Hello all,
This story is a joint European venture, at least between Anna and me (Sweden and Germany respectively). And our beta reader Leigh in Canada, who does a terrific job reading and correcting our work.
Disclaimer: As usual, we don't own Tess, Monica and Andrew. They belong to Martha Williamson.
Enjoy
Best Intentions
Roberta Hillier was on her way to the library. Not affording the people she passed one glance, she primly walked down the road. She was sixty-three years old and unmarried. She knew that people called her 'the old maid' behind her back, and worse things too, just because she liked everything to be neat and orderly.
This was Roberta's first day of retirement. Her doctor had more or less forced her to retire, when he saw what state her heart was in. "It's either retirement or an early grave for you, I'm afraid," he had said. Roberta shook her head at the silly things the doctor had said, but you just don't contradict a doctor. Of course it was all nonsense, hadn't her own mother lived until she was eighty-nine?
Andrew was strolling down the road enjoying a few hours off in the brilliant spring sun. He tore his eyes away from a couple of frolicking birds turning cartwheels in the air just in time to see a big lorry coming down the road a bit too fast. "Look out!" he called, more out of instinct than anything else. As an angel he was not supposed to intervene, he knew that, but this had happened so fast that his angel training just didn't catch up with his instincts.
Roberta looked up when she heard the warning. She saw a huge lorry passing within an inch of her. The gust of wind from the passing lorry made her spin around and she saw a young man with blond hair dressed all in white standing behind her. What happened next happened so quickly that Roberta never had time to register anything of it.
Andrew saw the woman in front of him pause in mid stride, spin around and then slump forward and fall to the ground. "Oh no, Father, he said looking up. How was I to know that she had a weak heart."
Roberta looked up. The young man was still standing there, but at least he had the decency to hold out his hand to help her up!
"Hello, My name is Andrew," he said after Roberta was back on her feed. The
man in front of her looked as if he had just killed someone.
"I'm an angel," Andrew added. He wanted to put 'sent by God' at the end of his sentence, but he couldn't because it wasn't completely true. At least not
in the first place.
"An Angel?" Roberta asked surprised. She could tell that the man told the
truth because of the light and love that surrounded him. "You are my
Guardian Angel?" she asked hopefully.
Andrew wished he would be at the other end of the world at this moment. How could he explain to her that it wasn't her time, but because of his actions it WAS her time now? 'Please, Father, can't you send another angel to this case? I feel so terrible. I can't go through this!' he pleaded silently, but the answer was 'No'.
'You need to finish what has started my angel. You know that a life can change in a second because of someone's actions. This time it was your action.'
'Father please ... I wish I hadn't been here. I'm an Angel of Death ... I should help people when their times comes, but this time ... I destroyed a life. Please forgive me.'
'I already have forgiven you. You couldn't have known this would happen. I know you only tried to save her life. ... But now, I'm calling her home and I want you to be the one that will bring her to Me.'
Andrew sighed silently. He still felt terrible. "No, I'm not your guardian angel. Like Šit seems ŠI'm your Angel of Death now," he said full of regret and with a glance at the still, lifeless body on the ground
Roberta grasped when she followed Andrew's glance and saw her own body. She needed some minutes to look back at the angel and to find the right words.
"You mean ... I'm dead?" This couldn't true!
Andrew only nodded, but he couldn't look into the woman's eyes.
After she recovered from this shock, she noticed the guilty look in the angel's eyes and now she remembered one of his first sentences. "Wait!!! What do you mean by 'like Šit seems Š I'm your Angel of Death now?"
"It means, that I will be the one who escorts you home," Andrew didn't really understand what she meant.
"No no, this isn't what I mean. Your comment sounds like it wasn't something that you expected to do." Andrew could hear a growing anger in the woman's voice.
He looked to the ground and wished more then ever that another angel would bring her home. "I ... I .... I'm really sorry, Roberta. I ... I didn't know that you had a bad heart. I ... I only wanted to save your life. I saw the lorry and ..."
