By Deyse Magalhães
Andrew walked along the park on that hot summer day, with the sun rays shining across the bluest of the skies and brightening even more his blond strands of hair. On his face, there was an expression of curiosity, as he had no idea what he was doing there. All the blond angel knew was that he had received a (rather mysterious) message telling him to go to that place.
After a short walk, he saw, under the shadow of a huge oak tree, a dark skinned old angel, sitting on a nearby bench and fanning herself with a purple Chinese fan.
“Tess?”
“Angel boy?” she looked at him with surprise.
“I just got a call to be here... Is it a new assignment?” he wanted to know.
But the older angel shook her head, “I have no idea, baby. I was also told to be right here, right at this time but I have no clue what I’m doing here!”
Frowning a little, the blond angel looked around them with a questioning face. “That’s quite strange...”
But before they could ask each other another question, a postman came closer to them holding a small letter in his hands and with a surprised expression to see the two angels standing there.
“Excuse me, are you Tess and Andrew?” he asked.
“Yes...” the blond angel replied; he and Tess more and more confused.
“This... this is for you...”
As Tess took the letter in her hands, the man shook his head, still not believing in what he was seeing. “The guys will never believe it when I tell them!” he said, “Could you sign here, please?”
After Andrew and Tess wrote their names on the paper the postman left and the two angels could finally open the letter. Inside the envelope, they found two small papers. One of them was a little note and, at the moment they lay their eyes on it, they recognised that lovely handwriting.
[i]“Dear Andrew and Tess,
Sorry if I interrupted your work, but it was very important and I asked the Father’s permission to do so.
Could you please follow the instructions on this wee map?
I’ll be with you two in some minutes.
I love you very much.
Love,
Monica.[/i]
“Do you think something happened to her, Tess?” Andrew spoke, now frowning with worry to think that his dearest friend could have problems and needing help somewhere out there.
“Hum... I don’t know... But... whatever it is she wants to tell us, it must be important, you know that little angel girl, she wouldn’t bother us unless it was really urgent...”
“And she even says she has the Father’s permission... Tess, I’m starting to get worried here... Let me check this map.”
They followed the instructions left in the small paper and ended up in a secluded part of the park, with a beautiful lake and lots of different types of flowers. The two angels soon realised they were alone in that place and that the trail in the map ended in a wooden dock, constructed by the lake. There, a small table with a delicious cake, tea and coffee was waiting for them, beautifully decorated with small delicate flowers.
“Tess...” Andrew murmured, as he and the older angel approached the table and stared at the unexpected meal with surprise.
“Angel boy... but what’s all this?”
Before he could reply, they heard another voice, “This is my way to say that I love you...”
They turned around and saw Monica smiling broadly at them. She was wearing a lilac dress and barefoot and her auburn hair was falling over her small shoulders with some strands disarrayed due to the soft breeze that was blowing on that beautiful day. Little Joy was standing right beside her, and barked excitedly when she saw her ‘daddy’ and her ‘grandma’.
Andrew and Tess heaved a sigh of relief seeing that, at least apparently, everything was alright with her. The little Irish angel came closer to them and took their hands “I’m so glad you’re both here...”
“Angel, what happened to you? Tess and I were worried about you...” Andrew asked, still with a slight concern in his green eyes.
“Yes, for some seconds we thought you had a problem with an assignment or something...”
“Oh, I’m so sorry if I scared you two, it wasn’t my intention, you know...” she said, “In fact, I wanted you to come here because... well, first of all because I was missing you... I know that I saw you yesterday but, well, you’re my dearest friends and staying far from you, even if it’s only a minute, is enough to make me miss you terribly...”
The two older angels looked at each other, moved with her loving words.
Andrew reached out and tenderly caressed her cheek, “You know that the same goes to you, isn’t it true, Tess?”
“Of course it is, baby...” the supervisor agreed, squeezing Monica’s hand.
Smiling, pleased to hear this from the two people she loved the most in the entire universe, the Irish angel kept on talking, “Well, then I’m happy you think this way because... The second reason why I called you here is to tell you, once again, how much I love you and to ask you to spend the afternoon with me...” before they could even reply, she was quick to add, “And I talked with the Father before and asked Him if you could be here with me just for some hours... I mean, if you want to...”
