Category: Words From My Inner Child Andy

Q: What is the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well dressed man on a bicycle?
A: Attire…

Click here for the PDF of all the previous chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 27)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 28

I spent the rest of the day feeling pretty bad inside about Paul and Joe. I knew there was nothing more I could have done for them, yet I still wished I could have ensured their safety somehow. And as much as I enjoyed the Sagittarius ability, I had decided to turn it off so that I didn’t have to deal with the possibility of having any more difficult encounters with another animal.

Unfortunately, I also no longer felt as excited as I had been upon arriving to the log cabin and nothing seemed to be cheering me up now. Not the fire we had roaring in the fireplace, nor the cookout we did on the grill later, and not even a long soak in the hot tub out under the stars made me feel any better. I just couldn’t seem to take my mind off of those two old dogs no matter what I did. Thankfully, after playing a few rounds of a game called Catch Phrase towards the end of the evening, I finally did manage to at least laugh a little.

By the time we had all agreed to turn in for the night, it was well past 11pm. I was thoroughly exhausted, more mentally and emotionally, than physically. Chris and I had talked for a short time, mostly about me not beating myself up with the whole Paul and Joe thing, but it wasn’t long before I had found my eyes getting too heavy to keep open. As I finished pondering the day’s events in silence, I soon fell into a deep sleep drifting into one dream after another of me dealing with a long line of animals all coming to seek my help.

Knock Knock Knock.

I slowly came to wondering if I was hearing things? Did I even sleep? I still felt totally exhausted.

 “Come in.” Chris said sounding quite alert already.

“Good morning boys. I have some pretty good news to tell you.”

 I opened my eyes to see Chris’s Mom standing there.

 “What is it that couldn’t have waited until we were both awake a little more Mom?” said Chris with a huge yawn.

“Well, I thought you might want to know that Paul and Joe have already been adopted by a wonderful couple.”

“WHAT? REAALLYY!” I said as I rubbed my eyes.

“We got a call this morning from the Humane Society, probably because of how concerned they saw you all were about Paul and Joe. It seems as if their owner relinquished all ownership given the long list of allegations he was facing once again, which made it possible for them to be adopted right away. And ironically, this very morning, a couple came in that had been on an overnight stay in their RV at a local campground and were looking to find a new companion for their Golden Retriever. I think their names were Jym and DW or something like that and supposedly they immediately fell in love with the two German Shepherds. So it sounds like they are going to be just fine guys. Isn’t that great news?”

“That’s really cool Mom, thanks for letting us know.”

“No problem and you might want to start getting up, as breakfast will be in about 30 minutes.” She said as she closed the door.

While I was definitely happy to hear the good news of Paul and Joe’s fate, I had truly hoped somehow that either my parents or Chris’s would have been the ones to adopt them. Regardless, I was actually relieved to know they were now in good hands. I decided it was probably as good of a time as any given the news we had just received to get out of my funk and enjoy the rest of our weekend getaway. So I quickly grabbed my pillow and proceeded to slam it into Chris’s face, at which point we ended up in a huge playful battle for about 10 minutes. Ultimately I gave him the victory when he pinned me down at the end and let out a huge fart on top of me.

“Just you wait.”  I said as Chris left the bedroom to go take his shower.

“Uh huh. Whatever. I won. Ha Ha.”

I threw on my sweatshirt and sweatpants, feeling a lot more awake and a lot better, and headed out into the main room where I saw another fire was already roaring once again in the fireplace. The smell of bacon cooking was already beginning to waft through the air. My stomach began to grumble as I grabbed a bottle of water and proceeded to sit down in front of the warm and dancing flames of the fire.

“Don’t get too close Andy.” My mother said from the kitchen.

“I know, I know.” I said with a deep sigh. “Hey, so what’s on our agenda for today anyway?”

“Well as far as I know you and Chris are going to be hiking somewhere with your father and his, while the rest of us go shopping.”

“We’re going shopping today?” Laura said excitedly, as she emerged from her room and entered the kitchen.

“Yes, there’s some outlets nearby, does that sound good?”

“Well of course. Maybe I can finally find that Coach purse I’ve been looking for.”

“So where is Dad anyway, Mom?” I asked after noticing neither he nor Chris’s father were around.

“Your father and Chris’s went to the local tourist’s office to find out about all the hiking trails that were available locally. They should be back any minute now.”

