Call a 10 of Spades Bad News 05.22.21

This past week I was walking near the St. Edward’s campus when I noticed what I thought was a piece of trash right in the middle of the sidewalk. It was in fact a card from a deck of standard playing cards, a Ten of Spades to be exact. There’s nothing unusual or out of the ordinary about a Ten of Spades when it’s part of a big happy deck in a casino, but to encounter one by itself in the middle of a sidewalk in an urban area (a cursory glance revealed that there were no other cards nearby) invites speculation as to how exactly it got there. Was it a sidewalk magic trick gone awry? Was someone playing gin rummy in the backseat of a speeding car and tossed it out the window? Or my favorite pet theory: some 10 year old kid attached playing cards to the spokes of his Schwinn banana seat bicycle with clothes pins and it fell off (Raise your hand if you have done this. If you have no idea what I’m talking about just OK, Boomer! humor me and move on.)

After I got home I wondered if there is any significance to the Ten of Spades so I turned on the Google and boy, is there ever:

“Ten of Spades means SADNESS mixed with tears and disappointment. This is just a bad card. It’s poisonous like jealousy. It will in a great measure counteract the good effects of the cards near you. You might be overcome by the feeling that nothing is right and the only thing you wish is to be left alone. Ten of Spades is also a warning: take care not to get addicted to your sorrows.”

First off, I would like to nominate the Ten of Spades as the Official Playing Card of 2020. Secondly, I am changing my walking route until I’m sure that it is no longer in my path as I’m afraid of picking up bad juju just passing by it. And thirdly, I’m compiling a list of names and addresses of people who can expect to find a Ten of Spades on their front walkway if they don’t clean up their act.