Winter sat up, shaking her head. "What happened?" she asked.
"Winter?" said a voice behind her.
She turned around.
Her eyes traveled over flowing white robes, spreading golden wings, to a crown of light. Her eyes widened. The angel turned his head to the side, looking at her.
"Am I dead?" she whispered.
"You're at the Gates of Heaven," the angel replied. "Come along. My name is Raphael."
"Raphael?" she said. "The angel of Healing?"
"Yes," he said. "St. Peter sent me to bring you to him." He held out a hand.
Sharon took it and they strode towards the gates.
St. Peter was a tall, tanned, dark-haired man. "Ah, you've arrived," he said. "Now we can begin."
Beside him sat four women. Sharon stared at them. She knew them: Phyllis, Sharon, and Kara.
St. Peter looked at them. "Well, let's get started," he said. He gestured.
A picture formed in the air. It showed Kara and Winter sitting in a bakery, eating donuts.
Sharon walked in. "Winter!" she said. "You've got to come to the capital today with me. The Senate is debating passing a partial-birth abortion law, and I need you to come with me to help protest."
"Not today," Winter said. "I'm busy."
"Winter, this is important!" Sharon yelled. "We can't let that law pass. What are you doing that's so important-trying to get money for your day care? This is a law we're talking about!" Sharon grabbed Winter's arm.
Phyllis walked into the scene. "Kara!" she shouted. "What are you doing here?"
"I am trying to get funding for the daycare," she said.
"While an abortion ban is being debated? We don't need federal funding for childcare, we need to keep babies from being killed!"
Kara raised her eyebrows. "How on earth do you expect women to cope with their babies without funding for daycare?"
"If they'd just lower taxes, then they wouldn't need to subsidize daycare. But that's beside the point. We need to go support this bill. Come on!"
Kara shook her head. She and Winter stood up. "We have to go now," she said.
The scene faded out, to be replaced by another. Kara stood in a large room, holding a sleeping two-year-old. Another child sat in his mother's arms. "I don't know when I'll be able to pay you," she was saying.
"Don't worry about it," Kara replied. "Go to work. I'll watch him." The mother put her boy down and left.
Winter walked in, leading two children by the hand. "Here they are," she said.
"How are the Bakers?"
"Maggie is fine. That new baby seems fine too-at least, from the way he yells, there's nothing wrong with his lungs."
"And how's-Julia?"
Winter glanced at her partner. "She's fine, too. She'll be going back to school on Monday."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
Winter shook her head. "If she hadn't, she would have had to drop out of school. She made her decision, and that is that." She shrugged. "I'm doing all I can-if we didn't do this, Maggie might have aborted too."
Kara nodded. She bent down and deposited the little boy on a sleeping mat. "Sharon called for you," she said. "She wants you to come up to the capital to lobby on Friday."
"I'll be here on Friday," Winter said.
"Apparently lobbying is more important than working to take care of people."
"Did Phyllis call you?" Winter asked.
"Yes."
Winter shook her head. "I'm pro-choice and you're pro-life and they can't seem to understand that what we're doing here is more important than that. These kids need us."
A little boy yelled, and Winter turned to him.
The scene faded out, to be replaced by a courtroom. Phyllis and Sharon sat in the front row. Sharon recognized the trial-it was a date on which a statute Phyllis had campaigned ardently for had been challenged.
"The court finds," said a voice, "that the statute is unconstitutional because it imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to choose abortion. We hereby grant the injunction against the statute permanently."
Sharon's image, in the scene, turned to Phyllis. "Too bad," she said conversationally. "Better luck next time."
The scene faded out. St. Peter faced the four women. "Phyllis," he said. "Explain yourself."
Phyllis stared at him. "Explain what?" she asked.
"Your methods for opposing abortion."
"Abortion is evil," she said. "Evil! There is nothing more important than preventing it."
"That's what you say," he said. "But is it what you do?"
"Of course!" Phyllis said. "I work to outlaw abortion."
"But do you work to prevent it in any other ways?" St. Peter asked.
"What? You mean, like, handing out contraceptives? Of course not. I'm deeply opposed to contraception. If people do not wish to become pregnant, they should abstain from sex."
St. Peter looked at Winter. "Tell her about her daughter," he ordered.
Winter looked at Phyllis calmly. "Rebecca had an abortion five months ago."
Phyllis gasped. "What?"
Winter shrugged. "She came to me, asking for information on abortion clinics. I showed her all my files on adoption-even showed her the brochures for homes for unwed mothers. She wanted an abortion anyway. So I gave her the address of the best clinic I knew and drove her there."
"Why?" Phyllis screamed. "Why, why, for God's sake why?"
Winter raised one eyebrow. "She was afraid to admit to you that she'd been having sex," she explained.
Kara put her hand to her mouth. "That's obscene!" she said.
"I agree," said Winter calmly. "Women having abortions because they're afraid to admit that they've had sex? Terrible."
Phyllis glared at her. "You! You corrupted my daughter, you pro-abortion heathen, and then you stand there and scorn me?" She turned to St. Peter. "You are our judge," she said. "Who is going to Heaven-and who is going to Hell?"
He gazed at her. "I'm sorry, Phyllis," he said. "But I have to condemn both you and Sharon to time in Purgatory." He turned to Kara and Winter. "As for you two-you are welcome here." Behind him, the gates opened.
Kara and Winter looked at Sharon and Phyllis sadly. "Come find us when you get to Heaven," said Kara.
"We'll miss you," Winter added. She took Kara's hand, and together they walked into the light.