 I hadn’t honestly been on a decent hike in a good while so I was rather looking forward to it. In fact, the last time I had really spent any decent amount of time in the wilderness was when I had discovered that Zodiac cave. Hiking was without a doubt one of my most favorite things to do in life and I was more than excited now to see which trail our fathers had in store for us today.

About ten minutes later they returned with a few maps but wouldn’t say much about the one they chose, other than it was up some local mountain. Not too long afterwards we all sat down at the big table and started feasting on piles of cheddar cheese scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, granola pancakes, and orange juice. It was definitely a great start to the day.

After everyone was done stuffing themselves and the dishes were fully cleaned and put away, Chris and I were instructed to pack up our backpacks with some bottled water and snacks, something to eat for lunch, and anything else we might want to bring along like my pair of binoculars I had brought on the weekend trip. Our fathers did the same with their own backpacks and soon we had said our goodbyes to the would-be shoppers and were off in the car heading for some unknown destination.

“So where are we headed today Dad? Did you find a good hike?” I asked curiously.

“I think so and I’m sure the two of you won’t be disappointed because I hear there’s a great view at the top.”

I couldn’t wait, as I always loved seeing those spectacular views after a long hike.

It took approximately 15 minutes to drive to our destination, which was nothing more than a large parking lot and some small bathroom facilities for people to use. None of us needed to go so instead we walked over to the sign that said “TRAIL TO” with an arrow pointing ahead and below it a list of the possible hikes to take from there. I was glad my father said we were doing the first one, which said “BUCK MT. SUMMIT”, as it had the shortest length of 3.3 miles. The others had much greater lengths ranging anywhere from just over 5 miles to almost 17.

Before we headed onto the yellow-marked trail, we all decided it might be best to have someone take our picture. Chris’s father then asked a fellow hiker who had just emerged from the woods if he would be open to doing that for us. He was more than happy to oblige and I of course made a funny face while it was being taken. It wasn’t until after we began our hike did Chris tell me he managed to put those stupid bunny ears above my head in the same picture. I tried to trip him after that, but of course got immediately scolded for it by my Dad.

At first the trail seemed quite easy, heading off in a slightly upwards ascent. But it wasn’t long before we found ourselves heading up much steeper inclines. Each of us managed to slip a few times here and there on some rocks along the way, but thankfully none of us ever fell completely down. After about 45 minutes or so of heavy hiking, I felt like I was running out of steam and asked if we could take a break.

“Come on Andy, we’re almost there!” Chris said in between breaths.

“No, I agree with Andy, let’s take a break.” Chris’s father said sounding out-of-breath himself.

“Why don’t we all have a snack and some water. We still have a good 45 minutes to go before we hit the summit.” My father said, as he found a nearby boulder to sit on.

After we all found a place to sit down, each of us quickly gulped down a bottle of water. I took a moment to look around as I drank my own and noticed the beautiful array of thick canopy surrounding us. Most of the leaves had already fully changed and fallen to the ground, but a few trees who still had theirs seemed to be enjoying the relatively warm day for the middle of November. If I had to guess, I’d say it was probably right around 50 degrees, which I felt was making it quite tempting to take my sweatshirt off given how hot I felt. But for the moment I decided I was way more interested in finding something to eat in my backpack. As I fished in my bag for one of my snack bars, it suddenly was eerily silent other than the rustle of the leaves.

“What was that?!” said Chris breaking the silence.

I hadn’t heard anything and assumed he was just trying to play a joke on me. 

“I’m not falling for it this time Chris…”

“No seriously, I just heard something.” 

“Yeah, probably one of your farts.”  I said laughing.

CRACK.

“Now that I heard. But it’s probably just some tree branch that fell down with the wind.” I said shrugging my shoulders and taking a bite out of my Larabar. But then suddenly I heard some strange sounds coming from behind me that I couldn’t immediately identify.

As I turned around to see where it was coming from, I noticed everyone else had already identified its source and the expression on their faces said it all.

There standing not more than 20 feet away was a pretty good-sized black bear staring us down and not looking very friendly at all…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: What type of music did Pilgrims like the best?
A: Plymouth Rock!

Click here for the link to a PDF of the previous 26 chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 26)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 27

“Who’s dogs are those?” said my father when we reached the top of the porch stairs. Both of our parents had been sitting in those colorful Adirondack chairs, obviously observing the breathtaking views from there.

I looked over at Chris to see if he was going to handle it given he had been the one with the master plan.

“I don’t think this is going to go so well Joe…” said Paul.

