Taurus Eyes

by Bonnie Hearn Hill

  Taurus is known for both persistence and a sense of fair play. Perfectionist Virgo tends to be critical of all including its Virgo-self. Hard-working Capricorns can be too serious for their own good.

  Air

  If someone is talking all of the time, you probably have an Air sign on your hands. Aquarius talks and spews the way the mad scientist does, to save the world. (I try to avoid that nasty aspect of my sign, but I plead guilty to my inability to settle on an immediate solution.)

  Gemini talks to distribute information. Sometimes, that information sounds a whole lot like gossip. Don’t blame Gemini. This sign lives to tell the truth—yours, mine, everyone else’s. Regardless of how far a Gemini wanders from your life, this sign will always be curious about you. Libra talks to try to figure things out and present herself as balanced and positive. Although some Libras are critical and judgmental, not to mention narcissistic, basically, they are just Air signs trying to speak their piece.

  With their creativity and honesty, Air signs add sparkle to life.

  Water

  In a word, emotional. In six words, tied to parents and the past. If the emotions are “Poor me,” you just might have a Cancer on your hands. While Pisces pretends she isn’t a victim, Cancer is happy to claim that title. Watery Scorpio is the one with the clenched, tight smile, the wonderful everything—until life punctures that perfect balloon with a pin of honesty.

  Pisces takes up the rear of the zodiac and is sometimes treated like its doormat. If a Pisces is run over by a truck, even a truck he owns, driven by the guy he paid to drive it, the Pisces will say it’s no big deal and retreat to his dream world.

  The sometimes moody, always emotional Water signs are also some of the most caring in the zodiac. Even when their own lives are in turmoil, they are patient, loyal friends. Cancer would kill to protect a family member. Scorpio is beyond loyal. Pisces can put everyone else first. Even as stuck and mired as some Water signs are, they mean it when they say they care.

  3

  ALTHOUGH THE SUN SIGN IS NOT THE SUM, MANY

  OVERLOOK WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM THIS SIGN IN

  A RUSH TO ANALYZE MOON, MARS, VENUS, AND

  URANUS, AND ALL OF THE OTHER PLANETS. DO NOT

  HURRY THROUGH THE SUN. IT CAN REVEAL WHETHER

  SOMEONE IS FIXED, MUTABLE, CARDINAL, MASCU-

  LINE, OR FEMININE—ALL TERMS THAT YOU WILL

  LEARN ABOUT IN FUTURE CHAPTERS. FURTHERMORE,

  YOU’LL ALSO KNOW THE PLANETARY RULER OF EACH

  SIGN. SO, TAKE YOUR TIME, SLOW DOWN, AND ENJOY

  THIS LEISURELY JOURNEY THROUGH THE SUN.

  —Fearless Astrology

  Leisurely? Okay. Maybe I needed to go back and evaluate Jeremy a little more. After lunch, Candice went to the suite to study, and I walked aimlessly around the campus, wondering if I had done the right thing. There was no way I could have switched topics with Jeremy. And if I had? Just then, I realized that I was doing it again—the dreaded Aquarian batting it around in my brain. What I needed to do was take action. The library was right ahead of me. I didn’t hesitate for a moment.

  The guy at the desk was about my age with a streak of patent-leather red in his short, black hair.

  “You’re new, aren’t you?” he asked. “How can I help you?”

  “I’m with Writers Camp, and I’m looking for books on Monterey folk singers.”

  “Writers Camp?” Something shifted in his expression, and he seemed less open, more guarded. “Which singers?”

  “Folkies from the sixties, anything with Sean Baylor in it.”

  “So, what’s this? Sean Baylor Day? We have only a few books where he’s mentioned. Five, actually.”

  “Great,” I said.

  “Not really.” His look turned apologetic.

  Then it hit me. “Let me guess. Someone just checked out those five books, right?”

  He nodded. “Hey, he can’t keep them longer than three weeks. Give me your contact information. If he returns them early, I’ll let you know.”

  Even though I felt like crying, I reached for the pen he offered and said, “Sure.”

