Prologue and chapter 1

PROLOGUE

It was a sunny spring morning with the bluest of the skies, and any trace of the previous severe winter had been sent away. Everything was fresh, fragrant and new, as if the nature itself was vibrating in an explosion of colours and different and pleasant perfumes spread all around. In that vast field, covered with flowers and tall trees, a dark skinned woman, with grey hair and black eyes, and wearing light blue pants and a sleeveless blouse, had been walking for some time. It was quite hot at that time of the day, so she decided to protect herself from the sun under the shadow of a high oak tree. Fanning herself and a bit annoyed, the woman glanced at her watch:

“But where are these two?!”, she mumbled, with some impatience. It was when she heard two familiar voices coming from up above:

“Hullo Tess!”

“I know we’re a little late, but something unexpected happened...”

The supervisor looked up: in the highest branches of the tree were Monica and Andrew, her two charges.

“What the heck are you doing there?!”, she was more distressed than before.

“We were waiting for you, when this wee bird fell out of its nest. And mommy and daddy birds were so desperate, flying from one side to another, looking for him, that I just had to come here and put this wee one back to its home...”, the Irish angel explained, carefully holding a small sparrow in her hand.

“I can’t believe in what my eyes are seeing!...”, Tess grumbled.

“And I had to climb up here as well, because Monica couldn’t do it herself.”

Andrew conjoined his hands and Monica placed her bare foot on them. Then, he gave her an impulse so that she could reach the branch above the one they were standing on. There, she found a nest with two other little birds:

“Oh Andrew, they are the cutest little things I’ve ever seen in my whole existence!”, she exclaimed, with her knee propped on Andrew’s shoulder.

“I believe you, sweetie, but we’d better finish this ‘rescue mission’ because  Tess’ face is not a cute one at all...”

Gently, she placed the small bird in the nest:

“Here you are, wee one. I hope you don’t try flying solo next time, it can be very dangerous outside. Remember to wait for your mommy and daddy to teach you!

She bid the birds goodbye and Andrew lowered her to where he was:

“Mission fulfilled?”, he asked, with mock seriousness. They looked at the nest and saw that ‘Mr and Mrs Bird’ had just come back to their home and were somehow grateful for having their baby back. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically:

“Yes! And with success!”

“Great! So, now, let’s get down before Tess decides to cut your coffee and my pizza for a week!”

Monica looked down and only then she realised something:

“Oh my God... It’s very high in here, isn’t it?”, a fearful expression on her face. Andrew couldn’t help but chuckle: his dear friend was so anxious to save the little bird that she didn’t even notice how high they had climbed:

“Don’t worry, Angel Girl, I’ll help you to go down. I’ll go first, and then you follow me; just step where I step, right?.”

“OK...”, she replied. But, before they started going down, the little angel took his hand: “Andrew...”

“Yes?”

Monica brushed a gentle kiss on his cheek:

“Thank you...”

He smiled; his eyes full of love for the Irish angel:

“You’re more than welcome!”

But, from the ground, they heard Tess’ strong voice echoing with the wind:

“Oh, no! Please don’t!”, she exclaimed, with some (mock) disgust, “I don’t have all day long to stay here watching two angels pretending to be a couple of birds and kissing each other on a tree top!”

Laughing at that comment, they slowly started getting down; Andrew always careful and ready to help his friend, as her inability was pretty clear, as well as her fear.

“Can’t you do it faster?!”, the oldest angel insisted.

“Calm down, Tess! Just a minute!”, the blond angel said, jumping from the lowest branch to the ground seconds later.

“I didn’t ask you to come in here to look for lost birds, Mr!”

Andrew ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed with the grouchy tone in her voice.

“C’mon Tess, we didn’t take so long! And you weren’t here when we started to climb...”

“Andrew, can you help me out, please?”

Both angels turned to face Monica: she was hanging in the lowest branch he was before, afraid of jumping. Looking at that funny (and a little) pathetic scene, Tess rolled her eyes to the sky, with distress, while Andrew reached his arms up to take his best friend by the waist. She released the branch and wrapped her arms around his neck; and, an instant later, was safely placed on the ground.

