Diary of an Angel (3 page)

Despite her earnest threats, Justin made only a nominal response. With some more prodding from Avin, he eventually came to help, though too late to do anything useful.

Jack remained camped-out in his chair until Angela called everyone for supper. Kailey, somehow, magically appeared. Perhaps feeling some hunger pains. Perhaps the work of Viana. Catherine, though, was still oblivious to the world outside her room. Angela sighed and sent Justin to retrieve her. A mission he accepted all too eagerly.

A few moments later a scream rang out through the house. “Get out, moron!” Then a door slammed. A second later Justin came scampering back to the table, a silly grin plastered to his face. “Justin, what did you do to your sister?” Angela asked, not really wanting to know.

“Nothing,” he replied, with feigned innocence.

Catherine stormed in just as he spoke. “I want that little creep to stay out of my room!”

“Mom told me―”

“I don’t care!”

“Hey, calm down you two,” Angela said.

Catherine made a “Humph!” sound and plopped down indignantly into her chair. Jack, who had kept rather stoic through all this bowed his head and offered a quick obligatory blessing on the food.

You might think that five angels gathered aro
und a dining room table would—if nothing else—inspire good table manners and cordiality. I thought it would. But I was quite mistaken. Jack ate in silence, scarcely acknowledging the presence of his family. Angela said little more, save to curb the constant chatter of Kailey, who couldn’t praise the neighbor’s new Barbie collection enough, or to stop Justin from teasing Catherine. At one point, Justin catapulted a spoon-f of mashed potatoes at Catherine, hitting her square on the forehead. It was all Angela and Loreli could do to prevent Catherine from mutilating Justin. Infuriated, Catherine stormed from the table, but not before shooting Justin a look of unadulterated loathing.

Justin simply smiled back, a big toothy grin.

With Catherine gone, the dinner table lost its appeal for Justin, who left to resume his video-game. Next, Kailey scampered off, leaving Jack and Angela sitting at the table. After a moment’s silence, Jack rose, walked over and put his plate in sink, and exited through the back door, leaving Angela to clean up the rest.

“It appears,” I sai
d, “that the enemy won dinner.”

The Accounting

M
ost of the dinner-time drama died away after Angela sent Justin and Kailey to their rooms. Save for the occasional sound of a ball bouncing against Justin’s bedroom wall, the house remained calm and quiet.

Angela washed dishes and folded clothes. Then she plopped on the couch to watch the evening news. After that she made herself ready for bed, and fell asleep reading a book.

As soon as Angela was out, Clairus tugged my arm. “Time to return.”

A bit saddened and disappointed that I hadn’t quite saved the world that day, I agreed, and Clairus called us home.

I experienced the same sensation of traveling rapidly through space, except I sensed Him growing ever closer, the light increasing. Brightness. We were back in the room, the transportation terminal, with the portal behind us. Anawin and Glendor were waiting for us. I almost collapsed into Anawin’s arms, as I drank in deep gulps of heaven’s breath. It felt incredible to be back.

“You did a wonderful job,” she said. I truly believed she meant it. Although, I doubted that I actually had helped anything. “Don’t worry,” she said, seeming to read my thoughts, “you’ve done more good than you know. We’ll talk more about what happened tomorrow. I want you to go rest now.”

*   *   *

Another heavenly morning greeted me with touches of playful sunlight. I smiled, feeling perfectly content. Sleeping in heaven does marvelous things. It’s not at all like sleeping on earth, with a weak mortal body. No grogginess or morning drowsiness. Sleep here is more like meditation; there’s no subconsciousness or unconsciousness involved. No strange incomprehensible dreams.

Nights aren’t the same either. You might think day always reigns in heaven, that the sun never sets. Well, the Light always shines, but we still have day and night. Not as mortals know them. Though the physical brightness of the nights here decreases, nothing of darkness pervades. We enjoy all the beauty and peacefulness of night-time: the brilliant stars and moon; the movements of the far-off galaxies; the wondrous shadows, with their depth and shape. But without the obscurity of darkness.

My thoughts and meditations since I returned from earth centered on Angela. Admittedly, I felt no eagerness to go back to earth. But I did wish to see Angela again.
I quickly dressed, donning robe and mantle, grabbed my Communicator, turning it over a few times before slipping it into my pocket, then headed to work.

I met Dana along the way.

“So, is the Prince of Likes-a-stain everything you thought he would be?” I asked, feeling perfectly confident that she didn’t get assigned to him.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” she replied with feigned irritation.

