Prompt: “In line with the new year that’s fast approaching, pull (at least) three cards and use them to tell us a real or fictional story about new beginnings.”
[Stork and Mice]
There was once an old farmer named Abel and his wife Amanda that were eager for a child. So eager… and yet so barren. They tried everything to increase their fertility and get themselves with child without avail. Then, one day, a friend came by and offered them a proposition. He would guarantee a child for the couple, but only if he was allowed to sleep with the wife for three nights in a row.
[Ship and Rider]
This proposal was a shock to the pair, but after a great deal of discussion and no amount of argument, they finally decided that it could be the only way that they might manage to conceive.
The wife packed up her bag for the trip to the resort where she would be staying with their friend, while able was left at home to imagine and consider all that she may be thinking… feeling… and god forbid, doing. When he couldn’t stand it anymore, he packed his own bags, and stormed out into the night, determined to start a new life with someone else. Someone that could give him what he wanted and not seek solutions to their problems with his so called friends.
[Snake and Clouds]
After the five days were over, Amanda came home to find her house empty and cold. She called and called his cell, but when he finally answered he spewed venomous words at her, completely and conveniently forgetting it was -he- that had pressured her into this idea in the first place and placing all the blame for his abandonment of her on her shoulders.
And thus, this is how Amanda became a single mother, and began her life anew along with the new life that now grew within her.
Twisting the Leaf 