Reading: "Sybil of Doom" from RITUALS OF THE ANTITHETICAL (A.Glass 2023)
Zabel
points to her nose. “Apparently the early strains of the virus
attacked the cells in the nose lining, something to do with the
olfactory
receptors.
But,
the variant that I caught, which
will be the next wave,
the fever was brutal, despite being vaccinated for the earlier
strains...”
Looking
directly at the young woman standing behind the counter. Zabel,
with her left index finger points to the left side of her chest.
“...The
new variants affect
the cardiovascular and neurological worst than the first versions.”
“Well
my boyfriend and
are double vaxxed,
best probably
get the booster at some point...” The woman lifts up a two kegs
of soap
from the self
to her right,
placing them down onto the counter. To which Zabel begins to
separately wrap both
soaps,
placing
them
into a paper
carry bag
of the perfumery.
“Well
I am Four
in, going
for my
Fifth
in three months,
since this thing keeps mutating. Things
ain’t looking to good.
I
have
the
Grafarga
resort
show coming up, I
gotta prove that I am fully vaccinated.”
“Really?
That’s
awesome!” The younger woman replies, only
interested in Zabel modeling for the
fashion brand Grafarga,
rather
than her opinion on vaccinations. She hands
Zabel
her
debit card, to which Zabel completes
the transaction,
tapping the card onto
the Eftpos reader,
handing the card back with a receipt.
“Yeah,
so
best
be healthy. We all get tested prior to
the show
anyway, including the attendees,” Zabel
says, handing the bag with the soaps to the woman.
“Where
is it being held?”
“Sorry,
I can’t say. Kinda a secret show,” Zabel replies in a coy
manner.
“Oh
well, so envious, wish I was a model.”
“I’m
grateful, for
this…” She points around the shop with her right index finger,
then with the same finger of
her left
hand, she
points it inward
at her face and neatly cropped short dark brown hair. “...
So
that I can pay the rent in this,
I
won’t use
a swear word, expensive city. Hey,
the shop is offering promotion for birthdays, can be yours or someone
else you know.”
“So,
would it mean a discount?”
“Yeah.
You’ll receive an email confirmation. It’s not on our website
as yet.”
“Sure,
well I’ll give you mine,” the woman replies, as Zabel hands her
a pen and a small blank card.
“Hang
on, I gotta something better. I’ll guess your birth date and star
sign. Take
out your phone, open
the calculator.
But,
don’t
write anything on the card as yet.”
The
woman takes out her phone.
“Think
of the day you were born and the month. And
don’t
tell me. Multiply the
month you were born by Five,
equal every equation…”
The
woman complies looking down at her phone.
“...Add
Six,
multiply by Four,
add Nine,
then multiply by Five,
equal. Now, add the day you were born. Equal the equation.
Write
it down what
you have on your phone
onto
the card.”
Writing
it
down,
she hands the
card
back to Zabel, who
looks at the number, which
is written as Seven
Hundred
and Eighty
Seven.
She
then looks at the woman standing in front of her.
“You
were born on the
Twenty-Second
of June. Which makes your
star sign
Cancer.”
“That’s
incredible. How did you do that?”
Zabel
doesn’t immediately answer her question, but rather replies with
an offer.
“I
also do Tarot card readings. If you’re interested.”
“Maybe.
My mind is kinda blown at the moment on how you knew my birth date
and month. Thanks for the soap...Best
be going, well
good luck with
the show.”
“Thank
you...” Zabel replies, as the woman leaves the shop. Watching her
leave, she whispers to herself. “...And your age is about
Twenty Two. So easily
distracted...”
Zabel,
using the same pen writes the number One Hundred and Sixty Five
beneath the young woman’s scrawled number of Seven Hundred and
Eighty Seven. With her right hand, Zabel lifts up the shop’s
calculator from under the counter. Looking at the equation she had
typed in, without the young woman being aware of 787-165 which equals
622.
“...I’m
not that good at math,” she chuckles to herself.
She
rips up the card.
___
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