“I’m very sorry, Tess. I had the idea to climb that tree and I asked Andrew to help me...”, Monica explained, rearranging her hair and putting on her shoes, “I felt so sorry for that wee animal, we couldn’t let him here, abandoned on the grass and away from his parents, he wouldn’t have survived more than a few hours, the poor little one...”

Even being annoyed by her charges’ ‘extra assignment’, Tess tried not to show how touched she was by the kindness in the Irish angel’s heart, and how much she admired that quality.

“Well, never mind. As you seem to like animals so much, I think this new assignment is going to suit you perfectly, Miss Wings. You too, Mr, as I can see you love helping people!”

They looked at each other with curious faces and the supervisor kept on talking:

“See that little town over there?”

The two observed that, on the foot of the hill, lay a small but very beautiful town.

“It’s a lovely place, Tess.”

“Yeah. A vacation here some time would be great!”, Andrew agreed.

“It’s quiet, sunny. It must be a pleasure to live in here.”

The supervisor was not enthusiastic with their comments:

“I didn’t call you here to choose a package tour!”

They tried to focus on their assignment, as the oldest angel was definitely in the mood for chatting: 

“Does our assignment live there?”

“Our many assignments live there, to be exact, Angel Girl. That place is, in fact, too quiet and too calm and the people who live here can’t see half of the beauty you can!”

The two angels continued attentive to the supervisor’s words:

“In this city, we can see beauty, but, most part of the time, all we can feel is sadness flowing from some people’s hearts. The ones who live in here have lost their hope and faith a long time ago, and some of them will need an extra help to find it back.”

After a brief pause, she spoke again:

“And even the one who is responsible for showing them the truth and transmitting the Father’s words needs to be told a few things about life, from an angel who is not pleased with his attitudes at all!...”

Monica and Andrew looked at each other, noticing the annoyance that suddenly became more evident in her already grouchy tone of voice, and the oldest angel faced them:

“But that situation is about to change, that I can assure you, or my name isn’t Tess!”

“So, our assignment is to bring hope for the ones who need...”

“Our assignment, Miss Wings, is to put everything in its proper place, better saying, is to put things where they belong to...”

Again, the younger angels exchanged another look, now a confused one:

“I guess I didn’t quite get it, Tess...”, Andrew said.

“Well, in short, you’ll go on doing what you were doing before I arrived here: bringing lost birds back to their families...”

The two angels found that explanation was as confusing as the previous one, but didn’t have the chance to say anything else, as Tess seemed to be in a great hurry to start their assignment:

“And that’s enough talking for now, ‘cause there’s a lot for us to do there! Now c’mon you two, I wanna put things in action right now!”

CHAPTER 1

The town the angels were assigned to was a small, but pleasant one. The beauty of the countryside, combined with its peace and cosiness, made anyone feel as if that was one of the most perfect places in the world.

In a small ranch, not far away from the centre of the city, a little girl, of about 10 years old, with blond hair and blue eyes, was hanging on the white fence that kept the entrance of the residence. She was looking to the road that led to the farm and glanced at her watch every minute, with some anxiety evident on her freckled face. But, suddenly, a boy, riding a bike and being happily followed by a black spaniel, which barked enthusiastically, appeared at the end of the road, causing the girl’s face to light up:

“Hey Tom!”, she waved at him with a big smile. He turned to the dog, also smiling:

“See Luka? It’s Rose over there!...”

A minute later, the two were together in front of the small farm.

“Hi Rose! We’re late, I’m sorry!

“I was worried already!”, the girl said, stroking the dog’s head. The animal happily covered her face with many ‘dog kisses’: “Oh Luka, I missed you too!”

“I had to take the other children to the church, ‘cause Mrs Schmidt is a bit ill and couldn’t do it herself.”

“Grandma is so stubborn! Why doesn’t she go to the doctor and get better soon?! Dad said that, if she doesn’t get better, he’ll lose his patience and will take her even if she doesn’t want to!”

“She said that she’s starting to feel better. I took the others to the Mass and, well, everybody wanted to play with Luka.”

“Ok, I forgive you. But now Luka needs to get some rest. We can’t forget that she’ll be a mother pretty soon and cannot make so much effort!”

