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| Victor Anderson Network Solutions | ||||
| 4102 13th Ave Apt D6 | ||||
| Brooklyn, NY 11219-1333 | ||||
| Click here to end further messaging. |
I met an angel once on a brisk night in early November at a bar in New York City. I've never been a religious man I wouldn't even say spiritual, but after it happened I considered changing the way I looked at a lot of things. I knew it was the beginning of the end. Or maybe the end of the beginning. Guess it all depends on the perspective. Either way, the world hasn't been the same since.
I walked in to The Hemline around seven o'clock that evening and looked for a seat at the bar. This was usually a fairly busy time for the haunts of the Fashion District, that witching hour between when the forty-something year old building engineer regulars left and the twenty-something designer wannabees filled in. The front bar area was uncommonly empty, but when I saw the imposing figure sitting dead center it made a little more sense. He was almost my height sitting down so I pegged him at about six feet eight inches tall. He had the chest and shoulders of a man who spent the last thirty years commanding a jack hammer, and the waist and legs of a prepubescent teenage boy. He resembled those weightlifters who never did leg days. I noticed a large burn ring on the crown of his bald head, and his eyes were incredibly dark. I thought it was the lack of lighting most NYC bars offered, but there was darkness the polar opposite of the cloudy-eyed cataracts you might find on a completely blind person.
He might have stood out more if this wasn't New York City and a few days after Halloween. But The Hemline was my favorite of my regular bars, and I had seen plenty stand-outs over the years. I had no problem walking up and taking a seat keeping one chair between us, as is common ?single man at a bar? etiquette.
I nodded to Leda as I took my jacket off and got comfortable. She was my regular bartender here for the last five years, and she smiled in recognition. I took a quick look around and soon had a shot of Jameson and a pint of Guinness in front of me. I raised my shot glass to my neighbor in mock toast and knocked it back in one hard swallow. Leda was heavy handed with her pours. Then I took a long draught of the stout and glanced at the television.
?Weather's not bad for this time of year, right?? I asked. I was known for making small talk with random visitors If there was a game on either of the seventy inch televisions at either end of the bar, I was all but guaranteed to get into a heated but friendly debate.
?Yeah, definitely seen worse,? he mumbled. He didn't really look away from the television or pay much attention to the conversation. About right for a typical NYC bar, and I wasn't offended or deterred.
?I do a shot for every state that comes up blue, double if it flips from red to blue. California just came in, and Florida should report in soon. Hell, I hope to be dead drunk by the time the polls close,? I chuckled and he snickered.
?Come again??
?Yeah, man, I need something to make this whole election thing more entertaining. I mean, I care about issues, but this thing can drag on and on, so I do shots based on the results every time they call a state.?
?And double for red to blue, huh? You really think what's her face got a real chance to win it all??
I almost choked on my beer laughing. ?A chance? Bro, it should be a bloodbath.?
?If only we could be so lucky.? he snickered again. It seemed somewhat odd this time. There was a weird timbre to his voice that I couldn't place. Like trying to listen to someone on a plane after your ears pop. I motioned to Leda for another round.
?Well, who do you think is going to win?? I posited the question like an investigative journalist breaking the interview of the century. It wasn't sports, but a healthy debate seemed to in the cards nonetheless. He turned to face me more, and the weathered face looking back was noticeably older than I originally thought when I sat down. Maybe be a bad makeup job, but still. Strange.
?First of all, we could give two shits who wins. We care only about the aftermath. The chaos that would likely ensue on a world wide scale regardless of who wins.?
?Damn, dude, that's dark??
?But since you're so confident why don't we bet on the next round of reports. Loser buys.?
I expected another snicker, but none came. Nothing came. I tried to search his eyes for some sign of ? well, anything recognizable. I found nothing in his voice or his eyes. It probably would have been more frightening if this wasn't the third bar I'd been to since getting off work at four thirty. Leda replaced my drinks and then went back to her cell phone games and web videos.
?Sheeeet, I'm definitely a gambling man, especially when the odds are in my favor. You're on.?
?Excellent.? That weird feeling was back hearing his voice again. I couldn't help but picture Mr. Burns from the Simpsons smiling with hellfire in the background. Yeah, I was officially a little tipsy.
?So you really think that dude is a better choice for the country??
?Again, we don't much care.?
?You one of those people that are still mad about Obama? Get over it, bro.?
?Nah.?
?Ok, you must be some kind of anarchist or something.?
