Reading: "Sibyl of Doom" from the novel Rituals of the Antithetical (A.Glass 2023). *I will be doing a reading once a month from my current book 'Rituals of the Antithetical'. I have a new book due at some point in the future.*

 

Deborah Kinsman leans back into her lounge chair, holding between her left thumb and index finger the Howlite crystal that Zabel gave her over a year ago, when she had the first and only Tarot card reading. With her right hand she takes a sip from the glass of wine.

“Well I have certainly cultivated it. Things seem to be working out. Persistent Arousal Disorder...” Kinsman sips from the wine again, as she recites what the psychotherapist said to her today, in a preliminary diagnoses of her hyper-sexuality “...Could it be worst? Is it such a problem, I was told to embrace my flaws…” Chuckling to herself, as she recalls the Tarot card that she pulled out on that evening with Zabel. “...The Devil...” Thunder is heard overhead, Kinsman’s demeanor changes to a more stoic expression. “...And that note, what she read to me. Apparently written earlier and she didn’t know my Birth date...” Placing the crystal down onto the hand rest of the lounge chair, she reaches forward and lifts up her phone, with her thumb, she looks over the contacts, bringing up Zabel’s details. “...She has no internet presence at all. Only met her in that perfume shop on Lower East Side…” Looking at a painting that belonged to her late grandmother of a vase with flowers, that sits above the fireplace of apartment lounge room “...Why do I feel, like I’ve known her for a long time? That familiarity…” She studies the SMS dialog with Zabel. “...It’s like we’re friends. Yet, I only met her twice.” Kinsman stands, sipping from her glass once more, she places it down onto the coffee table in front of her, lifting the Howlite crystal from the hand rest, holding the phone in her right hand she walks towards the kitchen, placing her foot on the pedal of the bin, which opens, she drops the crystal into the bin. Removing her foot, the stainless steel lid shuts. Leaning against the kitchen bench, she brings up Zabel’s name and number again, blocking the caller, while deleting the SMS dialog that she has had with Zabel. Without any obvious emotion, yet she feels her heart rate beat a little faster. Kinsman places the phone down to her right side, looking towards the lounge window again, as rain begins to pelt down against its glass. There is a sudden clap of thunder as a streak of lightning flashes across the skyline.

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Reading:  "SIBYL OF DOOM" from RITUALS of the ANTITHETICAL (A.Glass 2023)