"So she just disappeared, just like that?" Declan asked in amazement. He and Peggy were having lunch in the hospital's cafeteria.
"Declan, I know what you're thinking," Peggy said, "but it's not necessarily true. I was tired. My mind was probably playing tricks on me."
"Peggy," Declan said, "you almost got hit by a car. You said that you didn't know what made you step on the break, right?"
"Declan, I --" Peggy started, but she didn't get very far.
"This is almost exactly what happened to August,"
Peggy gave Declan a glare, which was met by a serious look from Declan over his glasses.
"Are you sure it was a hallucination, Peg?"
Peggy suddenly got a sad, far-off look on her face, "She looked a lot like I did when I was that age ... but she was different."
"Different?" Declan asked.
"Yeah," Peggy said, "I don't know, I couldn't quite tell what ... but ... what if ... what if it's ... Angela?"
"Angela?" Declan was confused. He knew the name Angela sounded familiar, but who was it?
"I'm sorry," Peggy said, abruptly switching back to her normal self, "I have to get back to work," She got up from her seat and left.
"Peggy, wait ..." Declan called after her, but she was already gone. Declan proceeded to rack his memory for where he knew the name Angela from.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"I don't know," Declan said to Miranda in his office, "I just can't think of any way to test this. I mean, unless we had August carry equipment around everywhere she went until the angel came back, or something like that."
Miranda shrugged. For once, she didn't have any ideas.
"You know," Declan said, "the same thing happened to Peggy last night."
"Really?" Miranda asked.
"Well, almost the same thing," Declan answered, "I guess something made her stop at an intersection even though the light was green, and then someone came the other way and ran the red light. If she hadn't stopped, she would have been hit."
"Was there an angel?" Miranda questioned.
"Yeah," Declan said, "a little girl, about four years old. Peggy said that she looked a lot like she had at that age."
Miranda thought for a moment, "It might have been a memory of herself at four years old,"
Declan shook his head, "She said that the girl looked different, something about the name Angela."
"So what do you think it is?"
"Well," Declan said, "I can only think of two things. It could have been a premonition combined with a hallucination ..."
"Or ..."
"Or it was an angel," Declan said, "both of them are pretty ... out there, but it's all I can come up with. I just wish I could remember who Angela was."
Miranda stood up, "I gotta get to class," she said, "I'll let you know if I come up with anything."
Declan nodded. For a couple minutes, he sat there at his desk, trying to come up with answers, but not getting very far.
"Professor Dunn?"
A voice made Declan look up. It was August. "Hi, August," he greeted her.
"I think I know who the angel is," she said, "I have no idea why it didn't occur to me sooner, but ..."
"Who is it?" Declan asked.
"My uncle Gerald," August answered.
"Your uncle?"
August nodded, "His red hair is unmistakable,"
Declan smiled, "It must run in the family,"
"He died saving my life."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Gerald was the kind of person who was always happy," Erin deJong said to Declan and Peggy in her living room, "he always told jokes, and even if they weren't funny, everybody laughed, just because of the way he told them."
"He sounds really nice," Peggy said in that psychiatric tone that she had mastered.
"Yeah," Erin said, "I remember when he was in the hospital, dying, even then he had to tell me a joke. It was about a father and a son, and the father was an immigrant from Holland and he insisted that they spoke Dutch in heaven. He said that the Dutch were very good Christians and he thought that God had a special place for Dutch people in his heart. The son disagreed. He thought they spoke English because it was such a common language. If people didn't speak English as a first language, it was usually a second language. Well, neither of them would believe the other, so they continued to argue about it on the way to church. Then they were hit by a car and both of them died and went to heaven. When Jesus came out to greet them, he said, 'Hola! Que pasa?'"
Both Declan and Peggy couldn't help but laugh at the joke.
"I'll never forget what he said next," Erin said with a serious look on her face, "he said, 'I'm going to find out what language they speak in heaven,'"
"You said that Gerald died saving August's life," Declan said, "were they very close? ... Ow!" he said as Peggy gave him a sharp jab with her elbow.
Erin smiled, "It's okay," she said, "Yes, they were very close. Gerald spoiled her rotten, always taking her out, getting her ice cream ... August was his only niece, the closest thing he had to a child of his own."
"Did August ever tell you about seeing the ... Angel?" Declan asked, casting a quick, worried look over in Peggy's direction.
"No," Erin said, "sometimes August keeps those kind of things inside."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"So you actually think it was an angel?" Peggy asked Declan as they walked down the front steps of Erin DeJong's house.
