Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 747(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 498(@300wpm)
Kage sat down on the big violet couch as his mother flitted about, pouring drinks for her friends, a cigarette dangling between her jeweled fingers. When she motioned for him to join her, he got up and followed her through the house. Guests lay asleep in various rooms, and some looked high as a kite. Others watched television. He recognized most of them. Swirls of smoke drifted all around in a chill atmosphere. Mama’s house was always unnaturally dark. He attributed it to the dark wood she fancied, and the black and dark purple furniture she was attracted to. Even her curtains were heavy and dark.
He followed her up the stairs, into his old bedroom at the back. It was bright and radiant, decorated in orange and lime green colors. He hated it, but back then she’d thought it would cheer him up. It never did. She sat at the desk he used to sit at when doing his homework. The chair squeaked just as it used to. His bed was neatly made, his baseball mitt and bat still leaning against the wall. All of his pennies were still in the jar. Mama forbade anyone from coming into his room. She had strange ideas and superstitions. For some reason, she had trouble moving forward from the past, and he, on occasion, had trouble drowning it out.
Pulling open the top drawer of his desk, she pulled out a velvet satchel and then, a deck of tarot cards from inside. She then laid the cards on the desk, face down.
“I came here just to spend a little time with you. To see you. I don’t want no tarot reading, Mama.”
He didn’t believe in that stuff, and she knew it. He’d tried to be respectful of her beliefs over the years, but he always refused when she offered him a reading, regardless of whether it was those silly cards, tea leaves, or crystals. Mama even had a job reading people’s futures to earn some extra cash, but it was not something she told most people. She kept it to herself. He figured she was rather good at it, since she cleared a decent annual income as one of those online folks, and she had a 1-800 number, too.
“I know you don’t want a reading.” She smiled at him sadly. “I respect your wishes, just like you respect my viewpoints. That’s one thing we ain’t never fought about. Boundaries.” She sighed. “But… I did a readin’ on you, and I’m concerned, baby.”
“Concerned about what, Mama?” He threw up his hands. “I’m fine.”
She huffed while glancing briefly at the cards. “No, you’re not. I keep getting the same thing. You bein’ hurt. Deep inside of here.” She placed her hand over her heart. “Kage, I know you don’t believe in—”
“Mama, stop. It ain’t about what I believe. It’s about what I know. Can’t nobody tell my future ’cept me. Since I was a kid, you said I was marked. You said I’d end up like your father, the man I hate the most, if I wasn’t careful. Well, guess what? I didn’t. I don’t live in fear. We all have to die eventually, anyway. Ain’t nobody gettin’ outta here alive.” He tossed up his hands.
“They tested your IQ in that hospital, when you was seventeen,” she went on, ignoring what he’d shared, switching gears. “Do you remember what it was?”
“148.”
“Yes. That’s off the charts. That’s why my daddy wants you, Kage. When I told you that you were marked, that is what I meant. Marked by him. Anyone my father goes after in this family has special gifts. Stands out from the crowd. You’re brave. Shrewd. Surreptitious. The Wilde name is both blessed and cursed.”
“My father’s surname is Austin. I’m only a Wilde because you never gave me his last name.”
“Wrong. You’re a Wilde because of ME. My Daddy makes you a Wilde, and you’re a Wilde because me and your daddy wasn’t married. Things were different back then. Once I heard about this foolishness with my father goin’ after Lennox, then Roman, and now you, I looked at all of y’all closely. I read all six of my nephews involved in this mess, includin’ my own child, down to the bones.” She tapped the cards. “I want to talk to you about a good thing, too. I want to talk to you about love.”
“What about love?”
“Well, the reading says all of y’all are destined to fall in love, while fightin’ for your lives, some time or another. Now, I will admit that God has the final say, and sometimes I’m wrong. For instance, I didn’t see Roman gettin’ hitched, but he did. You? Someone is out there for you, and she’s comin’. That love will help you, Kage, in some way, some fashion—survive my father’s plans for you—but you have to listen to God.” She raised her finger in the air, and shook it. “He’s tryna tell you something.”