“You heard me.”

Dana didn’t respond, but kept tromping along, pretending to be upset.

“So, is she cute?” I asked after a moment’s silence.

Her face instantly brightened. “Forenica! She is the most adorable thing in the universe!” she exclaimed. Then added with a sly
grin, “way cuter than any prince, for sure.”

She went on like that, raving about the little newborn she was assigned to guard, for several minutes. I knew Dana to be almost always animated and excited, but I’d never seen her so ecstatic before. From hearing her talk you might
have thought she was the baby’s own mother.

“Well, enough about me,” she said, at last finishing her monologue, “let’s hear about your little bundle of joy.”

I’d been waiting for this. Dana had no idea about Angela, about my unexpected and exceedingly rare assignment.

“Well, my little ‘bundle of joy’ is about five-six, and a hundred and thirty pounds.”

Dana looked at me as if she thought I was crazy. “Um...fix-six, as in five feet, six inches tall?”

“That’s right,” I said with a smile.

“So...what...is she supposed to be the world’s largest baby or something? Is her mother OK? Maybe she’s a giant too?”

“She’s not a baby, Dana.”

“What?”

“She’s an adult.”

Dana looked at me with a puzzled expression. “You mean—”

“Her angel was reassigned? Yes, that’s what Lyra told me.”

“Wow! Wait till I tell my uncle about this. Did she tell you why her angel was reassigned?”

I shook my head and recounted all that Lyra had told me.

“Well, Miss Forenica,” Dana said when I had finished, “it sounds like something special is in store for you. Though, I can’t say I envy you. Babies can only get into so much trouble.”

I gave her a playful shove. “Thanks for your encouragement.”

We were soon back at Angel Command. Once again, the magic doors separated us, so I stood, alone, in the same foyer as before. I wondered if I would be able to walk through the wall by myself. Was it a particular spot on the wall? Anawin had not given me instructions for returning. I half expected her to pop-up behind me out of nowhere again.

I decided t
o give the wall a try. Locating as best I could remember the spot, I proceed to walk toward the wall. With a fair bit of confidence I leaned slightly forward, as if charging a castle gate, my head the battering ram. My confidence proved of little worth, for I collided with the wall and mashed my face against it.

The sound of laughter immediately followed my collision. I turned to find Clairus doubled over in laughter. “Sorry,” she said between laughs, “but that was funny!”

“How about we try the door this time?” she suggested, pointing to the adjacent wall.

“What door?”

I looked over at the previously blank wall. Sure enough, in the exact center of the wall I saw the faint outline of a single-entry door.

“Was that there yesterday?”

“Yes and no,” was all she replied. “Come on, it’s time for your accounting.”

With that she took my hand and pulled me through the elusive door. Though we entered through a different way, I still expected to see the great room on the other side. Instead, we came into a much smaller room made up almost entirely of windows. The expansive windows on the far end of the room commanded a stunning panorama of flower-dusted valleys, sweeping woodlands, winding rivers, and the far-off misted mountains. The same windows rose high above the floor, before sloping inward to form a glass ceiling above our heads. An assortment of potted plants lay about, especially around a huddle of armchairs located in the center of the room.

Clairus invited me to sit on one of the armchairs. “This is our conservatory,” she explained. “We hold our accountings here. But you may come anytime you need to ponder—provided you can find it without running into anymore walls.” I ignored this little gibe. “That door over there leads to the gardens. It’s a very good place to meditate.”

“Good morning, Forenica,” came Anawin’s familiar voice. She had popped-up again—out of nowhere, it seemed. “I picked up Angela’s book. I like to have them during these little discussions.”

One by one, the others entered the room and took their seats beside Anawin and me. Glendor came last.

“Well, Forenica,” he said, “congratulations on your first day on the job! How do you think it went?”

“Well, it wasn’t quite what I expected it would be,” I admitted.

Glendor chuckled. “That’s good. I would have been worried if you weren’t a little shocked.”

“We all know how you feel, Forenica,” added Loreli. “All of a sudden you’re torn from heaven and back on earth—which isn’t at all how you remembered it. You’re thrown into this battle against hell’s minions, which turns out to be much harder than it ought. And all the while you’re wondering if you’re really meant to do this. Does that sound about right?”

“I suppose it does,” I said. “It’s difficult to express how I feel—so many thoughts filled my brain yesterday. Mostly I think I’m disappointed I didn’t seem to be much help to Angela.”

“You did more good than you realize, dear,” said Anawin.

