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Updated: Aug 7th, 2008 - 14:13:11 |
Til We Meet Again
What he hadn't expected was to find an ethereal beauty waiting to greet him when he crossed to the other side. A female ethereal beauty, that is, not the ethereal beauty of Eternal Glory his mind had pictured. And a not very pleasant female, to boot. Wasn't everyone in Heaven inherently pleasant and agreeable? Apparently not. Golden hair tumbled down her back in loose curls and summer-sky blue eyes met Jack's as she spread her long, shimmering white dress and sat on a rock beside a merrily bubbling stream, an opaque rainbow of inconceivable color on the stream's far side rising toward Heaven.
He was humbled, dazzled by the angelic glow that surrounded her and even as he mourned losing his earthly life, his heart soared at what he saw, the joy and peace that he knew awaited his soul. Soared… right up until the female opened her mouth.
"Drat it," she complained, adjusting wings that sat askew.
Jack remained silent. Maybe he hadn't died after all, maybe this was a bizarre dream warning him of an upcoming encounter with a woman he'd be wise to avoid.
"Well, it's about time," she snapped at him.
Jack inhaled a patient breath, then exhaled it, and though he anticipated the answer he was determined to remain calm. "Have I died?"
The girl stopped in mid-adjust of her wings and turned a disbelieving look to Jack. "Well, now, let's see," she told him. "You're driving your convertible along a winding pacific coast road, you get all excited when you hear your own song on the radio - no conceit there, of course - take your eyes from the road just long enough to shoot through the guardrail and down a loooooong sheer drop, and you want to know if you've died?"
Jack instinctively felt his chest through his white tee shirt, then slid his hands to his stomach above his favorite faded jeans. All felt intact and normal.
The girl sighed and sympathy colored her words. "Feels like you're still all in one piece, doesn't it?" She shrugged. "Technically, you still are...I mean your body is...but it's not nearly as pretty as it was."
"Oh," was all he got out.
She smiled. "I've got some more bad news for you."
"I can't wait," Jack muttered. "I thought you're dead was the ultimate bad news. Guess I'm wrong."
"Don't be a wiseguy," she advised. "That doesn't go over big here."
Jack stared at her. "Here. Where exactly is here?" He walked over to the rock and took a good look at her. "And just who are you?"
The girl held his gaze and the veil of sadness in those intense blue eyes came and went so quickly Jack wasn't sure he'd actually seen it.
"My name is Kelly Jo, but there's no need to introduce yourself."
Jack didn't know whether to laugh or not. Did she mean his name was on her list of "arrivals"? Could this get any more bizarre? As unobtrusively as possible he slipped his right thumb and forefinger onto the back of his left hand and pinched. Ow. Nope, he wasn't asleep. Realization jarred him to his very core and settled coldly into the very marrow of his bones.
I really am dead.
Irritated, Kelly Jo said, "What is it with you people? You never believe you're dead, you always need proof."
Irritated by her irritation, Jack stared at her. This wasn't at all what he'd pictured, but he didn't want to admit, even to himself, that he felt cheated by his lukewarm welcome into Heaven. "Where's my choir of angels?" he demanded. "Where's the Light that I should walk into? Don't I at least deserve those two things?"
Kelly Jo rose, her gaze holding Jack's. "You're not where you think you are, hon," she said lightly.
Shocked, Jack was rooted to the spot. "Not...not..." he stammered, stunned as he rewound his life through his mind. Then he turned a determined gaze on Kelly Jo. "Uh uh. There's no way I wouldn't get into Heaven."
A smile played at her lips and her eyes fought to not reflect that smile. "Boy, I've heard that before."
"Now listen here," Jack began in a huff.
"Oh, relax," she chided, then went again to sit on the rock, missed and fell backward. "Ouch!"
Instinctively, Jack ran to help her to a sitting position. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern, then stopped abruptly. "Wait a minute. If we're dead how did you hurt yourself?"
With one hand in his, the other on the rock, she struggled to her feet. "Your impatience will be the death of you," she said lightly, then said, "Sorry," when she saw Jack found no humor in her joke.
"Neither of us is completely dead. We have a job to do, one that will decide if we get to return to earth and resume our lives."
