World Without Fate

By Tricia Hagerty

A low roller with special powers changes his odds.

I wouldnt change a thing about the night I met Rose. She was sitting by hersel on a yellow and green loral so a at a mutual riends! nibbling hors d"oeu#res. She wore the most obno$ious %hristmas sweater o#er aded &eans and plat orm sandals with a rainbow on the wedge. Her ingers were stained red rom all the red pistachios she was eating. 'Thats a great(loo)ing sweater!* I said! sitting ne$t to her. '%an I ta)e a picture o you in it+* 'Why+* she as)ed. 'So I can show Santa e$actly what I want or %hristmas!* I said. When she inally le t me twenty(some years later! the only surprise was that she hadnt done it sooner. I stood on my balcony o#erloo)ing the icy! grey Atlantic ,cean and lic)ed my cigarette o#er the edge. It was about to be my worst day e#er. Worse than all those times Id gambled away our mortgage payment. Worse than pac)ing up your amily in the middle o the night to outrun loan shar)s. Worse than hearing about your e$(wi es new lo#er. I went bac) in the penthouse to loo) or the lint roller. Its incredible how much u-- blac) abric attracts. The worlds most supreme .ystic .entor(((able to alter the course o the uni#erse with my mind(((but I still couldnt )eep lint o my uneral suit. A ter de( u--ing! I sat on the edge o a co ee table and gnawed on a &agged nail edge. An in#oluntary tic I pic)ed up bac) in the day at the tables! waiting or the dealer to turn o#er his cards. That is! until I learned /0%. /sychic 0nergy %ontrol was whispered about among some card players I once )new. , course I assumed it was bullshit! e#en a ew wee)s into the underground seminars. But it was the 12s! and those cats were winning big. 3ri 4eller was bending spoons on the Tonight Show. I igured there were lots o things we didnt )now about. And I was game to try anything! i it meant winning. I was playing 5et it Ride one spectacularly unremar)able Tuesday night. I thought I might try out some /0% meditations and breathing. 6isuali-ations. A hus)y out(o (towner in a Stetson sat to my right! spinning a giant ring with a cats(eye stone around his hairy inger. A gaudy waitress peddled drin)s nearby. I bloc)ed it all out. 7e$t thing I )new! I was loo)ing at a Royal Flush. .y irst o three! that night. There was no lash in the s)y or #ibration in the loor. But there was money. 5ots o it.

I changed the outcome o the game with my mind and no one was the wiser. It was the start o it all. ,r the end! depending on how you loo) at it. I got home to our apartment and as e$pected! Rose was pretending to sleep. There was a hal (glass o water(( still cold((on the end table. The top o our little T6! still warm. I placed a small green bo$ on the pillow ne$t to her angry! simulated(sleeping ace. She opened an eye. 'The suns coming up!* she said. 5ess obser#ation! more accusation. I pic)ed up the bo$ and opened it or her. Then set it bac) down. Both o her eyes opened. She hea#ed her cumbersome! pregnant body upright and pic)ed up the bo$! e$amining the beauti ul mood ring! set in a gold band with diamones8ue baguettes. She hurriedly s8uee-ed the ring onto her swollen inger and admired it. 'Is it stolen+* she as)ed. I allowed her that dig without retort! because I had stayed out all night. Again. 'I won! Rose. I won big9* I threw a massi#e wad o cash on the bed. Her ace lit up. Then she remembered hersel . 'I want a house with a yard!* she began. 'And then you need to stop.* As I loo)ed around my cold! masculine penthouse! I was reminded o those days o innocence and struggle. She e#entually got her house! and I stoc)piled money rom all my /0% wins. Rose still pestered me to 8uit gambling! but the uni#erse was about to ma)e that happen or me. An announcement was made in :;<2 that due to the rising number o /0% mystics! %ongress would pass a bill to close all gambling institutions. 0#en though the scienti ic community was still claiming /0% to be impossible. There would be no more casinos! sports betting! or ra les o any )ind. =oud be hard(pressed to ind so much as a dart booth at a carni#al ollowing the gambling prohibition. ,ther types o competition ollowed suit! li)e sports. ,nce it was reali-ed that /0% mystics could change the outcome o a game! it was all o#er. The mar)et tan)ed! because stoc)s rose and ell at a mystics whim. Wars bro)e out! go#ernments collapsed. /eople were no longer controllable. It was anarchy we ne#er saw coming. All we wanted to do was win a couple card games.

