The Morality System

"You stole my balls!" Said a man sitting on the corner of an intersection of the road. He didn't have any visible teeth, but I wasn't doubting the possibility of him having invisible teeth.

"Were they bouncy?" I said. "I love bouncy balls." I shouldn't have engaged. I wasn't trying to torture the guy. Sometimes my mouth just spoke before my mind had a chance to stop it.

The man looked at me up and down and said, "You're a weird fellow."

"Thank you for trying to keep me informed, but I was already aware of that," I said, and turned right and walked down the street.

I kept my eyes peeled for a sign that said "Beer," and I almost missed it. The sign didn't say Beer. It was just a sign with the image of a mug of beer painted on it. Interesting marketing. I mean if I was looking for a beer and just saw a sign of a beer, I'd probably wander in.

I opened the door, not knowing what to expect, but it wasn't what I found. The place was dead just a couple of hours after the sun went down. It should've been packed, but there were only a few people at the bar and one guy sitting in the corner shuffling cards. Must have been an off night.

I guessed the guy in the corner was probably James. He looked like the kind of guy who was advertising he was open for business, while also pretending like he wasn't. As I walked up, I realized he seemed to be shuffling something similar to tarot cards, but the symbols and names on the cards were nothing like any tarot cards I'd ever seen.

One was a black card with a big eye on it. Another one looked like a shriveled witch pointing to the left of the card. Then the last one was a picture of my face with glowing red eyes, and long red hair the color of ketchup.

I sat down across from him and didn't say anything. I felt like his game was to get you to say something first. So I didn't. He shuffled the cards a few times but left the three cards on the table facing me.

Several minutes passed by like that. I didn't say anything and just studied the cards. The artwork was incredible. This was when I noticed the writing describing the name of the card. The eye one was called 'The Eye', the witch one was called 'The Withered Witch', and the one with my face on it was called 'The Visage'. Hmm. Interesting.

"It's usually by this point where the other person says something, but since you seem to be mute, I'll speak first. What do you see?" He said.

"I see a picture of my face but a little different, a withered witch pointing, and a floating eye. Is there some variation to what people see? Are they magic cards?" I said.

"Some of them are. Some of them aren't. But I was asking you what you think the cards mean in relation to your life," he said. He was wearing a hood that obscured his face. Which wasn't cliche at all.

"I don't know. I'm not good at these interpretation things. The Visage makes me look crazy. Maybe it means I have a boiling rage inside me that may take over my mind if I'm not careful," I said.

"The withering witch just looks like my grandma telling me to take out the garbage. Like I needed her to point because I didn't know where the garbage went after years of living in her house."

"And the eye is kind of just staring at me. Maybe it means people are watching me. I don't know."

There was a silence, and then he said, "Wow. You are bad at this. The Visage on your left represents your past. The crazy rage face means you have unresolved issues with your past. That still makes you angry even to this day."

"The Withering Witch, which is in the middle represents your present. She's telling you to choose a direction and stick with it. Decide where you want your life to go and work toward that."

"The Eye is on the right, so it represents your future. It can be interpreted similarly to how you interpreted it. It could mean that people will be watching you in the future, or looking for you."

"Interesting. That doesn't quite have anything to do with why I came here, but here are two gold coins for your trouble," I said. I pulled two coins out of my purse and slid them across the table.

"Thank you," he said. Pocketing the coins. "Then why are you here?"

"I came to ask you a few questions. What is your favorite fruit?" I said. I realized I could have questioned his soul during the initial silence, but the past was the past.

'Who are your employers?' I asked.

'The Red Tail Fox Company.' His soul said.

"What kind of question is that? The answer is obvious. Blueberries," he said.

"Why are you alone?"

'Where do they operate out of?' I asked.

'The building across from Sally's. Their office is on the top floor.'

"Because I don't have any friends," he said.

"What is the average weight of a fully grown red-tailed fox?"

'Is there a password to get in?'

'It's "vermillion".'

He stood up from the boot but the table was in the way of his legs, so he half stood up. "How did you hear that name?"

"You told me," I said. "Vermillion."

'Are you evil or have you committed evil acts upon the innocent?' I asked.

'No. I'm just a regular guy trying to make a living. I don't have any kids or family, but I do have a cat that I love very much. Her name is Sprinkles.'

Dear god. He's relatable. I can't kill him now. As soon as I said "vermillion", he stiffened. "Did I fail the test, sir?" He said.

"No. You're fine. I just didn't want to fight you, because I'm not in the mood to kill someone tonight," I said. I was lying. I was in the mood to kill someone tonight. Just not him.

"Oh, good thank you. I hope you liked your fortune, sir. Have a good night," he said, in a high-pitched voice.

"I will. Thank you. You as well," I said. I left Beer and began making my way toward Sally's.