LITMIR.BIZ

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now to his lack of interest and enthusiasm. Except for his work, everything in life seemed to be an effort for Roy.

      “There’s no reason you should remember the name,” she told him. “Marta and I were good friends in college. We’ve kept in touch through the years—Christmas cards, that sort of thing. She’s made a real name for herself in New York as an art dealer and gallery owner.”

      Surprisingly, that piqued his interest. “Is she going to sell your paintings?”

      “Oh, hardly,” Anne said, embarrassed at the idea. Anne would never approach her friend with such a request. Her paintings were amateurish compared to the work Marta sold, work by big names. Revered artists. “I was hoping you and I could meet beforehand,” Anne suggested. She wanted to get to her main reason for calling before her allotted time elapsed.

      “I have a half hour open at lunchtime,” Roy murmured.

      Anne’s spirits lifted. “That would be lovely. I’m meeting Marta at seven and—”

      “I’ll pencil you in for noon. I have a meeting and I might be a few minutes late, so don’t be upset if you’re left twiddling your thumbs for a while.”

      “I was thinking I might decorate the windows at your office building before Christmas,” she hurriedly added.

      Her remark was followed by a lengthy pause. “You want to do what?”

      “Paint your windows, you know, for Christmas.”

      “Is this a joke, Mother?”

      “No, it’ll give a festive air to the complex. I was thinking of those big windows in the front lobby. In case you hadn’t noticed, ‘tis the season, Roy. Don’t you remember how we used to paint the windows at the house every year?”

      Again his response was slow and edged with sadness. “Of course I remember, but I was a kid then. I’ve outgrown things like that.”

      Anne didn’t feel that way in the least. She wanted to do whatever she could to resurrect happy memories for him. “You won’t mind, though, will you?”

      “If it pleases you, then by all means paint.” His voice softened slightly. “I have to go.”

      “I know.” Her five minutes was up.

      “I can’t promise you lunch, but I’ll do my best to squeeze you in.” With that, the phone line went dead.

      Anne set the receiver back in its cradle as if it weighed thirty pounds.

      “Squeeze her in!” Mercy cried, outraged. “This is worse than I thought. Anne’s his mother! How are we ever going to find a woman willing to put up with that kind of behavior?”

      Actually, Roy Fletcher was in worse shape than anyone had thought, Goodness mused. They had their work cut out for them.

      “Oh, dear, look,” Shirley whispered.

      Anne Fletcher’s hand remained on the telephone, as if she was trying to maintain an illusion of contact with her son. Her head fell forward and her shoulders slouched. Suddenly, before the other angels could react, Shirley slipped into the middle of the room.

      “What are you doing?” Goodness asked, reaching out unsuccessfully to stop her.

      “Anne needs encouragement,” Shirley insisted. “She can’t continue like this.”

      “You’re going to get us pulled off this assignment,” Mercy warned. “We haven’t been on Earth five minutes. That’s a record even for us.”

      “Don’t you remember what Gabriel said?”

      “Darn right I do! One wrong move and we’re out of here.”

      “No,” Shirley countered, “he said some things had to be believed in order to be seen.”

      “But he didn’t say for us to leap in and do something we know isn’t allowed.”

      Mercy’s warning, however, went unheeded. “What’s Shirley going to do?” she asked Goodness.

      “I’m afraid to find out,” Goodness replied.

      “I’m going to prove to Anne that she should believe,” Shirley announced grandly.

      “But that’s the opposite of what Gabriel meant,” Mercy argued.

      “I’m doing it,” Shirley said.

      Sure enough, she stepped through the thin layer of truth that separated angels from humans. For a moment she did nothing but soak in the earthly environment. Then, in a display of heavenly grace, the angel unfolded her wings, extending them to their complete and glorious length. With the full splendor of the Lord reflecting upon her, she revealed herself to Anne.

      Anne Fletcher gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. To her credit, the human seemed suitably impressed. Slowly Anne dropped her hand and stared hard at Shirley, as if she expected her to disappear. She blinked once and then again, obviously testing to see if this could possibly be her imagination. Anne shaded her eyes from the light. Then, still staring, she reached for a pad and pencil and started to sketch.

      “Oh, no.”

      Mercy looked around, certain they were about to lose all visitation rights until the next millennium. Nothing happened.

      Seconds later, Shirley was back. Goodness forced herself to keep quiet and not reprimand her friend. Mercy had no such restraint.

      “How could you?” she wailed.

      “Anne needed a sign,” Shirley said, “and I gave it to her. God is working, and I wanted her to know that—to believe.”

      “But look what she’s doing!” Mercy cried, watching as Anne worked on the sketch, her fingers moving at a furious pace as if she was struggling to get everything she’d seen down on paper before it faded from memory.

      Goodness could hardly wait until Gabriel heard about this.

       Four

      Julie was proud of her father, and so pleased that he’d been granted this opportunity. Abraham Lincoln Junior High where she taught was only a short distance from Fletcher Industries. The first day he was scheduled to work, she suggested she ride in with him and then take her bike from the complex to the school. She planned to do the same thing in reverse every afternoon, unless there was a late meeting scheduled or one of her teams had a practice or a game. It was hard to find opportunities to exercise, and this seemed a good solution, in addition to giving her extra time with her father. Folding a change of clothes into her backpack, she dressed in her spandex pants and nylon shirt. She attached her bicycle to the carrier on the rear of the Ford, then joined her father in the front seat.

      “Are you excited?” she asked. If he wasn’t, she certainly was. Her father could use a psychological boost. It’d been a long dry spell for both of them.

      He shrugged.

      “Well, I am.” It felt, in some strange, inexplicable way, as if they could finally begin to heal—as if their time of grieving was about to end. Not that either of them would forget Darlene Wilcoff. She was alive in their hearts and would forever remain a part of them. Now, four months following her death, this crisp, clear late-November morning seemed filled with renewed promise.

      “You’re sure about this bicycle business?” her father muttered as he started the engine. “I don’t like the idea of you riding back in the dark.”

      “It’s perfectly safe, Dad,” she said, half-tempted to say that at thirty, she was well beyond the age of needing parental supervision. “I’m wearing a helmet and a vest that reflects in the dark, plus the bike has a flashing light in the front and the back.”

      He grunted, obviously still disapproving, but didn’t argue further. As they reached Fletcher Industries,

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