“But she hardly listened to me.”

“Yes, that is true. But that is not your fault. Angela is the only one who can decide what voice she heeds.”

“I know, but.
..I...I guess I expected to feel like I was making a difference.”

“Forenica, I’d hate to see what would happen down there without angels like you. Besides, I’m confident you made a difference when you convinced Angela to stop Kailey from climbing that tree. That was a victory, child. And in the future, you should rejoice on such occasions. For any time your Angela heeds heaven’s voice over hell’s, she grows closer to us.”

“True, true,” interjected Glendor jovially. “Now, enough serious business, let’s watch some instant replays. The book please, my dear.”

Anawin handed Glendor Angela’s book.

“Thank you. Now,” he continued, turning the pages deftly, “this ought to brighten your mood.” He placed the opened book on a small table in front of him. As it had done when Lyra first showed me Angela, the book instantly came to life, showing Angela and her family seated around the dinner table. We watched as Justin catapulted a spoonful of potatoes right onto his sister’s forehead. Everyone roared with laughter. We watched it again and again, and even paused it to capture Catherine’s look of shock. I had to admit, the sight was hilarious. But I failed to see how this was something to cheer about. Justin shouldn’t have pelted his sister with potatoes. Was I missing something?

“Come on, Forenica, laugh.” Urged Glendor, who was practically crying from laughter himself.

“Why are we laughing at this? Don’t we condemn such behavior?”

The laughter ceased and Glendor grew quite serious. “First of all,
we
condemn nothing. It’s not our job.” He paused, looking straight at me with a stern face. But it quickly gave way to the smile he had no doubt struggled to restrain. “Second, we are laughing because we know that Justin is not
condemned
to hell for his actions. Because of Christ he can become a better, more kind and loving Justin. Mortals make lots of foolish mistakes—and often the same ones over and over again. And, quite frankly, it’s laughable sometimes. But there’s nothing of derision or mockery in our laughter. We laugh because there’s hope. All clear?”

“I suppose,” I said, not altogether sure.

Anawin patted my arm encouragingly. “You will understand better in time, dear.”

I smiled back at her.

“Let’s see some more,” interjected Glendor. He remove the book from the table, flipped a page, which he eyed with satisfaction, then returned the book to the table.

This time it showed Kailey attempting to climb the large oak tree. We watched as Angela appeared and stopped her before she fell from the teetering branch.

Anawin turned to me. “What happened there was very important. Not only did you help Kailey, but, most importantly, Angela listened. She had no—what mortals would call—logical reason to check on Kailey. Some might think she was an overprotective, paranoid mother. But such is not the case. She checked on Kailey because she listened to God’s spirit, through which you spoke to her. Well done, Forenica.”

“Very well done,” added Glendor. “First rate.” He picked up the book again. “Let’s see one more.”

The book showed Angela, sitting on her bed, just before she retired for the night. She wasn’t doing anything of particular importance, just sitting. “Forenica, tell us what is happening here.”

“Uh...well...she’s about to turn out the light and go to sleep,” I said.

“That’s what a mortal might observe,” said Anawin. “What’s really going on here?”

I honestly didn’t know what she was getting at. Not remembering anything special about this brief moment of Angela’s day, I confessed, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Forenica,” Anawin said with increase earnestness, “She’s thinking about her day. About how she got upset with her children. How she lost her temper, more than once. What she thought and felt—with your help—was remorse. Remorse for not being all that she could be. We can use such feelings much to our advantage. Take this as a very positive sign.

“However, you must do your best to ensure her remorse does not mutate into those abhorrent feelings of self-deprecation. Father never speaks ill of his children. It is one of our adversary’s most destructive exploits: when one of our mortal kindred sorrows, because of sin, he craftily administers to them the poison of self-disparagement.”

Then with a motherly tenderness, Anawin said, “You’ve done wonderfully! I can’t tell you enough. I’m so glad Angela has you.” She hugged me tightly.

“Thank you,” I said, feeling a surge of love for this tender-hearted angel. How glad I was
to have her for my angel mother.

“Well, I think that’s plenty for today,” said Glendor. “Now get out there and fight, fight, fight!”

With that cheerful rally cry, the group departed. I, too, rose and followed after Clairus. But just as I was about to leave, Anawin took my wrist.

“Clairus, do you mind if I borrow Forenica for a few moments before your descent today?”

“Not at all,” replied Clairus.

“Come along then, dear,” she said to me, “I have
a few things to discuss with you.”