It was a beautiful day in St. Mary Mead: the most beautiful day she had ever seen. The village was alive with people bustling around with their morning business. Women were doing their shopping while men drove carts with shaggy horses clip-clopping contently over the paved roads. The young, beautiful blonde woman standing by the side of the wide road took in these sights with a smile, clutching her small handbag to her as if for dear life. The temperature was wonderful, allowing one to be completely at ease. Still, she found herself shaking ever so slightly in her light, burgundy dress, for today was incredibly symbolic and would determine the course of the rest of her life if it were allowed to go the way she hoped it would. She sorely hoped everything would work out for the best, however, after hearing a description of the man she was to be a guardian for, she began to highly doubt things would work out the way she prayed.
A woman bent with age across the street from the blonde found herself stopping in the middle of her errands to study this new face. She had never seen this woman before and seemed too beautiful to be of English stock. In fact, she looked positively Welsh, the old woman thought to herself, and did not seem accustomed to the way things were done in England by the state of her. Her long hair was completely undone, hanging down to her mid-back, the old woman guessed. The dress she wore was lovely but not made by any tailor she had ever encountered. The blonde turned her soft, leaf-green eyes to look at the old woman studying her, and managed to show her a smile. The old woman smiled back and decided in that instant to make this girl's acquaintance, for the woman knew everyone in this village and if this young girl was here to stay then she must get to know her. The blonde seemed astonished that this old woman was crossing the street toward her but she stayed still and kept a small smile on her face for reassurance that her company was not unwanted.
"Good morning, my dear. I could not help but notice that you are new to these parts," the woman said to the blonde, bowing her head slightly. The girl nodded and smiled.
"You are right, ma'am, I am new here. And I'm afraid I'm rather lost as well. I wonder if you could help me, miss-?"
"Ah, Marple, dear. Forgive me my rudeness. I shall try to be of service to you the best that I can," Miss Marple said, giving the blonde another smile.
"How do you do, Miss Marple. My name is Anya. I wonder if you know where an Inspector Slack lives? I really must find him."
"Oh? Inspector Slack?" A rather sly smile came to the old woman's face and she let out a chuckle. "Oh, I know him very well, my dear. He never mentioned to me that he knew such a beautiful young woman. How mysterious of him. Yes, yes, I know him well, though I'm afraid we are not entirely on the best of terms. I do believe he thinks me a nuisance as I am frequently at the sight of many of his cases and attempt to help him solve them. I do believe he thinks me rather nosy," she chuckled. The girl Anya smiled, liking this old woman from the start. She was rather an oddity from what she had seen and heard from other English women, and she was quite pleased with this change from the norm.
"Actually, it is rather an oddity, but he has never seen me before. Today will be our first meeting," Anya found herself admitting to the woman. Miss Marple seemed surprised.
"Is that so? Well, I can't imagine what prompted this sudden meeting, but it is none of my concern anyhow. Yes, I shall take you to the county police station. He may be out working a case but if he isn't, the station is the only other place we would find him other than his home, I expect, though I must admit I do not know where he lives. Well then come, dear, let us set out now."
"Oh, I am very thankful to you, Miss Marple. I do apologize for interrupting your morning errands." Miss Marple waved her apologies off, tut-tutting her for her worries.
"Nonsense, dear, this is intriguing business. I was not on a very important errand anyway. I must tell you that I will be very pleased to see the surprise on his face at seeing me again," she chuckled. "He is never quite pleased to see me, but we do get along in our own way. Yes, I shall be pleased, my dear, you have brought me great pleasure," she assured. Anya smiled and took Miss Marple's arm, allowing the woman to direct her toward the station.
As it was not the shortest of walks, Miss Marple looped her arm through Anya's and took the opportunity to begin telling her about the history of St. Mary Mead, everything from when the first store was built to when automobiles began clogging the streets more than carts and wagons and when the first pavement was put down on the dirt roads. Anya listened attentively, intrigued despite herself. She may as well learn about this place as she would be living with this new man Inspector Slack. Well, of course, if he would let her. If not, she would still be his guardian, but she would be in the background rather than the forefront.
Anya thought about her life up until this point as Miss Marple prattled on about the village. Anya was an angel, though not your typical one. She had wings, but not a halo like humans imagined in their folktales. No angel in Heaven had a halo but did have wings that were twice the size of their bodies to allow them to fly quickly and carry twice their own weight if needed. And they were not delicate creatures, flitting about as children as human versions sometimes put them, the forms they called "cupids".
