Last night I went to dinner with Rachel’s gay best friend, Pym. (Well, that’s his surname, but he likes everyone to use it as if it is his first name.) We went there because Rache was desperate to find some way of entertaining Dimitrios, who is v hard-going, and accompanied Vasilius EVERYWHERE (except the bedroom, obviously). Oh – and Rachel seems delighted with Vasilius now, she thinks he is just as handsome as before etc.
Anyhoo, we went off to Pym’s flat, which is in Maida Vale. It’s gorgeous: nearly all the rooms painted a coffee-colour (called Bath Stone), old oil-paintings in gold frames, antique furniture, There’s a faint smell of dog. (He doesn’t have a dog.) But then bachelor’s places do sometimes smell a little. (Either of dog or hamster-cage. It must be due to unwashed socks.) We had a roast dinner and things were very sticky because Dimitrios said he couldn’t eat the food, it was too dry, he hated the sauce, Greeks didn’t cook pork like this etc etc. Then he was restless and got up and kept fiddling with Pym’s priceless objets d’art which made Pym nervous. So Rache said why didn’t Pym tell our fortunes? Apparently he has this party piece where he tells fortunes with Tarot cards and he is really rather good. I’ve always been scared of Tarot cards and kind of thought they were wrong and sinister, but they said I didn’t have to do it. So first Pym did Vasilius, and told him his business would do brilliantly, and there was a new romance in his life. Then he told Rache she had been unhappy, but a new era was dawning. And the big success was Dimitrios, who hadn’t really wanted to draw cards, but, when he did, got loads of pentacles, which apparently mean money and prosperity and success, culminating in the ten of Pentacles, which is apparently pretty much the best card you can have. He was so pleased! A smile even lit up his sour old face. He practically kissed Pym. (Who v kissable. So handsome, a lovely sexy tanned face, always smiling, and gorgeous bright blue eyes.)
Well, you can guess what happened next. It had got really late by now, and everyone said why didn’t I try. And, after all, their cards hadn’t been at all scary. And Pym held them out and told me to choose. And an odd thing happened. It was almost like I could see the backs of certain cards glowing slightly, like those were the ones I should choose.
And we turned them over… and they were just horrible! REALLY REALLY SCARY AND VILE. The devil card was in there, and right in the middle a tower with people screaming and falling off it. I just burst into tears. So then we went home. And now I don’t know whether to ring Pym and ask him what they meant, or just try and forget it all.