Jack said nothing. He just wanted to wake up and never again eat or drink whatever had brought on this nightmare.
"Did you hear me?" she asked when he didn't answer.
"I heard you," he responded. "But how can anyone be not completely dead?"
"Well," she told him, "this is considered a...I don't know...how about a holding area? One where someone who died when they weren't supposed to die gets a chance to help an apprentice save someone on earth. You're my assignment."
"Oh, lucky me," Jack offered, then turned thoughtful. "You're saying I wasn't supposed to die in that crash?"
"I'm saying nobody realized you'd jump to blast the radio just because your own song was playing and be inattentive to your driving. You know the rest."
Jack grimaced, but had to ask anyway. "What's in it for you? And what happens if I don't want to help you? Do I just get sent back and too bad for you?"
Kelly Jo walked to stand in front of Jack, her gaze steady on his. "You don't get sent back, Jack. You pass go, collect two hundred dollars and go straight into Heaven."
He held her gaze while he considered that. "And you?"
If there was one thing Jack never expected to see it was tears in an angel's eyes, tears that spilled in a single drop down a flawless face.
"If you refuse, then I wait for the next unexpected death to be assigned to me. With so many of us hoping for that second chance on earth, that could take...well, it could take forever."
Jack stared at her, not pleased with the way she tugged on his heart. His voice softened. "Why can't you go straight into Heaven?"
She lowered her head, then raised it, her summer blue sky eyes clouded with heartbreak Jack knew she'd never willingly share. Her soft voice echoed through his soul. "You're my final chance. Will you help me?"
Jack's fingers reached to gently touch Kelly Jo's face, his gaze not leaving hers. "If it's your last chance and I refuse to help, what happens to you?"
Her attempt at a small smile faltered, then failed. "Then I spend eternity..." she gestured around the area "...probably here."
Jack chewed his lip and narrowed his eyes. "Let me get this straight. If I help you with...whatever...we both get to resume our lives...with no knowledge of ever being here, I assume. But if I refuse to help you I go right to the head of the class, aka Heaven, and you spend eternity right here."
"That's correct," she said serenely, spreading her skirt to sit on the rock. "So you'll help me?"
He held up a hand. "Not so fast," he told her, then lowered his hand. "This sounds a little too easy. Well, easy for me, anyway."
She shot him a look. "Then if it sounds so easy, what's the problem?"
"What kind of an assignment are you talking about? Preventing a suicide? Stopping a murder? Bringing a lost soul back into the church?" He paused when he saw her expression.
"Wow," she told him, her eyes barely concealing her laughter. "I think you watched too many television shows about angels, Jack. And pretty sappy shows, at that."
Annoyed, Jack folded his arms over his chest. "Is there anything else I need to know before I give you my answer of NO THANKS?"
Kelly Jo walked to Jack and stood in front of him, her blue gaze locked with his green one. "I would think," she said cooly, "that you'd be thanking me for this chance. It's not offered to everyone, you know."
Jack couldn't believe his ears. "Thanking you? You've done nothing but poke fun at me."
"You had it coming."
Jack whirled at the male voice that answered Kelly Jo. "No, he didn't."
A tall, white-robed, gray-haired man with a blinding halo and massive wings walked to them, frowning down at Kelly Jo.
Kelly Jo smiled, but Jack clearly heard her muttered, "uh oh".
"I am so sorry, Jack, that you've been intercepted."
Jack stared from the man to Kelly Jo, who was now looking at the ground, then back to the man. "Who are you?" Jack asked.
Kelly Jo answered with, "They call him Big Bob."
Startled, Jack took a step back. "An angel called Big Bob?"
The man frowned at Kelly Jo, and when he looked at Jack, though his voice was calm, the short look he shot to Kelly Jo said oh, just you wait.
"I am not called Big Bob," he corrected, unaware that Kelly Jo mouthed oh yes he is to Jack. "My name is Robert and I'm here to accompany you into Heaven."
Jack raised a finger. "Uh, wait a minute...I thought I was her assignment?"
Robert sighed, a soft sound that echoed on the breeze and rippled light waves in the stream. He turned to Kelly Jo. "You'll be dealt with later...severely this time." He turned back to Jack and smiled, a golden glow growing and pulsating around him. "Take my hand and be guided into the Light that awaits you."
Jack was nearly mesmerized by the incredible beauty, the sight of everything his soul had prepared during life to receive. Then from the corner of his eye he saw Kelly Jo turn her back to him, but not before he saw the devastation in her eyes, all hope drain from her expression.
"Wait," Jack said sharply to Robert.
The golden glow dimmed but Robert's expression remained serene, patient. "We need to leave, Jack," he said gently. "It's your time."
"Kelly Jo," Jack said to Robert. "What's going to happen to her? And what did you mean by she intercepted me?"
Robert sighed and it took a while for him to speak. "Kelly Jo was given one last chance to go back and undo something on earth. She failed, mainly because she very foolishly attempted to do it alone. She's been forbidden to go alone again because her attempt ended with serious consequences for a human being and she's desperate to reverse it. She can only go with another willing soul."
Confused, Jack said, "Well, that's pretty much what she told me. But I don't understand..."
"Kelly Jo doesn't wait her turn for a willing soul," Robert interrupted. "She's on a waiting list but consistently waylays the new arrivals, pushing herself far ahead of those who have waited hundreds of years. This time she's gone too far."
"Too far?" Jack asked.
Robert sighed, but this time it sounded like thunder. "You don't know, do you?"
Though he didn't want to, Jack asked, "Know what?"
"She steered your car off the road."
Jack whirled on Kelly Jo. Even though he knew it wasn't literal, steam shot from his ears, flames from his eyes. "You killed me?"
She pooh-poohed him. "Don't be such a baby."
Flabbergasted, Jack walked to her and towered above her, then lowered his face to hers when she raised it. Her expression was one of only mild interest.
"You..." he breathed harshly. "You...you..." he sputtered.
"What's the big deal?" she burst out.
"What's the big deal?" Jack shouted in disbelief. "You killed me!"
"You already said that," she reminded him. "Besides, the way you drive it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. I merely...helped it along."
Jack stared at her. "You helped it along?"
"A little," she admitted.
"By about fifty seven years," Robert added with a look of reproach to Kelly Jo.
Kelly Jo shrugged. "But it would be in an automobile accident and it would be with you hearing yourself on the radio and reaching for the volume." She shrugged again. "Same conceited scenario...I just speeded it up a little."
"How dare you?" Jack shouted.
Something leaped into Kelly Jo's eyes then, sparks of battle, but tinged with something Jack couldn't identify. "Go then, Jack," she said tersely. "Go with Robert. Into the Light. Forget me."
Deeply angered, Jack wagged a finger back and forth in her face. "Oh, no, you don't. You're not laying a guilt trip on me. You did this. Whatever trouble you're in is your own doing, and if you're waiting for me to say hey, it's okay, no problem that you killed me...FORGET IT."
Jack turned when Robert's golden glow intensified. His emotions were a mixture of sadness and joy. Deep sadness for the unfinished life he'd left behind, overwhelming joy for the everlasting life awaiting him.
Robert's hand reached for Jack's and Jack extended his to within an inch of the uncalloused hand waiting to take him Home. From behind him came a soft, "I'm sorry, Jack. I really am."
Jack stopped and slowly turned to Kelly Jo. The remorse emanating from those beautiful blue eyes into his was genuine and despite his intent his heart melted in forgiveness. He smiled, but couldn't quite bring himself to say, "It's okay," because if he’d been given a choice, he'd return to earth.
He raised his gaze to Robert. "What's going to happen to Kelly Jo? Honestly."
Robert's gaze held Kelly Jo's and Kelly Jo lifted her chin, but didn't look at Jack.
"She'll not be allowed again to return to earth. She knew the rules, knew them well, and still made this choice. You've paid the ultimate penalty for her selfishness. My decision is irreversible."
Puzzled, Jack studied Robert. "I don't get it. Why can't you just return me to earth and undo what she did?"
Robert sighed. "Part of what Kelly Jo told you is firm rule. Those who've been chosen get a second chance at earthly life by helping an angel with an assignment."
"Oh, yeah," Jack said, shooting an unpleasant look at Kelly Jo. "She made a pretty hard pitch for my help. And I definitely get the part that she deserves to be punished for killing me..." He ignored Kelly Jo's scowl and added, "So what's the problem? Send me back. If I can't remember...problem solved."
Kelly Jo stared at Jack. "Are you dense?" she demanded. "Are you not understanding that only those names on that..." she broke off and came back dripping sarcasm and making quote marks with her fingers, "list...are offered the opportunity. You aren't on it."
"Oh."
"Unless..." Kelly Jo began, turning a bright, impish smile to Jack.
"No," Robert said immediately.
Suspicion flooded Jack and he narrowed his eyes at Kelly Jo. He didn't know if she was insane or something close to it and he knew he didn't want to hear what she had to say.
Her smile faded and her gaze riveted to Jack's. "You can return," she said quietly. "There is a way."
Robert's voice boomed from all sides. "I won't allow it."
Unsure, Jack looked from one to the other, but knew if there was a way he'd jump at it. Even if it did include the lunatic with long golden curls and summer sky blue eyes. "What is it?"
Kelly Jo looked at Robert, her gaze defiant. "I have the right to tell him. You know that."
Though Robert's face became an angry mask, he remained silent and Kelly Jo turned to Jack.
"The Law says that if an angel accidentally causes death, the victim has two choices. One, they can voluntarily enter a relationship with that angel. If they succeed, on earth, with the angel's assignment, that person will be returned to their earthly life."
Jack waited, but Kelly Jo was silent. "That's only one. What's the other choice?"
"You can just follow Big Bob through the turnstyle."
Jack brightened. "The choice is mine?" Maybe he could ditch Kelly Jo when they got to earth and...no, one way or another she'd find him.
"No," Robert interjected. "The choice is technically mine."
Jack turned to Kelly Jo. "But you said..."
Robert shook his head and gave Kelly Jo a side look before turning to Jack. "Kelly Jo has a way of twisting everything in her favor...to make it sound simple for you to just jump to her suggestions." He shot another look at Kelly Jo. "The choice normally would be yours, Jack, but not in this case. Kelly Jo has ignored repeated warnings of her interference. Unfortunately, this time, for you."
Jack couldn't take his gaze from Kelly Jo, from the free spirit he sensed lived beneath that cascade of golden hair and blue eyes. Eyes that now filled with unhappiness and brimmed with tears.
"Goodbye, Jack," she said softly and extended her hand to his.
"Goodbye, Kelly Jo," he answered gently, suddenly sorry that his death was her final downfall. He reached for her hand.
"Don't touch her!" Robert ordered.
Too late. Jack's hand contacted Kelly Jo's and in a flash they disappeared.
A second later Jack found himself beneath a wide oak tree, dizzy and barely able to stand from the world spinning around him. Kelly Jo put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
"It's okay," she said gently. "It'll pass in a minute."
Finally, everything stilled and Jack looked around. He took a step away from Kelly Jo and studied her, suspicion strong in his green gaze. "What did you do? Where are we now?"
Her smile was soft, her eyes bright with happiness when they met his. "Somewhere in the south, I think."
"In the south? Are we back on earth?" Jack's heart raced and he closed his eyes in pure joy. Robert had granted his heart's wish after all.
"Yes, but we need to get moving before they find us."
Jack's eyes flew open. "What?"
Kelly Jo grabbed his hand and started walking, dragging him with her. "We just ran away from Heaven. And, oh, boy, Jack, are you in big trouble!"
Jack stopped dead, jerked on the hand Kelly Jo was pulling him with and yanked her straight into his chest. Her wings, still askew, vibrated from the impact and her long white gown shimmered in the light of the southern sun.
Jack grabbed her upper arms and stared at her, his jaw agape. "You kidnapped me from Heaven and I'm in big trouble? You're joking, right?"
"Come on," she urged, pulling away from him and casting furtive glances all around. She grabbed his hand again and started to run, once again trying to drag him along. "If Big Bob catches us we don't stand a chance."
Jack dug in his heels and ripped his hand from hers. "You're nuts," he informed her. "I'm not in any trouble. But I think it's safe to say you're about to have the wrath of Heaven crash down on you."
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Do you have to sound so...so...hokey?" she asked him, then shot him an annoyed look. "And do you have to be so obviously pleased at the thought of me and Heaven's wrath?"
"Yes," he informed her flatly. "To both." He threw his head back and laughed, looked around, then asked her sweetly, "How loudly do I need to call Robert to be heard? Or is he so used to your antics that he's attached a tracking device?"
She took a firm stance and folded her arms over her chest, and though her words were tense they rammed home.
"Jack, if you want a chance to regain your earthly life..."
"That you took," he reminded her.
"...then that chance is through going with me, not with Big Bob," she continued as though Jack hadn't interrupted. "He'll have you in tow and raising your hand to say here to Peter at the Gates lickety-split. Once Peter puts a roll call check beside your name your opportunity to return is gone."
"Well, gee," Jack answered sarcastically and put a thoughtful finger to his chin. "Which is better? Running from an angel who will escort me to the Pearly Gates or running with the angel that killed me and is now attempting to coerce me into helping her do...I can't imagine what, but I'm guessing it isn't good."
Kelly Jo glared at him. "Big Bob warned you not to take my hand. You did it anyway. So you weren't kidnapped, you came willingly."
Jack threw his hands in the air. "That's it," he informed her and stretched his long form out beneath the oak tree. He squinted up, between the branches of the huge oak, into the sunlight dappling the leaves. "I'll wait right here. Run if you want to, but I'm not getting involved any further than you've already dragged me."
"Nobody dragged you," she said testily, kneeling in front of him. "You took my hand because you felt sorry for me and, you might as well admit it, Jack, you were torn between wanting to help me and going with Big Bob."
"No," Jack answered, looking up at her. "I wasn't."
Summer sky blue eyes mocked green ones. "Oh, you were. Big Bob saw it too, and that's why he tried to hurry you away from me. So you couldn't take my hand."
Exasperated, Jack rose to his feet and scanned the sky. "Shouldn't Robert have found us already?"
Kelly Jo came to stand beside him. "No. He'll be looking for me in a small town many miles from here. I have to find a way to get there without being seen."
"Don't tell me anymore of your plan," Jack warned. "Just tell me how to call Robert."
"If I don't get where I need to be in time, Jack, to that little town…the consequences will be devastating. Someone might die that isn't supposed to die."
"They already did," he answered testily. "Me. Remember?"
"I need to fix something, to undo what I caused...I can't do it alone."
"Yep," Jack said pleasantly, pointedly ignoring her and watching the sky for signs that Robert and or a posse had tracked them down. "It's going to be a nice day."
Kelly Jo gasped, but Jack ignored her and kept his gaze on the sky. She was not going to get to him. His resolve was stone that he’d not allow her to wheedle her way into his sympathies again.
"Oh, no," Kelly Jo cried in horror, and despite himself Jack turned.
Kelly Jo's wings were gone and her gown was nearly transparent.
Jack blinked twice. "You're not wearing anything under that gown."
Kelly Jo shot him a look and crossed her arms over her chest, then ran for the cover of bushes twenty-five yards away.
Jack was hot on her heels, involuntarily checking his own clothes, doing the gentlemanly thing and not fastening his gaze on her very exposed, very curvy behind. Everything about his own clothes seemed the same. Solid.
Kelly Jo dove behind the bushes just as her gown faded completely.
Panting for breath from running, Jack demanded, "What's going on? If Robert found us and is carting you back to...wherever we were...does this mean that I'm staying on earth, that you're the only one in trouble and I'm off the hook? I'm alive again?"
Kelly Jo's head shot up above the bushes and though she carefully used her arms and long hair to cover her now completely naked body, her voice was curt. "No, Jack, it doesn't. What it does mean is that my power is dissolving."
"Oh, you mean like your clothes did?"
"Very funny," she shot at him.
Jack laughed. "You made it behind those bushes just in time." He couldn't help it. He snickered and added, "Well, almost in time."
Kelly Jo's eyes snapped fire and she lifted her chin. "Voyeurism on an angel isn't a good character trait, Jack, and Big Bob won't like it."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Voyeurism? Not from where I'm standing. Flashing came to my mind. Is Robert okay with you doing that?"
"Go find me some clothes," she said sternly. "Steal some from a clothesline if you have to, but get something."
Jack let loose with a rip-roaring belly-laugh. "I'm thinking...NO."
She rose to her feet, then realized from the way his brows shot up in interest that too much showed, so she lowered to a near-squat, still using her arms and hair to cover herself. "Jack," she said sweetly. "I'll take the blame for everything...I'll even call Big Bob for you if you want me to, but PLEASE find me some clothes."
"Call Robert first," he said flatly, his gaze holding hers level, despite where his brain ordered his gaze to travel.
Kelly Jo lowered her head, then she sank to her knees. She nodded, and then lifted her gaze to Jack's. "I'll call him for you, Jack, but I'm not going back."
"Kelly Jo..."
"No," she said quietly. "This is it for me and I'm not throwing away my last chance. For you or for anyone else. Even if it means that I get kicked out of Heaven."
Jack sighed. "Your theatrics are getting old, Kelly Jo. You won't get kicked out of Heaven." He studied her face and his alarm grew at the haunted expression in summer sky blue eyes. "Will you?"
Jack heard the catch in her voice when she admitted, "No, not actually kicked out." Compassion stirred deep in his heart when she added, "I'll remain where you first saw me. For a long, long time to come."
From behind Jack, Robert's voice boomed, "Kelly Jo!"
Jack spun to see a very angry Robert approach. "Where is she?"
Rattled at the punishment looming for Kelly Jo, Jack stammered, "Uh...uh...she's uh...we were...her clothes..."
Robert shot Jack a look and again called Kelly Jo.
Jack turned to the bushes but Kelly Jo was gone. How she'd sprinted to the nearby woods without he or Robert spotting her he didn't know, but somehow she'd made it.
"She's naked," Jack remarked, not with a little amazement.
"Yes," Robert confirmed. "I've stripped her power. It should be nearly gone."
Jack stared at Robert. Stripped was the operative word, all right.
Robert locked gazes with Jack. "I've permitted her only enough power for the both of you to return. You need to find her immediately, which shouldn't be too hard, given her choices are limited without clothing."
Puzzled, Jack asked, "Find her? You mean I can't return with you?"
Robert shook his head. "No. You can only return through her power, just as you came here through her power. Find her."
"Can't you just...do whatever it is you do...see through things or whatever...and bring her back here with your power?"
Robert scanned the entrance to the woods. "No. It seems that one of Kelly Jo's final acts before I stripped her power was to use some of it to put up a field that blocks me from locating her." He turned to Jack. "She's made the consequences for her actions much more serious than they needed to be." He gave Jack one final up-and-down look. "No one can see you in your current form, but they can now see her. Call to me as soon as you locate her. I'll take it from there." Robert disappeared.
Jack took a step back. Whoa! Robert was one ticked off angel and Jack was glad that he wasn't the target of the anger emanating from him. Poor Kelly Jo.
Jack shook his head, as though to clear it. Poor Kelly Jo? She sure didn't deserve any sympathy or soft feelings, after all the uproar she'd caused. So, then, why was he feeling sorry for her, almost regretting that he hadn't gone along with her plea for his help?
He ran his gaze along the distant tree line, not at all happy about having to hunt down a troublesome naked woman.
"Pssst!"
Jack looked around in response. Had Robert returned? Nothing and nobody but him and the clear afternoon sunshine.
This time the "Pssst!" was impatient, then followed by a whispered, "Jack!"
Bewildered, he turned to look in every direction. "Kelly Jo?"
"I'm over here."
"Where?"
He started toward the woods, then heard, “No, I'm over here," from the bushes.
Jack scoured the bushes but saw nothing. "Stop playing games and get out here and take my hand," he ordered. "Robert told me..."
"I can't," she shot at him. "Get in here."
Jack stepped into the bushes but still saw nothing.
"Don't step on me," she cried. "Not with those big feet!"
Jack looked down. There on the ground was a small, framed painting, about 8x10. Standing against a background that mirrored where Jack stood was Kelly Jo, demurely posed, her arms and long golden curls covering vital areas.
Taken aback, Jack blurted, "What the..."
"I'm stuck," Kelly Jo informed him. "My power is gone, so you need to figure out a way to get me out of this picture. Quick, hide me inside your shirt and let's get out of here!"
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