by C V Ricks
“Very good,” said Professor Samuel, looking at me from just outside the door. The students were still outside whispering and visiting with one another, oblivious to the snakes slithering on the floor insidiously flinging their tongues from their fanged mouths.
“Now, we will have the rest of you float into your seats one at a time.”
The students came in one at a time, some of them shrieking when they saw the snakes. The last few students who were unable to float stopped still when they saw the snakes.
“Well, are you coming in to class today or not?” Professor Samuel asked, teasing an inpatient voice.
The students shook their heads, fearfully.
“If you cannot float, then you really should be here to learn how, don't you think?” asked Professor Samuel.
I was glad I and my friends had made it to our seats and that we had taken the time to practice.
“Well, I simply cannot wait any longer,” said Professor Samuel floating near the door. “We need to get started on today's lesson. There's really no time to waste. Either come in or I must shut the door.”
“But the snakes will get us,” said one of them, trembling.
“Oh, is that all you are worried about?” Professor Samuel laughed.
The students nodded.
“I assure you those snakes are merely a mirage I have created to scare you. Nothing more. Now come in and join us.”
The students slowly walked in and through the snakes. The snakes were an aborition, but that didn't make them any less scary. Professor Samuel pressed a button and the snakes disappeared. “See,” he said. “Like the movies we show, they were simply a vision. Not real.”
Chapter Eight
As we walked toward our final class of the day, the bright blossoms and neat rows of flowers and shrubs along the path caught my attention. Fountains and statues of famous guardian angels seemed to be expecting us as we neared each one. Some of these angels we were learning about in our classes. Funny that I could go through life on earth never hearing about any of them. I loved to take in the sweet fragrances and watch the colorful birds as they sipped from the fountains.
Only the freshmen walked along these paths, the other students were floating in the air. Some of them flew quickly, some slower, and some floated just above the walking path so they could enjoy the beautiful flowers and bushes.
Journey spoke up. “That was brave of you, Josie, to go first.”
Felix and Kevin agreed.
“They didn't call me Annie Oakley for nothing!” I laughed. “But seriously, I don't know if it was bravery or stupidity. I had no idea there were a bunch of venomous snakes awaiting me. Who would think a teacher would do that to his students?”
“Well, at least they weren't real,” said Journey.
“They weren't, but they sure scared the living daylights out of me,” said Felix.
Kevin laughed. "Living daylights? That's a good one.” Being he had never been to Earth, Kevin hadn't heard some of the cliches we used from time to time. “I wasn't scared. Poisonous snakes are not something I'm familiar with. We don't have them in heaven. But I suppose the method was effective. The students who didn't do their homework really regretted it. Now I doubt that they will be playing flotation ball and eating Angel Food cake if they hadn't yet completed their studies.””
“Speaking of flotation ball,” I said. Now that we can float, flotation ball will be a lot more fun because we will be able to play while floating instead of standing on the ground.”
“I know what you mean,” said Kevin. “We had to play it on the ground at first, but now we'll be able to stay in the air to play it, except for occasionally touching ground.”
“Why don't we try floating instead of walking between classes?” asked Felix.
“Okay,” I said. “But I will have to touch ground from time to time and walk when I get tired. I can only float for short distances at once.”
The others agreed. “But a little floating is better than none.”
When we entered the Invisibility class, once again Professor Occult was nowhere to be seen. The students were on their best behavior, however, because like last time, the professor could be standing right in front of them, only invisible. So, we waited patiently at our seats for the class to start. After the starting bell rang, some papers rose into the air. After that, a ball came whirling through the air toward the door.
Finally the professor came into view. “As you see, you can do things while you are invisible and it will look like those things are moving on their own. You do not always need to use Controlling the Elements to move things. If you are invisible, you can throw or touch things with your own hands and people on earth will not see that you are responsible. However, in this school we have a rule that you remain visible at all times. It would be just too chaotic to have everyone going around invisible. So, you are only allowed to practice your invisibility in the practice rooms. Of course, if you try to become invisible outside of the practice rooms, it will not work anyway. Only the professors and directors of this academy are allowed to be invisible so that we can use it in our teaching. And usually only the instructor of the invisibility course, namely me, will be using it while we are here in the Academy. Today, we will go to the practice rooms and practice what you have been studying to see if any of you are ready to become invisible, at least for a short time now.”
Another day of Guardian Angel training was complete. Journey and I walked back to our rooms, freshened up and headed toward the Eatery for our evening meal.
“So, what homework do we have for tonight?” I asked as we took our seats. “I am going to practice my floating, and singing in my room and then go to the practice rooms to practice Thought instillation and Invisibility. How about you guys?”
“That's a lot to do for one night,” said Felix. “I'm going to concentrate on Thought Instillation and Controlling the Elements over at the practice rooms.”
“I'll go with you and we can practice on each other,” said Kevin.
