The Sword of Gabriel: Ten Days on Earth

by Tom Holloway

  Of course with all the commotion, someone did call 911. There are some people here now, asking Susan if she is OK. And then the police come, then an ambulance, all flashing red and blue lights. I’m really not interested in talking to any of them. In total four squad cars are here, several police officers, and then a second ambulance. The police carefully look me over, not friendly, tell me not to move, and ask Susan what happened. She goes into a hyper speed explanation, pulls out the restraining order from her purse, and praises me to no end, crying the whole time.

  The Cyclone is in full security-operations mode now, wanting to pull me out immediately, send down troops, neutralize everyone on the surface; I say absolutely not. I want the complete data report on the idiot who attacked Susan. I have it coming in and some more of his downloaded memories. He also killed another girl last year. She was really young, too.

  Well, he will be confessing now. The slip is probing his brain, painfully now. The EMT guys have him conscious again, and looking at him I can tell he is totally petrified by the slip in his brain. He can feel its presence. It overrides all the other pain in his body. He can’t figure out what is wrong with his head, the pain, and this thing in his brain. He thinks maybe a demon has possessed him. He starts talking nonstop, crying, moaning, short screams, bursts of pain, holding his head, pleading for them to help him. The police are all ears now. He tells them he wants to confess, talks about the last girl he killed, gives them names of others, those also raped and those who escaped death. He can’t stop talking. The police have to turn on their recorders and hustle the crowd away, hold off the EMT guys. They are all excited, actually forgetting about us for the moment in all the commotion.

  I start to slowly move away. Susan sees me. She ducks behind her car, gets in, and waves at me, wants me to get in her car. I open the door and jump in. We drive off slowly, stopping to pick up my packages still lying on the bench. We are gone before anyone realizes it. I look at her and say, “Susan, let’s go to your grandmother’s house.” She nods her head, has a faraway look on her face.

  I am now looking at her closely, and Susan is shaking all over. She can hardly drive and looks like she could use a good dose of Grandma. I ask if I can drive, and she pulls over and stops the car. I walk around the car as she slides over. I have never had a driver’s license and have not driven a car in at least fifty years, yet under the circumstances it seems the prudent thing to do.

  Once I start driving, she starts talking nonstop, tells me where to drive, and keeps talking a mile a minute. I hear her life story from the beginning, and for some reason it makes me feel good, her confiding in me, trusting me, sharing her heartfelt emotions, helping both of us, allowing me to be human again. To be human feels good. And thankfully she stops shaking.

  She then looks at me intently. “Henry, how did you do that? It’s impossible. You threw him a long way. You must have military experience. I don’t care how you did it. I’m more grateful to you than you will ever know. You not only saved my life; you ended this nightmare I’ve been living.” She is crying now. “Thank you, Henry; bless you!”

  Smiling and with a fatherly look, I say, “Susan, I’m glad to be here for you. It was meant to be; I think divine providence helped us both. I am convinced it’s more than luck that I’m here at this location on Earth at this exact time. Do you believe in destiny and divine providence? For some reason many times in my life, I am at the right place at the right time. Can’t be just coincidence, as it happens more than it should. In fact it’s mathematically impossible for it to happen so many times. It has to be more than being fortunate.” I smile fondly at Susan and laugh. “I think your guardian angel helped me to look after you today!”

  The Cyclone is close, reassuring, right now about eight hundred feet above us, all thirty-four billion tons of metal and compounds. I can feel it moving along with us, watching over us, following us. Thankfully no one can see it. I know those on board are wondering about me: the Cyclone, the crew, and my security-guard troops. They are all thinking this human thing is crazy, my ten-day visit. It is hard not to respect their opinions. They have been with me all these years, through thick and thin. Hardships have mostly been our fate. The years have gone by quickly. We have traveled trillions of miles together, had many experiences together. They do not complain about my migration home, as they understand it is part of my DNA, can’t be helped. The Alaskan salmon and Canadian wild geese go home, too.

