SBR 1.13: Yardstick

"'A strange tarot deck, a series of mysterious forum posts, and a letter about an Impossible Child...'"

Events of Note

 * Sam talks about the new tarot deck that he found, and voices his confusion at the cards
 * Sam reads about the Impossible Children

Summary
Sam begins the segment by reassuring the listeners that he's fine, despite the abrupt ending of the last episode. He mentions that nosebleeds are a fairly normal occurrence for them, as well as the absence seizures, which Sam takes medication for.

They apologise for not doing any tarot readings, and explain that Anna took away the tarot deck and Kitty hid the Crystal Ball away. Sam has, however, found another tarot deck, though it is very different to what he is used to, with some metal cards and strange major arcana, and when they tried to draw a card, they kept pulling different cards, each one blank.

Sam then tells the story of Jinghua, who reconnected with her childhood friend Ellen when Jinghua moved back to the UK. The two of them decided to take up tennis every Tuesday, and Jinghua would drive to pick Ellen up. One of the days, Jinghua thought she saw a child in the window of the Ellen's house, though when she brought it up, Ellen snapped that she doesn't have any children. Jinghua discussed Ellen with her other childhood friends, and they simply said that after Ellen's younger brother's death, they had grown apart.

One day, Ellen wasn't answered the door when Jinghua turned up for tennis. Jinghua walked around the back, being very familiar with the house since childhood, only to find Ellen's brother in the garden. He was exactly as Jinghua remembered him from when she first moved away - five years old, and alive. Jinghua ran away and posted about the incident on the forums, though she hasn't been heard from since her last post, which stated that she intended to return to Ellen's house.

Sam brings this message up, as he found a letter during the week that he had given to Marie quite some time ago. Marie had left the letter sealed, but Sam opened it. It talks about Maria Gillespie, who was a seven year old girl that has been seven since 1975. Sam calls both Maria and Ellen's brother 'impossible children', though they aren't sure whether they are dangerous or not. He asks the listeners for any relevant information on the impossible children, and bids them goodnight.

Characters Featured

 * Sam Enfield
 * Madame Marie (mentioned)
 * Anna Enfield (mentioned)
 * Kitty Enfield (mentioned)
 * Janet the Tarot Witch (mentioned)
 * Salim the Weather Guy (mentioned)
 * Astrid the Janitor (mentioned)

Listeners writing in/mentioned:


 * Jinghua, regarding an encounter with an Impossible Child
 * Anonymous Letter, regarding Maria Gillespie, another Impossible Child

Trivia

 * This is the first episode that Sam mentions his absence seizures.