Category: Words From My Inner Child Andy

Q: What did the basketball player wear a bib?
A: Because he dribbles a lot.

PDF Link to Chapters 1 to 24 – > Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 24)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 25

“Oh, she’s harmless dear. You know you’re the only goose for me!”

“Uh huh. You’ve probably said that to all the pretty geese Jules.”

I couldn’t believe it, I really was hearing these two geese talk to each other. As I continued to listen to them, I had to chuckle as they started squabbling exactly like my parents did sometimes.

“Andy, what’s so funny and what exactly are you looking at anyway?” My sister asked inquisitively.

“I’m looking at these two geese right here and listening to them talk to each other. Well they’re not really talking right now, they’re actually bickering about some goose named Maribel who’s flirting with this one here whose name is actually Jules.” I said pointing at the male goose in the water below me.

“Seriously? That’s what all those squawks and hisses are about?” said Chris.

“Yeah, I think Jules girlfriend is a little upset.”

Laura then got up and quickly came over to see for herself.

“Betsy, did you hear that kid?”

The two geese were now looking up at me.

“Yes, but how’s that possible? Normally they only sound like a bunch of creatures making strange, loud noises.”

“Hey, you can understand what I’m saying?” I suddenly said to the two of them.

“Jules, is he talking to us?”

“I think so dear. This is soooo weird.”

“Umm, he-llo there?” said Jules a little coy.

“Hi. My name’s Andy.” 

Chris and Laura were now looking at me with rather funny expressions.

“Why are you guys looking at me like that?” I said to them.

“Well we find it a little strange that we can understand you and vice versa.” Jules responded, obviously thinking I was talking to them.

“Hold on a sec, I’m actually not talking to you two.” I said politely to Betsy and Jules.

“Are you really speaking to those geese right now or are you just playing with us?” said my sister with a grin.

“I think Andy’s talking to that girl next to him Jules, not us.” Betsy said looking over at Jules.

“No, I’m not pulling your chain. I actually can understand these two geese. That one there is Betsy, and that one there is Jules.” I said pointing to each of them.

“So how is it we’re able to understand each other Andy?” said Jules vying for my attention.

“It’s kind of hard to explain, let’s just say I have some abilities that other human beings don’t. Hey, and by the way, I’ve always wanted to know, why do you guys always hiss at us when we try to come near any of you?”

I knew it was kind of odd to ask such a question but it really was something I’ve always wanted to know.

“Well, let’s see, you either are trying to hit us with your loud machines, or shoot us down with those weapons, or if by some chance you get close enough to any of us, none of you ever seem to be gentle with our feathers! And I take great care to look this darn good don’t I dear!” Betsy said quite adamantly.

“You definitely do dear, you definitely do.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure you’re thinking about Maribel right now, that little floozy.”

“What’s a floozy?” I asked aloud while Chris and Laura kept prodding me to know the answer to my last question about why geese run away from us all the time.

“A floozy is someone who sleeps around.” My sister answered quickly. “And why would you want to know such a thing anyway?”

“Well, they’re starting to bicker again about this Maribel who I guess is someone that Betsy thinks sleeps around. But I honestly think she’s just being a little jealous.”

“I totally agree Andy!” said Jules.

“I’m not jealous! And you stay out of this Andy! This is between Jules and I. You shouldn’t even be able to understand us anyway! Come on Jules, let’s swim to the other side of the lake where we can have a little more privacy.”

“But wait, don’t you want to know more about why we can understand him?”

“No, and stop trying to change the subject. I’m not done talking about Maribel because I see the way you look at her. Is there something going on between the two of you?”

“Ugh.” Jules groaned and with that the two swam away.

“So what happened?” said Chris. “What was the answer to your question?”

“Yeah, and how do they sound when they talk?” Laura said excitedly.

“They sound just like us and they really don’t like humans because we run over them on the road, we hunt them down in the air, and we’re never gentle with their feathers, as I guess they are pretty particular about that.”

“That’s what all that squawking was about?” Chris asked.

“Well that was part of it, but it all started with that whole thing about Maribel making Betsy jealous. I guess Maribel was overly flirting with Jules earlier today and has been for a while now.”

“Man, it sounds just like what real people go through sometimes.” Laura said with a big smile.

“Yeah, totally. You know, I have to say I like this ability the best so far. I think it’s going to come in handy for a lot of reasons, like when an animal is not feeling well. I’ll be able to totally figure out what its symptoms are!” I said fondly remembering Dr. Doolittle having the same ability in the movies.

“Sounds like one of many possibilities. So maybe we should go find some other animals to talk to and explore this ability a little more don’t you think?” said Chris.

“Is that you way of saying we’re going to go do some more training?” I said chuckling.

Chris grinned and with that, Laura ran back inside to let everyone know we were going to go for a walk. A few minutes later we were heading down the street we came in on, passing by other lake front homes one by one.

“Can you imagine living here year round? How cool would that be?” I said, as I imagined myself sitting in a hot tub night after night, soaking up the stars.

“I’m sure you’d get bored after awhile…” said Chris.

“You think?”

“I’m with Andy, I like it up here.” said Laura.

“Many things seem great at first, but after having it consistently, it’s common to want something more.” 

“Wow, you sound so wise. Way beyond your years.” Laura said with a little awe, but also with a little sarcasm to her voice.

“That’s why the Council chose me to be the Guardian.” 

“Don’t let it go to your big head Chrissy!” I said with a smirk.

“Whatever Andrina!” Chris playfully said in return.

“Hey, how about those two dogs over there? Can you hear what they’re saying?” Laura said pointing at two German Shepherds in front of a home that looked like a mini White House.

“I don’t know, hold on a minute.”

I then walked up close enough to see if they were saying anything to each other.

“Joe, I don’t know what to do. I can’t take getting kicked anymore. I hurt all over.”

“Me neither, maybe we should run away Paul.”

“Yeah, but where would we go Joe? We’re too old now and if we end up at the pound, we’re probably going to die there.”

“I just don’t understand why we’re always getting so abused. We never do anything to deserve this kind of treatment…” 

I started to feel really sad and wished I hadn’t heard what they were saying.

“What’s wrong Andy?” Laura asked, obviously noticing I was getting upset.

“We have to do something as these two German Shepherds are being physically abused by their owner! In fact, I’m going to do something about this right now!” 

And with that I angrily headed to the front door of their house…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
A: He wasn’t peeling well!

To read any of the previous chapters, please click here -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 23)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 24

“What was all that about son?” said my father as I returned to the booth where everyone was once again staring at me.

“Oh, I just wanted to say I was sorry again for being so rude to the waitress earlier. And well, I wanted to brighten up her day a little I guess.” I responded as I slid back into the inside of the long red booth.

“Well that was mighty nice of you Andy!” said Mrs. Riley. “I guess my little Chris is rubbing off on you.”

I chuckled and mouthed the words “my little Chris” with a big grin while staring across at Chris who was now the only one turning beet red.

“When is she going to stop calling me her little Chris? I’m not a little kid anymore. Ugh!” Chris’s thoughts suddenly came through in my head causing me to laugh out loud.

“Stop reading my thoughts and turn off Virgo! And by the way, I’m assuming it all went well with the waitress right?” Chris’s thoughts boomed in my head, obviously now aware I hadn’t turned the zodiac sign back off.

“Virgo!” I murmured the words while nodding approvingly to Chris, but not before I heard Mr. Riley’s thoughts come through once again. He really did think of me as a weird kid, but in all honesty, I’m sure I did act rather strange from his point of view.

Thankfully, the rest of lunch went off without a hitch. And as much as I had liked learning a new part of the Virgo abilities, it was definitely a welcomed relief not hearing what people were thinking about me anymore. I have to say it did feel pretty good helping the waitress though, as it was very noticeable how happy she was for the rest of our meal. Once we were all done and the bill was paid, I said goodbye to her and was back in the car for the rest of our drive to the cabin.

I mostly dozed for the next hour in the car until we arrived in Lake George Village. There we had a quick stop off at the rental office to pick up the keys to the cabin and thirty minutes later we were finally pulling up in front of the large lakefront vacation home. It truly was breathtaking.

The log cabin seemed mammoth compared to our house back home. It must have been over 3000 square feet. The outdoor deck really was as huge as Chris had said, as it ran the entire length of the house. Behind it were floor to ceiling windows that allowed each of its occupants to lazily stare out at the lake, which was probably only about 100 feet from the edge of the deck.

“Hey, can Andy and I walk down to the dock?” Chris said as soon as we had all exited our cars. Ironically, I hadn’t even noticed the long dock until he had mentioned it.

“After everything is unloaded Mr.” said Mrs. Riley somewhat sternly.

Once we began to bring everything in, I noticed how impressive the inside of the home was as the outside. The place had three floors. On the bottom was a recreational room that actually contained a full size pool table, a foosball table, a satellite-connected television, and a decent sized couch.

On the second floor were two bedrooms, one for my sister, and one for Chris and I. She got the smaller of two with the twin bed in it, but she did have her own bathroom, which made her more than happy. We got the one with the bunk bed, which I promptly claimed the top so that I wouldn’t have to smell any of Chris’s farts travelling downward. Our bathroom was outside our room, which wasn’t that big of a deal to either of us. Also on our floor was the door that exited onto the deck, a long exceptionally soft sectional sofa and two recliners, the kitchen and a dining room table that sat twelve.

On the top floor were the two master bedrooms, each with their own walk in showers and king size beds. Overall the décor there and throughout the rest of the house definitely had a rustic feel to it. There were pictures everywhere of the forest and woods, and the colors of the furniture and bedding were all browns and greens.

It was all very quaint in its own way, all except for the creepy deer’s head that hung directly over the door heading out to the deck. I kept feeling like it was staring at me every time I walked by it. In fact, I had to force myself not to look up at it once everything was unloaded and unpacked when Chris and I headed walked under it on our way down to the dock. My sister had decided she wanted to tag along with us as well and I noticed she too avoided the weird gaze of the deer as she walked out the door behind us.

The deck itself was lined with bright rainbow-colored Adirondack chairs and on the far corner of it near the stairs heading down towards the lake was the whirlpool, which felt quite hot to the touch. From the looks if it, it appeared it would fit all of us just fine and I was excited at the thought of sitting in it at night while staring at the stars.

“Please be careful!” shouted my mother who had peaked her head out the door, as we headed down the stairs.

“We will!” I shouted back.

“Hey, so did you use some power or something, back there at the diner?” My sister asked once we were far enough away.

“Yeah, I was reading the waitress’s mind. She was totally in a bad spot in life. Oh, and I read yours too by accident.”

“WHAT!” My sister was now the one turning red, obviously thinking I had heard something more personal than I actually did. “I didn’t kiss him I swear.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I only heard that you wished you had my powers and all the things you could do with them if you did.”

“Oh…well never mind then. Forgot what I just said.” My sister said feeling overly embarrassed.

“No go on, tell us what you mean…” Chris said laughing.

“Anyways…so are you reading my mind right now?” Laura said quickly changing the subject.

“No, I turned the ability off back at the diner. It’s not that fun hearing what everyone is thinking actually. Trust me.”

We had reached the end of the dock and two benches sat across from each other there. Laura sat down on the one, while Chris and I on the other.

“So what signs haven’t you figured out what they do yet?” Laura said inquisitively.

“Aries, Sagittarius, Pisces, Scorpio, and Aquarius.” Chris quickly jumped in, knowing if I had responded, I would have activated the first one I said.

“You haven’t tried Mom’s sign yet? Cool! Can you try it now?” Laura said rather excitedly.

“Ummm, I don’t know if that’s a good idea right now given Andy’s track record, but just curious, what is your mother’s sign?” said Chris.

“She’s a Sagittarius.” WHOOPS. I spoke it without thinking. It was a bad habit of mine, as I often found myself responding for other people when I knew the answer.

“Ugh! Andy! You just activated the sign!” 

“I don’t feel any different.” 

“That’s what you said when you activated Taurus.” 

“Do you notice anything weird at all?” My sister chimed in.

“Well, there is a really big zit on your right cheek. Does that count?”

“Really, there is?” My sister said as she frantically began feeling her face.

“No, I’m just kidding…” 

“Jerk.”

We all began laughing uncontrollably, completely forgetting for the moment about the Sagittarius sign being activated in me.

“So, are you hungry dear?”

“Not really hon, I’m still full from the fish we had earlier.”

“You know, I think Maribel was flirting a little too much with you earlier today. She really ruffled my feathers!” 

The voices were coming from behind me. At first I thought I had been hearing things while laughing about the fake zit on my sister, but as soon as I turned around and saw the two geese in the water nearby, I knew immediately what Sagittarius did.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

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