He smiled at that comment:

“Yeah, and your ranch will have new inhabitants!”

“To be honest, I really don’t know if that’s really good...”, the girl frowned at that comment.

“Are things that bad?”

“Dad doesn’t say anything to me, but I overheard him talking on the phone on the other day. I guess keeping the ranch costs a lot of money and he doesn’t seem to have much left... And I can tell that he is really sad. To be honest, he’s been sad for all these years, since mom died...”

“Gee Rose, I’m really sorry!”

“I’ve even heard dad saying that only a miracle can save us...”

Suddenly, a soothing voice, with an Irish accent, interrupted their conversation:

“Excuse me...”

The 2 children looked at Monica with a puzzled expression on their faces and she smiled at them:

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you...”

“Oh no, that’s ok Miss. We didn’t see you coming...”, the girl said.

“I’m looking for Mr Schmidt’s ranch.”

“It’s right here, he’s my dad! My name is Rose and this is my friend Tom.”

“My name is Monica, I’m the new vet.”

Rose’s eyes grew wide:

“Oh really?!”

“Now you have all of her attention, Monica. Rose’s dream is to become a vet and take care of all the animals in the ranch.”

“Taking care of animals is such a lovely dream!”

“Thanks Monica. But... I didn’t know we had a new vet. I thought that nobody would apply for the advertisement dad put in the newspaper!”

“We should never lose our hope!”

Tom looked at his friend as if Monica’s words were his own. At that moment, a tall man, with brown hair and brown eyes, came closer to them. He had a rather sad and concerned look:

“Rose, you shouldn’t be here! You had a terrible cold and should be in bed!”, he said worriedly.

“I’m sorry dad. I’ll go inside right now. Look, this is Monica; she read the advertisement you put in the newspaper asking for a vet!

A surprised expression appeared on his face:

“Well... Nice to meet you, Monica...”, he shook hands with her, “...Is that true? Are you the vet we asked for?”

“Yes, and I hope I can start today, if that’s alright with you.”

“Well... Don’t you wanna talk about your salary first? You see, I don’t think my offer is a very attractive one...”

“Salary is not what I’m worried about, Mr Schmidt. It’s in the work here that I’m really interested.”

“So... that’s fine, you can start today!”, he answered, with a still surprised smile. Tom climbed on his bike:

“I gotta go too, cause I have to finish delivering the newspapers and, after, take the other children back to the orphanage.”, “Nice to meet you, Monica! Bye everybody!”

“Bye Tom!”

They waved him goodbye and Rose took Monica’s hand:

“C’mon in, Monica, I’ll show you the ranch. It won’t take long, I promise dad!”

“I’ll be counting the minutes in my watch, young lady!”

“Your dog seems to like Tom very much”, the angel said, noticing how excitedly Luka wagged her tail still looking at Tom as he followed along the road.

“In fact, Luka is not mine; she is ours. When she was a baby, Tom saved her from being smashed under a car tire and he brought her here so that we could take care of her. Well... she ended up living here, as there’s plenty of space around.”

“Oh so you two share her?”

The girl smiled:

“Yeah. But, pretty soon, there’ll be many others to share ‘cause Luka is pregnant. And I can tell that you arrived in such a good time!”

*

Tom came back to the centre of the city and, as he was absentmindedly throwing the newspapers into the neighbourhood yards, one of the papers almost hit Andrew’s head. But the blond angel was faster and caught it before the little accident happened. Only then, Tom saw what he had done and ran his fingers though his brown hair, rather blushed:

“Hey, you win! I surrender!”, the angel joked, noticing how embarrassed the boy was.

“I’m really sorry sir! I didn’t mean to hit you...”, he apologised, approaching Andrew: “It’s just that I’m in a bit of a hurry ‘cause I gotta finish this by midday...”

“It’s ok, buddy, I’m glad I saw you coming, as I was going to ask you some information anyway!”

“I’ve never seen you before... Are you new in town?”

“Yes. My name is Andrew, and I’m the new local doctor. Today is my first day here!”

Hearing this, the boy’s eyes widened in surprise:

“Oh you’re a doctor? Really?!”

“Yes, I am!”, the angel answered, with a smile.

