Category: Words From My Inner Child Andy

Q: Why did the lifeguard rescue the hippie?
A: Because he was too far out man!!!

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 13)

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 14

“CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL RILEY, WHERE HAVE THE TWO OF YOU BEEN!!!” said Chris’s mother sounding quite angry.

I thought for a second it might be the perfect moment to pause time and discuss this with Chris, but I didn’t get the chance.

“Andy and I were transported to some other realm where time and space exists quite different from here. In all honesty, we really were only gone for like 15 minutes but somehow that translated into over four hours once we returned.” Chris said without batting an eye.

I couldn’t believe it. He had told them the truth. I at least would have come up with some elaborate lie.

“Young man, do not lie to your mother! We know you somehow snuck outside and went exploring in the woods. Just think what Andy’s parents would have thought if we had called them when we couldn’t find either of you anywhere! You’re grounded starting tomorrow. Andy, I’m sorry but you won’t be able to see Christopher for the next two weeks, as he will be quite busy with a long list of chores I’m going to be preparing for him as his punishment. So you two better enjoy tonight for it’s going to be a little while before you two will be hanging out again. Now I suggest you both come get a few slices of cold pizza, as I’m sure you’re probably starving…”

Mr. and Mrs. Riley then promptly walked out of Chris’s room and headed downstairs.

“What just happened exactly?” I said feeling completely dumbfounded that his telling the truth had actually worked somehow.

“I told the truth. I’m the Guardian remember and I have lot more faith and integrity to uphold and hopefully teach you. Because I know you most likely would have told some ridiculous lie like we were playing the world’s longest game of hide and go seek or something else pretty silly.”

“Come on, give me a little more credit than that!” I said laughing, as the two of us headed out of Chris’s room and downstairs to have dinner, which for us was really at the normal time we would have been having it, if we hadn’t headed into some other dimension that is…

Chris spent the rest of the evening, after we had returned upstairs, talking about my future training plans. Thankfully his parents hadn’t pressed us any further about the missing four hours while we had eaten our cold, but still delicious pizza from Mama Mary’s. Frankly, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole Guardian and Keeper idea. A few months ago, I was just an average kid that had no friends, was constantly picked on, and was about to enter the 7^th grade. But now I was supposed to be some hero divinely picked by 12 celestial beings to help protect my planet. Me, a rather tall scrawny 12-year old boy, I mean, what good could I do?

“Are you even paying attention to what I’m saying???” Chris said snapping me abruptly out of my wandering thoughts.

“How I am supposed to be a hero at 12 years old? I think they picked the wrong guy.” I said to Chris somewhat dejectedly.

“I know this all must seem crazy Andy. But look, they picked the two of us for a reason. And I think you are exactly who is meant to be the Keeper, just like I am beginning to fully accept myself as the Guardian. I promise you the training will help you feel a lot more confident. But the first thing we need to do is…”

WHAM!

Chris suddenly hit me in the face with his pillow, which then led to an all out pillow war causing me to completely forget for the moment about the worries I was having. Soon after that we got the “lights out” shout from his father. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep, as everything that had happened between my visit to the other realm and listening to Chris’s long training lecture, had totally exhausted me.

Unfortunately, the next two weeks dragged by ever so slowly as Chris’s parents had remained true to their word with his punishment. The only time I got to see him was during school. There, I had been tempted on several occasions to pause time again and mess with the biggest school bully, the same one who had tried to trip me in the cafeteria on the first day. His name’s Trevor by the way, but Chris had to continue reminding me of the tagline I had always heard in the Spiderman comics, which was “With great power comes great responsibility.” I knew he was right every time he said that to me, yet it was so frustrating having the ability to do just about anything, but not being able to use it on people like Trevor who really needed to be taught a good lesson.

About the only time I really got to talk with Chris during those two weeks was during lunch. During each he only seemed to ever speak of more training ideas, none of which was actually sounding like very much fun to be perfectly honest. And since we weren’t even able to talk to each other on the phone at night, I had spent every one of them pondering his ideas and even toyed with the notion of trying a new Zodiac symbol completely on my own, but ultimately decided against it. After all I knew now that was supposed to be one of his duties as the Guardian.

