Morayma's Tarot Reading, Tale #2

0:12 Speaker: Morayma's Tarot Reading, written and read by Maria Rodriguez Bross

0:39 Speaker: Morayma was born with an extra thumb she did not want.

0:44 Speaker: But her best friend Sara convinced her it was good luck after reading her tarot cards.

0:54 Speaker: But after many years, Morayma saw no evidence supporting this prediction.

1:00 Speaker: So on the morning she opened a brown paper bag to discover her beloved cat Mota, lifeless and bloodied, everyone suspected she'd blame Sara.

1:16 Speaker: Initially, Morayma's extra thumb had been a source of grief for her parents, who asked the doctor what could be done.

1:26 Speaker: But back then, the surgery to remove the extra thumb was costly and risky.

1:33 Speaker: So her parents confided in their pastor in the hopes that prayers could remove it safely and without expense.

1:42 Speaker: But the pastor simply said, "The mark of the devil must be cast out of her." His response let others believe that Morayma had been cursed.

1:58 Speaker: So many alienated themselves from her, with the exception of Sara.

2:04 Speaker: But now, now middle-aged, Morayma could often be seen struggling to walk up the stairs of her basement apartment.

2:15 Speaker: Many of the corner boys from the neighborhood would trail behind her, hoping to get a closer look at her hand.

2:26 Speaker: But she'd for the most part vanished in the brief moments those boys looked the other way.

2:32 Speaker: But the one time the corner boys caught a glimpse of her, they witnessed Morayma dangling a yellow string from her extra thumb towards Mota, who would bat at it and keep himself busy with play.

2:48 Speaker: That rare occasion gave the corner boys permission to believe she didn't mind them staring at her from afar.

2:59 Speaker: And after all, they had helped her when the cat disappeared for days at a time.

3:05 Speaker: It was them that tipped off the police about Mota's whereabouts.

3:12 Speaker: Officers paid them in change to immediately cease Morayma's constant calls to the station.

3:20 Speaker: But during that time, Morayma never uttered a word to the corner boys, neither in disdain or gratitude.

3:31 Speaker: So to their surprise, Morayma approached them after discovering the death of Mota and said, "Take me to whoever did this to my pobre gatito." The 'ito' means a smaller cat in Spanish.

3:52 Speaker: They didn't know how to quite answer her, since her unexpected attire had shocked them into silence.

4:01 Speaker: She wore a white bata, a dress that looked more like a thin bathrobe.

4:08 Speaker: Her head was wrapped in a silver plastic shower cap, concealing the rollers neatly tucked beneath it.

4:16 Speaker: She frightened them in a way the criminals didn't.

4:22 Speaker: They knew the world contained many fearful things, but somehow she saw none.

4:30 Speaker: What the corner boys didn't know was that right after her first tarot reading, Morayma's parents died in a fire.

4:40 Speaker: They had been trapped behind their bedroom door, which had become jammed in place after the expansion of heat.

4:49 Speaker: She had tried to force it open, but it had only left more scars on her remaining fingers.

4:58 Speaker: And after that tragedy, Morayma tried to find love.

5:03 Speaker: So she dated a boy from the block.

5:06 Speaker: His name was Gerson.

5:08 Speaker: He wound up videotaping her hand and sharing it with neighbors only to make crude jokes and unkind comments.

5:19 Speaker: And it was in fact Sara who went on to marry Gerson many years later.

5:26 Speaker: That development had forced Morayma to sever her friendship with Sara.

5:33 Speaker: And now Mota had been eliminated instead of her thumb.

5:41 Speaker: As disappointed as Morayma was, Sara stood by her tarot reading and refused to acknowledge that she was a fraud.

5:51 Speaker: Despite all of this, the corner boys standing beside their dilapidated stolen bikes had to tell her something.

6:02 Speaker: So one of the boys blurted out, "Come with us." And on that day, they brought Morayma to the bottom of the stairs of Sara's house, where they stood outside her window in full view of the interior.

6:21 Speaker: That's when they witnessed Gerson striking Sara repeatedly while the TV gently glared in the background.

6:31 Speaker: Once Morayma saw this, she rushed towards the front door, but it was locked.

6:38 Speaker: When Gerson heard her trying to pry the door open, he immediately abandoned Sara and slightly cracked the door open.

6:53 Speaker: Gerson wouldn't her enter and quickly slammed the door on her hand, severing both of her thumbs.

7:02 Speaker: And that's when she screamed out, "Devil!" Morayma still managed to force her way inside and chase Gerson from the house.

7:12 Speaker: And that's when he fell backwards down the stairs.

7:16 Speaker: Sara immediately embraced Morayma, and in that instant, their friendship was restored.

7:25 Speaker: By the time the police and the ambulance arrived, Morayma was in agony and cried out, "Where are my thumbs?" And the cops put Gerson on a stretcher to question him, handcuffed.

7:44 Speaker: He remained silent, just like the corner boys watching from afar.

7:51 Speaker: Come to think of it, Morayma never did find out that it was Sara who had accidentally struck Mota with her car.

8:02 Speaker: She was driving away from Gerson.

8:05 Speaker: She had left the poor thing on the side of the road.

8:10 Speaker: Corner Boys picked up Mota's frail little body and placed him at the top of Morayma's stairs, so she wouldn't think he was missing.

8:22 Speaker: And on that day, the corner boys learned that tarot readings weren't real.

8:31 Speaker: And they scratched their heads and frowned, as if they'd lost something they never had.

8:44 Speaker: Thank you for listening to my tale.

8:47 Speaker: I'm Maria Rodriguez Bross.

8:49 Speaker: Until next time, Brujas.