“They are amazing young ladies,” he said.
Joe held up his hands. “Don’t want them to see me like this.”
“I agree. It would be something of a shock. We’ll work quietly and in isolation.”
“Master Laurence and the angel Jamie approach,” Cloud said.
I ran to the door before Cloud could open it. “Jamie, thank goodness you’re here!”
“Mom, where is he—Dad, are you okay?” He knelt beside Joe. I noticed he was holding a creamy white jar.
“I’m so much better with you here, son.” Joe looked at me. We both had a tremendous sense of relief and tension wiped from our beings.
“We must waste no time,” Columba said. ”Please, let us enter your chapel.”
Laurence led the way into the meditation room. I helped Joe hobble in.
I watched Columba survey the blue, dimly lit room. Large blue and gold silk cushions were scattered around the floor. A small altar held two tall, white tapers and the simple white cloths that had been given to all of us after our Awakenings. That was it for décor. None of us had wanted a lot of fuss in this room—just a quiet place for contemplation and prayer. Perhaps not what a 5th century cleric would consider a real chapel.
“This will do.“ Columba said. “Claire, I see there are cloths on the altar that have already been blessed. I’ll need those after the oil.”
I grabbed several of them. We had never used them, and who could question their use now? Then I pulled the door shut. I knew Hannah and Tiffany wouldn’t disturb us—that was the rule with the meditation room.
Columba asked Joe to remove his gloves. When he did, Jamie gasped.
I reached for his hand. “It’s going to be okay, Jamie, we have to have faith.”
Joe knelt and faced Columba, who put his hands on his head.
“I ask God’s blessing of healing to take place in your body and your mind. May your hands become as new, and your spirit and mind be cleansed by His grace.”
Then Columba sprinkled some drops of Jamie’s oil into his left palm. He dipped his right thumb into the palmed oil, and with the same thumb, sealed Joe’s forehead with the sign of the cross. “In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen.”
We all repeated, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Columba held up his own palms and motioned for Joe to do the same. We watched in silence as Columba slowly sprinkled a few drops of the oil into each of Joe’s open palms. After this, he carefully wrapped the deformed hands in the altar cloths. The monk made a gesture for us to leave, and we left the room quietly. He and Joe stayed in the room for a few minutes by themselves.
When they came out, we all had the same impulse to hug Joe. It felt like a strange celebration of sorts, a renewal we had witnessed by God’s grace. He somehow managed with his bulky hands to hug each of us back. Jamie was the last to embrace his dad, and I noticed that both of them had misty eyes when they finally pulled back from each other.
Hannah suddenly appeared in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing of concern, sweetie. “ I said. “Joe had an accident with his hands, and Columba has wrapped them. Have you gotten Tiffany settled in?”
Hannah glanced at the bandaged hands and seemed mildly interested, but then seemed to pick up on our calmness. “Yeah. What’s for dinner? We’re starving. Oh, hi, Jamie.”
“Hi, kiddo.” he said. “What about burgers? Cloud makes a mean cheeseburger.”
“You’re going to eat with us—sweet. Wait ‘til I tell Tif.” She scurried out of the room.
Columba turned to Joe. “This will take about a full day. Please leave the bandages on during this time.”
Joe held out a bandaged hand. “How can I ever thank you?”
Columba took his hand in both of his. “By not going to Earth for a month or so. Surely your family can keep you busy enough here.”
Laurence, Jamie and I exchanged looks. We were definitely going to try.
It was fruit-basket-turnover the next morning, trying to get two cupids off to school. I breathed a sigh of relief as I watched them fly off toward the pink and gold luminous clouds.
“Thanks for all your help, Cloud.”
“I trust their lunch boxes were to your satisfaction, my lady?”
“Of course, they looked perfect.”
“Then I am most pleased. Coffee?”
“Oh, yes. Where are the guys?”
“On the porch, eating breakfast.”
I pushed open the French doors. Columba, Joe and Laurence were in an animated conversation—something about evolution and climate change. Columba was particularly incensed about beaches and coral reefs. Oh dear. I backed quietly into the living room and sank down in my favorite easy chair.
“Shall I serve you in here, Madam?” Cloud said in a stage whisper.
“Please.”
Happy that I was unnoticed, I picked up today’s News of the Kingdom. When I flipped it over to look below the fold, there was a photo of Columba and two other archangels smiling at me. Rose jumped up in my lap. Shooing her back down, I read the headline and the lede.
“Archangels Present 12th Year Mission Plans. Three archangels, each from different centuries, joined together on Wednesday to present their final plans for this year’s 12th Year Mission challenges. The Archangel Gabriel accepted their work on behalf of the cupid/cherub schools.
“’I shall be sending out all of the challenge information to Headmaster Richard and Headmistress Isabella.’” Gabriel said. “’The mission must be completed in these first few days of the new school year so all students can then aim their fullest attention to the courses at hand.’”
Well. Columba was designing this year’s challenges. Fancy that. And he didn’t even tell us. I’d wondered what brought him to Zion.
I was buttering my toast when the three guys came in.