“I'll practice what you are practicing,” Journey said to me, “that way we can use the practice rooms together.”
The next morning, I woke up early as usual, but instead of waking up to my alarm clock, I woke up to a warm glow that was filling our room. Journey smiled mischievously as she looked down at me.
“What are you doing?” I asked, slightly groggy and upset.
Others were also waking up. We had six girls in our room, three sets of bunk beds.
“What's going on?” asked Julie, shading her eyes.
“Yeah, who turned the lights on?” Cami asked from under her sheets.
“I thought I would practice my glowing and see if I could wake everyone up,” Journey laughed.
“Well, you did a fine job of that,” I said as I rubbed my eyes. “But I'm the snooze kind of girl. I like to wake up really gradually, maybe hit the snooze button about three or four times before getting up.”
“Not me,” said Journey. “I'm a morning person and like to wake up instantly. Rise and shine everybody.”
“Wow,” said Emma, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. “I could have slept three more minutes. Now you can expect to be getting payback for this!”
Emma was in the bunk across from me. I knew she loved practical jokes, because I had seen her involved in one earlier. “Just you wait!”
We took our showers, got dressed, and headed to the Eatery for breakfast. I picked up a tray and deliberated this morning's food choices. “I'll have the veggie omelet, whole wheat toast, and some fresh strawberries on the side. Oh, and orange juice to drink, please.”
The server offered me the dish of food and I set it on my tray. She handed me my small bowl of strawberries and cup of orange juice. After our trays were filled, Journey and I proceeded to our table. Felix and Kevin were waiting. After we sat down, I prayed and gave thanks and we began eating. As angels, we prayed before everything we did. It is the way that we talked to God when we were not in His
immediate presence.
“We are having an assembly before our first class today in the great hall,” said Felix.
“I wonder what this one is about,” I said while opening the lid of my juice bottle.
“I heard we are watching another movie and practicing a choir number all together with the other levels.” said Kevin, in between gulps of his orange juice.
“This morning I was so rudely awaken by a bright light,” I joked, changing the subject.
“What?” asked Felix.
“Tell him, Journey,” I replied.
“Well, I just decided to practice my glowing skills. And I think I am pretty good.”
“I bet everyone loved that!” said Kevin. sarcastically.
“Not too much,” I said after swallowing a bite of my toast. “I think Emma is planning some kind of revenge on Journey. I can't wait to see what that is.”
“I'm not worried,” Journey chuckled, “Any joke she can do, I can do better.”
The bell rang and we headed toward the great hall.
We entered the great hall and took our places for the opening choir number. Today we were singing “Guide Us, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah.”
This time Angel Crystal directed the music. Her sparkly jeweled headband glistened as she floated to the front of the room. Upon the completion of the song, Angel Angelique got up to begin the lesson. “We will begin by watching this movie clip.”
The crew of the B-17 got into the plane and took their positions. It was a cold dark night. Budd and the other gunners (two waist gunners, and ball turret gunner) assembled in the radio room for take-off. After the plane was in the air, the gunners went to their positions. The two waist gunners, Steven and Anthony, went into position in the middle of the plane while the turret gunner, Christopher, squeezed into the small turret on the underside of the plane and curled himself into a fetal position. The turret had to be hand cranked to revolve the hatch inside the plane. Budd crawled around the tail wheel and seated himself. He then plugged in his heated flying suit, oxygen, and intercom. He took a kneeling position with his knees resting on the padded supports and his legs doubling back.
Budd's plane was the third plane in the squadron to take off, heading for a steal factory in Czechoslovakia. When they were directly above the target, the bombardier dropped the bomb. As the two planes ahead of them flew upwards after dropping their bombs, Budd's crew watched in horror as the two planes collided, killing all men on board instantly. Immediately, Pep, the pilot dove the plane to avoid the falling chunks of the broken planes. When the plane suddenly dove downward, Christopher, the turret gunner, thought that the plane was going down because it was shot down. Instinctively he pulled the ball up to get out, but Christopher forgot to turn off the power. Rather than falling out of the plane and releasing his parachute, as was his plan, he was caught with his arms pinned to the catwalk of the plane. Immediately, the crew cut the power and ran from their places to hand cranked him out and back up into the plane, all this done in fifty below temperatures. When Christopher was safely aboard, his eyes were glazed over and he appeared extremely traumatized.
The movie ended and the lights came on.
“Where do you think the guardian angels presented themselves in this example? asked Angel Angelique.
A senior answered, “I think the angels must've helped hand crank the turret gunner out.”
“Okay, any other ideas?”
A sophomore answered, “I think some angels helped the plane to avoid the falling chunks of metal in the air.”
“All right, let's see if you are correct.”
The movie started again, only this time the guardian angels could be seen. One of them helped pull the crank, while three others blew the falling parts away to miss the B-17. The four guardian angels belonged to four different men in the plane, but they acted as one, one purpose and goal--to save the men's lives.
