Category: Gay/Lesbian/Bi Pages: 250
Copyright: September 10th 2015
A Romany gypsy in 1953 is fated to wed a fellow gypsy girl. He's a man's man, a tough guy but isn't sure he can be the man she needs as he is secretly gay.
It’s the summer of 1953 and in the South of England, Mickey Ray is living a lie. Mickey is a bareknuckle boxer, a prize-fighting gypsy who is the son of the Romany camp’s leader. He is eighteen and is engaged to Rosa, a strong, traditional Romany girl. Mickey’s lie is simple, he is gay in a society that won’t worry about the illegality of the fact, they would see him dead for it.
Mickey accepted a long time ago how his life would be but he has a chance encounter with a local teenager. Tom is a quiet, introverted boy; raised by his mother after his father died in the war. His education places him between being a labourer and a clerk and as such, he fits in neither world. Solitary and frequently bullied, the youth spends his time buried in library books.
When Mickey and Tom meet, Mickey has the first glimpse of a possible alternate future than obligation dictated to him.
Excerpt
Tom put his hand out on the table expecting the fortune teller to take it, turn it over and begin the reading but she made a hissing sound as she blew through the gaps in her teeth. “Kek, kek tu!” She laughed again and produced a square of green silk that resembled a covered brick. Slowly and reverentially she unwrapped the package by folding open each side of the silk as though opening a present with the greatest of care.
With the fourth and final corner of the material pulled away a deck of cards was revealed. The pack was larger than any Tom had seen before and despite their apparent age, they were only slightly yellowed where they would once have been white. She raised the cards from the table and swiped the silk away swiftly to deposit the deck on the table a little in front of the boy. “Chin.”
Mickey leant over Tom's shoulder and whispered for the youth to cut the deck. Reaching out, Tom split the pack into two piles and glanced back at Mickey to find the young gypsy was still leaning over him but his eyes were on the table, his eyes brightly reflecting the flames of the candles. He seemed genuinely interested in what was transpiring. Catching Tom's attention, he grinned, his earnest, rapt attention apparent.
Looking back to the old woman, Tom noticed the deck had been put back as one and Sara was staring at him. “What would you know?” Sara asked, her words clearer than most gypsies Tom had encountered but she had a thick accent he couldn't place. “Would tu know of love? Money?” Pausing for effect, she then added “Death?”
There was a hesitation as Tom considered the question. He licked his lips before he answered “Just... what the future holds.” Tom knew it was a very vague answer but he hadn't given a lot of thought to what he would say.
“Just?” Sara smirked. The humour was lost on both Tom and Mickey. Smiling to herself, the woman dealt out a nine card spread of her tarot; the layout appeared to be simple as it was a straightforward three by three square that she lay upon the table between the candles. “This will give us past, present and future.”
“I already know my past and present.” Tom frowned. He recoiled involuntarily as the old woman grinned her gap toothed grin at him.
“We shall see” she said, quietly amused at the stock answer she always received.
Sara reached her hand to the top row and turned over all three cards and peered intently at them. The Bacchus tarot she used was an original deck nearly two centuries old that her great grandmother had gifted to her almost forty years previous. Even the regular use over the decades hadn't dulled the images and the ten of Swords, the Moon and the five of Coins stared up at her.
Mickey looked intently at the formation. He didn't have any great understanding of reading but he had seen La Lune card before. It had been upside down when it had last appeared for him and Sara had told him it referred to his confidence.
After a brief pause, the old woman raised her eyes to Tom and spoke with conviction. “Tu has had a hard past; you've known loss an' it took a long time for tu to find a place in the world. Much of your past has been difficult and you has worried much.”
Accepting her words with a nod, Tom thought of his father and he knew everything the woman claimed was true but he was also aware of how vague her words were. He watched again as the woman turned over the next cards and he was surprised to see all three cards had people drawn on them, he took a moment to translate the Reine de Coupe, Valet des Epee and L'Ermite. Though he wasn't entirely sure about Reine, he thought from the images he had the Queen of cups, the Jack of swords and a Hermit, though the hermit looked a lot like a monk to his mind.
“Hmm! Unusual.” Sara said. Her fingers lightly ran across the face of the cards, a gentle touch that didn't disturb the arrangement. “This is now. You know much but always want to know more. You know some things without knowing them. Also... you seek... this is the Hermit, the Hermit seeks but... for tu, it is not knowledge.”
Tom expected more to be said but he was taken unaware when careless of the already upturned six cards, Sara hurriedly turned over the last cards and then sat back, drawing her face away from the light.
Face up were the last trio of cards that indicated the future of the local boy. Two sevens and a three. The seven of cups, the seven of swords and the three of swords. The cup card was upside down, inverted.
“You will know pain.”
Mickey looked down at Tom as the youth peered intently toward the card reader in the shadows. Her face was unseen as he waited for her to elaborate, she slowly drew her hands away from the candlelight. Mickey hesitated, he wanted to ask more on Tom's behalf but he didn't want to interfere in the reading. All his life Sara had been friendly outside of her tent but when she was inside her ofisa she was taciturn and there was a strict code of behaviour.
The pause stretched out painfully and finally, Tom broke the silence and asked to know more of the pain the cards spoke of.
“The cards do not say” Sara stated, brooking no further discussion then elaborated of her own choosing to add “It will come soon but much is unsaid.”
Tom turned to Mickey, his face showed a hint of worry but mainly, he came across as puzzled. The expression on the face of the gypsy beside him was not encouraging as Mickey's brows furrowed and he shrugged at the unasked questions it was clear Tom had.
Sara did not move from the shadows but said “Tu both shall go now, nothing more to know.”
Squeezing his friend's shoulder, Mickey gained his attention again and inclined his head to Tom to indicate that they should leave. Quietly but with reluctance, the boy stood and followed the gypsy out of the tent into the harsh light of the summer sun.
Inside the tent Sara let out a deep sigh and her hands scooped up the first six cards with practised ease and returned them to the deck. She stared down at the three last cards that indicated the boy’s future and shuffled forward in her chair, leaning her elbows on the covered table and resting her head in her hands. Taking in the detail of the three cards the aged woman let her eyes run over each card and she felt the weight of the world on her as all her years suddenly bore her down.
The suffering the swords indicated was a harsh combination that told her pain was an understatement of what the boy was going to face but she worried about the inverted cup card. The card represented fantasy and dreams and with it upside down, it could mean either the young man would choose a practical future or... his dreams and fantasies would be swept aside.
Though she knew the coming days were going to be hard on the gadjo, Sara wondered at the uncertain nature of the cards. Pushing the cards away from her she quickly spread the pack of cards before her and separated the major arcana from the deck, she quickly shuffled the light deck and sat them face first in front of her. Focussing her thoughts on the youth she turned over three new cards and interlocked her fingers under her chin as she studied the intricate faces of the cards before her.
The Flemish cards before her told her more than she had wished to know but as much as she had expected. Le Monde, La Foudre and L'Amour.
Mickey Ray hadn't had a reading from her for six years, two months and eight days but she remembered every card she had turned over in her life. The boy had a secret and from the reading she had just made, she knew trouble was going to come to both youngsters.
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