In the span o a ew years! our country re#amped the whole election process to ta)e bac) some sort o order. How could you elect a president when youre not sure he won air and s8uare+ The entire practice was dissol#ed! replaced by a system whereby natural(born citi-ens were selected randomly to ser#e or one year on The Federal Republic %ouncil. We )new our run was coming to an end. .y cell rang! orcing me out o my daydream. The police head8uarters number appeared on the caller id. 'Hello+* I answered. The detecti#e in ormed me that there were personal e ects ound on the body! and that he would gi#e them to me at the uneral. I grunted and hung up. What kind of bullshit operation bothers the grieving family with such a trivial matter on the morning of the funeral? I wondered. Irritated! I stormed into the )itchen and opened the wine re rigerator! where I )ept my beer. I emptied two be ore I started eeling calmer. A ter %ongress passed the bill to end gambling! it le t me with a #oid. Rose was secretly thrilled that I would now ha#e to get a 7,R.A5 &ob and our li e could go bac) to 7,R.A5. 5ittle /hil was glad to ha#e my help with homewor) at night. But I was horri ied. There was no way to chase that high anymore. I was so desperate! I e#en tried to /0% the bill out o e$istence! unsuccess ully. A /0% o that degree re8uired the energy o more than one man. So I scouted more and more ollowers. .y recruitment standards san) lower and lower. Whether their moti#es were honorable no longer concerned me. >eeping /0% abo#e board became immaterial. I popped the cap o another beer. And another. It wasnt that we didnt ha#e enough money. We could ha#e li#ed com ortably or ten! e#en i teen years i we played it sa e. It wasnt e#en about winning. ,ur addiction ueled us. We wanted to be able to gamble again and wouldnt stop until we could /0% oursel#es bac) be ore the prohibition. I went into my bedroom and opened the closet. .y clothes were still occupying only the ar right side. I too) a swig rom the bottle and grabbed a pair o blac) o$ ords. The lat(screen was still on in the bedroom. The sounds o peoples #oices ga#e me com ort. 3ntil! that is! I heard my sons name out o the news anchors mouth. '?../hil Ruder@a /0% ob&ector and acti#ist rom Atlantic %ity! 7ew Aersey((( was slated or the Audicial branch o the :B(member ruling committee. According to riends o the deceased! Ruder was distraught o#er lea#ing his iancC to ul ill his mandatory one(year %ouncil duty. Ruder was ound hanging in the basement o his home last wee).* It didnt seem real to hear them tal) about my son. The death o a %ouncil member was always big news! since they were the sole ruling body o the entire country

since the early <2s. 7o than)s to me and /0%. But I let mysel be a spectator! because 4od )nows what would ha#e happened i I allowed mysel to really eel it(( the truth o how my greed was at the root o the worlds problems. I threw on a topcoat and le t my building. Atlantic %ity was #ery di erent than it was when I irst arri#ed with Rose. /0%ing had made intersections obsolete. 7o one made eye contact in public or ear you might piss o a mystic. Dri#ing was only or emergencies! because it o ten ended up tragically. 4ot into a road rage scu le with a mystic! you ound yoursel ass up in a ditch. I wobbled unsteadily down the street! nodding my head at the corner /0% trac)er! whose sole responsibility was to see) out mystics. Trac)ers wore an eye(patch de#ice with a particle detector intended to identi y unusual energy warm spots. Since using /0% became )nown as Ethe crime o precognition@punishable by li e in prison((trac)ers were placed on each city street corner as a deterrent. But no one could stop us. 7o eye patch could pre#ent me rom harnessing the energy to stop their beating heart! right in their chest! i I so desired. But I learned my lesson the hard way. The hardest way o all. /hil once came to me! long a ter Rose and I separated. I hadnt seen him or our or i#e years! because I was too busy tra#eling around the world hosting secreti#e seminars and e#ading trac)ers. I told mysel that /hil had inally come around. That he was going to ollow in my ootsteps and become a mystic. 'Im here((man to man((to let you )now!* /hil said. '?that I will ne#er! not or one day! stop ighting against /0%. I#e made it my li es wor) to abolish it! because I thin) its the wor) o the de#il. And i you go down with it! so be it.* He le t. And or some strange reason! I was more proud than i he actually had become a mystic.