No, angels were fierce warriors of the Father. An angel who could not fight was deemed just about worthless, and only just if they could manage to heal adequately. All angels could heal, of course, but there were those that possessed more skill in that field than others. Anya had no such skills in either department. She was not a skilled fighter, though she passed all of her defense classes and only just barely. She could heal, though needed real practice in the art as she was easily distracted and had not quite developed a good focus technique needed for the task. All in all, she was a rather lousy angel. Her kindness exceeded all others and she was well-liked despite her weaknesses.
Her mother was not at all happy to find out that her daughter was not even close to the angel she wanted her to be. So, to please her, Anya decided to take up the task of becoming a Guardian Angel, hoping it would increase her standing in her mother's eyes. Inspector Slack was chosen for her by the high Archangels, and so she had come to England and this small village to find him and inform him of his new Guardian. She could have been an invisible Guardian like many other angels are for their humans but she had decided that for her purposes, staying visible and being accepted by her human would bring greater pleasure to her mother, and so had decided to come down to the Earth in her human form, her wings remaining invisible to all who saw her.
Now everything came down to her trying to convince this Inspector Slack of her being his Guardian Angel. She did not know how she would go about trying to convince him of this fact but she would have to think of something for this to work. Her attention was diverted from her thoughts to Miss Marple as she realized that they had suddenly stopped and she had nearly pulled the poor woman from her feet.
"Forgive me, I am so sorry, Miss Marple! I was off in my own thoughts, I did not intend to nearly knock you over!"
"Now, now, it is fine, dear. I understand completely for I do that now and again myself. Now, here we are at the police station. Since you are back from your thoughts, shall we go in?" she asked, smiling sympathetically. She smiled back and nodded fervently. Miss Marple nodded once in acceptance and started up the short flight of stairs to the small white brick building in front of them, ablack placard announcing the building as the 'County Police'. The pair narrowly avoided bowling over a policewoman as she charged out of the front doors, apologizing profusely as she ran away from a shouting voice that sounded like a very angry man. That wouldn't be the man I am supposed to be a Guardian for, is it? Anya wondered briefly, inwardly cringing at the vehemence behind that voice. Miss Marple saw the small cringe on the girl's face and pitied her. The poor child did not know what she was getting herself into, did she?
They walked through the front doors into a madhouse. Police men and women were running to and fro whilst in the middle a tall man clad in a tight black suit with a high forehead and rather long, pointed nose shouted back and forth at them, ordering them to do this and that, call this person and that person, don't do this or that. Anya looked to Miss Marple and saw the old woman jerk her head in the direction of the shouting man, looking at her knowingly as Anya's eyes widened. The shouting man was her human! Dearest Father, how was she supposed to pull this one off?
"Oh dear," she found herself saying. "He seems rather busy. Perhaps now is not a good time." Her voice quivered as she spoke and she couldn't help but feel like a complete coward in that instant. Her mother would be furious at seeing her in such a state! But what could she do? She was frightened of this man that she was supposed to protect! And she hadn't even met him yet! At this point in time she didn't even think he needed an angel. He could scare any attacker off by just glaring at him!
The terror in the girl's eyes made Miss Marple feel rather badly about bringing her here. Poor dear, she knew absolutely nothing about the Inspector, did she? What was she here for anyway? It couldn't be personal business, could it? Who would have personal business with this Inspector anyway? The man was completely manic in her mind, a strict man who made everyone around him stressed and unhappy.
Suddenly Miss Marple heard her name being called and looked up to see that the Inspector was now heading for them. The girl beside her stiffened and Miss Marple could see her hands shaking ever so slightly. "Good morning, Miss Marple. Why are you here?" The tall, dark man stopped in front of them, his eyes passing from the old woman to Anya, sizing her up quickly. His address was sharp and business-like. He seemed a man that had no time for laughter or fun things, Anya thought. Oh, why was he the one chosen for her?
"Good morning, Chief Inspector." Miss Marple, as usual, was not flustered by his brisk attitude, but seemed accepting of it as she had many times before heard and become used to it. "This girl here asked me to take her to you. Her name is Anya and she told me she wished to see you."
"Yes?" The Inspector's dark eyes shifted from Miss Marple to Anya and she suddenly found her deep green eyes captured by those dark irises as they seemed to probe her very soul. This man was not to be trifled with and obviously was not one to believe in such mythical-sounding things as angels. She found herself opening and closing her mouth like a fish gasping for air out of water, and quickly tried to pull herself together as she saw his bushy eyes brows draw down in obvious impatience.
"Ch-Chief Inspector Slack. May I speak with you privately, please?" she asked. It was better to talk with him alone without even Miss Marple around nor anyone else. He must be the only one to hear what she had to say to him.
