The woman in the bright scarf with rings on her fingers turned over a card in the center of the table: the picture of a knight on a grey horse.
"The Knight of Cups," she said.
"That's you, I'll reckon," Thomas said to Jimmy.
Jimmy giggled and linked his arm through Thomas's. Thomas's heart jumped into his throat. He felt awful for enjoying moments like this one, when Jimmy grew so drunk he forgot himself and allowed them thrilling intimacy. But he figured that today of all days, Jimmy might need a little comfort. Not that it meant anything.
Jimmy had been deep in his cups when they stumbled upon the fortune-teller's booth. "Let's get our fortunes told, Thomas, please?!" Jimmy had begged, one hand fisted in Thomas's shirt.
Thomas groaned. He hated when Jimmy took to drink like this, because the boy grew helplessly sloppy, so Thomas couldn't fairly have a drop himself what with looking after him. It was all right Thursday nights in the village, but this was the Autumn Festival, and they both deserved some fun. So Thomas made a face.
"What, ya scared?" Jimmy slurred.
"Yes, Jimmy, terrified of wastin' me money on a carnival charlatan."
"How d'you know that she's a sharlaltlan?"
Thomas rolled his eyes. "Jimmy, it's bloody Downton? D'ya think a real fortune-teller would be wastin' her time here?"
He had made a good argument, he thought, but Jimmy's blue eyes met Thomas's and he had no choice but to say, "Whatever you want, Jimmy."
He loved Jimmy, he still did, but that wasn't the reason he gave in so easily.
Earlier that week, Jimmy had arrived upstairs in the servants' quarters in tears. When Thomas and the others had asked him what was wrong, he'd asked them all to bugger off in as many words.
The next day, Thomas found Jimmy polishing a pile of silver alone and asked him, gently as he could, if he were all right. "Fine," Jimmy muttered, eyes red and bloodshot as though he hadn't slept a wink all night. "Just might lose me job."
"Might lose yer job?" Thomas had to sit down in the chair next to Jimmy. "Why?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Jimmy rubbed his eyes. "But there's no 'might' about it, really. Carson just wants to wait a few days. But I'll be gone sure as... as something that's bloody sure."
Three days later, Jimmy was drunk off his arse at the Autumn Festival, pretending nothing was wrong, and so Thomas knew he couldn't rightly refuse his beloved anything. Not today.
The inside of the fortune-teller's booth was draped all in thin, sparkly cloth, with strange-looking symbols drawn on the exposed wood. A woman sat behind a table with a crystal ball and a deck of cards. She was swathed in the same glittering cloth, a large ring on each finger. Thomas thought it all marvelously fake.
"We'd like our fortunes told," Jimmy said.
"Just him," Thomas corrected. "Me, I'm fine."
"Sit, please," the woman said. They did. She asked their names and Thomas provided both - Barrow and Kent - before Jimmy had fully understood the question. She pushed the deck of cards towards Jimmy. "Shuffle the cards, Mr. Kent, and think about any question you need answered. You don't need to tell me what it is."
"I have to shuffle the deck meself?" Jimmy sneered at her, but when that had no effect, he picked up the cards.
Watching Jimmy shuffle cards intoxicated was a torturous process. The woman with the rings waited patiently and let one hand drift over a dark crystal ball. Thomas could not see her clearly in the dim lighting, but she seemed younger than the deep voice she likely put on for affect. She had green eyes and large hoop earrings.
"Is't done now?" Jimmy muttered. She lifted an eyebrow and made a beckoning gesture with one hand. Jimmy pushed the haphazard pile of cards across the table. She had righted them, laid out shape of a cross with the top five, and turned over the center card.
"The Knight of Cups is a messenger and a man of inspiration," the woman said, as though she had not heard them. "He has arrived in your life bringing creativity, grand emotion, or great wisdom."
She turned over the card to the right of center. Jimmy craned his head what must have been painfully to the side before he realized the card was upside-down and turned it around. "There. Better."
"No, Mr. Kent, it was right the way it was," the woman said and turned the card upside-down again. "When you shuffled the deck, some of the cards were turned upside-down, or inverted. Which way the cards face is also part of your reading."
So Jimmy craned his head around again. "It's people fallin' off a tower. Why's that?"