  Students lingered outside, but Jeremy wasn’t among them. He’d said he planned to study on the beach today—said he loved this place. If he meant it, I knew he’d be down there, as close as he could get to the ocean.

  I went back to the library and asked the cute guy for directions. He told me it was about a two-mile hike to the beach, and I’d have to go through the army base and past abandoned buildings. The shorter route was under Highway 1 dunes and ice plant, but it would get me there.

  Before I left, I couldn’t help asking, “Are you an Aries or a Leo?”

  He laughed and said, “Why?”

  “Forget it. I’m just weird today.”

  “Astrology isn’t weird. My girlfriend’s really into it, and you are good.”

  “So?” I asked. “You are a Fire sign?”

  “Aries all the way.” He grinned. “With a Leo Moon.”

  I felt as if he’d given me a gift—a confirmation that I did know something about astrology. All I needed was enough information about Sean Baylor to write my article.

  The walk through the ice plant-covered dunes was a little creepy. Totally isolated. No wonder so few students went to this part of the beach. I found Jeremy leaning against a boulder facing the sea. The books were scattered around him. One of them lay open in his lap, and he read from it into a recorder.

  “Many who witnessed Baylor’s dynamic performance at the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 agreed that he was destined for stardom. Yet, clues to his destructive personality had long been evident. The only question that remains is this one. Was his death an accident or suicide?”

  “I believe you’re supposed to be researching the ghosts of Monterey,” I said.

  Jeremy snapped off the recorder and looked up at me. “That’s Candice’s new topic. I got permission from Jaffa to write about Baylor, so don’t be a poor loser.”

  “This isn’t a contest,” I said. “You took all five books. Can’t you give me even a couple?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I can help you. I don’t understand how you could deny me an opportunity to write my own take on Sean Baylor, especially since I’m willing to share it with you.”

  “What take is that? And please don’t say astrology.”

  “Why don’t you try it?” My cheeks blazed in the cold. “If you’ll give me his birth date, I’ll at least be able to suggest some basic traits.”

  “Enough,” he asked, “to know if he was murdered or committed suicide?”

  I stepped closer to him on the sand.

  “I believe I can come closer than you can by just reading facts into a recorder.”

  He closed the book. “Well, I guess we disagree on that. I don’t believe in astrology, but I want to be decent about this.”

  “Then, let me have one book, just one.”

  “It might be the one I need.” He gave me that guarded smile of his. “Tell you what. Once I finish my article, you can have them all.”

  “Thanks a lot.” My Aquarius mind battled with itself. There was only one thing to do.

  He glanced at his book. “Then I guess I’ll see you in class.”

  “If that’s the way you want it.” I reached down and snatched it out of his hands.

  “Hey,” he shouted. “Wait a minute.”

  But I was already running across the sand, clutching my prize.

  NOTES TO SELF

  Book thief. That’s me. I have the stolen property, and I’m in bed now, studying the three photos of Sean Baylor in this collection. His eyes are so dark that they look like shadows. Unlike a lot of the singers from that time, he doesn’t appear demonic, drugged, or pissed off. Maybe just lost. The quote Jeremy read into his recorder is on the front page of the Baylor section. There’s little text within the book, and as I scan it, I realize there’s no birth date for Baylor. Just my luck. The library f
ailed me. Next stop, my mentor-to-be. He’s certainly old enough to remember Sean Baylor. And he’s already said he attended concerts here in the sixties. Time to take that run on the beach.

  4

  DO NOT WORRY, AQUARIUS, IF IT TAKES YOU SOME

  TIME TO FIGURE OUT THE RIGHT DIRECTION OR THE

  EASY ANSWER. LEAVE THE FLIPPANT RESPONSES AND

  REACTIONS TO OTHER SIGNS. YOU REALLY DO HAVE ALL

  OF THE DIRECTIONS AND MOST OF THE ANSWERS

  WITHIN THAT INCREDIBLE BRAIN OF YOURS. GIVEN

  TIME AND DISTANCE, YOU WILL FIND THE PATH THAT

  YOU ARE SEEKING.

  —Fearless Astrology

  Candice fired up the espresso machine early the next morning. Noise and I don’t mix well at 6 AM. I lifted my head from the pillow and realized she’d also turned on the television. Not a great combination.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Tatiyana is coming by along with Dirk, the hot guy with the British accent and the ponytail.”

  I remembered the voice but couldn’t picture the hair. What was Dirk’s topic? Oh, that’s right. We no longer had our own topics.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “Dirk. He’s hot.”

  “What about your boyfriend back home?”

  “It’s only coffee.” Candice flipped a switch, and the machine roared like a garbage disposal.

  “Want a cup?” she shouted over the racket.

  “Sure.”

  I would have loved to stay in bed reading the Fearless section I’d started late last night. Instead, I showered, accepted Candice’s tiny white cup, and watched the sun and the gray ocean. Then, I politely excused myself and headed down to the beach.

  The cold air was like a sobering slap in the face, which was what I needed after the craziness of yesterday. I meant nothing to Jeremy. That was clear. So, now what I planned to do was conveniently run into Henry Jaffa and find out what he knew about Sean Baylor.

  It didn’t take long. Jaffa jogged along the beach in gray sweats. I waved. He walked over and joined me.

  “You must be an early riser,” he said.

  “Not really. I’m just trying to avoid an espresso party in my room.”

  “Probably the same one I’m avoiding.” He grinned.

  “You were invited to my room?”

  “Yes, if it’s the one with the espresso machine,” he said. “I know why I’m not there, but why aren’t you?”

  “Too much noise too early in the morning, I guess.”

  “Well put.” He began to walk alongside me, huffing a little, but I was the one who could barely breathe. “By the way, I read your entrance essay. Although I know little about astrology, I’m intrigued.”

  “I was hoping to write more . . .” I didn’t dare look at him and focused on the ocean instead. “. . . before we switched topics, I mean.”

  “So now you’re writing about Sean Baylor,” he said in that matter-of-fact way of his. “And I’ll bet you’re taking an astrological focus.”

  “Yes,” I said, surprised that he’d guessed correctly a second time. “But I’m not sure. I mean, I don’t know anything about Baylor. I can’t get the right research material.”

  “And that’s precisely the point. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “Not exactly,” I admitted.

  “Don’t you see?” With the frizzy gray hair and the battered tennis shoes, he looked like anything but a famous writer. “Most of the students in the workshop objected to my changing their topics. You found a way to make it work. My compliments.”

  “Do you remember Baylor?” I asked.

  “Of course.” He spoke slowly, as if listening to something too far away for me to hear. “His voice could break your heart.”

  “What else can you tell me about him?”

  “Nothing.”

  His voice was so soft, so kind, that I wondered if I’d heard him correctly. “Nothing at all?” I asked.

  “That’s your job,” he said. “See you later.”

  My compliments.

  What had I done to earn that? And did I really have Henry Jaffa on my side?

  I walked into class early, hoping that I did.

  Not early enough. Vanessa was parked in the front row again, her black hair fluffed around bare shoulders. Oh, that was cool. Showing flesh—not to mention cleavage—before 9 AM.

  “Hey, Logan.” She gave me a windshield-wiper wave. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

  “You were?”

  “Sure. I stopped by for espresso in your room. I even invited Henry. He’s been mentoring me, I guess you could say.”

  “Oh really? I’m sorry I missed him.”

  It was a test. Would she admit Jaffa hadn’t been there or try to make me believe he had?

  “No problem. I’m just really glad you’re here.”

  Since when?

  “Why’s that?” I asked.

  “Because of the Sean Baylor connection. Haven’t you heard?”

  “Heard what?”

  “Baylor’s ghost. People at Stokes Restaurant have heard him singing. I knew it the first night we went there. I sensed his spirit.”

  “Don’t start that with me,” I told her. “You wouldn’t know spirit if it . . .”

  “No, she’s right. I heard it on the news this morning.” Jeremy stepped inside, not looking at me, staring only at her.

