The Twelfth Step

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