From the Corner of His Eye

an impossible fifth in a stack of four decks. Instead: an ace of diamonds.
        Maria explained that this, too, was a most desirable card, that it meant Barty would never be poor. To have it follow four aces of hearts was especially significant.
        The sixth card was another ace of diamonds.
        They all stared at it in silence.
        Six aces in a row, thus far consecutive as to suit. Agnes had no way of calculating the odds against this draw, but she knew that they were spectacularly high.
        "Is to mean he is to be better than not poor, but even rich."
        The seventh card was a third ace of diamonds.
        Without comment, Maria set aside two cards and dealt the eighth.
        This, too, was an ace of diamonds.
        Maria crossed herself again, but in a different spirit from when she'd crossed herself during Edom's rant about the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. Then, she'd been warding off bad fortune; now, with a smile and a look of wonder, she was acknowledging the grace of God, which, according to the cards, had been settled generously on Bartholomew.
        Barty, she explained, would be rich in many ways. Financially rich, but also rich in talent, in spirit, intellect. Rich in courage, honor. With a wealth of common sense, good judgment, and luck.
        Any mother ought to have been pleased to hear such a glowing future foretold for her child. Yet each glorious prediction dropped the temperature in Agnes's heart by another few degrees.
        The ninth card was a jack of spades. Maria called it a knave of and at the sight of it, her bright smile dimmed.
        Knaves symbolized enemies, she explained, both those who were merely duplicitous and those who were downright evil. The knave of hearts represented either a rival in love or a lover who would betray an enemy who would deeply wound the heart. The knave of diamonds was someone who would cause financial grief. The knave of clubs was someone who would wound with words: one who libeled or slandered, or who assaulted you with mean-spirited and unjust criticism.
        The knave of spades, now revealed, was the most sinister jack in the deck. This was an enemy who would resort to violence.
        With his ringleted yellow hair, coiled mustache, and haughty right file, this was a jack that looked as if he might be a knave in the worst sense of the word.
        And now to the tenth card, already in Maria's small brown hand.
        Never had the familiar red Bicycle design of the U.S. Playing Card Company looked ominous before, but it was fearsome now, as strange voodoo veve or satanic conjuration pattern.
        Maria's hand tamed, the card turned, and another knave of spades revoIved into view, snapped against the table.
        Drawn one after the other, two knaves of spades didn't signify two deadly enemies, but meant that the enemy already predicted by the first would be unusually powerful, exceptionally dangerous.
        Agnes knew now why this prognostication had dismayed rather charmed her: If you dared to believe in the good fortune predicted he cards, then you were obliged to believe in the bad, as well.
        In her arms, little Barty burbled contentedly, unaware that his destiny supposedly included epic love, fabulous riches, and violence.
        He was so innocent. This sweet boy, this pure and stainless infant, couldn't possibly have an enemy in the world, and she could not imagine any son of hers earning enemies, not if she raised him well. This was just a silly card reading.
        Agnes meant to stop Maria from turning the eleventh card, but her curiosity was equal to her apprehension.
        When the third knave of spades appeared, Edom said to Maria, "What kind of enemy does three in a row describe?"
        She remained fixated on the card that she had just dealt, and for a while she didn't speak, as though the eyes of the paper knave held her in thrall. Finally she said, "Monster. Human monster."
        Jacob nervously cleared his throat. "And what if it's four jacks in a row?"
        Her brothers' solemnity irritated Agnes. They appeared to be taking this reading seriously, as though it were far more than just a little after-dinner entertainment.
        Admittedly, she had allowed herself to be disturbed by the fall of the cards, too. According them any credibility at all opened the door to full belief.
        The odds against this phenomenal eleven-card draw must be