“Good job,” said Angel Angelique. “The angels used Controlling the Elements to blow the plane parts out of the way and one of the angels actually helped to pull the crank, using invisibility to do the job without being seen. Sometimes as a guardian angel you will not be working solo. You will need to learn teamwork. It helps when you can communicate telepathically. When using telepathy you insert thoughts into others minds and receive their incoming thoughts. It is much like speaking only not out loud. There is no mind reading involved because you don't read their thoughts, but you just receive the thoughts that they give you. And they only receive the thoughts that you give them. Each of you will be required to help with one life-saving event for practice while you are here at the Academy."
Chapter Nine
In first hour, Professor Walter met us at the door and asked us to head over to the practice rooms. We would be taking a quiz using what we had learned so far. We were to pair off, so I chose Journey as my partner and Kevin chose Felix. There were enough rooms for each pair.
“First, we will send one of you into the soundproof room.” Professor Walter announced.
Journey went into our room. I could see Journey through the glass window, but she couldn't see or hear me.
“All right, now what I would like you to do is to instill in your partner's mind the desire to come out of the room. We will see whose partner comes out first and whose stay inside. Ready, begin!”
I concentrated hard. I had to think of a reason that Journey should come out, other than my standing in the class. I knew that if I were selfish, it wouldn't work. I thought of Journey and how she could succeed in the class if she came out, since we were graded together.
I saw Journey slowly coming toward the door. She looked like she was wondering why she was coming out, but she pressed forward and came out the door, the first one in the class to do so. Slowly, a few others also came out. Some never came out. Finally Angel Walter asked all of the students to come together to talk about the quiz.
“You were asked to instill the thought to come out of the room to your partner,” said Angel Walter. ”Journey was the first one to come out. Josie, please, tell us how you did it.”
“Well,” I thought for a moment. “I knew that if I was thinking about myself and my grade, it wouldn't work. So, I thought about Journey and her standing in the class. I really wanted to help her.”
“Very good,” said Angel Walter. “Now, our second person to come out was Felix. Kevin, how did you do it?”
“I pretended that the room Felix was in was on fire, so I tried to instill that idea into his brain and that it was important for him to get out of there for his own safety.”
“Nice job,” said Angel Walter. “Billy, your partner, Richard, never came out. How were you trying to install a thought to him?”
“Well, obviously I was doing it wrong or Richard wasn't listening to me.”
Everyone laughed.
“What were you doing?” Walter asked.
“I was concentrating on being first to get my partner to come out. I was really thinking of how I could do well on this quiz, how I could beat everyone else.”
“I hope you have learned your lesson. Selfishness is not one of a guardian angel's traits. It does not go together with who we are. On Earth there is so much competitiveness, everyone wanting to beat the others. It doesn't work that way here. Here we should all want to help the others. Everyone please read the next two chapters in your book by tomorrow.” The bell for our next class rang.
We were in a good mood as we floated toward our second hour class, Controlling the Elements. “I think we all succeeded on that quiz, if I do say so myself,” I commented.
“Now, don't get cocky,” Journey chuckled, “that will be our downfall!”
“You are so right,” I laughed.
“I wonder what we are doing in Controlling the Elements today,” said Felix. “I hope it's not another quiz.”
“It very well could be,” said Kevin. “It seems to be time for quizzes.”
When we reached the classroom, Angel Addison greeted us as
well as the three directors of the Academy. “We will watch a guardian angel event which will be taken from one of your futures and then we will discuss it.
We watched as Budd and his crew went on the fateful mission in which their plane was shot down. After I and my grandparents saved Budd, the film ended.
“I'd like to talk about what happened starting from the middle of this crew's fateful mission. When the crew first discovered that this may not be the milk run they had presumed it to be, they took a vote. What was the vote about?” Angel Addison asked.
I raised my hand.
“Josie.”
“Because the cloud formation dropped, the mission could be dangerous; they would not be hidden in the clouds, they would be in full view. They had to decide if they wanted to continue with the mission or go back home and wait for better conditions.”
“Correct,” Angel Addison stated. “What were the results of the vote?”
“They voted to go on with the mission,” said Emma.
“That's correct. What was the reason they wished to go forward with the mission?”
Kevin raised his hand.
“Yes, Kevin?”
“They wanted to get credit for the mission. They had completed twenty-three missions and were so close to completing twenty-five missions.”
“Yes, and what happens when they complete twenty-five missions?” Angel Addison asked.
“They get to go home,” was Kevin's reply.
“Yes, they get to go home,” Angel Addison replied. “Therefore, we may conclude that the decision to continue with the mission was based on a selfish desire to go home, not a desire to further the cause of freedom and to relieve the suffering and injustices the enemy put on many of the inhabitants of the earth.”
