I
waved to Jupiter as I turned to leave the Café, and smiled at the
sound of his hearty laughter. He waved back, blew me a kiss and
yelled, "See ya soon, babe."
I stepped
outside the Café's door and was amazed to see Mercury skating
toward me, looking more like Barry Manilow than Barry does. But
wasn't Jupiter on the phone with Mercury at that very minute?
"I thought you were…" I began, motioning back toward the
bar.
Mercury
skated in a circle around me, laughing delightedly. "Hey, I'm
the God of Duality, remember, Astrology-Girl? If anybody can be in
two places at once, it's me."
I had to
agree. He certainly had me there.
"Uncle
J told me to catch you before you got too far. He wants you to have
this." He reached behind him—appropriately enough, since he
was retrograde at the time—and produced another cell phone.
"Here. Jupiter said it's just in case. You know how he gets
when he's in Taurus."
I grinned
and realized he was right. Even a planet as risk-loving as Jupiter
tended to be a bit more cautious in Taurus. I took the phone from
Mercury and stared down at it. "But don't I need a number? I
mean, how am I going to call if I don't know the number?"
"No
problem, doll. I programmed it in there for you. Just hit number
one. Bye!" He winked, and began skating backward through the
door to the Café, humming what sounded like an advertising jingle.
Suddenly, it
hit me. He was retrograde. "Hey, wait a second. Let me make
sure this is right."
Mercury was
crushed—and since he was in sensitive Pisces at the time, his eyes
welled up with tears. "You don't trust me? I'm the Messenger,
for the God's sake!"
I felt bad
immediately, but still, I knew I had to double-check the number. I
was quite familiar with what happened when Mercury was retrograde
and I hadn't done my homework. Misunderstandings, lost
directions—you name it. Mercury retrograde was the inspiration for
Murphy's Law. "I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt your
feelings—but you're not only retrograde, you're also wearing
Pisces." I reached out and touched his arm, and then pulled on
my Jupiter in Libra to help me soothe him. "And it's really
just me. Let's make sure I know what I'm doing."
He seemed a
bit relieved, and nodded. "Okay. Well, here." He pulled
out his own cell phone. "Dial me up, girlfriend."
I hit the
number one, and his phone rang. He tossed me an I-told-you-so glance
and backed into the bar. "See?"
I felt a bit
silly—but I was still glad I'd double-checked. "Sorry,
sweetie," I said, but Mercury was gone—and so was the Café.
An abandoned convenience store magically stood in its place, and the
door was sealed shut. I blinked and shook my head, but as I reached
my car (which, miraculously, started up on the first try), I glanced
back, and could have sworn I saw light coming from under the door. I
smiled to myself and drove home, yawning. Talk about a big day.
As soon as I
got in bed, I pulled the cell-phone out of my purse and tried it. I
punched the number one, and waited. Within seconds, Mercury
answered. "Oh ye of little faith," he said, but at least
he was laughing now. "Hey, I've got some messages for
you."
Go figure.
"Neptune
says to have a bubble bath if you can't sleep. Venus says to put
some music on. Jupiter says not to worry about anything—that he'll
take care of you. And Pluto says not to tell anybody what happened
here."
I sat
straight up, rudely disturbing my cat, who tossed me a dirty look as
he leapt off the bed. "Pluto's there?"
"No,"
Mercury said. "The Dark Dude never actually comes here himself.
He sent one of his boys by with the message."
I swallowed
hard and felt cold. Then, just a little too quickly, I said,
"Oh, sure, hey, tell him no problem. No problem at all."
Jeez. I wasn't about to aggravate the Lord of the Underworld.
Mercury, of
course, read my mind. "Oh, he's not so bad once you get to know
him."
I begged to
differ. After all, I was human, and my kind was never very good at
facing Pluto's topics—death in particular. But Jupiter's promise
to protect me made me feel secure, and I smiled at the thought of
him. "Tell Jupiter I love him," I said.
"He
knows, hon." Now get some sleep. The phone went dead. I placed
it on the nightstand and pulled the covers back up over my head. My
cat jumped up on the bed as I yawned. Apparently, he'd decided to
forgive me for moving when he was comfortable.
As I drifted
off to sleep, I wondered what kind of dream Neptune would send me.
