Rebecca Chance had known from the very beginning of her quest to become an angel that she stood a fifty/fifty chance of success. She was far too temperamental for her own good. Training was a strenuous combination of being lectured by a senior angel ten hours a day and good old hands-on experience. Aspiring angels were not allowed to go anywhere near humans until after they had endured one year of the seemingly never-ending book studies. Rebecca had endured all of this, had sat stiffly in her desk (Sally did not allow you to slouch) every day for a year now, and her time to accept a case on Earth had arrived at last.
Her subject was a male named Anthony Weis. He was a single father to a three-year old daughter named Miranda. Apparently, Anthony had lost his job, his house, and would soon debate suicide. Anyone in the angel world knew that this was potentially an enormous disaster, so the senior angels had assigned Anthony as Rebecca’s first case. It was said that the senior angels would always attempt to assign simple jobs to the aspiring angels for their first assignments. Rebecca’s duties entailed of entering Anthony’s life and persuading him to live life morally, or, in this case, by not committing suicide. Easy enough, right?
Why, then, were Rebecca’s palms sweating, and her legs shaking? Once she officially became an angel and received her (metaphorical) wings, then she would no longer be a mere human. She would not be cursed with frail nerves, or a case of the jitters. Rebecca could not wait until that day arrived!
She had been struck speechless on that day long ago when she was approached by Sally as she sat alone in her tiny studio apartment. She had been astonished for more reasons than one. Firstly, there was the fact that she was not exactly angel material. One could say that her fiery red hair matched her temperament perfectly. The second cause of her shock had been pure disbelief. Surely she had been hallucinating. Rebecca had looked up from her torn couch to see a beautiful woman with long blonde hair, and gorgeous blue eyes smiling down upon her. She thought maybe she had died.
Sally had informed her that she had been chosen by God as one of the elite few among humans to have a chance at becoming an angel. She would not have wings and a halo (those were just myths, apparently), but she would be an angel sent on missions to help save people. Rebecca had looked around her small apartment, that was infested with rats and cockroaches, and had not hesitated in her acceptance. In a whirlwind of activity, she had shortly been learning the ins and outs of the Angel Academy. She was one of only five women who had been chosen for the position. The men angels were kept separate from the women, so Rebecca had no idea how many of them existed; but she knew they were out there somewhere.
Rebecca pulled herself out of her musings, and surveyed the house in front of her. It was a small home, modest and simple. Out front, there was a U-Haul truck with boxes strewn haphazardly next to it, and a little girl sat on the steps playing silently with a baby doll. Her chestnut hair gleamed in the sunlight, and her brown eyes were very grave for one so young. Rebecca tore her gaze from the beautiful child and searched for her subject, Anthony. She did not see him, but she could hear a male voice muttering angrily from within the U-Haul.
She took a deep breath, and approached the truck.
***
Tony was not in a good mood. But who would be taken aback with this fact, all things considered? His wife, Jane, had left him and his daughter almost immediately after the birth of their first child. He had, in turn, been left to deal with the overwhelming cost of daycare, diapers, formula, and housing as a single father. He was not useless by any means, but the modest income of a plumber only went so far, especially when he could not be on call due to babysitting issues. That was when most plumbers made their income, for they were able to charge double the normal cost of their labor.
Tony had been working hard at being a single father and a small business owner for three years now, but it had finally blown up in his face. He had known his failure was inevitable, but he had always hoped to somehow miraculously avoid it. The only thing that kept him going now was Miranda, his daughter. She was everything that was sunlight and happiness in the dark, dreary world. She was the only good thing left on earth, of that he was convinced. He had long ago given up on God being there for him. There had been too many unanswered prayers for too long now, including the loss of his home. Miranda was all he had.
He ran his fingers through his curly brown hair, and sighed. It was freaking hot in the truck, and he wanted to check on Miranda. He had told her to stay on the steps, but one could only trust an unsupervised three-year old for so long. Miranda was surprisingly mature, but he would still feel better after he ensured she was where she belonged.
He spun around and stopped in his tracks. A woman was standing at the bottom of the ramp to the truck, with her head cocked slightly to the left. She was so beautiful he rubbed his eyes with his fists, thinking that surely the heat must have caused him to have hallucinations. Women of such beauty did not exist. It just was not possible.
When he reopened his eyes, however, she remained. She had shockingly bright red hair that cascaded down her back to her hips. Her eyes were a bright blue color, so bright that they matched the blue sky above her. She was pale white, and had a small splotching of freckles across her nose, yet the rest of her skin was somehow flawlessly smooth. She looked as if she glowed in the sun; but that apparition was probably due to the difference in lighting between the dark truck and the bright sun outside.
He cleared his throat nervously.
“Can I help you?”
The woman simply smiled at him, and he was once again caught off guard. She was gorgeous. He felt himself stiffen, and tried to fight off the reaction. Jane had been gorgeous and had broken his heart, and left her daughter, without as much as a goodbye kiss. He did not like gorgeous women. They were all heartless bitches.
“Yes, I was looking for Anthony Weis. Would that be you, by any chance?”
Tony relaxed, and shrugged. She must be looking to hire a plumber. “That would be me, yes. But I’m out of business, lady. You’ll have to look elsewhere for service. I’m moving.” He motioned lazily to the boxes surrounding them, and then climbed agilely down the ramp to the asphalt below. He did not spare the woman another glance, walking instead towards Miranda. Miranda looked at him with curious brown eyes, and Tony squatted down beside her.
“Hey, darling,” he said softly. Her serious eyes met his, and she smiled slightly. Tony felt his heart lurch as she put her small hand over his knee. He had failed to provide for her, and now they were being forced to move into a tiny two bedroom apartment in Dallas. He had enjoyed living in his small house in the suburbs, with the picturesque white picket fence, while it had lasted; now it was time to return to the city–and to the corporate job, as well.