"I think that it's a possibility," Declan said, "I mean, look at the evidence!"
"It's all explainable," Peggy said, opening the door to Declan's truck and hopping inside.
Declan, who was now sitting in the drivers' seat, putting the key in the ignition, said, "Well, maybe, but you have to admit, it's pretty --"
"Weird?" Peggy asked, finishing Declan's sentence for him, "That doesn't mean it's automatically considered a miracle."
"Peggy, she narrowly escaped a car accident," Declan argued his point, "and the guy that she saw saved his life before."
This argument was followed by a glare from Peggy.
"Okay, so maybe he didn't save her *life*, but she could have been hurt," he corrected himself, "and then she remembers that this guy is his uncle, who died saving her life!"
"How do you know it was the same person?" Peggy asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that it could have been someone who looked a lot like her uncle ..." Peggy started, "maybe so much so that she mistook him for someone else. We don't even know that it was the same person both times."
"Oh, sure," Declan said a little sarcastically, "two different people save her life at two different times, and they both have an uncanny resemblance to her uncle who saved her life when she was three."
"It's more plausible than a miracle," Peggy said.
"Well," Declan was getting a little desperate in this argument, "what about the girl you saw in your car? I mean, who was Angela, anyway?" he finally got out the question that had been bugging him.
Peggy fell silent for a few seconds. She had the same sad look in her eyes as when she had first mentioned the name 'Angela.' "Angela was ..." she trailed off, "the baby I miscarried." she managed to say.
There was an uncomfortable silence as Declan mentally kicked himself for bringing the subject up. He knew it was a touchy subject for Peggy. Of course, it also convinced him even more that it was an angel.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"There are a lot of people who believe in angels." Declan said to his class, "They believe that angels are beings that God sends to the earth to watch over us and protect us. Some people think of angels as people with wings and halos and long, white gowns, while others think angels look and dress as everyone else, so their random acts of kindness will go unnoticed. What do you think?"
One of the guys in the class, named Aaron, raised his hand, "Aaron?" Declan called on him.
"I think that angels are there to help us when we need it most," Aaron said, "like when we're about to give up on something, they give us the strength to keep going."
Next, August raised her hand and Declan motioned for her to speak, "I think that angels help us when we don't even know we're in trouble. You know, when something happens so fast that we wouldn't have been able to save ourselves if something hadn't prevented it. It's something that we don't even recognize as a miracle until after it happened."
Declan smiled and nodded, "I think that angels can sometimes help us when we ask for it, but also when we least expect it. A random act of kindness that can inspire us to perform our own acts of kindness which can set off a chain of little acts of kindness that nobody really notices, but it makes a difference."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Peggy sat in front of Angela's tiny grave. She hadn't been here for a while, but the events of the past few days just seemed to drive her here. She couldn't keep herself away.
With her finger, Peggy softly went over the letters engraved in the stone.
ANGELA FOWLER
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them, she noticed a tiny hand placed on top of hers. She lifted her head to find herself staring straight into the eyes of the little girl she had seen in her car. She had Adam's eyes.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Adam sitting on the grass next to her. He was smiling. She smiled back.
Then they both disappeared, but with their absence, Peggy was left with a feeling of peace she hadn't felt since Adam died.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
" ... so you don't want me to investigate it anymore?" Declan asked August.
"I already know it's a miracle," August replied, "I don't need any more proof."
Declan nodded, but August felt that she needed to explain, "You see, yesterday, I was flipping through my Bible when I came across this passage." She pulled a leather Bible out of her backpack, opened it to the correct place and handed it to him, saying, "Read John 20:29"
Declan looked at the printed words, "Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"
"I realized that even though I had seen this miracle, I didn't believe it. I felt I needed more proof, but I don't need any more proof than what I already had. I was saved from a car accident by my guardian angel!" As she spoke, a smile spread across her face.
Her smile was contagious and Declan couldn't help smile along with her, "Yeah," he said, "I understand."
"Thanks," August said. She took her Bible and left the room.
A few seconds after August left, Declan saw someone else enter the room. He immediately recognized it as the man who had saved him from the avalanche. He was still dressed as he had been before: a windbreaker suit with heavy boots and a helmet on his head, covering his face.
Without saying a word, the man took off the helmet, revealing his face.
Declan's jaw dropped. "Dad?"