“Claire, you should have told us you were awake,” Columba said as he adjusted his rope belt.
I picked up the newspaper. “And you should have told us about this. Impressive.”
For the second time during his visit, Columba blushed. “Oh, just a request from Gabriel that I finally honored. And it was actually a pleasant challenge, coming up with tasks that will open young minds without doing them damage.”
Laurence and Joe had divided the paper between them. Laurence put down his section. “Tell us.”
“Yeah, Hannah and Tiffany are done, so you can tell all.” Joe said.
“Halleluiah, that’s behind us.” I said and gave Laurence and Joe a high five.
Columba looked at us for a few seconds. I supposed we looked fairly self-satisfied, smug even. “I can’t tell everything, but I can say that the task I designed has a Gospel verse as its . . . inspiration, its . . . formal cause.”
“Its theme?” I said.
“Yes, of course, its theme.”
“Can you share the verse with us?” Laurence said.
“I see no reason not to do so. It’s Matthew, table five, passage 53 . . . wait, you’re not familiar with the Eusebian Canons. Um . . . Matthew seven, verses 7 and 8.”
Laurence grabbed a Bible from the study. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
“Yes, but that’s a much more recent translation. Here’s how I’m familiar with the 8th verse: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
“Interesting.” Joe said. “The King James.”
“It feels very modern.” said Columba. We all smiled.
“Will the version matter so much to the cherub school and its teachers?” I said.
He shrugged. “I suppose not. All of the translations are valid interpretations of the Greek,
which would be a translation of the Aramaic original. But, friends, I should be going. You remember how long my journey is.”
I hugged him. “How can we ever thank you for helping Joe?”
“No more mentions of this, please.” Columba looked at Joe. “They are beginning to feel like your old hands?”
“Yes, definitely. I peeked at them this morning and they’re half-way there.”
“You should be healed by tonight. Remember to stay on this side for a while.”
Joe laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”
After each of us hugged Columba, he tapped his heart, and turned to fly up. “Let it be a golden and peaceful day.”
In a graceful swoosh, he was gone.
“My, what a fortuitous visit.” said Laurence.
“I’ll say.” Joe said.
“I’m not sure luck applies in heaven,” I said. “Still, hopefully, we’ve had our fill of excitement for quite some time.”
Rose seemed satisfied that it was just us again and trotted after me into my bedroom. All was serene, as Cloud was fond of saying.
Bam! The door slammed opened. Hannah and Tiffany ran excitedly down the hall to Hannah’s room. I had forgotten what after-school turmoil could be like. And with two cupids, it was squared rather than doubled.
“Girls, would you like a snack?”
“Claire, is that you?” Hannah stepped outside her room. Not sure what other female she might be expecting, but guess I’d go with it.
“Si. Are you two hungry?”
“Starving.” Tiffany said as they both raced into the kitchen. “What’s for dinner?”
“Hummmm. Haven’t gotten that far. How about nibbles now and we can deal with that later?”
“Okay, sure.” Hannah popped up on a bar stool. “You’ll never guess what happened today.”
“Okay, I’m game. What?”
“Tiffany got her 12th year assignment.”
Laurence and Joe walked in just in time to catch this. They froze.
“Who got what?” Joe said.
Hannah spun around as Tiffany attacked the popcorn Cloud had produced. “12th Year Mission, Tiffany’s.”
“What are you talking about?” said Laurence. He and Joe quickly sat down on the nearby chairs. I was feeling a bit woozy myself.
“You know, her mission.”
“My challenge, the mission for 12th Years.” Tiffany said in what sounded like a huge echo. “No details yet, but I’ve been accepted.”
“But, you’re thirteen.” I said very slowly and probably a bit too loud. “That was last year.”
Tiffany giggled. “That’s what everyone thinks.”
They munched away on popcorn and crème sodas, blithely ignoring our three gaping mouths.
“Well, go ahead, please enlighten us.” Laurence said.
“Tif missed out last year.” Hannah said. “Remember when her family wanted to complete that special archangel one-on-one training session for musicians in Beulah? A unique experience, and Jeff wanted the whole family to go.”
Tiffany threw up a few kernels of popcorn and expertly caught them in her mouth. “It was cool, but I had to miss the mission time. No big deal, I’m making it up this year.”
Laurence, Joe and I looked at each other. How did we wind up shepherding another cupid through the risks of twelfth-year? Hopefully, the girls didn’t notice.
“Starts tomorrow.” Tiffany said. “We get our orders and think we have, uh, three or four days to complete the task. Five, max. Oh, and they said they brought in some really old archangels to design the challenge. So, I figure it’s gonna be a snap.”
“No biggie.” Hannah said.
“Sure.” Joe carefully put down his beer mug with his bandaged hand. His shoulders drooped.
Laurence closed his eyes. “Shouldn’t be an issue.”
“No problem, we’re with you.” I stood up, faced Joe and Laurence and tried to give them the old please-don’t-show-disappointment-look. But, alas, their faces said it all.
Mercifully, the girls had already skipped down to the guest room, now Tiffany’s abode for the next two weeks.
We would get through this. We were Tiffany’s angel-parents for the next two weeks. We had to.
Ask and ye shall receive, I suppose.
The cupids got out of school early the next day, arriving right after lunch.
“Claire!, Claire!” Hannah said as soon as she and Tiffany burst into the living room.
“Coming.” Joe, Laurence, and I had just gotten in from a fly-about—good exercise for Joe, though he was obviously getting pretty proficient. Now all three of us trailed into the room.
“What’s up?” Joe said.
“Tif got her instructions. Needs to start.”
I noted that Tiffany was unusually quiet. “Okay, let’s sit down and go over this.”
We all sat down, facing each other. Rosie plopped down with her head on Tiffany’s lap, as if she knew this was all about her.
Laurence spoke first. “Why don’t you share with us what you know, Tiffany?”
The cupid who usually was game for anything didn’t seem to have her game face on. She swallowed hard and pulled out an envelope from her backpack. “It has this Bible verse, Matthew 7, verses 7 and 8. Does anyone know it?”
“Not offhand,” I said. “Hannah, the Bible is just behind you in the study.”
The two girls held the book in their laps and found the verses. “It tells me to do things,” Tiffany said, “but I’m not sure what.” The cupids looked at each other and shrugged.
Joe broke into the quiet. “Why don’t you reduce it to the action words. Seems like that would help.”
“Action?” Tiffany said.
“Sure.” He looked over their shoulders at the verse. “Here’s what this passage is telling you to do: Ask, Seek and—
“—Knock.” Hannah said. “That’s it, Tif, ask, seek, knock.”
“Seems clear enough.” said Laurence. “First up is ask.”
I nodded. “There is the slight problem. Ask what? And ask whom?”
“Well, I could take a shot at the what,” Laurence said. “What is it we most need to know?”
“What Tiffany’s quest is,” I said. “All right, probably. But who?”
We all mulled this over in silence. Tiffany reached down and scratched Rose behind the ears.
“I know!” Hannah said. “What about God?”
“Hummmmm. In prayer, you mean.”
Tiffany smiled. “If you want an answer, God is all-knowing.” This seemed to make sense to her.
We thought about this for a moment.
“I don’t know,” Joe said. “Nothing against the power of prayer, but seems like our Lord really likes to let people do the work for Him. I mean, that’s why we still have things to do in Heaven, right?”
“But, Joe, Gabriel told us last year that Corporate was aware of Hannah’s stolen wing.” I said. “That’s involvement at a pretty high level.”
“I’m confident He’s aware of the 12th Years’ Mission—how could He not be? I just don’t know that He wants to play a major role in it. Get down in the weeds.”
“The weeds?” Tiffany said.
“Just an Earth expression,” I said. “Getting bogged down in minor details.”
But Joe had a point. Then Laurence offered an idea. “What about going to your old headmaster—Richard, wasn’t it? You’ve just graduated to the upper school, but for years, Richard’s been your guide, someone you would consult or ask.” Tiffany shook her head. “I didn’t really see Richard all that much. I never got into major trouble, so I wasn’t in his office very often.”
“Oh.” I said. “But that’s good, Tif, nothing to be discouraged about.”
“What about you guy
s?” Hannah said. “Maybe one of you has ‘it’?”
“As in ‘Ask and it will be given to you?’” I said. “No, we don’t have the it.”
“But, surely, with five minds, we can come up with the answer.” Laurence said.
“Okay,” I said. “The person to ask should be someone plugged into the cupids’ system, and yet, someone who knows all about the Kingdom. So we’re talking about a very wise person.”
Tiffany suddenly got this silly smile on her face. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her chest.
“I know who,” she said in a dreamy voice that could have belonged to a Disney princess discovering who had the power to free her from an evil stepmother.
Laurence was clearly not moved by her dramatic talents. “So? Who?”
Tiffany dropped her arms and stood very tall. “There’s only one archangel who could possibly know everything—the great Gabriel.”
“Gabriel?” I said.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I’m sure that’s who I’m supposed to talk to, I’m sure of it.”
“Have you ever met Gabriel?” Laurence said.
“No, but I know he is very powerful and knows everything.”
Hannah nodded. “Bet she’s right.”
“Does anyone even know where he lives?” Joe said.
“I know where he works.” I had made a trip there last year. Back then, I was summoned. Didn’t know how one made an appointment to see one of the mightiest of archangels for a cupid’s mission.
“I need to go today.” Tiffany said. “I only have four days to finish this.”
“Today?” Oh, well, stranger things had happened in Heaven. Might as well get Cloud on the case and see if we can get an appointment. And even if we had more time, there was no way to prepare her for Gabriel—an archangel like no other.
“Madam, you are to report to Gabriel’s office at 4 p.m.” said Cloud.
“Thanks.” I said. Joe was reading a magazine by the fire. Time to find Tiffany.
Laurence came in from the patio. “What time are we leaving?”
I looked at him and took a breath. “Who’s this ‘we?’”
Heaven's Missing Person Page 4
