Michael the Archangel filled the other angels with love, passion, and purpose. As they went their separate ways, to help God and man, Michael paused as he saw a new angel, someone who had lived a life too short. He was a good man in life, a Jesuit priest, with one gaping flaw which God had forgiven, and therefore the other angels forgave him also.
Michael stood before the new angel and announced, “Daniel.”
The angel turned at his name. He bowed to Michael, who shook his head. “You must bow not to me but to God only.”
“Sorry,” Daniel said. He looked as he did before he died – black hair, a beard, piercing blue eyes. He worked out, ran and swam until the day he died, so he was a perfect specimen of human health. Except for the black tiny hole above his heart, a reflection of his death.
“You’re new, you are forgiven,” said Michael with a gentle smile. “Do you wish to attend to God or Man?”
“There’s some things I haven’t finished,” he said, looking downward, as if he could see Earth before him and see Man that he wished to help. “Some things I wish I could have done for people. Some things I could have done better – ”
Michael put a hand on Daniel’s arm. “God has forgiven you your transgressions and understands that your heart is pure. That is most important, Daniel.”
When Daniel looked up, the hole in his heart flared bright orange, showing love, devotion, gratitude. The hole got minutely smaller, and would get smaller with each person that he aided, or each time he felt love. Michael felt that the man still held love for Man, both in his heart and in his loins.
Yet he was forgiven. He could not Fall.
“You will go to assist Man, as you wish.”
“Thank you, Michael,” he said, and stopped himself from bowing. “How do I know who to help?”
“God provides and directs. Go. Spread your wings and God’s love.”
Daniel did spread his wings and he glided out of the clouds, heading toward the Earth like a meteor. He would grow solid, denser, his wings would disappear, yet he could still fly – until he touched ground. Michael knew this, and hoped that Daniel would understand it as well. “God directs,” he muttered, and smiled.
Daniel was happy to be free, and wanted to go to see his old mentor, to show him he was alive and well and blessed by God now. But something stopped him from going to Libya, where he had been killed by Muslims who shot him only once in the chest as he tried to teach English to some children in a classroom. The children were all kidnapped and allegedly sold into slavery. He tried to stop them, but didn’t have the fighting skills.
He went instead back to the United States, he was stopped from going into the southern states, where he was born, raised, and buried. God directs indeed, he thought sadly, not being able to see his family. Instead he headed to the midwest, and lit down in a place called Carthage.
There didn’t seem to be anything special about the town in the daytime. He walked around town, trying hard to not look like a tourist, but not doing a good job of it. He passed by a playground, hearing children laughing and screaming in play. Women sat in a clump, some with baby carriages, some with tote bags or backpacks. All the children were very young, toddlers and maybe just a little older.
He stood and watched for a while, and realized he probably looked like a pedophile, so he left. He put a hand in his pocket – there was no money. He had no wallet, no ID, no nothing on him but his clothes.
Once he realized he was a persona non grata, he looked around for a church, or for someone homeless. He walked through into the center of town, seeing the town hall but no church. He did see someone who was possibly homeless, standing on a street corner at a light, holding up a sign that he couldn’t see.
From a distance, Daniel studied the man. He was thin, not emaciated, sunburnt from standing outside. He wore a long-sleeved flannel shirt, jeans, and shoes. It was the shoes that got him. The shoes were white. Daniel knew that the man wasn’t homeless.
He surrendered to the part of him that was angry at this. He didn’t know if that was right or not, if it was justified, but he crossed the street and started walking with determined purpose toward the man. The man looked to the side and saw that Daniel was coming toward him. He folded his sign and turned to run off.
Daniel reached out with his hand. When he did, a bolt of electricity shot out, crossing the street, and hitting the man. He stopped, jerked a few times, then fell to the ground.
Daniel stared, and people stopped their cars. One person got out. Daniel ran to the man.
The man was lying on the ground, breathing, but not moving. “Did you see that?” asked the man who had gotten out of his car, while his wife was yelling, “Paul, come on! You’re holding up the light!”
“You okay?” Paul kept asking the guy on the ground. Another woman showed up, and soon a crowd formed. Daniel had knelt by the man, but didn’t dare touch him.
He heard sirens, and someone yelling, “C’mon, coming through. What happened?”
It was a cop. Daniel got up from his knees. Paul had disappeared into the crowd, and someone answered, “He got electrocuted.”
The cop looked around for wires. Daniel waited. He was just about to admit that he had done it when the man on the ground suddenly took a gasping breath and opened his eyes. He looked around, and seeing the cop, suddenly scuttled back. Someone else yelled, “Coming through–” and some paramedics with a gurney came into Daniel’s view.
“You okay?”
“I’m…I’m…Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. What’s the cop here for? I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”
“Somebody said you were electrocuted.”
“I’m fine.” He looked at the cop and the paramedics, as people had started to drift away. He looked at Daniel for a second, and his eyes passed over him. “I’m really fine.” He smiled, though it was shaky and fake.
Daniel turned away. He watched as the man kept reassuring everyone he was fine and dandy. He wondered if he had done the right thing. Was he supposed to put the fear of God into people like that? Where did the lightning come from?
What was he doing down here, anyway?