Chapter 3.
The act of transcending into human form, did not take long. Noel had expected some kind of amazing transformational experience as his stunning angelic self, melted through the dimension of the angels through to the dimension of the children, in a specifically selected secluded area on Fisherman’s Wharf.
The extraordinary attack of the elements on his senses caused Noel to take several uneasy steps backwards, and hold himself up by the wall on which he reversed into.
“Wow!” he shouted at the top of his human voice, swiftly following by a belly laugh, that caused him to touch his stomach and marvel as the experiences he was undertaking as a human being.
He held his head up high and sniffed in the salty sea air, slowly and with great emphasis, marveling at the impact it had on his thought process. It made him feel so alive, it stimulated him to want to run to down to the sea and swim with the marine life. He knew of course he couldn’t do this, as one of the many great white sharks would have him back home quicker than a blink of a human eye.
“Right Noel” he said to himself, “Get a grip! You have been given all the skills of an assignment angel and you must use them!”
He tried to steady himself and gain composure, reminding himself that he was in this position as a gift from God, that he was experiencing humanity and was tasked with affecting a situation on this Eve of Christmas.
“OK Noel” he reminded himself again, “You are here for a reason!” He took a deep breath to calm is beating heart, oh how he loved the feeling of a beating heart!
“I need to know what I look like.” He turned around in circles, partly in confusion partly in search for some form of looking glass. He looked down at his feet; he was wearing a pair of black non branded training shoes and a pair of extremely baggy denims. He lowered his chin to look at this top and naturally pulled at it to see what he was wearing.
“Oh how funny!” he said as he looked at the image on his T-shirt, “Black Sabbath! Ha! Oh the sense of humour I am afforded on this day! Thanks!” he shouted loudly raising his head to the sky.
He could see Pykes in his eyes view. It was only a few hundred yards away and he was aware that he was to take Dan’s place in the Kitchen right away. He made his way towards his destination with great happiness. He felt blessed amongst all the Christmas angels; here he was, on earth and walking as a human!
Arriving at the restaurant front doors, he smiled widely in anticipation of the next 24 hours. He had until 6pm Christmas morning to affect a change.
He was just about to open the plush, highly polished front doors to make his entrance and first hand encounter with the children. He could hardly contain his excitement when he caught sight of his reflection in the glass. He stopped instantly in his steps as he gazed at the person looking back at him.
He was a young eighteen year old boy, he was not what you would call handsome, he was thin, tall and gangly to look at. The face that grinned back at him was also thin, his hair jet black and shortly cropped to his head, his nose slightly thin and pointed, his eyes large and deep brown in colour. Noel thought himself interesting, with a face that people would want to know.
Satisfied with his persona, Noel entered the restaurant with jovial confidence, smiling at people as he walked into the reception with utterances of ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘seasons greetings’ to the cleaners and staff who were too busy to stop and talk. The best response he got was a quick nod of acknowledgement. He walked up to the girl at the main desk who was busy sorting out many white roses.
“Hello!” he almost bellowed; which startled the pretty young girl deep in thought, with a frown upon her face, “I’m Noel, I am here from the agency.”
The girl looked up at him, the frown still on her face,
“You should have gone through the back door. The kitchen door. Never, ever come through the front entrance again!”
“Oh right” Noel replied, a little embarrassed with himself for not doing the right thing, “Sorry Daisy.”
The frown on her pretty freckled face deepened,
“How do you know my name?”
Noel smiled widely at the pretty girl, his first conversation with one of the children. He looked down at the white roses.
“I see you bought the wrong colour roses!” he said, nodding his head towards the objects of her concern.
“Yes!” she stood up, totally bewildered with this gangly boy before her, “How did you know?”
“You know” Noel continued, “a dusting of silver glitter will make them look beautiful.”
She looked down at her mistake, “Chef is going to go mad. He said red roses, and I went and bought white. No wonder they call me dizzy Daisy!”
Noel gave a huge belly laugh at her words, “Dizzy Daisy. That’s precious!”
“No it’s not!” she said angrily, “It’s an insult. What’s wrong with you?”
“An insult? No, no Daisy, it’s not an insult. Dastardly Daisy, or Depressed Daisy, now these are insults, not Dizzy Daisy! One can be dizzy with excitement, dizzy with love, dizzy with life!”
Daisy gazed at this strange young man before her.
“You are just weird! If I were you Noel, I would get to the kitchen, they sacked Dan and they need your hands in there. This is our busiest time of the year.”
“I know, I know poor Dan” Noel shook his head slightly, “Unemployed at Christmas.”
“Do you know Dan?” Daisy enquired, becoming more puzzled by the second with this person “How do you know him?”
Noel just beamed his joyous smile back at her, never answering her questions.
“I best get to the kitchen then Daisy” he said, turning towards the front door in readiness to walk to the back of the building and enter through the kitchen door.
“Merry Christmas Daisy!” he boomed back, as he left the front entrance to the restaurant.
“Well he won’t last long” she said as she picked up one of the white roses, “He’s far too happy and full of Christmas cheer.”
She squinted her eyes as she recalled her encounter with Noel,
“How did he know my name? How did he know about the roses? And how does he know Dan?”