*~The End~*
Yaaaaaay!!! I finished it!!!! And I'm using waaaay too many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, did you notice how I kinda worked in a conclusion to Memorial Day? Pleeeeeease tell me what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Declan, I know what you're thinking," Peggy said, "but it's not necessarily true. I was tired. My mind was probably playing tricks on me."
"Peggy," Declan said, "you almost got hit by a car. You said that you didn't know what made you step on the break, right?"
"Declan, I --" Peggy started, but she didn't get very far.
"This is almost exactly what happened to August,"
Peggy gave Declan a glare, which was met by a serious look from Declan over his glasses.
"Are you sure it was a hallucination, Peg?"
Peggy suddenly got a sad, far-off look on her face, "She looked a lot like I did when I was that age ... but she was different."
"Different?" Declan asked.
"Yeah," Peggy said, "I don't know, I couldn't quite tell what ... but ... what if ... what if it's ... Angela?"
"Angela?" Declan was confused. He knew the name Angela sounded familiar, but who was it?
"I'm sorry," Peggy said, abruptly switching back to her normal self, "I have to get back to work," She got up from her seat and left.
"Peggy, wait ..." Declan called after her, but she was already gone. Declan proceeded to rack his memory for where he knew the name Angela from.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"I don't know," Declan said to Miranda in his office, "I just can't think of any way to test this. I mean, unless we had August carry equipment around everywhere she went until the angel came back, or something like that."
Miranda shrugged. For once, she didn't have any ideas.
"You know," Declan said, "the same thing happened to Peggy last night."
"Really?" Miranda asked.
"Well, almost the same thing," Declan answered, "I guess something made her stop at an intersection even though the light was green, and then someone came the other way and ran the red light. If she hadn't stopped, she would have been hit."
"Was there an angel?" Miranda questioned.
"Yeah," Declan said, "a little girl, about four years old. Peggy said that she looked a lot like she had at that age."
Miranda thought for a moment, "It might have been a memory of herself at four years old,"
Declan shook his head, "She said that the girl looked different, something about the name Angela."
"So what do you think it is?"
"Well," Declan said, "I can only think of two things. It could have been a premonition combined with a hallucination ..."
"Or ..."
"Or it was an angel," Declan said, "both of them are pretty ... out there, but it's all I can come up with. I just wish I could remember who Angela was."
Miranda stood up, "I gotta get to class," she said, "I'll let you know if I come up with anything."
Declan nodded. For a couple minutes, he sat there at his desk, trying to come up with answers, but not getting very far.
"Professor Dunn?"
A voice made Declan look up. It was August. "Hi, August," he greeted her.
"I think I know who the angel is," she said, "I have no idea why it didn't occur to me sooner, but ..."
"Who is it?" Declan asked.
"My uncle Gerald," August answered.
"Your uncle?"
August nodded, "His red hair is unmistakable,"
Declan smiled, "It must run in the family,"
"He died saving my life."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"Gerald was the kind of person who was always happy," Erin deJong said to Declan and Peggy in her living room, "he always told jokes, and even if they weren't funny, everybody laughed, just because of the way he told them."
"He sounds really nice," Peggy said in that psychiatric tone that she had mastered.
"Yeah," Erin said, "I remember when he was in the hospital, dying, even then he had to tell me a joke. It was about a father and a son, and the father was an immigrant from Holland and he insisted that they spoke Dutch in heaven. He said that the Dutch were very good Christians and he thought that God had a special place for Dutch people in his heart. The son disagreed. He thought they spoke English because it was such a common language. If people didn't speak English as a first language, it was usually a second language. Well, neither of them would believe the other, so they continued to argue about it on the way to church. Then they were hit by a car and both of them died and went to heaven. When Jesus came out to greet them, he said, 'Hola! Que pasa?'"
Both Declan and Peggy couldn't help but laugh at the joke.
"I'll never forget what he said next," Erin said with a serious look on her face, "he said, 'I'm going to find out what language they speak in heaven,'"
"You said that Gerald died saving August's life," Declan said, "were they very close? ... Ow!" he said as Peggy gave him a sharp jab with her elbow.
Erin smiled, "It's okay," she said, "Yes, they were very close. Gerald spoiled her rotten, always taking her out, getting her ice cream ... August was his only niece, the closest thing he had to a child of his own."
"Did August ever tell you about seeing the ... Angel?" Declan asked, casting a quick, worried look over in Peggy's direction.
"No," Erin said, "sometimes August keeps those kind of things inside."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"So you actually think it was an angel?" Peggy asked Declan as they walked down the front steps of Erin DeJong's house.
"I think that it's a possibility," Declan said, "I mean, look at the evidence!"