"WHAT ARE YOU TELLING ME?????" The woman's voice started to get louder and louder with each word. "ARE YOU TRYing TO TELL ME, THAT I SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED TODAY???!!!!!!"
Andrew couldn't stand this anymore. He expected that she would get angry, but not like this. "I'm sorry, but yes, it wasn't your time," he explained with his best puppy look that he could manage.
As Roberta saw his expression and also how terribly guilty this angel looked, her anger faded away and somehow she found a little bit of compassion for him. But she wanted to make sure that this little angel wouldn't get away so easily with this. He shouldn't think that he could melt her resolve with this puppy look, even though he really had!
"Alright! Let's go so that I can have a talk with YOUR boss!!!!" she pretended to still be angry as best as she could. But it was really hard.
During their trip through the light she muttered the whole time, "I CAN'T believe that an angel of God killed me!!!! How COULD you???!!!!" she shook her head. "Was this written in your job description? Go and scare old ladies to death?!"
"No!!! I would NEVER do something like this!!! Angels don't kill people not even the Angels of Death," Andrew said. He wished so much to make everything right again, but that was impossible.
"Oh but this is what YOU just did!!!! You KILLED me. Maybe you should read your job description AGAIN!!!!!"
Andrew stopped counting how often this woman repeated those sentences. At first he tried to argue with her, but he gave up and shortly before they arrived in Heaven, he got the feeling that this woman only played with him. He got the answer to this question at that same moment from his Father. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that he heard a soft laugh in the Father's voice as He said to Andrew 'Stop worrying my angel. She has already forgiven you, in the moment just before you walked toward the light.'
What a relief! Andrew felt a huge burden lift from his heart when he heard The Father's voice. He also felt an overpowering need to share this experience with someone understanding soul. Then he remembered that he was supposed to meet with Monica. 'I hope she understands' he thought.
Andrew stood in the door of the little coffee shop. There over in the corner, he spotted the familiar lithe profile with the auburn hair. "Monica, you don't know how happy I am to see you. I've just been through the most humiliating and strange experience," he blurted out.
Monica turned her head. "Andrew, do you know that you are late? I thought you were going to meet me here an hour ago."
"Honestly Monica, so did I but something happened and I need to tell you, please."
Andrew put on such a miserable face that Monica had to laugh. She patted the seat beside her and said: "Sit down and tell me then instead of standing there looking like you've sold the cow and lost the beans."
Eagerly Andrew sat down and began telling Monica about how he had had some time off before he was due to meet with her. "I came walking down the street enjoying the warm spring air and the birds antics in the sky. I saw an elderly woman in front of me. She must have been deep in her thoughts, because she didn't see this lorry that was coming down the road very fast. She was just about to step out into the street right in front of the lorry when I reacted on instinct and shouted to her to look out."
"That stopped her, right?" Monica asked.
"Oh yes, it stopped her alright. She came to a dead stop, literally. How was I to know that she had a dickey ticker? I scared her to death, Monica!!!! I was so ashamed of myself. Then the Father insisted that I was to escort the poor woman. It didn't take her long to realize that it was my action that had killed her. O boy, could that woman scold. She kept at it all the way to heaven. Not even Tess in one of her bad moods can scold like that woman." Andrew sighed.
"What did you say?"
The familiar voice made the two angels turn around as one.
"What did I just hear you say about me?" Tess went on now that she had their full attention.
"Oh, nothing really, Tess." Andrew's face had turned an interesting shade of crimson.
Monica did her best to hide a giggle at her friend's embarrassment. "No he was just telling me about an embarrassing assignment he's just finished, that's why he is so red." She valiantly filled in to save her friend.
"Humph, I'll let it pass this time, but only because we are pressed for time to finish this next assignment." Tess said, looking sternly at her two proteges.
Andrew turned his head to watch a white dove fly by the window. He was sure he heard the Father chuckle.