I thought I saw a light behind his eyes flicker. I blinked to double check, but the voice on the television broke my concentration. The newscaster cleared his throat and continued. ?Ladies and gentlemen. The poll results are in for Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio,? I looked over at my compatriot with a confidently smug smirk and picked up my shot glass to resume drinking to my success on his tab. ?And, yes, it is confirmed.?
I turned to face him directly and started my celebratory chair dance. I started looking towards Leda to signal it was time to re-up.
?In a shocking turn, the Republican challenger has carried all three key states,? the reporter continued, ?and is looking strong in other key states that have historically voted Democrat for the past two decades.?
This time I did choke as the shot stuck in my throat in disbelief and dismay. He snickered again at first, and then laughed more hardily. I took a few sips of Guinness to try to get everything going back down the right pipes.
?HA! We like this game!? he said, and this time he was the one to get Leda's attention, flashing up three fingers for shots. Wait, was he missing fingers? Was he a disgruntled veteran? That would explain why he was acting this way, still upset with the Democratic base's insistence on pulling out of the wars in the Middle East. No,I probably just saw a bad angle and didn't see his hand right in this depressingly poor bar lighting.
?Damn Republicans. You don't have to be a jerk about it.?
?Told ya before, we don't give a shit. It's all a game to us. But seeing how invested you are gave us an idea. Double or nothing??
?And so you're all in with the shot game now, too??
He nodded. ?We are.?
?Ok, I guess. I did say that I was a gambling man, and hey, the more the merrier. Who's here with you??
?We do not understand.?
?Why do you keep saying ?we' and ?us' when you are the only one I'm talking to??
?Ah, we see now. You wouldn't understand,? he said matter of factly.
?Hey, I'm as liberal as anyone you'll ever meet. So if this is about how you gender-identify, I don't give a??
?We should have said you can not understand.?
?Come on, man, now you're just being rude. Ain't no need to talk down to me and call me ignorant.?
I turned back around in my seat muttering to myself how much of an asshole he was being.
?We keep forgetting about your kind and your sensitive emotions.?
I turned around, fully prepared to investigate the ?your kind' comment with violent thoroughness when he continued.
?We are a higher being. What you humans would call an angel. Singularity can't define us as you typically do.?
I was the one who snickered then.
?Get the hell outta here, man, I ain't that drunk.?
?Watch and listen.?
I heard distant choral singing emanating from inside my head and all around me at the same time, and for the first time tonight there was a hint of light in their eyes. That circle on his bald head emitted a faint glow. It was imperceptible to everyone else in the bar, but I was certain it was there.
?Ho-ly shit. Holy shit.? That's all that would come out. I couldn't help but stare, but he - it - didn't seem offended or even surprised. ?But, but? How??
?You humans are so vain. You may have been given dominion over this world, but that does not mean remotely that you inhabit it alone. There have always been and will always be others amongst you.?
I downed the rest of the Guinness and tried to get a grip on what I just discovered. They were right - I couldn't understand. I mean it's one thing to believe there's life on other planets, but angels in bars in New York City? That was just too much.
?So why do you care so much about chaos and turmoil? I thought you all weren't supposed to interfere in human things and such.?
?That is exactly why we care about the chaos. You were given everything, a limitless world of potential with the free will to explore it all. Yet you seem mostly content to use a fraction of the brain power and that free will to do anything productive that does not lead to wars and violence against your own kind. In the vast cosmos of things in existence you are all more alike than you could ever be different, yet all you do is concentrate on the fraction of a percent of traits that separate you.?
I don't know if they paused for effect or if I just focused intently on what they had just said and zoned out for a second pondering the ?vastness of the cosmos?.
?Oh I get it now. So in a nutshell, you get off on the pain that is the human experience??
?Again, so short-sighted.? When they snickered this time, I heard it in full stereo with my ears and my mind. I guess there was no need to hold back with me now that I knew what they were.
?Well, what then??
?You humans think this is all about you, and that when you're done with this world everything will just be destroyed and then you get to inherit heaven? After the terrible jobs you've done as a steward of this place??
?Yeah, yeah, I'm not even sure I believe in heaven. At least I didn't really until tonight.?
?Oh, it's real. And when we say you could not understand, this time we really mean there is no way for your human mind to comprehend. Your laws of physics simply do not apply. The things humans will learn in the next millennium will not apply.?
?Ok, I get it. Puny humans. So again, what's in it for you??