  We end up at Susan’s grandmother’s house, a nice four-bedroom home in the east end of Louisville, in a middle-class neighborhood. Susan asks me to come in, anxious for me to meet her grandmother. The house is nice, cozy, with a kitchen used by a real cook, as I smell the wonderful aroma of baked cookies and freshly brewed coffee, just like in my mother’s home. There are family photos everywhere, showing lots of cute kids. Her grandmother looks nice, too, kind eyes, maybe a little overweight. The weight looks natural, as she is an older woman, and it fits her. I think she is in her late seventies, and then I remember at that age she is a lot younger than me.

  Susan introduces us. Her grandmother says Susan’s roommate, Nikki, has called her. The police called Susan’s dorm looking for her, wanting her official statement. Her grandmother is worried and also wants to know all about it, and about me, which I try to explain as best as possible.

  Then Susan takes over, explaining the situation to her grandmother, who is grateful and asks me if there is anything I need. Can she offer me something, a drink, dinner? I tell them there is nothing either needs to do for me; I am happy to have helped Susan. She is on the house phone now and saying her roommate, Nikki, is coming over. Nikki’s sister is also coming, an Anna Summers, who is visiting her. The fact that Anna is coming is quite exciting for Susan and her grandmother as Anna is a famous young actress with several major movies and leading roles to her credit. She is supposed to be quite stunning and very charming. Susan and her grandmother forget about me and hustle around the house cleaning up, preparing for the big visit. This is amusing to me, as they are totally ignoring me. I sit down on the couch, take off my shoes, put my feet up on a bench seat, and watch the TV. The news is on, and it is interesting. It has been ten years since I have watched the evening news.

  Susan yells at me, “Henry, don’t get too comfortable. They also want to meet you, the hero of the day.”

  I’m starting to think this might not be too good for me, for a guy who wants to stay under the radar, yet it’s a good finish to an already strange day. This is almost the end of my first day; nine more days to go. I remind myself that I am on Earth, and it’s just splendid to be here. Anything could happen.

  Chapter 9

  Day Two

  Meanwhile over at Susan’s dorm, Anna is there. She is putting the dishes away from a late dinner and is wondering about the wisdom of visiting Susan’s grandmother, as it is late, after ten, well into the evening. “Maybe there’s no time for this.” Anna is also thinking, I need to get an early start tomorrow, back on the road. I’m still a long way from Richmond.

  She says, “Nikki, you know if we go I cannot stay long at Susan’s grandmother’s house. It’s really late.”

  Nikki says, “I know, I know, you’re leaving early for Richmond. We’ll stay only a few minutes. You remember Susan. I’ve talked about her. She’s been my roommate for a long time, and she’s a sweet girl. We’re best friends, almost as close as you and I are with each other. And she’s had a tough few months. She went on one date with a guy; it was a bad evening, and now he’s been stalking her for weeks. This guy is really creepy. He petrifies me, too. Apparently he attacked Susan tonight, according to the police who called here looking for her, and this guy she just met at the store today saved her life, and he’s also there at the house. Susan wants to meet you, and I thought I should see her, too. She’s been really depressed lately. This stalker thing did her in, and I want to help her.”

  Nikki laughs. “And seeing you will be a big deal, you being a big movie star, the
famous actress and everything. Susan’s grandmother will be more than pleased to meet you, too. Plus, I’m curious about this guy. Susan said he’s really remarkable, really different, and she became excited when she talked about him, said he is actually extraordinary. She said it’s hard to explain. He’s someone you just like spending time with. Maybe you can get a date with him for the Academy Awards.”

  Anna laughs and says, “First I have to be nominated. All right, I’m coming. We can’t stay long. But who knows what this might lead to? Some big adventure, right?”

  Nikki laughs, too, saying, “Don’t get carried away!”

  They’re getting into Anna’s rental car, Nikki saying they need to hurry.

