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“You can’t laugh at the cards! Do you want your tongue to
dry up and shrivel?” Laura scares Manya.
“Let him come back, I’ll show him! I’ll tear out his balls by
the roots!” Rita’s mama is overjoyed at her husband’s
predicted return.
“But not to you. Jack of diamonds and the queen of spades.
You’re not the one. You’ve got blonde hair.” Laura doesn’t
let Rita’s mama be happy too soon.
“Oh my God. To whom then?”
“To the one whose hair is dark. You’ll lose everything. You’ll
follow the wrong path. A new life will begin for you. The
old one will end for you with the upper echelons because
the queen of spades is saying bad things about you,” Laura
rattles this off like a handful of beans.
“Wait, wait! Can’t you slow down?”
“What’s that child saying?” Dusya senses that the business
is becoming serious.
“The child isn’t saying anything. The cards are talking,”
Laura answers in Russian.