PARTs 10 and 11

PART 10

On the beach, Joy and her new friend were entertained in an exciting game, with the boy throwing the baseball ball and the dog fetching it and giving it back to him. But, all of a sudden, the child stopped playing and stared at the sea:

“Hey... I think it’s my mom over there!...”, he said, looking at a woman who was swimming far from where the waves crashed:

“Mom?!”, he called, not really sure if it was really his mother he was seeing, as the distance was considerable:

“I’ll go there!”, the boy started to walk towards the water, but, before he could give more than 3 steps, Joy quickly ran and placed herself in front of him, barking loudly and repeatedly:

“I’ll be back, don’t worry...”, he said, but the animal kept on barking:

“You don’t want me to go there?... But I can swim... a little...”

Somehow realising the boy’s insistence, the dog suddenly bit the hem of his bermudas and dragged him away from the water; and she pulled them so abruptly that his buttocks were almost shown:

“Hey! Alright, then, I’ll stay here!”, he finally gave in, straightening his outfit. The little puppy barked once more, and the child raised his eyebrows:

“Boy! You’re really cranky sometimes!”

*

Monica and Andrew walked around for some more time:

“We’ve already looked everywhere, Andrew! What are we going to do?!”, Monica’s voice was a crying one.

“We’ll keep on looking until we find her!”

“I think we’ve lost her...”

“Don’t say that, Monica, Joy must be...”

He stopped talking when they heard an unmistakable bark not far away from them, and, a second later, they spotted the missing puppy happily playing with her new friend. Monica’s heart started to pound loudly in her chest and Andrew heaved a sigh of relief at that image:

“Oh Father, thank you!”, the Irish angel whispered, and ran towards the animal:

“Joy!”

The little chubby fur ball stopped playing when she heard her mom’s voice calling her and clumsily ran into Monica’s direction, and was soon in her arms, covering the angel’s face with lots of tiny kisses:

“Oh little one, I can hardly believe I’ve found you!... I’m happy to see you too, sweetheart! You have no idea of how worried we were!”

Andrew joined them and stared at the animal:

“Yes, and you have no idea of the trouble you’re in this time, miss!”, he sternly said. The little boy who was playing with Joy came closer to the angels:

“Excuse me lady, is she yours?”, he asked. Monica smiled for the first time since that ‘nightmare’ had started and looked at Andrew:

“She’s ours; her name is Joy. We were desperate looking for her, she got lost from us.”

“Yeah, I know, she told me.”, the boy said. The angels exchanged a look of curiosity:

“She ‘told you’?!”, Andrew asked.

“Yes. And I was lost too, so we decided that we could stay together.”

“You’re lost?”, the Irish angel was already worried about the child.

“Yes, I don’t know where my mom is.”

Again, Andrew and Monica looked at each other:

“So we’re gonna help you find her, ok?”, he said, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Ok. There was a lady in the water and she looked like mom, but she was too distant, I couldn’t see it very well.”

“You mean you don’t know if it was really her?”, the blond angel was looking at the sea, trying to spot the woman.

“Yes. I was going to enter the water to go to her.”

The angels’ eyes widened in surprise:

“Oh, but the sea is too dangerous now, the waves are huge already and you could’ve been dragged!”

“No, I can swim, miss!...”, the boy replied, with confidence.

“You may know how to swim, dear, but it’s dangerous anyway, even for an adult!”

“Well, yeah... I guess so... But I couldn’t get into the water anyway. Joy didn’t let me. She even gave me a hard time when I tried to go in there and pulled me back to the sand.”

Hearing that, the two angels exchanged a third look, now a surprised one: a great tragedy had just been avoided by the little puppy dog. That part of the beach was a desert one, as the waves there were a lot bigger than in the rest of the shore. Very few people used to go there and they were in a considerable distance from the child and the animal. If the little boy entered the water, he surely would have been carried away by the waves and it would take some time until somebody realised that he was drowning, if anybody realised that at all.

Due to this totally unexpected piece of news, Andrew’s previous annoyance with the little puppy vanished completely, and he stroked her soft black fur:

“Looks like she managed to redeem herself! Now we have a little hero here!”, he said. Monica nodded her head:

“I guess you’re right, Andrew!”

