This week's card from the Fortunus Games tarot deck is Three of Cups featuring (from left to right) Joel Farber, Sam Abramov, and Frankie Amato from my graphic novels, “The Book of Joel” and “Sam in New York”!
This card symbolizes the joy of social contact, so Joel, Sam, and Frankie were the perfect pick for this. It's a card of celebration, support, and friendship.
Although these three are good friends in high school (Frankie and Sam more than Joel with Sam or Frankie), they do drift somewhat apart as they get older. Sam and Frankie remain close, but Joel drifts quite far from Frankie and Sam.
That’s because he feels like he has little in common with them, which was always the case. Even during high school, Joel always felt he was the third wheel, with Sam and Frankie dominating most of the conversations.
Sam and Frankie share a lot more in common - although Frankie is more serious and less extroverted than Sam, both young men are extroverted, somewhat mischievous, and like seeing people’s reactions. Frankie drifts away from this after high school, but these sides of him emerge when he talks to Sam.
However, Joel never really had these personality traits. He mostly talked to the other two about debate club (since they all enjoyed pissing off certain people at debate club) and the things they didn’t like. As you know, Joel is someone who can spend a long time talking about things he doesn’t like, and that really intrigued Sam and Frankie.
So, a bit more about the imagery of this card. The three young men are dancing in a circle and they’re raising their cups high in celebration. They’re looking at each other in appreciation and they’re bound by their friendship. There is a sense of them supporting each other and celebrating each person’s unique contributions to the group. And this is how Sam, Frankie, and Joel interacted in high school. And as we will see, they drift apart, as many young people do, after high school.