?We - in the plural sense you are used to using in conversation - get this world. All of it. The faster you humans ruin it for all humankind, the faster we get to finally enjoy it without needing to heed warnings of intervening in human affairs. You all are like a disease ruining the experience of the world for all other creatures. The sooner you are gone, the better for everyone else.?
?If it's so bad down here and you hate us so much, why don't you just go back to heaven.?
For the first time of the night I sensed something like loss from them. It took my breath away like a well placed punch to the solar plexus. I just felt like the loss was shared and hurting inside me as much as them.
?Not all of us can.? After a minute, they continued. ?So we wait out your existence until we can at last claim this world. The chaos, the fear, the frustration all lead to your ruin. As those things rise your contempt for each other rises with it, all moving you closer to your own self-destruction.?
They definitely paused for effect this time. And I got the full brunt of it.
?So, we doing this or what??
?Huh??
?We have some election news to watch and some shots to be had, do we not??
?I somehow feel like the stakes have changed??
?Not for us.?
Before I could respond with the value of humankind, the newscaster was back.?
?We can now report - Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Virgina, all for Republican underdog! Honestly, the way this night is going, I don't know how much longer we'll be able to call him that.? There were groans from random tables in the bar, and the Democratic pundits on set with the newscaster were shaking their heads in disbelief. Leda turned the volume down again as the television personalities apparently tried to apply reason to the current state of events, and once again the bar was awash in top 50 pop and hip hop waiting for the next update and then back to her cellphone.
They smiled widely. ?Yes. Yes, we like this game a lot. Drinks for the bar on us!? they exclaimed.
And now that I understood why they were smiling, I definitely changed the way I looked at a lot of things.
I was sure it was the beginning of the end. Or the end of the beginning.
Guess it all depends on the perspective.
Ela woke to a very cold autumn Morning. Not wanting to leave the warmth and comfort of her bed, however, thinking she shouldn't let the day go to waste she forced her self to get up and sluggishly walked into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. Ela turned the cold water knob of the faucet and began filling the coffee pot full of water. Looking out the window she took a deep breath, then exhaled, "Must be the first frost of the season," she muttered while noticing a shimmer of white glistening over what used to be a lush green field of grass outside her kitchen window; the last leaf had fallen to its final resting place on the frozen ground from the maple tree off in the distance. The water almost overflowing from the coffee pot, she looked down and caught it just in time. She turned off the water and finished making her coffee.
While getting dressed Ela decided she was going to go for a walk through the park near her house. Being as cold outside as it was she chose a warm pair of leggings and a winter jacket lined with wool and soft fur like material lining the hood. After getting dressed she drank the last of her coffee and headed for the door.
Ela arrived at the park just after a few minutes walk from her house. The park was mostly vacant with the exception of an older gentleman on the far side of the park and a mother pushing a stroller around the playground with what Ela could only assume was an infant inside the stroller while an older, yet still very young child climbed the jungle gym that was framed in the center of the playground.
Thoroughly enjoying the fresh air and the calmness, Ela began her walk on the path around the park. It was bitterly cold, but not unbearably so. Her mind was empty of any thought not allowing for anything of importance to interrupt her peaceful morning. Her focus turned to her breath that plumed around her in a haze of condensation as she continued her stroll down the cobbled path.
The scenery was nature at its finest; exactly what she needed on this fine autumn morning. The sun finally broke through the clouds and allowed for rays of light to reflect off of the now melting frost on the grass. The birds in the trees and the sky were widely awake swooping and diving around the park donning their blue feather's and red underbellies, then landing back at their perch in the trees. Squirrels with disheveled grey fir and big bushy tails were running frantically from tree to tree in search for food to store before winter set in. The sight of the already fattened squirrels caused Ela to laugh.
Still smiling and filled with a bout of encouragement from the sights of the birds and squirrels Ela decided to leave the beaten path and wander deeper into the park. She headed away from the playground and through a field towards a grove of tall oak trees less than a football fields length away.
The leaves rustled under her feet with the trees cascading over head as she entered the grove. Stunned by the intricacy of the woven patterns of the limbs and the rough and rustic knots protruding from the trunks of the trees that are so unique to the oak itself. Something only Mother Nature and Father Time could create.