The boy looked at Joy:

“I like her a lot, you know, but she’s quite grouchy sometimes!”

The angels laughed at that comment:

“Well, she is, sometimes...”, the blond angel agreed, “...But I guess she was right after all. And now that Joy has found her mom, what about you finding yours, little buddy?”

“Ok. I’m tired.”

Andrew took the boy’s hand, as Monica was holding Joy close to her and would never put her down again, and the trio started to walk along the beach.

*

Sometime later:

“Jimmy?!”

“Hey, mom!”

A woman with tears in her eyes and a worried expression on her face rushed towards the group and held the boy tightly in her arms:

“Oh, thank God you’re safe! I was desperate trying to find you!”

“It’s ok mom, I’m fine!”, he said, resting his head on her shoulder, rather exhausted from his little adventure.

“Where have you been?”

“It seems that your son and our wee one here have both got lost and made each other some company in this meantime!”, Monica said. Only then, the woman turned her attention to the angels:

“I’m not surprised with this. Jimmy loves dogs!”

“Yeah, we noticed that. They were entertained in a good conversation and were getting along quite well when we found them!”, Andrew joked.

“Thank you so much for bringing him back!”, the woman said, with a grateful expression on her face.

“Actually, it was Joy that found him!”, Monica said. A smile of relief appeared on their faces and Andrew glanced at his watch:

“Monica, it’s time to go, Tess is waiting for us.”

She nodded:

“Yes. And I’m sure that this wee one wants to say goodbye properly to her new friend!”

The angel placed Joy in the boy’s arms and the puppy covered his face with lots of kisses.

“Goodbye, Joy! It was cool playing with you too!”, Jimmy kissed the puppy’s head, hardly holding the animal, as, although she was little, Joy was quite heavy for a five year old to carry. Andrew and Monica looked at each other with their hearts practically melting at that scene. The boy gave Joy back to the Irish angel:

“Goodbye, Jimmy!”, she said.

“Goodbye, Monica!”

“And don’t try to swim in the sea without your mom, ok, buddy?”

“Ok Andrew!”

*

The angels headed back to the beach house, now with a mix of happiness and relief on their faces:

“Andrew, have you noticed something?”

“What is it?”

“When Joy stopped Jimmy from entering the sea, she actually accomplished her first assignment!”, Monica said, still holding the dog close to her. The blond angel chuckled at that conclusion:

“Her ‘first assignment’?... Yeah, I agree with you, Angel Girl!”, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and stroked Joy’s head, “It’s true that there were some accidents in the way, and a lot of trouble too. But I think that saving a life was not bad for a beginner!”

Joy licked Andrew’s hand, happily wagging her tail, and causing Monica to grin proudly:

“Isn’t she adorable?”

The blond angel smiled too:

“Yes, of course she is. She got it from her mother!”

Slightly blushed, Monica returned his loving smile:

“Well, I think that being adorable is a quality that she inherited from her father!”, she said, causing him to blush this time. She kept on talking:

“As well as being cute!”

“Monica!”, he replied, with some annoyance, as he had an idea of how red his face was. Giggling, and also pleased to make him blush, the Irish angel looked down at Joy:

“She is the cutest puppy I have ever seen in my whole existence!”

“And also the dirtiest!”, Andrew added, as, in fact, the dog had sand beach spread all over her fur. Laughing, his dearest friend agreed:

“Yes, I think you’re right! She has sand even inside her ears! I’m gonna give her a good bath when we arrive home!”

At that moment, Joy barked twice, as if demanding to be cleaned immediately, once all that dirt was starting to bother her:

“I guess this wee baby is quite authoritarian too!”, Monica said, finding her annoyance rather funny.

“And I think she’s spending too much time with her grandmother!”, Andrew concluded.

PART 11

The first rays of the sun started to shine in the sky and through the windows of the beach house, lightening up its interior. Monica was the first one to wake up in that morning and smiled happily when she saw the blue sky and heard the birds singing. She got up and, still wearing her coffee cups pyjamas, went straight to the kitchen and brewed some of her favourite drink for herself.