When Chris’s punishment finally ended, it was a welcomed relief because I had grown bored of my own company and thoughts, and truly wanted to get this training started. And that was precisely what Chris had planned for that Saturday afternoon. This time he had asked for permission to go into the woods, even though we hadn’t even gone into them the last time his parents thought we had. They said it was ok and had given us a curfew of 5pm, as there was going to be a cookout my family was coming over for at that time. It was just around 1pm as we headed deep into the thick forest behind his house on a trail that appeared as if it had been walked on countless times. It vaguely reminded me of my original woodsy adventure that had led to me finding the crystal and on the path I was now on.

“Come on, hurry up, we don’t have much time!” said Chris who was way ahead of me on the trail.

I picked up my pace and soon emerged into a large field in the middle of the forest that had knee high grass and a relatively clear pond next to it that Chris told me came from some underwater stream.

“You’re first training begins in there by the way…” said Chris pointing towards the water.

“WHAT! No way, it’s like not even 50 degrees outside and I don’t think this water is much warmer than that.” I said as I dipped my hand into it and felt how cold it was to the touch.

“Remember that Zodiac symbol Cancer that you epically failed at using?”

“Yeah…so?”

“Well if my hunch is correct, you’re not going to feel the cold of the water at all.”

“But I don’t even have a bathing suit!”

“I do!” said Chris smiling as he pulled one of his out from the backpack he was carrying.

“Ugh! Of course you do. Just so you know, I think I’m already beginning to hate your training.” I said with a frown as I grabbed the bathing suit and quickly put it on.

“Ok, now what I want you to do is say Cancer and immediately jump into the pond.”

“Really, do we have to practice this one today?” I said shivering.

I was still feeling rather fearful about my choking incident at the end of the summer the first time I had tried to use this symbol.

“You’ll be fine Andy. Ready?”

“No, not really, but whatever! CANCER!”

I quickly took a running jump into the lake half expecting it to feel like icicles were touching every part of my body, yet it was oddly warm and reassuring, like it might feel during a very hot August. As I looked at Chris giving me the thumbs up sign, I tried to take a breath in through my nose and started gasping again.

“Go under the water dummy!” said Chris noticing what was happening all over again.

I immediately dove straight down into the pond and tried to breath again, but this time felt oxygen rush into my body through the sides of my neck. I tried to touch the area with my hands where that was seemingly coming in but couldn’t because my fingers were now all connected together with a strange webbing. I looked down at my feet and noticed the same was true there as well. Overall, my body felt strangely different as well, yet I was unsure of what actually had changed within it. It was then I remembered seeing the Keeper on the black screen behind the Council of the Zodiac racing through the water.

Hmmm, I wonder…

I placed my hands close together, in a streamline position, and began to kick my feet as hard as I could. Immediately I shot forward faster than I had ever swum before, so fast that the bottom of the pond almost became a blur as I raced over it. And within a matter of seconds I found myself already on the other side of the pond.

As I looked back across it underwater with eyesight that seemed enhanced as well, I started to think that maybe this training thing wasn’t going to be so bad after all…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: What’s the one room a ghost can’t be in?
A: The living room!

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 12)

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 13

“Whoa…” said Chris and I in almost complete unison as we slowly swiveled our chairs around while looking at the large circular table and each of the beings seated at it.

It was a little difficult to fathom what my eyes were actually seeing. All of the “beings” were extremely tall and shaped in human forms, but their bodies were completely translucent and shining in a very luminescent white light. Even stranger was how it appeared as if I was staring into outer space when I looked through each of their bodies. Their faces also had no eyes, no ears, no noses, and no mouths yet I could see they were all staring at us somehow, like they were deeply examining us. It didn’t seem to bother me though as I felt amazingly serene and peaceful like I did anytime I held my crystal. It was then I noticed the engraved purple-glowing zodiac symbols on the outside of the table directly in front of each of these beings of light. Suddenly a very soothing female voice from behind me broke the silence. It was coming from the being with the Capricorn symbol.

“I am Capricorn and we welcome you both to the Council of the Zodiac. As you can see we encompass each of the 12 astrological symbols. Andrew, you have been chosen to be a Keeper of the Zodiac, which is something that has been going on for countless millennia across many universes. And you Christopher have been chosen to be a Guardian of the Zodiac, as well as a guide and teacher of its gifts for Andrew. We know you both have many questions, and it is our intention to answer what we can. But do understand there are things we cannot say, as doing so could alter the entire time-space continuum. The most important thing we must tell you is that there is forces of darkness at work everywhere, consistently trying to undermine the Light. This is where the abilities of the crystal are meant to help, as you have been tasked to fight this darkness and protect the Light. Know this won’t be an easy task, not as a Keeper, nor a Guardian, as these forces of darkness will attempt to thwart your every move.” 

I looked at Chris and didn’t know what to say. For a guy like me who always seemed to have an answer for everything, Capricorn’s message had left me totally speechless.

“Why were we chosen?” said Chris thankfully coming to my rescue.

But it wasn’t Capricorn that answered him, instead a deep masculine sounding voice would, and it came from Aries.

“There is great purity and good in each of your hearts and we have seen this in the past, in the present, as well as in the future. Christopher, you are a very protective spirit, able to nurture and care beyond most, and a noble teacher as well, one who can give great guidance and direction to another when needed. Your true nature will unfold the more you become a Guardian of the Zodiac. As for you Andrew, you are a born leader who sees the good in everyone. Your desire to bring peace and harmony to the world is why you were chosen to be a Keeper of the Zodiac. While we have seen you already use the crystal for a single moment of self-gain, know that it cannot continue to be used in this way. For the heart will fall prey to the forces of darkness, the more the powers of the Zodiac are used for one’s own glory. And be forewarned if that is to happen, the crystal would cease to work and you would no longer be Keepers and Guardians of the Zodiac.”

Although I was remaining amazingly calm to everything being said, I had a question I needed to desperately ask.

“Did you create the cave where I found the crystal? And if so, why didn’t you just bring me here to give it to me directly, instead of putting me through something where I lost three years of time?”

A second feminine voice as soothing as the first spoke next, this time coming from Taurus.

“We learned long ago that it is always best for a Keeper and their Guardian to find each other as they always do, and then for them to discover us when they become ready. Doing it any other way has only ever incited panic and fear in both. As for the three years you lost in the cave, know it existed out of your own space and time. It was something we created for you to find and when you entered it, you stepped outside the boundaries of what you perceive as time. But as we can see into the past, present, and future, we also knew your family would still be there for you when you exited the cave three years later. And speaking of this, we must also warn you that you cannot remain here for very long, because this same principle holds true for here as well.”

“What??? My parents are never going to let me out of their sight again if I were to disappear for another three years!” I said half jokingly, half serious.

“That is precisely why we recommend you use the power of saying ‘Zōidiakos’ sparingly and only when you absolutely need to. Christopher, this is just one of the many important assessments a Guardian will make throughout their journey in this role. It is crucial to make each of them wisely and never in haste. We will say once more, our concept of time is quite different than yours, and to prevent too much of your time from passing again, we recommend only one more question to be asked.”

One more question? I had like a thousand questions I wanted to ask. But I didn’t want to see another great lapse of time pass on by either. I also could see that each of my questions were probably just going to lead to that many more questions, which is why I was glad Chris decided to pose the final one for us.

“Are there other Keepers and Guardians who can help us on our journey to protect the Light?”

Wow! What a great question. I guess that’s why they chose Chris to be the Guardian!

A final masculine voice answered, this time Sagittarius, whose voice greatly reminded me of a narrator I often heard in previews for upcoming movies.

“There are many Keepers and Guardians throughout the Universes, and your path will naturally come across them when it becomes essential in your fight against the darkness. Look around you now and you will see many of them already engaged in this age-old battle.”

Suddenly the black walls behind the table surrounding us began showing images of other Keepers and Guardians, each doing something completely different. Ironically it felt for a moment as if I was fully immersed in a theater all around me. There were Keepers flying through the air and swimming underwater at exceptional speeds. There were Guardians training Keepers in huge fields and other large venues, helping them learn their abilities, many of which I hadn’t even explored yet.

Image after image of creatures, species, and beings from places most likely light years from my planet flashed before my eyes. Several even looked a lot like human beings but I never got a long enough look at any one of them to truly know, which made me wonder if there were other Keepers and Guardians on Earth.

“Andrew, we have to go. Now!” Chris said as the images continued to flicker on the black walls all around us.

“Have faith in your journey ahead and know that we love we…” said the whole Council of the Zodiac in a pacifying chorus of feminine and masculine-based voices.

I had no idea what “we love we” meant and as I began to ponder those three words, Chris shouted out, ‘Zōidiakos!’

The crystal once again flew out of his hand with that mesmerizing hum and started spinning around in mid-air between us, faster and faster and faster, until neither of us could see anything but its blur. The blur began to expand, growing bigger and bigger until it completely enveloped us, causing the circular table, the Council of the Zodiac, and the walls still portraying those images of the Keepers and Guardians to become blurry as well. And then like it did before, it rapidly slowed down until it stopped altogether dropping back down into Chris’s hand. We had returned to his room, still in our chairs, which now looked as if a small tornado had struck it. I quickly pointed at the clock on his desk to show that 4 hours had already passed. It was after 10pm.

“We have a lot of training to do to get you ready…” said Chris just as his parents abruptly opened the door to his room, both looking overly concerned and maybe even slightly angry.

I started to wonder how my new Guardian was going to find a way to explain this one…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: What did the buffalo say to his son when he left for college?
A: Bison!

Hey everyone, just a quick heads up that starting in May when I post the next chapter of my greatest adventure ever, you’ll be seeing a slightly new format that includes the usual silly joke, the link to a PDF with all my previous chapters, and the new chapter itself, but nothing else. I decided it was more important to focus my energy into writing the story, instead of making fun of my big goofy doppelganger all the time. LOL. Well anyway, thanks for continuing to follow along and happy reading!

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 11)

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 12

“What? Wait a second. You can see it? Yeah right!” I said rather sarcastically thinking Chris was just pulling my leg.

“I’m being totally serious! Look right there is Libra, and there’s Gemini, and…”

“Ok. I believe you!” I cut him off after seeing him point to the precise spots where the Libra and Gemini symbols were on the crystal. “So how do you think that’s possible when no one else has been able to see anything but a rock?”

“I have no idea. But there’s got to be some reason.” Chris said as he continued to look intently at the crystal in his hand when suddenly he shouted “GEMINI!”

It had actually been rather comical watching Chris do this. He had held the crystal outward like a magic wand, expecting something to happen when he said the word Gemini, but nothing did. 

“So I’m guessing you thought in saying Gemini that…”

POP…

“…since you could see the crystal’s symbols, you might have the powers too…” Andy #2 appeared finishing my sentence.

“I was about to tell him that!”

“Sure you were…” I said as both Andy #2 and myself started laughing uncontrollably. 

“Come on guys, be serious. I thought it might actually have worked…”

“It was a very valiant effort indeed Chris!” said Andy #2 sounding like he was from medieval times.

“Hey, in all seriousness do you know what this specific symbol is? I’m pretty sure I know what all the zodiac signs look like and I’ve never seen this one.” Chris said pointing at one I hadn’t noticed on it before.

The symbol looked a lot like a very tiny wheel. It was a circle with spokes all connecting to an even smaller circle in the middle of it.

“Let me see that.” I took it from him and immediately the symbol disappeared.

“Whoa!” said Chris seeing it had disappeared in my hand.

I handed it back to him and it immediately reappeared. We did this a few more times until Andy #2 broke the silence.

“And there we have it folks, a really exciting game of hot potato…”

“He’s definitely got more your sarcastic side that’s for sure…” said Chris rolling his eyes.

“You think?” I said with a grin.

“Let’s look up the Zodiac on the Internet and see what we find.” 

“Gee, that sounds sooooooo fun…” Andy #2 said somewhat cynically.

“Gemini!” I was actually starting to get a little annoyed myself, with myself, as if that was even possible.

“Awww…” said Andy #2 with a huge smile, just before he vanished.

POP…

“Finally, some peace and quiet. You know you can be totally annoying at times…” Chris said jokingly.

“I know right!”

Chris then sat down and logged into his Apple desktop computer, while I pulled up a chair next to him. I watched him Google the word “zodiac”, and scanned the first page of results along with him. He chose to open up the first of those results, which was from Wikipedia, and there on the upper right-hand side of the page, was a picture that was pretty darn close to the symbol on the crystal. But before I had a chance to say anything, Chris swiveled his chair around and directly faced me.

“Hey I really need to say something before we proceed into this any further…I feel kind of bad about how I handled what you said to me a little bit ago…” 

“You mean about your sister?” 

“Yeah… it’s…kind of hard to talk about…”

I could tell as Chris’s eyes started to tear up and turn red.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” I said reassuringly.

“No, I do, I mean I need to talk to someone about it, because I haven’t really, since it happened.”

There was a long pause where I actually thought Chris was going to start crying, but instead he took a deep breath and began talking.

“I had a twin sister who died in the beginning of last year. Up until then, she was my only real friend and we used to hang out all the time together. Our family was headed out to dinner like we frequently did on a Friday night. And one of the things we always did before every car ride was battle each other for the seat behind our mother, because there was more legroom there. My father is pretty tall if you hadn’t noticed and has to put his seat all the way back when he drives. I hadn’t even given my sister a chance that night to battle me for that desired seat and instead had just sat in it. Midway to dinner, a drunk driver came across the road and hit us head on pretty hard, causing my father’s seat to come undone, which ended up crushing…my…sister…to death next to me. We had just been playing a game of rock-paper-scissors when it all happened…”

Chris couldn’t continue. He began crying pretty hard, and I wondered if this was the most he had opened up about his sister’s death since it happened. I decided it was best to remain silent for a few minutes, especially because I didn’t know what to say. Other than losing a grandparent I wasn’t that close to, I hadn’t experienced much in the way of death yet.

Once Chris’s sobbing had stopped, I decided it was a good time to finally say something that might help him feel more comfortable.

“Hey, thanks for sharing that with me man. I know that must have been very hard for you to do. But you know it’s not your fault right Chris?” 

“I know, that’s what my parents have told me countless times…” 

“Look, I know it sucks, and I can’t imagine what it feels like. I really can’t. But if you had been behind your father’s seat, I wouldn’t be here right now hanging out with you. And maybe, just maybe, you were the one who was always meant to live because you have a purpose. After all, you’ve been the only one other than me who has been able to see this crystal, and now you even have a symbol on it meant just for you…

“Thanks Andy. I guess I never thought about it in that way…”

“Well look, if you don’t cheer up, I’m going to get Andy #2 back here to annoy the crap out of you…” 

“Nooooooo!”

And just like that, it felt as if the two of us had really bonded into best friends for life.

“So it appears as if this symbol is the actual Zodiac symbol doesn’t it?” Chris said turning his attention back to the Wikipedia page.

“Well it obviously doesn’t do anything because you’ve already said the word ‘Zodiac’ a bunch of times and nothing happened.” 

“Hold on a second, look, it says right here the word ‘zodiac’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Zōidiakos’, which means “’circle of friends’.

Suddenly the crystal flew out of his hand with a mesmerizing hum and started spinning around in mid-air between us, faster and faster and faster, until neither of us could see anything but its blur. Loose papers and other light objects began flying around Chris’s room as we both looked over at each other in total shock. The blur began to expand, growing bigger and bigger until it completely enveloped us, causing his room to become blurry instead. It was almost as if we were in the center of a tornado, although thankfully I had never been in one of those to have known. And then as quickly as it started spinning, it rapidly slowed down until it stopped altogether dropping back down into Chris’s hand. Except we both then noticed we no longer were in his bedroom. Instead we were sitting on our two chairs in what appeared to be a large room with all black walls. In place of the ceiling though was the sky and stars, and surrounding us was an immense circular table with from what I could tell, had 12 beings equally positioned completely around it now keenly fixated upon us…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson