“Urh,” Carl said. “Real difficulties.” He pinched the metal beads in his beard. “The molars. That caused the fluctuation. I never realized there was so much power in teeth. Electrical impulses in the roots, I suppose.”

“I went to see him today. Took the bus all the way out to his garage. He was there with that lady. Dian. And he kicked me out. Right on my ass.”

“Right on my ass. Urh, the two of them. They could be Workers, Magic Boy. You’ve got to protect your mind. Avoid being encapsulated. Monitor the beams.”

I picked up a pebble and threw it into the creek. “Yeah, you’re right, Carl. I’m not going to think about it. Not believe any more of his shit.”

“Good, good,” he said. “Critical analysis.” He dug around inside his coat and pulled out a deck of cards. On the back they had a picture of a woman in a flowing dress.

“Do you want to play a hand?” I asked. “Poker? I’m not very good though. And I don’t have money.”

“No, Magic Boy. Don’t, don’t, don’t, urh, play with these.”

“Missing some, then?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay.” I was confused.

Then Carl said, “Tomorrow’s on them. In, urh, hypothetical analogies. Divide and divide and divide until the single option remains. They belong to my mother.” He snapped the cards slowly in his hands.

“The ghost?” I didn’t want to ask him how she became that way.

“Urh,” he said.

“Did your mom teach you?”

“Urh,” he said again.

Carl dug out a handkerchief from one of his pockets and laid it on a rock. He shuffled the cards and then held the deck toward me. “Tap with your pointer finger,” he said. “Three times.”

After I tapped the deck he fanned out the cards, turning five of them over slowly on the handkerchief. He tugged at his beard. Hard. “Oh, oh. I never, urh, saw that before.”

I went closer. All five cards were black. A row of spades.

“What does it say? Am I going to be famous? Have an enormous boat in the ocean somewhere?”

“It doesn’t mean a thing, Magic Boy.”

“Come on, Carl. What’s my future?”

“Not right, not right.” He grabbed up the cards. He pushed them back into the deck and put a red elastic around them. Then he hid them inside a pocket. “I haven’t got that knack. Too many responsive guidelines. Infinite manifestations.” He picked up a bottle of soda and twisted the cap. Foam rolled out on his hand. “You’re fine. You’re perfectly fine.” He took a long swallow from the bottle.

I was disappointed, but I didn’t let it show. Not like it meant anything anyway. They were just cards.

“I should get home, Carl. I got stuff to do.”

“Sure, sure, sure. You can visit me anytime.”