The End
This story is a joint European venture, at least between Anna and me (Sweden and Germany respectively). And our beta reader Leigh in Canada, who does a terrific job reading and correcting our work.
Disclaimer: As usual, we don't own Tess, Monica and Andrew. They belong to Martha Williamson.
Enjoy
Best Intentions
Roberta Hillier was on her way to the library. Not affording the people she passed one glance, she primly walked down the road. She was sixty-three years old and unmarried. She knew that people called her 'the old maid' behind her back, and worse things too, just because she liked everything to be neat and orderly.
This was Roberta's first day of retirement. Her doctor had more or less forced her to retire, when he saw what state her heart was in. "It's either retirement or an early grave for you, I'm afraid," he had said. Roberta shook her head at the silly things the doctor had said, but you just don't contradict a doctor. Of course it was all nonsense, hadn't her own mother lived until she was eighty-nine?
Andrew was strolling down the road enjoying a few hours off in the brilliant spring sun. He tore his eyes away from a couple of frolicking birds turning cartwheels in the air just in time to see a big lorry coming down the road a bit too fast. "Look out!" he called, more out of instinct than anything else. As an angel he was not supposed to intervene, he knew that, but this had happened so fast that his angel training just didn't catch up with his instincts.
Roberta looked up when she heard the warning. She saw a huge lorry passing within an inch of her. The gust of wind from the passing lorry made her spin around and she saw a young man with blond hair dressed all in white standing behind her. What happened next happened so quickly that Roberta never had time to register anything of it.
Andrew saw the woman in front of him pause in mid stride, spin around and then slump forward and fall to the ground. "Oh no, Father, he said looking up. How was I to know that she had a weak heart."
Roberta looked up. The young man was still standing there, but at least he had the decency to hold out his hand to help her up!
"Hello, My name is Andrew," he said after Roberta was back on her feed. The
man in front of her looked as if he had just killed someone.
"I'm an angel," Andrew added. He wanted to put 'sent by God' at the end of his sentence, but he couldn't because it wasn't completely true. At least not
in the first place.
"An Angel?" Roberta asked surprised. She could tell that the man told the
truth because of the light and love that surrounded him. "You are my
Guardian Angel?" she asked hopefully.
Andrew wished he would be at the other end of the world at this moment. How could he explain to her that it wasn't her time, but because of his actions it WAS her time now? 'Please, Father, can't you send another angel to this case? I feel so terrible. I can't go through this!' he pleaded silently, but the answer was 'No'.
'You need to finish what has started my angel. You know that a life can change in a second because of someone's actions. This time it was your action.'
'Father please ... I wish I hadn't been here. I'm an Angel of Death ... I should help people when their times comes, but this time ... I destroyed a life. Please forgive me.'
'I already have forgiven you. You couldn't have known this would happen. I know you only tried to save her life. ... But now, I'm calling her home and I want you to be the one that will bring her to Me.'
Andrew sighed silently. He still felt terrible. "No, I'm not your guardian angel. Like Šit seems ŠI'm your Angel of Death now," he said full of regret and with a glance at the still, lifeless body on the ground
Roberta grasped when she followed Andrew's glance and saw her own body. She needed some minutes to look back at the angel and to find the right words.
"You mean ... I'm dead?" This couldn't true!
Andrew only nodded, but he couldn't look into the woman's eyes.
After she recovered from this shock, she noticed the guilty look in the angel's eyes and now she remembered one of his first sentences. "Wait!!! What do you mean by 'like Šit seems Š I'm your Angel of Death now?"
"It means, that I will be the one who escorts you home," Andrew didn't really understand what she meant.
"No no, this isn't what I mean. Your comment sounds like it wasn't something that you expected to do." Andrew could hear a growing anger in the woman's voice.
He looked to the ground and wished more then ever that another angel would bring her home. "I ... I .... I'm really sorry, Roberta. I ... I didn't know that you had a bad heart. I ... I only wanted to save your life. I saw the lorry and ..."