“So... if you knew that there was somebody ill right now, could you see this person?”

“Do you know anyone who is ill?”

“Yes, it’s Mrs Schmidt! You gotta see her, Andrew. She’s been ill for the last 3 days!”

“Sure, I can see her if you show me the way!”

“Oh cool! Follow me!”

Tom got out of his bike and guided the angel along the lane:

“Is Mrs Schmidt your relative?”

“Yes... Well... not really... Kind of...”

Andrew raised his eyebrows, waiting for a clearer explanation, which was soon given by the boy:

“Mrs Schmidt takes care of me and of the other orphans. She has a big house and we all live there. Everybody in the city knows her, she’s very famous! Besides, she’s my best friend’s grandma.”

“Oh, now I understand why you’re so worried about her.”, the angel concluded.

“I like her a great deal. She’s like a real mother to me.”

Minutes later, they arrived at a beautiful old house and opened the door:

“C’mon in, Andrew!”, the boy invited, “Hey Mrs Schmidt, I’m home!”

A short, blond middle aged lady came down the ladders of the living room and seemed surprised to see him there:

“Tom! I thought you were at the church, with the other children!”

“I’m going there right now, after I finish delivering the newspapers. But I had to come here first! See, this is the new doctor, he arrived at the city today!”

The angel smiled at the old lady:

“Nice to meet you, Mrs Schmidt. My name is Andrew.”

“Nice to meet you too, Andrew.”, she gently greeted, though quite confused.

“It seems that Tom here is a little concerned about your health and asked me to come by and take a look on you!”

Although she was surprised by Tom’s attitude, as she had stated very clearly that she didn’t need a doctor, the lady could not hide how touched she was by the boy’s concern:

“Oh, Tom, dear, I told you not to worry about me! All I have is a little indisposition, that’s all!”

“I’m sorry, I...”

“But that’s ok, I’ll let Andrew check on me and you’ll see that there’s nothing to worry about, all right?!”, she cut him, not wanting to disappoint the  boy. Tom smiled broadly:

“Deal!”, he exclaimed, and took his bag, ”I gotta go now, I guess I kinda late for everything today! Bye, Mrs Schmidt, bye Andrew!”

They watched until he disappeared through the door:

“Tom told me that you take care of the children who live here, but I think he also takes care of you, Mrs Schmidt!”, the angel joked. She kept on smiling:

“Tom is an adorable boy. He arrived here when he was one year old, coming from a hospital in the neighbour state. He was weak, ill and undernourished, but, thank God, after a long treatment, which involved lots and lots of exams and tests, his health was restored. I practically raised him. He and my granddaughter Rose became friends and nowadays are inseparable and, I don’t want the other children to hear it, but I consider him like a grandson!”

“Well, so don’t let the young man so worried about you, ok?!”, he said, taking a stethoscope.

“Fine, you’ve managed to convince me!”

*

The catechism classes were held on Sundays, after the Mass, and were attended by the children, including the 10 orphans that lived with Mrs Schmidt. There was a classroom in the backyard of the church, but, in that morning, the students were told to go the pews of the church and wait for their teacher. And it didn’t take too long for a dark skinned grey haired lady to come in and join them:

“Good morning children! I’m here because your other teacher had to leave the town for some time, to visit some relatives, and, in this meantime, I’ll be your new teacher. I’m Miss Tess!”

“Good morning Miss Tess!”, they greeted, all in one voice. At that moment, Tom entered the church, breathing hard because of the rush of the morning:

“Excuse me...”, he said, in a low voice, going to sit on his place, not unnoticed by Tess’ upset look. But she decided not to scold the boy, and started talking:

“Now children, I’m gonna start this class by telling you a little story about...”

“What does all this mean?”

Tess looked to the door near the altar, from where that sudden voice had come, already distressed and annoyed by the fact that somebody would dare to interrupt her:

“I beg your pardon?”, she said, frowning at her interlocutor: a tall and chubby gentleman, who appeared to be in his sixties. He had grey hair, wore glasses and had a grouchy expression on his face. But a quick glance at his clothes was enough to identify who he was: wearing a black cassock and black shoes, he came closer to the angel:

“I want to know what’s happening here, Mrs!”, the man insisted, as displeased as Tess.

