Take a break

“Good evening,” the older gentleman, who had sandy brown hair, green eyes, and was walking with a cane, said to Mike with a bow before turning to Claudia with a slight frown as Mike excused himself and left.

“Claudia, you are bound to work yourself into an early grave if you continue on like this,” the older gentleman said to her.

At those words, Zander’s tight smile turned to a frown, “What do you mean Lex? All she is doing is reading people’s fortune, like she does almost every day. It isn’t like she is trying to push her energy into others again, is it?”

“Not that I am aware of, but she has been out here reading fortunes basically nonstop for three days straight. She hasn’t slept and has barley ate anything at all,” Lex said as he crossed his arms over his chest, “I bet she has been telling you she is going home.”

This time Sean frowned and gave Claudia a slight pout as he said, “Why are you working so hard, Claudia? Are you trying to kill yourself?”

“Of course not, if I did that, who would make sure you three are properly caring for yourselves?” she replied before turning to Lex, “Dad, I am doing this, so you don’t have to. I overheard you telling Zander that the bills were past due and if we didn’t get three-hundred and fifty dollars soon, the lights and water will get shut off,” she told him as she opened up her treasure box on her table and handed him a large wad of money.

At that, Zander turned to Lex with a smile and said, “I told you that you could trust Claudia to help you. The girl is more capable than you think. Go easy on her, she just wanted to protect you. But Claudia, on the same note, how would you take care of us if you keep working so hard?”

At Lex’s puzzled look, Claudia said, “there is seven hundred there because I know you wanted that dragon to put on your alter at home and I still have one hundred in my chest for me to eat.”

Lex then looked at Claudia with momentarily pride before he schooled his appearance to look stern, “In order for you to have pulled that off, you had to miss most of your meals, if not all. That is unacceptable Claudia, you will drain yourself that way! Besides, it is my responsibility to pay the bills not yours.”

At that, Claudia stood up and said, “That’s not true, I just made sure to eat quick meals at my setup,” before starting to wobble on her feat a little and giving a sheepish smile as her stomach growled, loudly.

“Claudia Lee LeMonte, enough excuses. You have over worked and over stressed your body. You are going to take a break right now and don’t even think about coming to do any readings until you have properly centered yourself and eaten a good meal!” Lex said sternly as he handed Claudia back two- hundred dollars.

Zander nodded and smiled softly at Claudia. “Lex is right you know. I know you enjoy helping others but how do you expect to do that if you work yourself into the dirt? Go ahead and take a rest for the night. Me, Lex, and Sean will pack your stuff up and keep it safe for you.”

Knowing that with the three of them ganging up on her, there was no way she would win so she gave them a glare and walked off to Café Du Monde to ordered her some beignets and a frozen café au lait.