"WHAT ARE YOU TELLING ME?????" The woman's voice started to get louder and louder with each word. "ARE YOU TRYing TO TELL ME, THAT I SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED TODAY???!!!!!!"
Andrew couldn't stand this anymore. He expected that she would get angry, but not like this. "I'm sorry, but yes, it wasn't your time," he explained with his best puppy look that he could manage.
As Roberta saw his expression and also how terribly guilty this angel looked, her anger faded away and somehow she found a little bit of compassion for him. But she wanted to make sure that this little angel wouldn't get away so easily with this. He shouldn't think that he could melt her resolve with this puppy look, even though he really had!
"Alright! Let's go so that I can have a talk with YOUR boss!!!!" she pretended to still be angry as best as she could. But it was really hard.
During their trip through the light she muttered the whole time, "I CAN'T believe that an angel of God killed me!!!! How COULD you???!!!!" she shook her head. "Was this written in your job description? Go and scare old ladies to death?!"
"No!!! I would NEVER do something like this!!! Angels don't kill people not even the Angels of Death," Andrew said. He wished so much to make everything right again, but that was impossible.
"Oh but this is what YOU just did!!!! You KILLED me. Maybe you should read your job description AGAIN!!!!!"
Andrew stopped counting how often this woman repeated those sentences. At first he tried to argue with her, but he gave up and shortly before they arrived in Heaven, he got the feeling that this woman only played with him. He got the answer to this question at that same moment from his Father. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought that he heard a soft laugh in the Father's voice as He said to Andrew 'Stop worrying my angel. She has already forgiven you, in the moment just before you walked toward the light.'
What a relief! Andrew felt a huge burden lift from his heart when he heard The Father's voice. He also felt an overpowering need to share this experience with someone understanding soul. Then he remembered that he was supposed to meet with Monica. 'I hope she understands' he thought.
Andrew stood in the door of the little coffee shop. There over in the corner, he spotted the familiar lithe profile with the auburn hair. "Monica, you don't know how happy I am to see you. I've just been through the most humiliating and strange experience," he blurted out.
Monica turned her head. "Andrew, do you know that you are late? I thought you were going to meet me here an hour ago."
"Honestly Monica, so did I but something happened and I need to tell you, please."
Andrew put on such a miserable face that Monica had to laugh. She patted the seat beside her and said: "Sit down and tell me then instead of standing there looking like you've sold the cow and lost the beans."
Eagerly Andrew sat down and began telling Monica about how he had had some time off before he was due to meet with her. "I came walking down the street enjoying the warm spring air and the birds antics in the sky. I saw an elderly woman in front of me. She must have been deep in her thoughts, because she didn't see this lorry that was coming down the road very fast. She was just about to step out into the street right in front of the lorry when I reacted on instinct and shouted to her to look out."
"That stopped her, right?" Monica asked.
"Oh yes, it stopped her alright. She came to a dead stop, literally. How was I to know that she had a dickey ticker? I scared her to death, Monica!!!! I was so ashamed of myself. Then the Father insisted that I was to escort the poor woman. It didn't take her long to realize that it was my action that had killed her. O boy, could that woman scold. She kept at it all the way to heaven. Not even Tess in one of her bad moods can scold like that woman." Andrew sighed.
"What did you say?"
The familiar voice made the two angels turn around as one.
"What did I just hear you say about me?" Tess went on now that she had their full attention.
"Oh, nothing really, Tess." Andrew's face had turned an interesting shade of crimson.
Monica did her best to hide a giggle at her friend's embarrassment. "No he was just telling me about an embarrassing assignment he's just finished, that's why he is so red." She valiantly filled in to save her friend.
"Humph, I'll let it pass this time, but only because we are pressed for time to finish this next assignment." Tess said, looking sternly at her two proteges.
Andrew turned his head to watch a white dove fly by the window. He was sure he heard the Father chuckle.
The End