Cartomancy by Kristin Cook

Chapter 1
     
    Astrid Shims flipped through all
three-hundred-sixty-five cable channels for the tenth time that
morning, and one thought kept recurring to her; Blacks Glenn was
the most boring town in America, possibly worldwide. Nothing even
remotely exciting had ever happened. It was the first hour of the
first day of summer vacation and she didn’t know how long she could
handle the boredom. She had been awake for an hour already. “Mom
I’m bored!” she yelled into space. Her mother didn’t answer. She
suspected that her mother was down in the basement doing laundry,
and while she certainly wasn’t bored enough to go and help, she
rolled off the couch managing to avoid her cereal bowl and walked
to the top of the basement stairs. “Mo-THER! “ She yelled down. “I
am seriously going to die from boredom…seriously!” After a minute
her mother appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a basket of
towels. “Then go read a book.” This was her mother’s standard
response. Astrid rolled her eyes and shuffled off across the
kitchen. “Why does no one understand my plight?” She thought about
yelling this out loud as well, but really, who would listen? She
even asked the cat as he walked across the floor and plopped down
onto a sunny spot. He looked at her, but said nothing. “I can’t
even get a meow? Thanks a lot.” Astrid went upstairs to her room.
As she reached the top of the stairs she heard a faint but definite
“meow” from the kitchen. “Everyone’s a jokester.” She said under
her breath. A few minutes later, her mother appeared in her doorway
as she was sprawled out across her bed. “I am sorry you are so
bored my love, what can I do to help?” Astrid watched her mother
meticulously hang all of her clean clothes up in her closet. “I
don’t know I’m just bored” she put her hand across her forehead and
pretended to faint. “Well, we could re-decorate your bedroom this
summer that might be fun.” The idea of painting seemed cool, and
Astrid did fancy herself as someone who would suffer for art. “Can
I paint my room black?” she asked. Her mother thought about this
for a minute. “I suppose so…but only an accent wall. The rest will
have to be wallpaper, maybe a nice damask print.” She had
envisioned more of a cave-like atmosphere, but she was open to
compromise. “Mom, since I’m compromising on the paint and
wallpaper, I do have another idea for my room, something more…
gothic.” Astrid’s mother was imagining arched walls and flying
buttresses. Her mother was literally always in the process of
restoring their house, which is known to historians and architects
as a “Queen Anne Victorian. “ To Astrid it looked like a haunted
house with a really big porch, except that it had been painted all
kinds of bright and crazy colors. It was like living in an Easter
egg. Astrid called it the “QAV” for short. The constant upgrading
of the house was slightly annoying to Astrid and as a result she
knew more about architecture than any kid should. Their home was
the love of her mother’s life. Astrid did not understand it at all,
but as her mother loved to say “You can’t even begin to imagine the
upkeep on a one hundred and sixty three year old house.” It was a
source of pride for her and Astrid was sure that everyone in town
knew the exact age of their house. Astrid sighed heavily at her
mother for effect. “Well what did you have in mind? Gargoyles?” her
mother chuckled. Astrid let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes.
“No” she grinned. “I want to sleep in a coffin.
    ”

Chapter 2
     
    Astrid’s mother dumped a laundry basket of
clothes onto the bed where her husband was sitting watching
television. “Your daughter wants to sleep in a coffin.” She blurted
out. Astrid’s dad pushed the mute button on the remote. “Please
tell me you said okay.” He said sounding rather hopeful. Her mother
let out a sigh, she would expect a little more of a reaction from
her