"It's all explainable," Peggy said, opening the door to Declan's truck and hopping inside.
Declan, who was now sitting in the drivers' seat, putting the key in the ignition, said, "Well, maybe, but you have to admit, it's pretty --"
"Weird?" Peggy asked, finishing Declan's sentence for him, "That doesn't mean it's automatically considered a miracle."
"Peggy, she narrowly escaped a car accident," Declan argued his point, "and the guy that she saw saved his life before."
This argument was followed by a glare from Peggy.
"Okay, so maybe he didn't save her *life*, but she could have been hurt," he corrected himself, "and then she remembers that this guy is his uncle, who died saving her life!"
"How do you know it was the same person?" Peggy asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that it could have been someone who looked a lot like her uncle ..." Peggy started, "maybe so much so that she mistook him for someone else. We don't even know that it was the same person both times."
"Oh, sure," Declan said a little sarcastically, "two different people save her life at two different times, and they both have an uncanny resemblance to her uncle who saved her life when she was three."
"It's more plausible than a miracle," Peggy said.
"Well," Declan was getting a little desperate in this argument, "what about the girl you saw in your car? I mean, who was Angela, anyway?" he finally got out the question that had been bugging him.
Peggy fell silent for a few seconds. She had the same sad look in her eyes as when she had first mentioned the name 'Angela.' "Angela was ..." she trailed off, "the baby I miscarried." she managed to say.
There was an uncomfortable silence as Declan mentally kicked himself for bringing the subject up. He knew it was a touchy subject for Peggy. Of course, it also convinced him even more that it was an angel.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
"There are a lot of people who believe in angels." Declan said to his class, "They believe that angels are beings that God sends to the earth to watch over us and protect us. Some people think of angels as people with wings and halos and long, white gowns, while others think angels look and dress as everyone else, so their random acts of kindness will go unnoticed. What do you think?"
One of the guys in the class, named Aaron, raised his hand, "Aaron?" Declan called on him.
"I think that angels are there to help us when we need it most," Aaron said, "like when we're about to give up on something, they give us the strength to keep going."
Next, August raised her hand and Declan motioned for her to speak, "I think that angels help us when we don't even know we're in trouble. You know, when something happens so fast that we wouldn't have been able to save ourselves if something hadn't prevented it. It's something that we don't even recognize as a miracle until after it happened."
Declan smiled and nodded, "I think that angels can sometimes help us when we ask for it, but also when we least expect it. A random act of kindness that can inspire us to perform our own acts of kindness which can set off a chain of little acts of kindness that nobody really notices, but it makes a difference."
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Peggy sat in front of Angela's tiny grave. She hadn't been here for a while, but the events of the past few days just seemed to drive her here. She couldn't keep herself away.
With her finger, Peggy softly went over the letters engraved in the stone.
ANGELA FOWLER
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them, she noticed a tiny hand placed on top of hers. She lifted her head to find herself staring straight into the eyes of the little girl she had seen in her car. She had Adam's eyes.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Adam sitting on the grass next to her. He was smiling. She smiled back.
Then they both disappeared, but with their absence, Peggy was left with a feeling of peace she hadn't felt since Adam died.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
" ... so you don't want me to investigate it anymore?" Declan asked August.
"I already know it's a miracle," August replied, "I don't need any more proof."
Declan nodded, but August felt that she needed to explain, "You see, yesterday, I was flipping through my Bible when I came across this passage." She pulled a leather Bible out of her backpack, opened it to the correct place and handed it to him, saying, "Read John 20:29"
Declan looked at the printed words, "Then Jesus told him, 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'"
"I realized that even though I had seen this miracle, I didn't believe it. I felt I needed more proof, but I don't need any more proof than what I already had. I was saved from a car accident by my guardian angel!" As she spoke, a smile spread across her face.
Her smile was contagious and Declan couldn't help smile along with her, "Yeah," he said, "I understand."
"Thanks," August said. She took her Bible and left the room.
A few seconds after August left, Declan saw someone else enter the room. He immediately recognized it as the man who had saved him from the avalanche. He was still dressed as he had been before: a windbreaker suit with heavy boots and a helmet on his head, covering his face.
Without saying a word, the man took off the helmet, revealing his face.
Declan's jaw dropped. "Dad?"
*~The End~*
Yaaaaaay!!! I finished it!!!! And I'm using waaaay too many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, did you notice how I kinda worked in a conclusion to Memorial Day? Pleeeeeease tell me what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!