“What does it look like to you? A carnival party?”, she replied, without altering her voice, but crossing her arms in front of her chest, “I’m trying to give my catechism class here, but it seems to be difficult with someone interrupting me all the time...”

“Oh, so you must be the new teacher. Well, I’m Father Rosenberg and there are certain rules you must follow before you start working here. The first one is exactly about where the classes are held.”

“The new teacher has a name, it’s Miss Tess, and I appreciate you keep it. Regarding the place for the classes, I’ve already found it, it’s gonna be right here, in the nave of the church!”

“It can’t possibly be here! This is not a place for classes, teachers or children running around, but for the Mass!”

“From what I’ve heard, the Mass finished 30 minutes ago and the next one will be at 6 o’clock in the evening. So, in this meantime, the class can perfectly be here.”

The group of children turned their little heads from one side to another, watching attentively as the two adults discussed:

“Listen, madam...”

“It’s Miss Tess!”

“Whatever... There’s a classroom in the backyard where the classes are held every Sunday!”

“Surely you haven’t been there recently, ‘cause if you had, you’d see that there are several leaks on the ceiling and that it can even fall on somebody’s head at any minute!”

That information seemed to have some effect on him:

“That’s not possible! I wasn’t informed about it!”

“So you’d better go in there and see it for yourself.”

“I will. And if there is really a problem, as the administrator of the church, I give you my authorisation to go on with the classes in here. But if there isn’t...”

“If I say there is, it’s because it is there! And, as you said, you’re the administrator of the church, not the owner. So I’ll go on with the classes right here, until that classroom is reformed. And now, if you excuse me, I’d like not to be disturbed again...”

Having lost the battle of words, and not pleased at all with the ‘new teacher’, the man had no other choice but to leave.

The children looked at Tess in amazement:

“Wow! Father Rosenberg is really bad humoured... Weren’t you afraid of him, Miss Tess?!”, Tom asked. The angel’s eyes widened in surprise, as she had listened to the most absurd thing in the world:

“Afraid?!! Me?!! He is the one who should be afraid of me when I get bad humoured!!!”

*

Later, at night:

“It’s such a beautiful place and, yet, I could realise how much sorrow there’s around it.”, Monica stated, looking at the sky full of twinkling stars and a beautiful full moon, which illuminated the green field that lay before her. Sitting on the roof of the main house, in the Schmidt’s Family Ranch, and unseen to the human eye, she and Andrew held each other close together, with Monica resting her head on his shoulder; both enjoying the countryside’s night air:

“Yeah, and it seems you can find all sorts of problems here: lack of faith, of money, diseases... all of them leading to unhappiness...”, he said, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair.

Suddenly, they heard an all too familiar voice beside them:

“Which means that there’s a lot of work to do here, as I said before!”

“Yes, that’s true, and that’s why I’m glad we 3 are here to help these people, Tess!, the Irish angel said, with a hopeful smile and not missing the few traces of annoyance that still remained in the supervisor’s eyes.

“Um... yeah... I see... And since you agree that there’s much to do tomorrow, Miss Wings, don’t you think it’s time for angels who have many assignments to be in bed?!”.

“We’ll stay here for just a few minutes more, Tess, don’t worry...”

“You two are the ones who should worry if you’re not punctual tomorrow morning, Mr!”

They looked at each other, noticing her bad humour. An instant later, the supervisor disappeared.

“Is it my impression or she’s grouchier than usual?”

“There’s a reason for this, Andrew...”

“And what is it?”

A smile formed on Monica’s lips as she spoke:

“... her assignment is Father Rosenberg!...”

Hearing that piece of news, the blond angel let out a loud laughter:

“Father Rosenberg, ‘the grouchy’?! So, she finally found her ‘soul mate’!”

“It’s not going to be easy for her, you know...”.

“Yeah, we can say that the two really deserve each other!”, he looked into her brown eyes with a playful smile on his lips, “You know, sweetie, if we were humans, I would even make a bet with you to see who manages to be the grouchiest!”

He tightened his hold on her and kissed the tip of her nose, both laughing.