What’s a socio-something?”

“It’s like, he does all sorts of bad things, but he doesn’t feel any remorse.”

“What’s the main character like?”

“Well, he’s sort of awful in the beginning. Violent, a sociopath really. But then he gets brainwashed, but later that sort of wears off and he’s a sociopath again. His look is iconic though.”

Carolyn watched and listened closely, her attention completely on Sybill and her cards. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, thoughtfully. It wasn’t much after all, unimpressive in a way; however those words made her feel a growing dreadful sense of unease. “Interesting,” she commented, politely. “An example?” She was mostly thinking out loud rather than just asking Sybill. “What kind of… example?”

Sybill shrugged. “That’d be up to you in the long run, wouldn’t it? I’d hope you’d be a good one though.”

“Not that one! Those are fish meatballs for Sir Winston, Dilly and Snowball - the cookies are in the other bowl.”

“Fish meatballs? That’s not something you hear often.”

Carolyn nodded and did exactly as instructed, suppressing a slowly increasing feeling of unease and forcing herself to quietly and patiently wait for Sybill to begin.

“Okay, this,” Sybill turned the first card. “will explain your current situation. You’ve come to a crossroads in your life recently. You’ve got the chance to wipe your slate clean.” She turned the next card. “The challenge you face is if you take the new path to wipe your slate clean, you’ll become an example. If you make the choice to do so, use it wisely. And finally–” she turned the final card. “guidance. Your best option, is to make the choice closest to your heart. Whatever path you choose to take, let your heart be the guide.”

“An orange clock? Wowza. No, I’ve never seen it.”

“Well, no that’s not it exactly. It’s a bit– well it’s complicated. But the not complicated version is I’m going to be the main character for halloween.”

Mundungus nodded, following Sybill’s instructions to the letter. “Not that I couldn’t do both. I mean.. they are not mutually exclusive,” he went on, as he put the cards down. “Like this?” He asked her, once he was done and having managed exactly what she had asked of him. 

“Perfect!” She leaned forward, pointing to each card as she spoke. “Alright, this top card here will show potential, the bottom card is reason, and these across are past, present, and future respectively. Are you ready?”

“I’m sure you make an excellent hostess.”

“How opposed are you to apparition?”

“Alright.” Carolyn nodded and carefully shuffled the deck for a few seconds before setting it back down and cutting as Sybill had said. “Here it is. Is that okay?” She cracked a small smile. “At the moment I haven’t any specific question.” Not one she felt safe or comfortable sharing. “A general reading, then.”

“That’s perfect!” She nodded. “Alright then, place a card here, here, and here,”  Sybill instructed, pointing to the free space between them, “And we’ll begin.”

“Well, I do like the telly. There’s series called Mork and Mindy, and it’s my favorite.”

“Oh, Mork and Mindy is wonderful! Did you ever happen to see A Clockwork Orange? It’s a bit of an older film at this point, I’ve only managed to see it a couple times at one of those second run cinemas, but it’s bloody brilliant.”

“I don’t believe I have anything else to do this afternoon, no, unless you’d rather me come over later of course.”

“Nonsense! I love playing hostess, plus I’ve got a killer record collection so it can double as a dance party.” 

“That’s quite a lot of planning! What are you dressing up as?”

“How familiar are you with muggle cinema?”

“I guess I should count myself lucky then.”

“You should! Come on, my flat’s not far from here. Unless you’ve got anything you need to do, in which case you can come by in about an hour.”