main street of Haven was seeing light traffic this afternoon, both automotive and pedestrian, and perhaps that was the reason Donna noticed them so easily. Had the street been busier they would have just blended in and she’d have walked past, not thinking more about it. But then again maybe she wouldn’t have.
The two men in their matching dark grey suits, matching sunglasses and matching stances beside a shiny black late model car sitting at the curb, stared unabashedly at Donna and her best friend Cassie as they walked by them. Once past the two men, Donna turned a curious and slightly worried expression on her friend. Cassie just shrugged and murmured the word, “Creepy,” under her breath.
Seventeen year old Donna Blair was a very attractive girl who was used to getting more than her fair share of male attention. But the blatant way the two grey suited men had stared at her, their heads actually swiveling to follow them as they passed like some kind of homing device, sent a shiver down her spine. Now if only Billy Kennedy would look at her that way, that she could handle.
The pair were making their way slowly back to Donna’s house after spending the morning hanging around the town square and the soda shop, trying desperately, albeit covertly, to attract the attention of the local lads, then acting aloof and nonchalant when they got it. They had actually wanted to go into the city, but try as they might, they hadn't been able to convince Donna’s father to drive them there. They’d have had better luck with Cassie’s dad but unfortunately he had to work in the store today. Thus the girls had to be content with the Town Square and its meager offerings in regard to shopping opportunities.
They turned off the main road onto one of the town’s smaller tree lined avenues, Donna unconsciously putting an little extra sway into her walk as she noticed two boys on skateboards coming down the road towards them. She quit it and wrinkled her pretty little nose in mild irritation a few seconds later as the boys skated past and she saw they couldn’t have been older than fourteen or so.
Donna was also mildly annoyed that Billy Kennedy hadn’t been at the soda shop this morning. According to Jesse, a friend of Billy’s who worked there, Billy was out riding his trail bike with the rest of his little gang. Inwardly fuming, Donna had shrugged to show Jesse that she couldn’t have cared less.
Billy Kennedy was the hunkiest guy in school and Donna had the biggest ever crush on him, as did most of the girls at Haven High. This, unfortunately, was something Billy was acutely aware of but Donna, like the rest of the girls, was prepared to forgive Billy his narcissistic attitude for the sake of a little attention from him, if not more. Not only was he incredibly good looking and hung out with the coolest people in school, but his father was the wealthiest man in town and Billy pretty much got what he wanted. He even had his own sports car, and these monetary benefits were pretty much transferable to his girlfriend. That is, whichever one he was currently with at the time.
About a block further up the street Donna flicked her long light brown hair out of her eyes and, frowning slightly, paused in mid stride. Parked across the road was a late model sedan and beside it, a man in a dark grey suit and dark sunglasses. Before she could stop herself she cast her gaze back the way they’d come, even though she knew the other men would be out of sight. Donna looked across the street again, becoming confused. Was this the same car, the same men? No. it was a different man. Feeling a bit self conscious now, she continued on past as the man’s blank face turned to follow her, eyes staring from behind those dark lenses.
“Cass, I think there’s something strange going on around here,” Donna said.
“Those guys you mean, the ones in the grey suits?”
“Yeah, that’s the second lot we’ve passed in the last five minutes. They’re giving me the creeps, and the way they look at you, you’d think they’ve never smiled in their lives.” Cassie nodded at this.
They came to an intersection and glancing down the cross street, they caught sight of another black car exactly like the others, parked half way down the road. Two men in dark grey suits were coming out of a house nearby. Both girls looked on curiously, while trying not to be obvious about it, then hurried on when the men glanced their way. Donna was about to say something when two helicopters passed low overhead, their bodies the same color as the cars, black and foreboding.
Donna followed them with her eyes and muttered to herself, “There is definitely something going on here!”
3
The angel looked at Ninah but said nothing and made no move to rise. Ninah herself was rooted to the spot with fear, despite a strong voice inside her head saying over and over that angels are good, angels don’t hurt people.
