PART 8

PART 8

When Andrew arrived at the campsite, Tess’ reaction was something similar to Monica’s: the supervisor had to cover her mouth not to laugh at his appearance:

“Angel boy, what could possibly…?”

“Don’t even ask, Tess!”, he grumbled, and went to look for some clean clothes.

“Where are Monica and Joy? I thought they were together with you…”

“Oh they’ll be here… in probably 2 hours! And you’d better prepare some dog soap and shampoo…”

In fact, nearly 2 hours later, Monica and the little chubby (and very) dirty puppy arrived at the campsite, and the Irish angel was quick in giving her baby a good bath. Besides her weak sense of direction, it took Monica some more time to return because she had to collect the basket of food Andrew had taken with him, as well as the flowers she had picked.

And, after cleaning the little dog, Monica was busy with some other things, such as tidying up the tent and setting the table for lunch. Andrew, on the other hand, helped Tess to prepare the food, and the supervisor noticed that, during the rest of the day, the 2 angels exchanged only one or two words.

“Oh, Father, you know I complain about all that sugar but… you don’t take it seriously, do you?”, she spoke, watching her charges from a certain distance.

Joy, for herself, spent the rest of the day lying on the ground and barely touched her food; a thoughtful and miserable expression on her face.

But, suddenly, she raised her tiny head and, unseen to the angels, the small animal sneaked to the tent.

*

Later, at night, some dark clouds covered the sky and a light rain started to fall. The angels had already finished their lunch and the cold air and light rain shoved them to their temporary home:

“It seems that this night will be a wee bit chilly up here.”, Monica said, standing up together with the supervisor.

“Yes, and I think it’s a good invitation to sleep!”, Tess agreed, “Angel Girl, could you take care of the food for me?”

“Sure, Tess. I’ll do it for you; you can go to bed.”

“Thank you, baby.”

“I’ll take care of the rest, Tess.”, Andrew also stood up and started to collect the other objects and to put out the fire.

“Thank you, Angel boy. Good night you two!”

“Good night, Tess.”

When Monica and Andrew finished their tasks, they also entered the tent and the blond angel immediately noticed that it was all decorated with the flowers Monica had picked in that rather disastrous morning. A slight smile was about to appear on his lips but, as soon as Andrew lay his eyes on the floor, the expression on his face turned to an upset one:

“I can’t believe she did it again!”, he exclaimed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Monica looked at the corner of the tent and, once again, the Irish angel had to control herself not to laugh at what she saw: Joy was sound asleep comfortably lying on Andrew’s pillow, which she was using as a mattress.

“I thought this fluffy floor would be enough for her, that’s why I didn’t bring a step pillow…”

“Well, apparently it isn’t, cause she stole my pillow!”, he replied, dissatisfaction evident on his face. But Monica immediately understood what the little puppy was trying to do with that sweet attitude.

“She’s a wee baby, Andrew, she didn’t steal anything!”, the Irish angel replied, with a slight smile upon her pretty face. He stared at her still with his arms crossed and a little upset:

“Oh no? And how do you call that?”

“She… She just borrowed your pillow…”

“And why does it always have to be me?! Why didn’t she ‘borrow’ Tess’ pillow?!”

“Would you take Tess’ pillow if you were a wee angel puppy?”

Knowing exactly the answer to that question, he continued to talk:

“Then why didn’t she take your pillow?!”

“Well… Maybe she likes your perfume!…”, Monica concluded, still doing an extra effort not to laugh at the whole situation, “And I think we’d better stop talking and go to bed because Tess is already sleeping and you don’t want to wake her up, do you?”, she said, in a low voice.

Andrew rolled his eyes impatiently and had no other choice but to look for his backpack to use as a pillow and lie down. Then, he reduced the flame of the gas lamp that illuminated the tent to a very small one, as he knew that neither Monica nor Joy liked to sleep in total darkness, and there was silence in the place for about 10 minutes.