  Anna is thinking again about her plans. She’s glad Nikki is doing the driving, glad to be on their way, needing to get this over with. Nikki knows Louisville better and is a better driver. Plus Anna always dislikes driving rental cars. She has a chauffeur at home most of the time and is not used to using a strange car. She flew in three days ago and was forced to rent a car for the trip to Richmond, Virginia, after visiting Nikki. She has not been home for several months, home being her parents’ farm outside Richmond. It is a beautiful place in the country, with horses, rolling pastures, woods, and a house that should be in the movies.

  Her mother divorced her biological father when Anna was six years old. She met Anna’s stepfather, married him, and then left Chicago with him, although they keep a house in Chicago, too. Anna was born in Chicago yet calls Richmond her hometown, even though this is the second residence of her mother and stepfather, who is a politician and an attorney. His name is Sam Jordan. He is wealthy and lucky, as he backed the right senator and then stepped in as his campaign manager. After that the newly elected senator, representing Illinois, asked Sam to be his chief of staff. Unfortunately, the senator died of a heart attack three years later, and Anna’s stepdad ended up taking his place. He ran on his own and was elected.

  He still has his main residence in Illinois, as required by election laws, yet keeps a small condo in Washington, DC, for when he could not make it back to Richmond, his favorite home, the farm he loves.

  Anna’s whole family prospered. Nikki was born a year after they moved to Richmond and lived at the farm. Nikki is a great half sister, and she and Anna are close because much of the time Anna cared for her, especially back in those early days. Senator and Mrs. Jordan had many functions and many events. Plus, being the senator from Illinois was not easy.

  Anna ended up going to Duke University because she is smart and maybe because her stepfather is a senator. Duke is hard to get into, but Sam made some calls to help her, and she had four great years there. She studied political science and drama. No one thought she could make a living in theater; however, she was a good actress and then a lucky actress. After graduating she was able to get a small role in a soap opera. It did not hurt to have Senator Jordan as her stepfather. She didn’t care how she got the role, because she excelled at it. The TV audience loved her. Then there were bigger roles, movie parts, and now starring roles. She is one of the lucky few making millions and is recognized everywhere.

  Anna’s last movie was about a young family that had been through the Revolutionary War in 1776. The wife, her role, was struggling to feed her children and then overcame losing her husband and moved forward, prevailing against all odds. It has just been released and started out well at the box office, and she hopes she might be looking at an Academy Award. Many say she’s worthy, even if she is young. She’s just twenty-eight.

  Finally she has some time for visits, as she is now between roles. She will also attend a premiere opening in London in a few days. The previous few months with this movie production were grinding, no let-up. And since there were no breaks, she is exhausted. She needs a little R and R and wanted to see her sister, then go on to Richmond. So she left her home in Hollywood and flew to Louisville, and here she is. Nikki just graduated from the University of Louisville and is now starting at their school of medicine. Anna’s little sister will someday be a great doctor, and Anna is very proud of her.

  They arrive at Susan’s grandmother’s house and she is waiting at the door to greet them. Meeting her is great.

  Anna is impressed, thinking, So nice, waiting for me at the front door. She is terrific, and Susan is charming. Then there is meeting Henry—wow! Another real surprise; who would think? He is just amazing: intelligent and so easy to talk to, maybe even old-fashioned. He’s fun, not like anyone I have ever met. His eyes are unbelievable, sensitive, and sort of sad, like an old soul’s, yet penetrating, as if he can see what you’re thinking. He also seems all-knowing in a nice way, yet humble, and just very charming. I think he has seen a lot of life. He appears really kind in a compassionate way, like an older man, although he looks only about thirty years old. Actually he does not look much older than me and has outstanding looks! I feel drawn to him, irrational, yet I can feel it clearly.

  She wonders, Is it possible to fall for somebody on the first meeting? Does Henry feel it, too?

