Investment. Seeds waiting to grow. Putting something away for a rainy day; gambling with the odds thoroughly calculated.

There’s always some apocalypse or another coming; for people like me who grew up in the eighties, it was the specter of “mutual assured destruction”. I don’t know if it resonates for younger folks; I’m not sure it still resonates with me any more to be honest. But part of the essence of a Tarot deck is to be a little bit quaint. Here’s yesterday’s doomsday scenario. What’s today’s? How will you deal with it? What should you keep in the bunker?

And what do you do to amuse yourself while you wait for doom to be finished? The residents of this one are playing cards. The column from Fortitude is playing footsie with the lion – or is she sending secret signals? And what card game is complete without a card sharp? (Remember: if you sit down at the table and can’t tell who the patsy is, it’s probably you. Now there’s some prudence. Is the lion the patsy here? Everyone else has a pile of chips in front of them. But then again, she’s the only one getting petted; as usual, she’s playing a different game.) The pale girl with the goggles seems wary of the dude with the top hat, and let’s be honest: nobody who sits down to a gaming table dressed like that is up to any good.

They might be playing for nothing but chips. Or they might be playing to see who gets to eat tonight.