"This second card in your reading represents past influences still affecting your situation. The Tower displays a time of turmoil and great uncertainty. You have been shaken to your core." The woman shook a ringed finger back and forth. "But this destruction is no tragedy. Because of it, you now have the chance to rebuild yourself again, stronger than you were before. This turmoil has torn down your defenses, and you can now see the truth about yourself.
"The Tower is inverted, which in this case means that this time of turmoil has passed, and you still do not know what to do in its wake."
She turned over the card at the top of the cross. "This third card represents a possible. future outcome of your present state."
The card showed a heart pierced by three swords. Jimmy shuddered, and Thomas began to wonder if they couldn't just leave. He'd throw a few coins on the woman's glittery table, tell her she was being bloody morbid and take Jimmy elsewhere, some place he might be able to properly forget everything he surely wanted to forget.
"The Three of Swords. Heartbreak and grief. Pain that must be endured for life to go on." She spoke in increasingly dark and somber tones, clearly enjoying herself.
Thomas snorted. "None o' these cards are very nice." He'd have to comfort Jimmy the whole walk back home. Not that that was a burden. But all this talk of people falling out of towers and heartbreak was bloody unnecessary today.
"The Knight one was nice," Jimmy slurred.
"It's not my job to say nice things, Mr. Barrow," said the fortune-teller. Her rings glinted in the dim light.
"Well, ya'd get more customers if ya did," Thomas said and sneered.
She turned over the card below the knight. A horned beast sitting on a throne, with a naked man and woman at his feet, in chains. "The devil," the woman said. "This card is the reason behind your question, Mr. Kent."
"The devil wanted me t'ask what's goin' on in me life?" Jimmy said and squeezed Thomas's arm.
"The Devil represents the forces that constrain you within yourself. We are all held back in our lives for many reasons, most of which are outside of our control. But the Devil is insidious because he works from within and he teaches you to doubt yourself. He wants you to believe you are his victim, but you can, in fact, step out of his chains at any moment."
Jimmy listened to all this with wide eyes. When the fortune-teller finished speaking, he nodded. "Go on. Please."
"The Devil manifests in self-doubt and crippling hopelessness. Fearing that which is inside yourself makes you feel helpless."
"Yeah," Jimmy said, breathless. "Sounds 'bout right."
"Looking back at the Tower," the woman gestured dramatically across the table, "I believe the Devil's bonds on you have been shaken. You need now only to gain the courage to throw off these chains."
"How?" Jimmy bit his lip and looked at the woman as though she held all the answers in the world.
She turned over the final card. On it, a rainbow in the sky and a couple standing below, their arms linked.
"The Ten of Cups. Peace, happiness, and contentment. The start of a new love affair. Finding your place in the world. Listen to your heart, Mr. Kent. Listen to the Knight of Cups and what he is trying to tell you. Allow yourself to be shaken. Allow yourself to change. And you will find happiness."
Jimmy picked up the knight card, pulled it close to his face. "Can I keep it?"
"No, Jimmy," Thomas said, elbowing him in the side. "It's her only one."
"Who is 'e? If 'e's so bloody important."
The woman shrugged. "I don't know."
Jimmy tossed the card back on the table. Thomas hated to let him go outside alone, but he had to for a moment. "I'll be with ya in a minute, Jimmy!" he said, as Jimmy staggered out of the fortune-telling booth. Then he leaned across the table. "Look, I know it's your job to make things up – "
"I didn't make anything up." The woman gathered up her cards and reshuffled them. Her voice didn't sound deep and dramatic anymore.
"We all know what the future's gonna be. That boy will lose his job this week. He didn't come here for a lecture. He came to hear that everythin' will be alright." Thomas reluctantly pulled a few coins from his pocket. "And so did I."
Outside the fortune-teller's booth, Jimmy was vomiting into a pile of fallen leaves. Thomas caught his hat before it fell off and patted him on the back. "Thank you," Jimmy muttered. Thomas held out his handkerchief. "You won't want it back after I touch it, I promise," Jimmy said.
"Keep it," said Thomas.
Jimmy wiped his mouth with Thomas's handkerchief. "Yer me knight in shinin' armor, you are."
"I'm nothin' like that," Thomas said. "Come on, lean on me, 'n I'll take you home."
So Jimmy did, one arm around Thomas's waist, his head resting on Thomas's heart.