“Try and have a little faith Paul ok?” said Joe.

“That’s much easier said then done Joe…” said Paul.

“I know Paul; I know…”

“It’s ok guys, you know we’re going to do our best to help the two of you…” I said hoping it would reassure them.

“Well?” my father asked again. “Who’s dogs are they and why are they whimpering so much?”

I was about to respond when thankfully Chris suddenly spoke.

“They are a neighbor’s dog and are being seriously abused and malnourished.”

“And, how do you know this?” said Chris’s mother.

“Well for starters, take one look at them. Do they look healthy to you? They are starving and have bruises all over them.” Chris said rather adamantly.

Both mine and Chris’s parents then came over to take a closer look at the two overly neglected German Shepherds.

“I feel kind of uncomfortable with all this attention Joe…” said Paul feeling concerned.

“Yeah, I know what you mean Paul. I don’t like strange adults touching me either.” said Joe in a somber tone.

“Look guys, we really are only trying to help, but we need our parents to understand for that to happen ok?” I said trying once again to reassure them that everything was going to be ok.

“They’re a little upset aren’t they?” said Chris’s dad observing that the dogs were making more whimpering and slight growling noises.

“Yeah, you don’t know the half of it.” I said.

“What do you mean Andy?” said my mother chiming in.

“Well for starters, it appears as if their owner is a serious alcoholic and is kicking them repeatedly when he gets drunk!” I said heatedly. 

I glanced at my father and saw him cringe. I’m sure he was relating to the effects that alcoholism had on him, although I’m grateful to say he never physically abused my sister nor I.

“I still don’t understand. How is it that you know all this?” said Chris’s mother.

Before Chris even had a chance to respond, I did exactly what I knew he didn’t want me to do.

“We talked with another neighbor when they saw us petting them in their front yard. They said it was sad what those two dogs are put through on a daily basis and how mean and drunk their owner always is. I felt so bad after hearing that that I convinced Chris and Laura to take them back here hoping you would help us call the local Humane Society.

Chris glared at me obviously a little perturbed that I ended up telling another lie again. I shrugged my shoulders at him feeling like there was nothing else any of us could have said. I mean it’s not like either of our parents would understand I could communicate with animals right?

“We really shouldn’t be meddling with another person’s animals Andy.” said my mother who never has been a big fan of dogs.

“So you want them to go back to their owner and not be fed and continue to be kicked!” said Laura somewhat angrily.

“Watch that tone young lady!” said my mother glaring at my sister.

“While I agree with you Pam, I do think we need to do something. These dogs definitely aren’t well. And from the looks of it, I’m not sure if they can keep on going much longer being treated like this…” said Chris’s father.

“Pam, I think Frank is right. We really should do something about this…” said my own father.

“Ok, well why don’t you and I go inside Linda and find the phone number to call the local Humane Society while the rest of you stay out here with them.” said my mother pointing at the nervous and weakly shaking dogs.

“See guys, everything is going to be ok.” I said calmly petting the both of them.

“So they’re going to get us some help Andy?” said Joe.

“And some food?” said Paul.

“They’re going to go call the local Humane Society guys. And I’m going to go get you some food right now ok?”

“Well so far we’ve been treated far better than the last year of our lives that’s for sure right Paul?”  Joe responded sounding a little upbeat.

“Absolutely!” said Paul sounding upbeat as well.

Once I got my father’s permission, Chris and I went inside and grabbed two large cereal bowls and filled them with a bunch of cold cuts and a few apples that I cut up into smaller pieces. We also filled two other bowls with water as well. Meanwhile, I could hear Chris’s mother and my own downstairs on a speakerphone explaining the situation to whomever was on the other end.

It didn’t take Paul and Joe very long at all to devour the food and water we brought them, but not wanting them to get sick, we all decided it was best to wait for the Humane Society to show up and let us know what to do. About an hour later after showing them plenty of love and affection, a van pulled into the driveway and a police car just in front of it. After directing them up onto the porch, we all discovered that each was already well aware of Paul and Joe’s repeated abuse. It appeared that some of the neighbors had previously reported it several times and that their owner, whose name was Carl, had received a number of citations for the constant abuse and neglect. And as much as hearing all that wasn’t a funny thing at all, I had to give Chris a cocky grin knowing my lie wasn’t as much of a lie after all.

“So what happens now?” said Chris who had been relatively silent for most of the past hour.

