“Food, music, and art.

  Belief, will, and love.

  The world I y out before you is a tapestry made of these very threads. With each movement of the loom the hands of fate weave together our story.”

  An old begger ashes his pipe into an intricate dish made from the tin of many different cans shaped into an open faced rose.

  “ the answers you seek speak to me, pce a coin in my tin and know your future”

  He began shuffling a deck of tarot cards drawn intricately by hand with charcoal and water colours. It was odd to see someone with clothes this tattered so high up in building one. I myself had only gained access to this floor three months ago as part of my raise reward. Curious, I tossed a few coins into the tin and sat down cross legged. He hummed from deep in his throat, his hands waving around cards that to a slower eye might have seemed to shuffle themselves. “What brings you to the exquisitry floor?” I asked as he continued his lightning shuffle. He opened his eyes looking deep into mine. the wrinkles that made up his face seemed to dissipate leaving only his eyes and mine. His lips barely moved but I could hear him faintly and clearly. “I was drawn to this pce by the visions of the future, the only medicine to heal the wounds of our past.” He fanned the deck out on the smooth white tile and crossed his arms. “The future is in your hands now, take one card for each coin and one lesson from each card”

  My fist card had a rge bck circle that seemed almost to spin through the papers many colours.

  “ the wheel of fortune spins for you child, as I feared a change is coming.”

  I drew my second card which showed me the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen adorned with angelic wings and a brass horn that seemed to resonate softly in my ears.

  “ you face judgment, but do not for a second believe that the source should be external. Find yourself, you must open your own eyes.”

  My st card was strange, Almost in a different style from the others. The rest had flowing watercolour backgrounds and Smokey charcoal intricacies where as this card was bck with a sharp and vibrant colours making up the design; a faceless woman who seemed to weep without eyes and cry out from inside her intricate golden circle. In the darkness of the card you could still see she was dancing and I had to wander, what kind of tears was she crying

  “The world is on its head child, your life will never be the same“

  Before he could say more, a security guard for the floor put his hand on my shoulder and delivered his dispersal order ftly

  “ there will be no unsightly persons or unwful business on the exquisitry floor, please provide your identification cards to be scanned”

  I reached into my shirt pocket and revealed the gleaming golden card that gave me access to the 99th floor

  “My apologies sir, I was promoted recently and this is my first time on your floor, I wasn’t aware this action constituted disorder”

  He read over my card “Brenton King? Are you aware your family was responsible for establishing the codes of conduct for our beautiful top 100. How is it that you of all people should be unaware?”

  It was true that I knew the rules, they had virtually been engraved on the back of my eyelids. Such a stifling way to live.

  “It wasn’t my negligence that allowed this vendor to establish himself in your jurisdiction, and of course I could be wrong but my only obligation on this floor is to enjoy myself where as yours is probably catching the old man who ran while you were wasting time threatening me.”

  The guards face flushed as he looked behind me. The man and his cards were gone.

  “Son of a…. They’re going to bury me under the fourth tower”

  “He went that way,” I said pointing in the wrong direction “now I will keep quiet about your negligence if you piss off and do your job”

  He bowed deeply “yes mr king, of course mr king”

  And with that I was alone with the three cards I’d drawn so I picked them up and put them in my pocket behind my clearance badge. Now it was time to meet my father at his favourite restaurant, or rather it was past the time.. and I’d probably never hear the end of it.