The small flame that was burning inside the gas lamp allowed Monica to watch as her dearest friend turned from one side to another, visibly annoyed with his accommodations, for 3 times.

“Andrew?”

“Yes?”

“I can see you’re not comfortable in there…”

“Well, in fact, I’m not, because ‘someone’ decided to ‘borrow’ my pillow and I didn’t bring a ‘step pillow’ with me…”

Trying to suppress a small giggle, Monica patted on her pillow:

“You know, my pillow is big and there’s much space here for two… We could share it if you want.”

“You know what? I won’t sleep with my head on a backpack!”, he said, still with an upset tone in his voice, and moved to join her. Secretly smiling and finding his annoyance adorable, the Irish angel made room for him and Andrew lay down right beside her.

“You see? Now everybody is comfortable…”, she said, snuggling closer to him and resting her head on his shoulder. And, try as he might, the blond angel was unable to resist to such sweet attitude and couldn’t hold his annoyance any longer:

“If… If we’re gonna share the pillow, we can also share the blanket and mine is warmer than yours…”

He lay his quilt over both of them and lay down again, now closer to her:

“Thank you…”, the Irish angel whispered, almost drifting off to sleep. And finally a smile appeared on his lips:

“You’re welcome.”, he whispered back, resting his cheek on the top of her head. A minute later, the blond angel spoke again:

“Monica?”

“Yes?…”

“I love you… Very much.”

Although she was almost sleeping, Monica smiled meekly:

“I love you very much too.”

Gently, Andrew stretched his arm and held the Irish angel, bringing her closer to him in a tight embrace, which she immediately returned. Then, he bent his head and placed a tender kiss on her forehead:

“Good night, Angel Girl. I love you very much again. Forever.”, he whispered, running his fingers through her hair. The smile never disappeared from her face:

“Good night, Andrew. I love you very much too... again... forever… too…”, she answered back, clearly enjoying his caress. Chucking at her wording, he bent down once more and placed another tiny kiss on her nose, and both cuddled together, in a warm embrace, falling asleep some minutes later.

With that, a certain chubby dog, who had been secretly observing the two angels from the corner of their temporary home, could finally sleep, now that she had managed to accomplish a very important assignment.

*

On the following morning, Andrew woke up with an extra weight right above his chest and a pair of tiny black eyes staring at him just a few inches from his face:

“Hey little one…”, he whispered, and Joy wasted no time in covering her daddy’s face with lots of kisses:

“I guess this is not only a ‘good morning’ but also an ‘I’m sorry’, isn’t it?”

A tiny low bark was the reply to his question, and he patted her head:

“I know you’re sorry. I’m sorry too. Can you forgive me?”

He laughed as the puppy covered his face with a second round of kisses and his smile became wider when he looked at his left and saw that his dearest friend had abandoned her pillow completely and was sleeping peacefully with her head on his shoulder, with a loving embrace. Then, he looked back at the puppy with tired sleepy eyes:

“You wanna go outside, don’t you?”

He heard another tiny bark:

“Ok…”

The blond angel shook Monica as gently as he could:

“Hey, Monica…”

“Hum?…”, was the only sound she could utter.

“Joy wants to go outside…”

“Ok…”, the Irish angel replied. Then, still in deep sleep, she turned to the other side taking his part of the blanket together with her, without even opening her eyes, and continued to sleep. Chuckling, and somewhat perplexed with that, Andrew looked at the little puppy, who barked once more, impatiently staring at him, and had no other choice but to take the little animal himself:

“You know what? This mother of yours is a big sleepyhead!”

Joy tilted her head questioningly and he nodded:

“Ok, you’re right. I love her just the same!”, the blond angel took a strand of hair off Monica’s face and leaned to place a loving kiss on her cheek. Then, he stood up and headed outside the tent with the little puppy in his arms:

“But you and I are going to have a little talk about your recent behaviour, missy!”

Hearing that, the small animal moaned and stared at him with a pleading look:

“And don’t you make that face to me! We’ll have a very serious talk about your attitude!”