He seemed to hesitate a fraction of a second before he nodded curtly and stepped aside, holding his arm out to direct her to a small room that she assumed was his office. She looked back at Miss Marple and thanked her quickly before moving off in front of the Inspector so as not to keep him waiting any longer. She entered the small room and waited for him to come in behind her and shut the door. He motioned for her to take a seat in the straight-backed, padded chair in front of his desk and she did so, noticing that the shaking of her hands had gotten more pronounced as the time got closer for her confession to this man. He sat down in the large chair behind the desk and rested his elbows on the surface, his piercing eyes pinning her to the chair as he watched her compose herself.
"What is this about, miss Anya? Do you have something to report?" She took a deep breath to compose herself, and began.
"I have something of that nature, yes, Chief Inspector. You see, this may be hard for you to believe, but I am an angel. I was sent to be your Guardian Angel, you see, and to stay with and protect you for as long as I am able." She stopped abruptly, seeing first surprise and then anger cross the Inspector's face as his eye brows drew sharply together.
"Do you take me for a fool, miss? Is this some sort of practical joke? An angel? I do not even know you and you are supposed to be this, what, Guardian Angel, you say? And I am supposed to let you, what, stand at my back like a bodyguard all the time while I go about my business? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, and I have heard plenty. You may go, miss. I have no time for this nonsense." He stood quickly to open the door for her and she felt crushed for the first time in her life.
"Chief Inspector, please! I know this is difficult for you to believe but I cannot fail in this mission, I mustn't fail! Please, if there's anything I can do to prove to you-"
"I've heard enough, miss. Please, leave my office. I have actual work to do and normal people to interview. Good day to you, miss." He held the door open for her, staring her down as she opened her mouth for another plea. She snapped it shut as she saw the look of complete disbelief in his eyes. It was no good for the moment. He was not receptive to anything, and could not be reasoned with at this time, she knew. She would have to be persistent in having him accept her as his angel. This would not be the last meeting until she had thoroughly convinced him of her sincerity.
"Very well, Chief Inspector. Good day to you." She bowed her head to hide the sudden tears that had jumped to her eyes, and hurried from his office to the front doors. She lifted her head just in time to see Miss Marple stand up from the row of chairs off to the side, and worried why the old woman had stayed to see how she came out.
"My dear, what happened? You were only in there for a few minutes! What on Earth did you say to him to make him kick you out so soon?" Anya shook her head and apologized quickly to the old woman as she hurried out the front door and down the steps. She stopped once she reached the sidewalk and looked from left to right. Now what? she thought. She had nowhere to go, no money to buy food or lodgings for the night or however long it would take to convince the Inspector. She was overcome with a sudden feeling of helplessness and covered her face with her hands in an attempt to stop the tears from falling.
"Oh dear, why don't you come with me, you don't look so well." Miss Marple was at her elbow directing her to the left and to wherever she was taking her.
"Please, I thank you, Miss Marple, but I must go. I need to think about what I must do."
"This is not the last time you will approach him, is it?" Anya shook her head. Miss Marple sighed and continued to lead the girl down the sidewalk. "You will come to my house for tea, dear, and you will tell me everything, why you're here and why you must see the Chief Inspector."
"Oh, I couldn't possibly. It is supposed to be a private matter kept between he and I-"
"My dear, right now whatever you have to say to him is falling upon deaf ears. So why not speak to ears that are willing to listen, and to an old woman who may have some advice for you?" Anya couldn't help but smile and so she allowed the old woman to lead her back to her home. Should she tell this woman everything? Miss Marple was different from anyone else Anya had spoken to in England, and seemed genuinely willing to help her. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for the old woman to listen to her tale.
Less than an hour later the two women were inside Miss Marple's quaint little house and being served tea by a sweet maid-in-training named Bessie. Anya began her story slowly at the encouragement of Miss Marple, and soon she was pouring her life story out to the old woman, finishing with why she was on Earth in the first place and why it was Chief Inspector Slack whom she needed so desperately to see. When she had finished the old woman sat there speechless, lost in thought, staring off into the small fire dancing beside her in the fireplace. After what seemed hours she turned back to the young, desperate girl sitting across from her, and smiled. For whatever reason, she believed completely in this young woman's wild angel tale. She certainly looked like Marple's vision of an angel.
"I think you have a very difficult journey ahead of you, my dear. Inspector Slack is not a man to believe in such things as angels as I'm sure you've learned already, so something must be done to convince him. But what? That is the problem, surely. Once he is convinced, I am sure he will accommodate you. In the meantime, you may stay here for as long as it takes."
"Oh, Miss Marple, I couldn't possibly-" She held up a wrinkled hand, silencing the girl swiftly.
"You will stay here and keep an old woman company while you figure out how to deal with your problems. And I shall help you with them, certainly. Now, more tea, dear?"