After sipping it eagerly, the Irish angel brewed some more for her dear friends (and for herself again, as she would never be satisfied with only one cup!) and, when it was ready, she tiptoed over to Andrew’s bedroom, slowly opening the door. The blond angel was sound asleep among a mess of pillows disorderly spread on the bed and on the floor, together with his blanket.

Monica shook her head and smiled, gathering all the pillows and placing them on the bed, and covering him with the blanket:

“How can you make such a mess during your sleep, huh?”, she whispered, gently running her fingers through his short disarrayed blond hair. A louder snore was his reply and, giggling, she leaned to place a tiny kiss on his cheek:

“You keep on sleeping, ok? I won’t bother you...”

She left his bedroom and went to check on Tess. The supervisor was sleeping peacefully in her shaded room; one of the curtains was half open, allowing some light to come in. Monica closed it completely, leaving the bedroom in a total dimness. Then, she walked over to the supervisor’s bed and straightened her blanket:

“And you sleep well too, Tess. You take such a good care of Andrew and me... and of wee Joy too! We all love you...”

She kissed the top of the supervisor’s head and left her bedroom with a pensive expression on her face.

The Irish angel returned to the kitchen and, arriving there, an idea crossed her mind:

“That’s it!...”, she exclaimed. Joy showed up at that moment, and barked happily when she saw her ‘mom’:

“Shh! Not so loud, sweetheart!”, she scooped the dog and held it close to her chest, “Andrew and Tess are still sleeping and you don’t want to wake your daddy and your grandma up so early, do you?”

She received lots of kisses in response:

“Good, ‘cause actually I don’t want them to wake up now either. You know why? Because, today, I will not only prepare their breakfast... I’ll cook too! I’ll make them a special lunch!”

*

Andrew and Tess woke up one hour later and the supervisor was entering the kitchen when she saw Monica standing in front of the counter, with some condiments and a lot of pans spread along it. The Irish angel didn’t notice her presence, as she was busy mixing something in a bowl, being attentively observed by Joy.

“I promise you, wee one, that I’ll cook a delicious lunch this time. Andrew and Tess will love this surprise and will be proud to see how much I’ve improved my culinary abilities, you’ll see!”

The little puppy dog barked twice, as if replying to her mother’s words.

“I only hope I’m doing it right...”, she looked at the mixture she was blending, “It’s a mix of tomato cream and pepper, though I have to confess that had to add a wee bit of coffee to it!...”

Tess’s eyes grew wide and she frowned with concern as she heard that, and the Irish angel took a portion of the ‘cream’ she was mixing with a spoon:

“...If only someone could taste this...”

Hearing that, Joy turned around and ran away from the kitchen to her little wooden house, which stood in the laundry room, in a clumsily rush.

Also scared, the supervisor quietly gave a few steps back, before her charge noticed her presence, and returned to the living room with a very worried expression on her face. Andrew appeared at that moment, still with sleepy eyes and dishevelled hair:

“Good morning Tess!”

“Hi Angel Boy... How did you sleep?”, she asked, still thinking about what she had just found out.

“Oh, so well that I think I overslept!”, he glanced at his watch, “I’m starving!”

Hearing that, Tess turned her full attention to him:

“Oh, really baby?”

“Yeah, is breakfast ready?”

“Yes...”, her answer was a thoughtful one, “...Angel Boy, I think Monica is looking for you...”

“Oh, she’s up already? Where’s she?”

“She’s in... in the kitchen...”

“Ok, I’ll go there, then.”

The blond angel headed to the kitchen and when he opened the door, a mix of surprise and astonishment appeared on his handsome face. But, before he could say something, Monica smiled broadly at his presence:

“Oh Andrew, I’m so glad you’ve woken up!”

“Hey Monica... Can... Can I ask what’s happening here?”, he said, already fearing the answer.

“I’m preparing today’s lunch for you and Tess!”, she happily announced. He ran his fingers through his short hair, still not believing in what he was seeing:

“Really?... Why?...”

The Irish angel tilted her head:

“Well, because it’s the last day of our vacation and I felt like doing something special for you two, and, most importantly, because I love you very, very much!”