Wondering to herself, being so close to home, why she had never visited this very patch of trees or how she had never noticed their artistic presence before. Ela continued to walk at a much more somber pace, wanting to remain in the grove for a while longer to fully appreciate her surroundings. As she neared the center of the grove there was one tree that stood out to her among all of the others. She became particularly drawn to this one for a reason she couldn't explain. What ever the reason was she decided to go to it. After a few paces she reached the tree placing a hand on the outer bark of the trunk, looking high up into the canopy where the barren branches loomed over her; feeling the jagged grooves and valleys of the bark underneath her finger tips. It left her feeling a discernable connection with nature. Almost falling into a trance like state Ela pulled herself from the ethereal hold that the tree had on her and removed her hand from the trunk of the tree.
She looked around, then to the ground. Bending over to pickup one of the tall oak's leaves. Twirling the stem of the leaf between her fingers causing the fans of the leaf to twirl with it. Returning the leaf to the place where she picked it Ela spotted an object in the exact spot where the leaf was resting before it was moved.
Sitting there was a tiny glass marble no bigger than the size of Ela's thumb. Setting the leaf to the side Ela reached for the marble wanting to get a closer look. The marble was perfectly clear and round in shape. There wasn't a single imperfection. Wondering where it came from, the only reasonable explanation she could come up with was that a child or group of children must have dropped it while playing under this very same tree. The marble was absent of any dirt or weathered sign from being outside. It couldn't have been out here long. Doubting that anyone would come looking for it Ela wanted to keep it for a souvenir as a reminder of what has already been a very pleasurable morning. Instead she chose to return it to the spot she found it, in hopes that who ever lost the marble would find it again.
Ela moved to place the marble back on the ground, this time without the leaf covering it, in case someone actually came looking for it. When she did, something inside the marble started to take shape. Ela stopped for a moment, then brought the marble closer to her face and held it up to the light so she could get a better look.
Like a miniature crystal ball, the marble began to fill with what looked like smoke, forming a grey cloud that ebbed and flowed from within the glass. Suddenly, the cloud started to change colors and dance whimsically as though it was being driven by an orchestrated symphony composed by the likes of Beethoven or Bach.
It was then that Ela realized that this marble wasn't some kids play toy, but something completely different. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. Where did it come from? Was it magic? Should she hold on to it for safe keeping? Ela didn't have an answer for any of these questions, so she focused back on the marble.
The elegantly moving cloud inside the marble started taking on another shape altogether. This time changing into a galaxy with planets and stars stuck in slow rotation perfectly suspended from within. Twinkling and shining, it resembled something you could only find in pictures of outer space or looking through a very powerful telescope.
Fixated on the little sphere in the palm of her hand another change was in affect. The galaxy gained momentum spinning faster and faster until the plants and stars blurred together in a magnificent show of yellow and white cycling lights. Spiraling upwards towards the sky, almost as instantaneously as the tornado of planets and stars started, it stopped; transforming into what appeared to be the body of a tiny green chrysalis hanging from the inside of the marble.
In awe of the powerful images that were coming to life inside the tiny glass marble Ela still could not comprehend what she was holding. She didn't think it was possible that an object like this could be created by man. Was it possible that this was what had drawn her and not the tree. Was she meant to find it or is it just pure coincidence?
Ela did not know what to make of this. Even though the seemingly magical object was miniscule in size, she got the feeling that it was monumental in its purpose. She could not explain the importance of it, or why, but she felt compelled to sit and watch over the marble as its protector; like a hen waiting for her egg to hatch. Following the instinct to do so, she sat under the old oak, watching and waiting to see what could possibly become of this tiny cocoon she was now guarding.
Minutes passed and nothing happened. The chrysalis hanging still; waiting for the next evolutionary step in its life. Ela's patience unwavering, she held her breath in anticipation and had to remind herself to breathe. Maintaining focus not allowing her eyes to wander from the sphere. Ela felt as though her surroundings had completely disappeared. Alone, just her and the marble in an empty chasm of space hovering above the grove, above the park with the playground, above the city she lived in, and above the Earth. In that brief moment of suspended animation the chrysalis hatched, but nothing came out inside the glass of the marble. Instead, materializing out of thin air, an all white butterfly drifted past Ela. She watched as it circled around her, admiring its elegance.
She looked back at her hand for the marble. It was gone. She found herself sitting in the grove next to the oak tree, inside the park with the playground, in the city in which she lives. And next to her was the butterfly that hatched from the chrysalis that was inside the marble she held in her hands moments ago. The butterfly floated next to her for a second as if to say thank you, then gracefully fluttered away toward the city.
Said Ela.
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