“We will take them into our care now and ensure they get the proper rest and nutrition they need.” said the lady from the Human Society. “Don’t worry, they won’t be going back to Carl anymore. This was his final straw.” 

“But what happens after that though? I mean who will become their owner now?” I asked while Joe and Paul both looked at me with a very serious stare.

“That all depends on if anyone chooses to adopt them. Until then, we will keep them safely in our care.”

“We’ll adopt them!” my sister suddenly blurted out quite excitedly. 

“Laura, you know Mom will never go for that.” I said solemnly, noticing my father shaking his head and agreeing.

“You don’t know that!”

“Andy, what’s going on?” Joe said nervously.

“The Humane Society is going to take you into their care now and get you better. You’re not going to go back to Carl ever again.”

“But what happens after that?” said Paul equally as nervous.

“Hopefully you will then be adopted and have a much more loving home.” I said feeling a few tears welling up in my eyes.

“Hopefully?” said Paul worriedly.

“You know what they do with dogs that don’t get adopted, especially at our age right?” said Joe.

“Do you put to sleep animals that don’t get adopted?” I immediately asked the woman from the Humane Society.

“Only in rare cases son, when an animal is either very sick or very dangerous.” she answered.

“Hey, I think it’s going to be ok guys and I’m going to work on seeing if my parents will somehow allow us to adopt them.” I said feeling not very confident of that, while the woman from the Humane Society placed leashes on them and began to lead them down the porch stairs.

“Andy please come visit us…” yelled Joe.

“And don’t let us die there…” yelled Paul being a little dramatic, but I understood where he was coming from.

I then watched from the porch as they were loaded into the Humane Society’s van. As it slowly pulled away while the police car headed for Carl’s house, I suddenly felt completely overwhelmed. Without warning, I burst into a pile of tears and felt totally powerless. It was the first time I had felt that way since emerging out of the woods back in the summer and found my home was no longer occupied by my family. But what I was really feeling most powerless over at this very moment was the fact that I had so many abilities with my Zodiac crystal, yet none of them could guarantee that Paul and Joe were going to be ok…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: Why does Frequency constantly have trouble finding love?
A: Because it always hertz inside.

Click Here For the PDF to Chapters 1 to 25 -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 25)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 26

“Wait!” Chris yelled, as I was about to ring the doorbell of the large white house.

“WHAT?! I need to put a stop to this! These dogs are being abused and they don’t deserve it!” I said rather angrily.

“Hey Joe, did you just hear what that kid just said who’s at our front door right now?”

“Yeah how does he know we’re being abused anyway?”

“Don’t you think the more important question Joe is why we’re able to understand what he’s saying?”

“Ugh! You can understand me because I have a special gift ok?” I responded to the dogs feeling overly frustrated, as I headed off the front porch and over to them.

“What? Are they talking to you right now?” Chris asked, as he and Laura approached the dogs as well.

“Yeah, sort of. They are trying to figure out why they can communicate with me just like the ducks were. And I’m beginning to realize that anytime I use this ability I’m going to have to explain it to whatever type of creature I’m talking to!

“Man, he’s a little testy isn’t he Paul?”

“He sure is. Maybe he’s just a little backed up right now you know what I mean Joe?”

The two of them stared laughing, which to Laura and Chris sounded like rapid short barks.

“What’s with them?” said Laura pulling her hand back, thinking they were going to bite her.

“They’re making fun of me and thinking I’m constipated if you can believe that.”

“Well you are kind of acting like that right now Andy you know…” said Chris as he began to laugh along with Paul and Joe.

“Whatever! Look, I’m not backed up! Seriously I’m ticked that you two are being abused. I just want to give your owner a piece of my mind!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” said Paul.

“I’m with him on that one…” said Joe.

“Why?” 

“Because he’s dangerous.” Paul said putting his tail between his legs.

“You mean because he abuses you?” 

“No, because he has this long pointed thing that has killed other animals. We’ve seen him do it.” Joe said, as he began to shake in fear.

I reached down to pet Joe, hoping somehow it may help him to calm down. I could see he obviously was really scared.

“You mean a rifle? Does it make a totally loud noise every time it goes off?” I asked.

“Uh huh…” said Joe.

“He sounds like he’s a hunter. Does he use the rifle to kill deer?”

“Yes. But he also points it at us when he’s really mad and that is usually what precedes him kicking us really hard.” Joe said, somewhat calmer, obviously enjoying the fact I was petting him. 

Laura meanwhile was stroking Paul behind the ears, seeing it was helping him to remain calmer as well.