  Henry Jaffa followed. “I heard that story too,” he said.

  “So did I.” Candice was right behind him. “It came on the TV news a few minutes after you left, Logan.”

  Tatiyana and the British guy arrived next. Within a few moments, they were all gathered around Vanessa.

  “Can you believe it?” she gushed. “I heard that the Ghost Seekers series might be filming an episode here.”

  Then she gave me a nasty smirk.

  If she hadn’t done that, if she’d just smiled, I might have remained silent. If she’d acted just a little less bitchy.

  “I won’t believe it until I see it.” I glared right back at her.

  “Excellent idea.” Jaffa walked up to me. “Perhaps we need a field trip. Let’s wait, though, until some of these rumors are confirmed. I have a writing exercise for you this morning.”

  “What confirmation could you want?” Vanessa demanded.

  “The type that takes place over time. I have no intention of canceling class to go running to a restaurant I’ve already visited. Now, please take your seats so we can get started.”

  “I’d say a ghost is pretty important.” Vanessa remained standing, her anger still focused on me. “Just because Logan doesn’t believe it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

  “If your ghost is there now, he’ll be there later,” I said. “What’s the matter, Vanessa? Did the dog eat your homework again?”

  “There’s only one dog in this room . . .”

  “Enough,” Jaffa said.

  “But you, of all people, should want to check this out.” Vanessa shot to the front of the class. “Let’s take a vote. How many want to leave and go to the restaurant?”

  Hands shot up. The British guy, Tatiyana, even Candice, my own roommate, betraying me. Jeremy crossed his arms and stared at me.

  “Anybody who leaves this room leaves it for good,” Jaffa said quietly. “This is not a democracy. It’s my classroom, and we are doing a writing exercise, period.”

  NOTES TO SELF

  As my gram would say, Jaffa socked it to them. Watching him in action was pretty cool. Mr. Franklin, my English teacher back home, is loud and explosive. Henry Jaffa, as calm and borderline dorky as he may seem, can freeze a classroom into silence by a slight change in his tone. After he had made it clear that no one would leave the room to go rushing to a ghost site, Vanessa marched to the end of the table and sat next to Jeremy. It must have been a first for that Fire sign to sit in back.

  Jaffa asked us to do something he called the ten-thousand-word sentence. That’s right—five minutes to write about our gr
eatest passions—with no punctuation. It was supposed to help us find our voice by removing our focus on grammar, punctuation, and criticism. I glanced down at Jeremy, who wrote only a couple of words on the page as Vanessa scrawled happily beside him. I could only imagine her passions, but what about mine? I think that I did as much crossing-out as I did writing.

  THE 10,000-WORD SENTENCE

  By Logan McRae

  Since I discovered astrology I have become passionate about using it as a tool to understanding myself and others and I know that being an Aquarius I am always sometimes slow to come to conclusions as I was earlier this year when I trusted the wrong person and always want to analyze every situation except that right now the situation is so important that I need a game plan and now because the topic I’m supposed to write about isn’t a topic I know about and because some people don’t want me to write about the topic I have to remember what is important and know that even if it takes an Aquarian longer to come up with a game plan it is the right game plan or at least we Fixed signs will think it is and I guess the real reason I’m writing about this is I am concerned about how to combine my writing ability with everything I’ve learned about astrology and everything I hope to learn about this folk singer Sean Baylor so that I write an article that is worthy of merit and for that reason I am feeling little anxious about what steps to take next and as I said I guess the reason I’m writing this right now is that I am really concerned.

  5

  DEALING WITH AN ARIES CAN FEEL A LITTLE LIKE

  PLAYING WITH FIRE. WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE

  DOING. YOU CAN’T WIN, BUT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO

  NEGOTIATE, IF YOU CAN LOWER THE HEAT, THAT IS.

  YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHICH ARIES IS STANDING

  IN YOUR WAY. IS IT THE RUNNING-DOWN-THE-STREET-

  NAKED ARIES? OR IS IT SOMEONE MORE REASONABLE