Drawing in the Dust: Fantasy

She squatted beside the St. Thomas tree, one finger drawing designs in the dust as she squinted at the workmen raising up the heavy concrete blocks for the new mission. Her finger swayed and danced, leaving eloquent lines that sprawled a history of the future across the hard-packed dirt, there for anyone to read that looked. After her hand slowed and came back to her side, she finally looked down at the pattern drawn. Her eyebrows rose. The future was not what she had feared it to be, but if it would be what she hoped for she would need to do more than simply step aside. She sighed and stood, stamping her feet to let the long skirt settle around her ankles. She smacked her hands together to send dust spinning out into the air. At her feet, the lines that had drawn themselves--

Inspiration: "St. Thomas tree"
Story Potential: High.
Notes: This theme of magic or divination being done by drawing patterns in the dust keeps coming back to me. And this is another African-influenced one, which is kind of nice. I should write those more. I'm hesitant about writing something involving the interaction of Christian faith and magic--it's a bit of a touchy subject.