“Andy, ask them what makes their owner so angry?” said Chris while placing his hand on my back.

“It only happens after he drinks a number of these cans of this nasty smelling stuff.”  Joe said in response to Chris’s question.

“Did you just understand what I asked?” Chris said.

“We sure did. It was like one second you were talking gibberish, and the next second we knew what you were asking.” Paul said answering for the two of them.

“Man, how cool is that. It must be because I had my hand on your back Andy.”

Laura then immediately placed her hand on my shoulder and blurted out the same question Chris had just asked about why their owner was so angry, obviously not having heard the answer Joe already gave us.

“So he’s a drunk then!” Laura said in disgust after Joe answered it again in the same way.

Laura and I had both seen our share of drunkenness in our own family a long time ago when my father battled alcoholism for a few years. Thankfully he found some program called Alcoholics Anonymous that really helped him and hasn’t touched a drop since.

“If you mean him yelling, screaming, throwing things, falling down, and then taking it all out on us, then yes.” Paul said in a very somber way.

“Where is he right now?” I asked, wondering why he hadn’t come out into his front yard given the three of us had been spending all this time with his animals.

“He’s asleep on the couch…” said Paul.

“You mean he’s passed out, from drinking too much…” said Laura adamantly.

“Well if that’s what you call what happens after drinking two dozen or so of those nasty smelling beverages then yes…” said Joe heatedly.

“Hey, have you guys even eaten anything today?” I asked, beginning to notice how undernourished they looked.

“We haven’t had anything to eat since I think it was yesterday. Or was it the day before Joe?”  

“It was the day before yesterday Paul. And don’t remind me, I’m starving.”

“This has got to stop Chris. We have to do something about this.” I said feeling angry again.

“Andy, you know you can’t rationalize with a drunk.” Laura said reminding me of what it was like when my father used to drink.

“Well what do we do then?” I said looking at Chris truly hoping his skills at being a Guardian were going to provide the answer.

“We’re going to take them back to the cabin with us right now.” Chris said without blinking an eye.

“We’re going to do what?” I said, thinking Chris would have come up with a better plan than this. “And what do think our parents are going to think about this? And how are we going to convince them that these two guys need help anyway?” I asked, wondering how this plan could possibly work.

“We’re going to have them call the local Humane Society and have them do an investigation.”

“Please don’t do that.” Paul begged. “They’re probably only going to take us to the pound and dogs our age rarely leave there!”

“I don’t think they will do that. The Humane Society is not the pound and I will personally make sure we find a better solution than the two of you ending up in a dog pound.” Chris said with confidence.

“Hey Andy, maybe Mom and Dad will let us keep them?” Laura said excitedly.

“Look, they’re not even our dogs and we’re acting like they are. First things first. We need to get them some food and better care immediately alright?” I said in a serious tone.

“I absolutely agree…” said Chris.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” said Laura nodding her head in approval.

“You think it’s safe to trust them Joe?” said Paul feeling slightly nervous.

“I trust this kid. I mean he does have this weird ability to communicate with us. That’s something I don’t think we should take lightly don’t you think Paul?”

“Honestly, as long as I can get some food, I don’t care where they take us at this point Joe.”

And with that, they stood up somewhat slowly, obviously weakened from being malnourished, and were ready to follow us back to the cabin.

“So what do you think of your new ability now Andy?” said Chris as we headed down the sidewalk in the direction of where we were staying.

“I think I’m going to hold off from answering that until we get these guys some help.” I responded somewhat glumly, knowing that until they got some help I wasn’t going to feel any better.

“Hey, I just want to say thanks Andy, from the both of us…” said Paul.

“For what?” I asked curiously.

“For caring about two old dogs. We haven’t been cared for in a good long time.”

“Well you deserve it and as I said before, no one deserves to be abused, humans nor animals.”

“Not everyone feels like you though Andy.” Joe chimed in.

“Yeah, sadly, I know that all too well now…”

I walked the rest of the way in silence back to the cabin with my heart feeling extremely heavy because of what I had learned about Paul and Joe. It really made me wonder how many other animals in this world go through this type of terrible treatment every day. Laura and Chris on the other hand spent the rest of the walk back occasionally touching me to talk with Paul and Joe, asking things like what they liked to eat and what fun they liked to have.

When we finally reached the porch stairs of our cabin, I began to feel a little afraid, only because I honestly didn’t know how Chris was going to explain any of this to our parents…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson