Obviously Me

Chapter 2: Library Horoscopes with Haimi and the Pumpkin Spice Cupcake

"Are we gonna go inside or what?"

"What - do you think we are going to just stand around out here?"

"Shut up," I laugh.

"Patience is a true virtue, Mi."

I swing open the creaky door and step inside. "Are you coming inside?"

"I suppose."

Inside the haunted library, only a few people are seated at the cracked leather couches reading books. The haunted library is always chilly - which only provides more proof to Haimi and Sobo that it is, in fact, haunted.

I shiver. "How long are we gonna be here?" I whisper.

"Twenty minutes, tops," she replies. "Onto the romance section."

Haimi closes her eyes, spins around, reaches out her left arm, and touches a book on a shelf in the romance section.

"Dear John," I say.

She nods and opens it at a random page.

Chapter twelve, page 173.

"Hours," whispers Haimi so quietly that I have to strain to hear her.

I scribble down the word "hours" on a sheet of paper with a blue ballpoint pen. "Moving on," I say.

"YA!"

In the young adult section, Haimi repeats her whole spinning ordeal and randomly grabs the book Mockingjay. Page 233. The word is "blindsided".

I write it down. "Now where to?"

"Umm . . ." Haimi thinks. "I am asking Vishnu, don't judge."

I sigh. "Waiting."

"Vishnu says horror."

"Sure he does." I follow her to the horror section.

The book is a collection of Edgar Allan Poe's stories.

The Spectacles, page 861, "many".

"Read the words so far," Haimi commands me.

"Hours, blindsided, and many."

"This is not looking very good," she whispers. "Vishnu, what next?"

I wait again.

"Vishnu is feeling uneasy, too," Haimi whimpers. "Let's go to the religious section."

She grabs the Bible and opens it to a random book on a random page. It's somewhere near the middle.

"You," she says. "We've got hours, blindsided, many, and you."

A few books later, we sit down at a table and she unscrambles the words.

"You will be blindsided by many troubles," Haimi reads slowly. "After many hours and days, you will find . . ."

"Find . . . what?"

"I need one more word," she says hastily. "Go, grab me one from your favorite section. Hurry, Mirai."

I get up and shuffle to the cooking section. If this stupid horoscope comes out readable and convincible with a cooking book in the mix, I will believe this weird coincidence.

Haimi finishes her homemade horoscope.

"Let me hear what it says," I say.

"You will be blindsided by many troubles. After many hours and days, you will find kale."

I burst out laughing. "Kale, eh?"

She frowns. "Maybe I'll have health issues."

"Yeah, maybe." I grin. "I need to go get a fruit tray now, Haimi."