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Moms View Message Board: Short Stories, Poetry and Articles : THE SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT
There he sat, on a lumpy cloud looking down on them. "Why all the tears"? He shrugged. It was really no big deal. Besides he felt great now, not weak and sick all the time like before. He could run and leap from cloud to cloud, and climb the Pearly Gates, (but that was only when Saint Peter was busy elsewhere). "Oh darn, I wish they'd stop all that crying. It's almost Christmas and they haven't even started getting ready". Up here Christmas was a big deal, with angel choruses practicing at all hours and heavenly wings flapping off in all directions. He wasn't sure yet what part he was to play in all the preparations. He was always in the way. He didn't know the ropes yet. To stay out from underfoot he flew to this lumpy little cloud. There he sat on Christmas Eve, and watched his family grieve. "Angels are supposed to be happy", he told himself. "I'm an angel now, but it's hard to be happy when I'm in the way and the people that I left down there are all so sad". When he had arrived, a few days before, Saint Peter told him to come to him if he had any questions, so with a not quite heavenly flick of his wings he went in search of the Gate Keeper. Peter felt a tug on his saintly hem, and looking down saw a tousled brown head, almost knee high. "I've got a problem", said the cherub. "It's almost Christmas, and I don't seem to fit in around here at all". "My family is still so sad that it's hard for me to be happy". "Heaven's supposed to be a happy place, isn't it"? Saint Peter gave a muted chuckle, "Getting lost in the mob, huh, and looking down too much"? "Well maybe we can fix that". "How would you like a job', he queried, "a special assignment", and he bent down to whisper into a tiny ear. A wide grin spread over the young face. "I can handle that", he assured the jovial saint, and flew away. Down below his family faced a bleak Christmas. An empty bed, a missing face, and an unclaimed stack of toys made them all somber. No one felt much like celebrating the holiday this year. The phone rang and his mother answered it. When she got off she had that (take charge) expression on her face. "We've got to do something", she announced. It seemed that Tommy, Marks best friend and hospital roommate for so long, would not get home for Christmas. His parents were snowed in, and were unable to get to the hospital to pick him up. "We can't let him stay in that hospital room all alone on Christmas. "We know how to care for him. We have the four wheel drive to get him. Let's bring him here. What do you say?" They all agreed on the plan, and as Dad left to get Tommy, they were making up a bed, wrapping those left behind toys, and sniffing the scent of cookies baking in the kitchen. Tommy soon arrived, pale and thin as Mark had been, but grateful to be away from the hospital. They showed him his room fed him a few warm cookies and tucked him into the waiting bed. On Christmas morning, five eager faces appeared at the master bedroom door. After the endless wait for Mom and Dad to get up, were ushered into the living room aglow with the sparkling tree. Even the youngest stood back and let Tommy reach the gifts first. "These say, 'To Tommy'. How did Santa know I was here"? He scrubbed off a tear as they explained that a long distance call had alerted Santa to his change of plans. As the kids were tearing into the gifts the phone rang. "That was Tommy's parents", Dad explained. "They are on there way here, and will have Christmas dinner with us before they take Tommy home". Oh there were tears, and moments when memories formed lumps in throats, but a little boy so much like their Mark was there enjoying the special wonder of Christmas. That evening, as the two families sat around the golden turkey, Dad bowed his head and prayed, "..for peace, Lord, and happiness to all at this table, and health, (He caught the eyes of Tommy's parents) and long life to all within these walls...." While high above a smug little angel polished his halo on his sleeve. "Mission accomplished", he grinned, and went off to practice his three point landings.
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