As a younger man! I could ha#e wal)ed the se#enteen bloc)s to the uneral home in F2 degree weather without a second thought. But nine bloc)s in and this old man was completely atigued and really eeling the beer in my bladder. I duc)ed into a co ee shop to rest my throbbing legs! and there she was. 'Rose!* I gasped. Regret is li)e a solid! malignant mass in your lungs. The moment you remember its there! the wind is suc)ed right out o you. '=ou couldnt sha#e or your sons uneral+* she as)ed! e#en though we both )new my acial hair was no longer her concern. Her husband politely stared down at his shoes.

'Rod!* I greeted him@this claims e$aminer who laid in bed e#ery night with my e$(wi e. I e$tended a hand! and he shoo) it. 'Wally!* he mumbled. I resisted the urge to /0% him with a bout o e$plosi#e diarrhea. .y legs continued to throb. 'That detecti#e called and said he ound something on the body. ,n /hil. In his clothes!* I said. Rose stared at me blan)ly. 'And+* 'I &ust thought you might )now what it was!* I said! as a single bead o sweat rolled down my spine. =ears ago! I would ha#e /0%d this entire e$change out o e$istence. .y tolerance or aw)wardness was still on the low side. 'I ha#ent seen him in so long.* She hu ed. '=oure hinting around or me to handle it. But thats not going to happen. =oure going to do your atherly duty!* she said! grabbing Rods arm. ',nce and or all.* They turned to lea#e. Be ore I could control it! I shattered the glass door as they wal)ed through it. I was gone out the side door be ore they could dust the glass shards o their coats. The thing about psychic energy control was that you couldnt 37D, what was already done. We could only change the course o things! )ind o li)e a steering wheel in a car with no re#erse. We still werent sure how to restrain /0% when its user was under duress. /0% was a B:st century phenomenon! and we were still learning its limits. As you can imagine! seeing /hil in the cas)et caused me great anguish. I simply couldnt reel in my energy. I e$ploded a #ase o lowers and blew a hole into the rows o metal olding chairs li)e .oses parting the Red Sea. Some people came running into the room! and a man tac)led me to the loor. '.r. Ruder9 =ou ha#e to calm down9* he said! wrestling my arms behind my bac)! orcing my ace into the red carpet. I began to sob. 'I didnt mean to(((!* I cried. 'Do I need to cu you! sir+* he as)ed! breathing hea#ily. I shoo) my head and he slowly released his grip. He helped me to my eet and introduced himsel as Detecti#e .c5aughlin. I heard sobbing! and turned to see Rose at the door to the room. '/lease! no9 /hil9* she cried! dropping to her )nees. I wal)ed o#er and )nelt in ront o her.

'Bring him bac)! Wally!* she begged. 'Rose!* I started to cry. 'I cant. =ou )now I cant.* She beat me with her ists. 'All those years I begged you to stop9 7ow! the one time I need you and you re use++* 'Im sorry!* I said. I stood up! went o#er to /hil and s8uee-ed his hand. I told him I lo#ed him! and then I le t the uneral home. An icy sleet ell rom the s)y! stinging my s)in. I was grate ul or the mini pellets o pain. The detecti#e caught up with me. 'I told you I had some personal e ects!* he said! stu ing a baggie into my hands. It was the ring. Roses mood ring. I stared at the dome(shaped stone. The color stayed blac). 'This belongs to someone else!* I said. 'I tried to gi#e it to your e$!* he said. 'But she didnt want it. Said it was a gi t rom you and she wanted to orget about you altogether.* Another pellet o pain. 'Why did /hil ha#e it!* I as)ed mysel out loud. The detecti#e shrugged apathetically. '=our wi e says he was going to propose.* Three hours later! I had assembled the largest group o mystics I could ind to once and or all i$ what we bro)e! so long ago.

She was sitting by hersel on a yellow and green loral so a at a mutual riends! nibbling hors d"oeu#res. She wore the most obno$ious %hristmas sweater o#er aded &eans and plat orm sandals with a rainbow on the wedge. Her ingers were stained red rom all the red pistachios she was eating. 'Thats &ust about the ugliest sweater I#e e#er seen!* I said to her! leaning o#er the couch. Then I turned and le t the room.