Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 The Eight of Swords Sandra L. Giles Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE EIGHT OF SWORDS By SANDRA L. GILES A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Sandra L. Giles on 6 February 2008. _________________________ Virgil Suarez Professor Directing Dissertation _________________________ Susan Nelson Wood Outside Committee Member _________________________ R. M. Berry Committee Member _________________________ Deborah Coxwell-Teague Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Deep and sincere thanks go to my committee members: Virgil Suarez, R.M. Berry, Deborah Coxwell-Teague, Susan Nelson Wood. Thanks also go to the members of Mark Winegardner’s Fiction Writing Workshop in Fall of 2002, in which this novel began as a short story and received thoughtful critique. I received valuable advice and information from Mavis LaBounty, Sissy Taylor-Maloy, and other members of the “Goddess Group” in Tallahassee, Florida, as well as from Officer Tom King of the Tifton Police Department, the Tiftarea Writers Haven writing group, and my sister, Debra King, former mobile home salesperson among other specialties. And of course, special thanks to my family, friends, and colleagues for support and encouragement in this endeavor. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract...........................................................................................................................v THE TOWER..................................................................................................................1 1......................................................................................................................................1 2......................................................................................................................................7 3....................................................................................................................................28 4....................................................................................................................................49 THE EIGHT OF CUPS .................................................................................................56 5....................................................................................................................................56 6....................................................................................................................................68 7....................................................................................................................................80 8....................................................................................................................................89 THE DEVIL..................................................................................................................97 9....................................................................................................................................97 10................................................................................................................................ 108 11................................................................................................................................ 124 12................................................................................................................................ 135 13................................................................................................................................ 144 THE EMPRESS .......................................................................................................... 151 14................................................................................................................................ 151 15................................................................................................................................ 158 16................................................................................................................................ 167 THE WORLD ............................................................................................................. 175 17................................................................................................................................ 175 18................................................................................................................................ 182 19................................................................................................................................ 192 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ....................................................................................... 207 iv ABSTRACT In The Eight of Swords, a novel, Meredith Sutton finds herself a single mother with no job and no place to live after her husband pleads guilty to several types of theft, leaving her to return to the bank their mobile home and the land on which it rests. Her mother-in- law is Sister Pearl, a well known tarot card reader and psychic in the town, generally regarded as “The Dragon Lady.” Nevertheless, Sister Pearl takes in Meredith and her four-year-old son. Meredith’s old friendships from high school have fallen apart, but she makes new friends when she finds a job in a beauty salon. Sister Pearl then decides to quit her psychic counseling business, leaving the town bereft of her services. Meredith overcomes her superstitious fear of the cards and, in search of answers to her own questions, learns to read them herself, eventually taking over her mother-in-law’s former business, housing it in the back room of the salon rather than in Pearl’s old office in the enclosed garage of her home. Meredith soon grows uncomfortable in her new role as advisor and uncomfortable with the pressure her clients put on her to be psychic rather than just interpret the cards they draw. Predictable community criticism and a bit of backlash occur. Meanwhile, Sister Pearl seems to regain her powers and begins to resume some degree of involvement in counseling again. Meredith begins to consider more solid options for her future through education and technical training. She reconciles with her husband when he finally can admit to her what he had done and attempt to explain why. v THE TOWER Chapter 1 What I’ve learned from reading the cards is, people don’t see the signs that are right in front of their faces. I’m talking about things out in the world, happening right there in their lives. And then you get the hindsight effect: “why didn’t I see it coming?” et cetera. Well, you would have seen it coming, if you had been looking. But the truth is, you don’t really want to. Not when you think you’ve got it all. A handsome businessman husband, a bright four-year-old boy with his father’s blonde hair and blue eyes, a seventeen-hundred-square foot manufactured home, tied down and with the wheels and axles removed of course, sitting on our own two acres outside the city limits surrounded on all sides by trees and farms with just one small two-lane state road way in front. No neighbors close enough to wave to. It was quiet. It was home. It was the goddamn American Dream. We’d gone up to Wayne Friedman Homes just to see what they had on the lot, to see if we could afford anything. We were about to be married with a bun already in the oven. Andy’s mother wanted us to live with her for a while to save money so we could buy a house. Andy said no, that we were going to start our own family, on our own. His mother, a professional psychic, had pressed her lips together. I was terrified of the cards in those days and wouldn’t have asked her for a reading to save my life. I didn’t want us to live with her to save my life, either. “Here are the floor plans, Mrs. Sutton,” the salesman said, spreading the glossy brochures out on his desk. It took me a minute to realize he was talking to me. I wasn’t used to that name, and it wasn’t quite rightfully mine yet. His window air conditioner roared chilliness and stale cigarette fumes in our faces. Andy looked at me instead of the floor plans. “What do you think?” His eyes gleamed, and already in those days I knew that look. I knew he wanted this. I was just relieved to see him so happy about it. 1 I studied the plans while Andy and the salesman rattled off figures and prequalifying amounts and discussed what they could “swing.” I shuffled through the floor plans several times. It was hard for me to get a feel from a drawing and a few staged photos. Not a single one of them seemed like my mother’s trailer, a single-wide wind- tunnel type, which was good. I didn’t want that. I wanted it to feel like a real house. And be pretty, like something on the Home and Garden channel. “Okay,” the salesman said, standing and hiking up his khakis. “I know what you need, little lady. You need to see some from the inside, don’t you?” I looked at Andy. I didn’t want to look at anything if we couldn’t afford it. “It’s okay,” he said and patted my knee. When he stood up his chest was big and his shoulders back, like he already owned