title: ABC of the Old Science of Astrology for Beginners
author: Sidney Randall
description: Kessinger Publishing reprints over 1,500 similar titles all available through Amazon.com.
zlib_text: For all my teachers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## 1
  
  
  THE FIRST TIME we all meet Stacy, it’s just a regular morning.
  
  
  Our teacher, Simon, is in front of the room, shuffling flash cards. He leans
  back against the science counter, mixes the deck a couple of times, and hooks
  one ankle over the other, the way he always does. Then he holds up the first
  word.
  
  
  “Ology,” he says out loud, so we can hear how it sounds. I write, the study
  of. Things are quiet while pencils scratch, sounding just like gerbils making
  a nest out of cedar chips and Kleenex. Simon holds up the next one. Astro. On
  a test he’ll put them together, and we’ll have to figure out that astrology
  means “the study of stars.”
  
  
  “Ichthy,” Simon says. Fish, I write, and then I kick Tim and make a gagging
  face to remind him how we remember that one: Fish tastes icky. . . . ichthy.
  But Tim doesn’t kick back, even when I kick him again, and then I notice
  there’s this massive hush in the room. I look up to see a girl standing in the
  doorway. The new 