  She knows it’s impossible, yet she thinks, I feel like I know Henry, like maybe he’s a kindred spirit. He just feels right; the attraction is strong and difficult to ignore. It’s hard not to be impressed by Henry; he’s not your average guy. The most striking thing is his bearing. His self-assured dignity is magnificent. He is like a Greek god or a Shakespearian actor: proud yet nice. There is something really special about him. With his light-brown, almost-blond hair and a tanned, a weathered look, combined with his strong shoulders, he would make a great leading man, a navy captain perhaps. He has the look of a really important man, one you would never forget.

  Anna is acknowledging her predicament, thinking fast: This is worse than any fantasy movie script where I am in romance trouble. This is real trouble! It’s crazy. I’m smitten. I just cannot take my mind off of him! I feel warmth deep in my body I have never felt before, like I am hot to touch. The chemistry he creates is intoxicating. I have never felt like this with anyone. I know I need to see him again. I really do not have time for this! How could it happen? I have always scoffed at girls who are this way, thinking, They’re just silly females.

  He makes it easy to fall for him—his strong, handsome face; his facial features are almost aristocratic, like an ancient Roman soldier’s. He has a slender physique, yet it’s really well muscled, strong, looking like a professional athlete or maybe military, like SEAL team military. That’s it; he has a certain hardness that is definitely military. Still, he moves so gracefully; he should be in ballet, and he is a definitely a gentleman: polite, even respectful and also smart, in a delightful way. Yes, there is some mystery about him, too, almost enigmatic. Amazingly to me, I can hardly wait to see him again.

  She speculates, He can’t be that perfect. There must be flaws I don’t see. Maybe he is a con man, or maybe he was in prison. No one is this good. His life story is a little strange. It is the one thing that does not make sense. His work life does not match him. Henry certainly does not look like a PhD student at Indiana University, as he says he is. It’s hard to believe; he just does not fit in as an academic type, definitely more of an action guy. Could he be a liar?

  The other unexpected part, making me angry, surprising me, I was so foolish when I was with him. I’m like a schoolgirl with him: flirty, nervous, and silly. I also have a hard time taking my eyes off of him. It’s embarrassing how I keep talking to him, excited; my nonstop talking is mindless. I cannot help myself. No question I feel emotions about him in a way I have never felt before. I have lost self-control and all pride.

  She thinks, I guess, maybe luckily for me, I will see him tomorrow. I’ve volunteered to let him go with me on my drive to Richmond, as it works for him too. He has plans to go to Washington, DC, as he wants to interview politicians as part of his PhD studies, which also seems hard to believe. He just does not look like the type who interviews politicians. He looks like the type who knows most everything a politician says is
BS. I guess I will learn more about him tomorrow. I’ll pick him up here, as he is staying with Susan’s grandmother tonight, sleeping in an extra bedroom. Susan is staying, too. Since she’s not coming back to the dorm, I’ll sleep in her bed tonight, back with Nikki, giving us a chance to talk. I wonder what Nikki thinks about Henry.

  Later that night, Nikki and Anna have a lot of catching up to do. As they sit in bed across from each other, Anna tells her about Hollywood and how she has missed Nikki. Life there is lonely. Anna explains that most of the men in Hollywood, the handsome actors especially, are extremely self-centered. Most are selfish and act like predators. She dated a Hollywood director she thought was nice, James Algeir. He is famous, powerful, and rich. Turns out he is a very controlling guy, a type-A person, domineering, aggressive, abusive, and it was hard to escape him. He is very possessive and treated Anna like his property. Even now he calls her, still telling her what to do. He expects her to obey him in all things. Too bad. She thought they had connected at one time. He was way too much for her, really intense. She’s now trying hard to be rid of him.

  They talk about Henry, and Nikki was impressed, too. It’s hard not to want to know more about him. He is completely different from anyone they have ever met. He is extraordinary. Of course Nikki gives Anna a hard time about her flirting with him and says he was clearly watching Anna the whole time. Could he be interested in her?