Deeply moved now with her loving attitude and kindness, Tess gave her a motherlish tight embrace, “Oh angel girl... Of course we want to spend the day with you! You’re so precious, baby!”
“I love you, Tess.”
“I love you too, angel girl!”
Andrew was the next to hold her tightly and as she rested her head on his chest, he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head repeatedly.
“Have I told you lately that I love you, angel?” he spoke, close to her ear.
“Well... I guess you’ve just told me, Andrew...” she replied, with a smile that never disappeared from her meek face.
“And you’d better get used to that because I will keep on saying this again and again for the rest of eternity!”
“It’s good to know that...then I won’t feel so guilty for doing exactly the same with you!”
He pulled away and grabbed her face with both hands, brushing a loving kiss on her forehead. Then, they turned to look at the beautiful table in front of them, and, wrapping her arms around theirs, Monica happily announced, “I also prepared a wee party to celebrate our friendship, you know...”
“You did this all by yourself?” Andrew asked, surprised and touched with that loving gesture.
“Well... that wasn’t that difficult, you know...”
“Including the food?” Tess’ slightly fearful voice caused Andrew to glare at her, afraid that the little Irish angel could notice the small amount of panic in their eyes concerning her culinary abilities.
But fortunately, Monica missed their silent conversation and tilted her head, “Hum... as much as I’d love to cook for you two, I have to confess that it was the Father Himself Who helped me with the food, you know. I’ve improved my abilities in the kitchen, it’s true, but I wanted this to be special and I was afraid of spoiling everything, so I thought it would be safer to ask for His help...”
Overwhelmed with tenderness, they both tightened their hold on her. “Oh, angel girl, everything is perfect, baby!”
“Tess is right, angel. Even if you hadn’t prepared a single thing, it would still be perfect because you’re here with us!” Andrew added, pleased to see her broad smile and the sparkle of her eyes.
*
After a pleasant meal – which meant most part of the cake and the tea to Tess, the three angels and the little puppy decided to take a rest on that beautiful part of the park. And, maybe due to the rather amount of food they ate, Tess and Joy soon fell into a pleasant sleep sitting under the shadow of a huge tree, the supervisor leaning against its tree trunk.
Sitting at the edge of the wooden dock, with their feet almost touching the calm and crystalline waters, were the two other angels. Monica threw another pebble on the lake, but, once again, it sank as soon as it hit the water.
“I’m definitely not the right angel to do it, Andrew...” she said, with resignation. She wasn’t sad, though, just stating a fact.
“You’ll learn with time, angel. We haven’t been able to practice lately but when we go on vacations again, I promise I’ll teach you, ok?” the blond angel spoke, tenderly placing some strands of hair behind her ear.
“We have a deal, then!”
As he chuckled at the way she winked at him, Andrew pulled her closer to him, making her rest her head over his shoulder. “This has been a lovely afternoon!” she sighed and he nodded his head in agreement, “Yes, thanks to you!”
“Oh but the Father helped me a lot, Andrew!”
“I know, I know. But you had the idea!” he looked at her and handed her a small lilac, which had mysteriously appeared in his hands. “And you know something?”
“What?” smiling cheerfully, she took the flower in her hands and smelled it.
“This little map you made for us to find you... I’ve always heard that, at the end of a map there is a hidden treasure... And today I found out this is totally true!”
Still smiling, but now also a bit confused, the Irish angel looked back at him, “I... I don’t understand, Andrew...”
“Well, I received a map, followed it and at the end of the trail I did find a treasure... you, angel!”
Monica heard those words with her heart practically swelling with love for the dear friend that God had given her, and he gently grabbed her face and kissed the tip of her nose, “I love you... See? I told you I’d repeat that over and over!”
Gratefully, and also shedding some tears of joy, the little Irish angel wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight, warm embrace and kissed his cheek many times, “And that’s exactly what you, Tess and our wee Joy are to me: my treasure!” She then pulled away and stroked his face with tenderness, “And your love, Andrew... The way you’re always by my side, reassuring me and making me smile, even with the simplest things like this wee lilac... it’s the most precious treasure in the entire universe...”
Then, she rested her head over his shoulder; both angels never letting go of each other’s embrace, and with their hearts filled with love and absolute happiness for being together on that special day, a day picked by Monica to tell her friends how much they meant to her.
The end