She looked into his eyes, noticing how strange they were, such a light shade of blue with little flecks of silver around the edges of his irises. But strange as they were, there was no hiding the pain in them, pain and fear. Ninah frowned at this. Was the angel as scared of her as she was of him? The way daddy said snakes were scared sometimes, even though they could bite you. Gradually Ninah relaxed.
Pushing aside her fear, she swallowed and asked, “Are you okay?” The angel didn’t answer. “Are you hurt?” she asked a little louder, leaning down toward him.
The angel closed his eyes then slowly opened them again, as though he was drawing on all his strength to do it. He lifted his hand, causing Ninah to jump back, and gestured to the sink. Ninah looked at him, her head inclined to one side in incomprehension. The angel closed his eyes then tried again, his whole body shaking with the effort. This time Ninah understood; he was pointing to the faucet, he wanted water.
Ninah ran back to the house and quickly sneaked into the kitchen. She filled a glass with water and was about to leave when she caught sight of the biscuit tin. On the possibility that the angel, which she’d started to think of as her own, might be hungry also, she took several cookies before heading back outside.
Passing the clothesline, Ninah noticed the sheets her mother had washed that morning were now dry and rippling white in the soft afternoon breeze. She remembered her angel had no clothes and was shivering. Maybe he was cold? She put the glass and cookies down, dragged over a lawn chair and unpegged the nearest sheet, taking it with her too.
She returned to the playhouse to find the angel was still there. She covered his lower half with the sheet, his nakedness not bothering her any more; he was an angel after all and therefore good. Besides, only people wore clothes.
Holding his head gently and lifting the glass to his lips, Ninah helped him drink the water. She could feel the heat coming off of him; her mother called that a fever and it meant he was very sick. He finished the whole glass in large gulps then rested his head back down on the floor. Ninah offered him a cookie but he just shook his head weakly and closed his eyes again.
“Do you want more water?” Ninah asked and he looked at her in confusion, as though he didn’t understand. That was strange, surely an angel would be able to understand what she was saying.
“Would you like more water?” she repeated, and at the angel’s continued look of confusion she pointed at the glass. Understanding flooded his eyes and he nodded as a violent tremor wracked his body.
Ninah bit her lip at seeing this, indecision in her eyes. She didn’t want to tell anyone about the angel because they’d probably take him away from her before she had the chance to play with him. It was just something she instinctively knew and that wasn’t fair, the angel was hers. He’d come to her playhouse after all hadn’t he? But on the other hand she could see he was very ill and she didn’t know how to make him better. Only her mother or Doctor Parker could do that.
Ninah fought with her conscience for several minutes, but in the end her upbringing wouldn’t allow her to let another creature suffer, no matter what she herself stood to gain from it. Resigning herself to losing her angel she said, “You’re very sick, I’ll go and tell Mommy to fetch the doctor”.
The angel may not have understood Ninah when she asked
about the water but he certainly grasped the meaning of what she said now. His eyes snapped wide open, full of fear. He tried to sit up, flapping his wings a few times to help him rise, stirring the air in the playhouse into crazy little eddies. He managed to get one elbow under him and with his free hand he grasped Ninah’s wrist, not hard but insistent, and shook his head violently from side to side.
His grabbing her had scared Ninah, causing her heart to race, but she calmed down upon seeing the obvious fear in his eyes. “Okay, okay, I won’t,” she said, and he dropped his hand from her arm, collapsing to the floor once more. A small moan escaped his lips.
In truth, Ninah was a little relieved. The angel had told her not to bring help, he was still hers! Rising, she picked up the glass and told him she’d get him some more water. The angel didn’t even stir in response.
4
“Hi Mom, hi Dad,” Donna called dully as she and Cassie tromped through the front door and past the parlor. Cassie, sounding a little more spirited, echoed her greeting.
“Hi there,” Mrs. Blair answered. “You’re back early, did you have a good time?”
“Yeah, it was okay,” Donna said, stopping in the parlor doorway. “But it was strange, there were