Despite that threatening scenario, his heart softened at those kind words, and he shot her a loving and tender smile:

“How could the Father create such an adorable angel like you, huh?”, he gently stroked her blushing cheek. She took his hand into hers and kissed his palm:

“How could the Father give me such adorable friends like you two, huh?”

Smiling, the blond angel leaned to kiss her forehead and she kept on talking:

“I’ve always wanted to prepare a special lunch for you and Tess, you know. So, secretly, I’ve been trying to improve my culinary abilities whenever I have some free time!”

“Monica, honestly, you don’t have to...”

“Oh, but I do!”, she kindly objected, “And I’ve been practising a lot, you know!”

The hope and enthusiasm in her eyes were so strong that the blond angel’s heart softened even more. With no other choice, he ended up agreeing with her:

“Alright then, Angel Girl... I’m sure you’ll do your very best!”

“I promise I will try! But... I need some help here...”

A mix of relief and happiness appeared on his face:

“Oh, sure! Just tell me what I have to do!”

Monica took the bowl with the mixture she was blending and took some of it with a spoon:

“Could you taste it for me?”

It took Andrew all his effort and strength not to show his panic at that request:

“You want me to taste it?...”

“Yes! I added the ingredients to the tomato chowder but I decided to make some changes to give it a special flavour! But I really would like a second opinion about it!”

“Oh...”

“Would you do that for me?”

The blond angel looked at the reddish mixture and gulped:

“Sure...”

Monica put the spoon in his mouth and he tasted it for some seconds, swallowing everything at a time:

“So?”, the Irish angel anxiously asked.

He gave a clumsily smile:

“It’s... It’s different... I’ve... I’ve never tasted anything like this before...”

“Really?!”, she was happier than before.

“Yes... Is it my impression or you put pepper in it?”

“Oh, yes, in fact, I did!”

“... And a little coffee too?”

She smiled sheepishly:

“Well, I have to confess that I added a wee bit of coffee...”

Andrew nodded his head, still feeling the taste of the mixture in his mouth.

“Is it good?”

He had to choose his words carefully to answer to that question:

“Well, I’d say it’s... quite different, honey. Believe me, it’s an original recipe... no other angel or human would have such idea...”

Monica happily planted a kiss on his cheek:

“Thank you, Andrew! Now that I know that I’m doing it right, I can’t waste any second!”

“Didn’t you say need my help?...”

“You’ve already helped me a lot!”, she turned him around and gently led him to the kitchen door, “Now you and Tess can take a walk on the beach while I take care of everything around here, ok?”

The Irish angel winked at him and, without having any other choice, Andrew went to the front yard, where Tess was eating a delicious cheese sandwich:

“Tess, she’s cooking!”, the blond angel said, with worry and disbelief.

“Yeah, I know...”

“I just had to taste a mix of tomato, pepper and coffee!”

Tess grimaced at the thought of it:

“And that was not nice! You owe me one!”

“Well you said that you were hungry...” The supervisor innocently replied. He gave her a stern look; which didn’t last for so long:

“What are we gonna do  now?”

“Run away while there’s still time...”, Tess said, half joking. He chuckled at that suggestion:

“We can’t do that, Tess. She’s doing it with so much love! You should have seen the look in her eyes...”

His own eyes were filled with love again at the memory of his dearest friend’s face. Tess nodded and smiled:

“Yes, I can imagine that. It’s the one that melts even the hardest of the hearts!”

He smiled with contentment:

“We are very blessed to have her!”

“And why do you think I lift my eyes to the sky everyday and thank the Father for sending that little angel into our existence, huh?”

Andrew nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, as she kept on talking:

“And today, besides thanking, I also asked for some help...”

“Really?! Is she going to cook better?”

Tess gave him a stern gaze:

“I said I asked for some help, not for a miracle!”

“Well, and what did He say?”

“He gave me an idea...”, the supervisor smiled:

“Relax Angel Boy, I think the situation is not as bad as it seems to be...”

“Good, because I’m still hungry!”, he replied, his eyes focused on her sandwich, and she moved away from him, trying to protect her precious meal.