Q: What do you get when you divide the circumference of your jack-o-lantern by it’s diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi!
Click here for the link to all the previous chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 22)
Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 23
“I’m fine. Never mind.” I said to Chris and then turned my attention back onto the waitress.
Could it be possible that I just learned another ability of Virgo? Was I actually reading her mind? While she proceeded to take the lunch orders from everyone at the table, I decided the only way I’d know is to try staring at her again intently. But after a minute or so of trying, I gave up as nothing happened.
“And for you young man, what’ll it be?” The waitress had turned her focus onto me, promptly waiting now for my order.
She still had the same solemn look on her face and I felt really sad for her.
“Why is this kid staring at me so weird? Ugh, just place your order already!”
“I’m not staring at you weird and sorry if I’m taking too long to order!” I blurted the words out quite rudely and without thinking, and then immediately regretted it, as everyone was now giving me those strange looks again.
I guess it really was true. Virgo does give me the ability to read people’s minds. But somehow the only way to use that power was to connect to them through my heart rather than just staring at someone.
“Andrew Arthur Dawson, I don’t know what’s going on with you today, but you need apologize right now to this nice waitress.”
“Did he just read my mind? Man, this kid is way too creepy. Please just tell me your order so that I can finish my work day and then go hone to my miserable existence.”
I had read her thoughts again without even trying and felt bad now. She truly was hurting and I had no idea why.
“I’m sorry Ms. for being so rude and acting so strange. I haven’t gotten much sleep in the past couple of days and I think I’ve been reading my fantasy novels a little too much.”
Ok, so I know it wasn’t the entire truth, but the part that mattered was my apology and by my mother’s reaction, she was satisfied as well. I could tell Chris wasn’t though, as he was giving me that look which said he knew I was using one of the Zodiac powers.
“It’s ok kid, so what’ll be?”
Thankfully, this time she totally was speaking those words aloud, but I could see how using this ability could get a little confusing.
“I’ll have the double burger with blue cheese and bacon. And can I have my bacon and fries really well done please?”
“Sure kid. So is that everything?” She responded while looking around the table once more.
Everyone nodded their heads approvingly.
“Thank God, this table is really giving me the creeps. I really hate my life. I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this.”
I frowned as I listened once more to her thoughts while she turned and walked towards the kitchen.
My mother suddenly placed her hand on my forehead to see if I had a fever.
“Mom, I’m fine!”
“Maybe you should take a nap Andy for the rest of the car ride?” My Dad said reassuringly.
“Yeah, I’m sure that will probably help.” I responded as nice as possible so as not to draw any more unwanted attention to me. I could feel Chris’s eyes boring down on me while my mother continued to look at me with concern.
“Things just haven’t been the same with you since you returned home. I wish I knew what really happened to you during those three years.”
I was unexpectedly hearing my mother’s thoughts now and could feel her sadness. Then without warning, it was like the volume was turned up in my head and I suddenly was tapping into everyone’s thoughts.
“If they only knew about his powers.”
“I feel bad for Mrs. Dawson.”
“Thank God that’s not my son.”
“I hope Andy isn’t a bad influence for Chris.”
“I wish I had Andy’s powers. The things I would do with them…”
“I wish my son was more like the other kids I see playing in our neighborhood.”
“ANDY, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR MY THOUGHTS, LOOK AT ME!”
Chris’s voice suddenly blared over all the others. I had been cupping my ears without realizing I was doing it and had also closed my eyes as well because all the chatter was really giving me a headache. Having this power activated wasn’t so much fun anymore.
“ANDY WOULD YOU PLEASE LOOK AT ME!”
I opened my eyes and saw Chris glaring at me.
“Shut it off now! It’s Virgo isn’t it. I don’t know why you turned it on, but turn it off!”
“Virgo.” I whispered the zodiac sign silent enough so that no one could hear and then the world became eerily silent again with everyone still looking at me with concerned expressions, all except Chris that is. I could tell he was a little perturbed with me.
For the next ten minutes I didn’t say anything and instead randomly looked through the song titles on the jukebox, trying to focus my attention on something. Everyone else was engaged in conversation about things we were going to do during our camping trip. Everyone else but Chris though, as I could still feel him glaring at me, waiting for me to acknowledge what I had done. By the time our meals arrived, I wasn’t feeling very hungry anymore. I looked down at the huge burger and plate of fries now in front of me and where I’d normally begin to devour it, I just let it sit there.
I had heard far too many things from everyone at the table that I didn’t want to hear. Mrs. Riley felt bad for my mother because of me. Mr. Riley hoped I wasn’t being a bad influence on his son. My sister was coveting my powers. My mother was living in sorrow over my lost years. And my father wished I were more like the other kids in the neighborhood. Knowing all this was far worse than not knowing. Then I thought about the waitress who seemed as if she was pondering the thought of suicide.
“AAAAAHHH”
“OH NO!”
Two different voices expressing their discontent with something then interrupted my thoughts about how everyone felt about me. I looked over to see a pile of salt now on Mr. Riley’s fries and a pile of pepper on my father’s eggs.
My joke had backfired and I felt truly terrible.
“I need to go to the bathroom please.” I said feeling a little queasy with everything I had done and heard.
“I have to go as well.” Chris said sternly.
As both sides of the booth cleared out, we headed in silence to the bathroom. Once the door was closed, Chris checked to see if anyone else was in there and once finding it was completely empty, he locked the door.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!”
“I was going to play a joke on you with the salt and pepper, but somehow Virgo had another ability I didn’t know about.”
“I got that much already. But seriously, abusing these powers is only going to cause you to lose them or maybe something even worse.”
“I guess I thought it was ok because it was between you and me.”
“Well, don’t guess next time. We don’t know all the abilities of these signs yet, and playing with any of them for your gain could possibly expose you or cause damage to someone else.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Hey do you know that your parents feel bad for mine and that they worry I’m a bad influence on you. And my own father wishes I was more like the other kids in the neighborhood.”
“Don’t worry about what they think. What other people think of you doesn’t matter. What matters is how you think about yourself ok? Now what’s going on with that waitress?”
“I think she wants to end her life.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, she said she hates herself and that no one cares about her.”
“Ok, what I want you to do when you leave the bathroom is go up to her and tell her something really nice. But before you do, reactivate Virgo because I want you to read her mind after you tell her whatever you do.”
“You really want me to use this power again?”
“Yeah, just for this though, then turn it back off, once you do this.”
“Alright. Virgo!”
“You’ll be fine Andy. Trust me.” Chris’s thoughts came through with kindness. I was so glad I wasn’t going through all this alone.
As I left the bathroom, I looked around for the waitress while Chris returned to the booth. After spotting her, I approached cautiously.
“Is everything ok kid?”
“Look, I’m really sorry for being so rude. It looked like you were really sad about something and I’m sure I just made things worse for you. I just want to say you’re a great waitress and a very pretty one at that. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not important, because you are. And as strange as this sounds, know God loves you and so do I, as a friend of course!” I said turning beet red.
She immediately smiled from ear to ear and I could feel her spirits rising.
“Thanks kid. That means a lot. Just been dealing with some depression lately. You know what that is.”
“All too well. My father has battled it. But there is hope and I know you are going to make it through it.”
“Thanks. I needed to hear that. Hey, if it’s not too weird, can I give you a hug?”
“Sure.”
I gave her a huge hug and then I heard her thoughts.
“Thank you God for the message. I won’t give up. I promise.”
I walked away and headed for the booth while the waitress continued to shine with a brightly lit smile.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson