Daniels Song. Katherine Dobney
told Hope everything, well almost everything. I told her as much as I could in one night. We might be going out tomorrow, if her father agrees. I’ll tell her more then. I thought it might be easier to just answer her questions. You know… the things I wouldn’t even think of telling her. She asks for such odd small details, why my wings glowed for heavens sake. I did get around to telling her why I was sent here and what I did in heaven.” I put down the cookie losing my appetite.
“Willy, how do I do this? I feel disgrace and liberation in the same moment. I told her of my transgressions, the hatred I had of her kind. Yet she stayed with me and listened. Willy… why my story… why Hope, and what does this have to do with Gabriella. You know I don’t have the power to protect Hope.”
I looked at Willy pleading for an answer. “I wish…”
But before I could say more, Willy interrupted me with his favorite quote: “If wishes were horses”
“Willy, I don't understand, how do I find the answers?”
“There are things beyond the bounds of your knowledge. Things that were set in motion long ago. Hope and her father are just some of the keys. All I can tell you is… learn from her and protect her. She will show you the way.” Willy eyed the cookie on my plate asking, “You going to eat that?”
“No.” Willy took the cookie and marched away. All I could think of was he better eat it before Rachael finds crumbs in their bed.
I didn’t sleep very well. It was as if my mind was racing with thoughts, and visions, but none of it was familiar to me. As if I had a thousand questions, and no answers for them. It wasn’t until the early morning that I finally fell asleep.
Again I awoke to someone knocking on the door. “Daniel, are you alright?” It was Rachael again.
“Yes, come in.” I sat up in bed with my head between my hands, hoping the pounding would stop.
“You don’t look well.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it Daniel, what’s wrong?”
“My head won’t stop pounding and the light’s a little bright. What time is it?”
“It’s after three.” She put her hand against my forehead. “Your warm, like you’re running a fever.”
“I can’t run a fever… angel, remember?”
Then her mind seemed to register something. I could hear her mentally call out to Willy. A second later, there he stood looking at Rachael and myself. I knew that expression. Willy knew something. What was it? He looked as if he was wondering just how much he should actually say.
“Yes, you’re running a fever. Your body is trying to adjust. I don’t think it will last much longer than a week or so.”
“Adjust! Willy what’s wrong with me?” Was this the moment? I knew one day it would come. The day I would cease to exist? Now would my debt be paid in full?
“Daniel, you’ll be alright. I told you, you’d be given a power to know if Hope was in danger. That you would be able to feel her fear.”
“William, then why is he sick!” Rachael only called him William when she was upset or worried.
Willy’s voice was tranquil and calm, just what I needed right now. He looked at Rachael then me. “Daniel… has been in human form longer than any one of us that I know of. Unlike the way we move between divine spirit in heaven and our life here with mankind, Daniel has been limited to this earth. Though none of us age or have ailments Daniel is… different than us. He’ll need time to adjust to the new power. It will need to bond with his spirit.” Just then we all jumped as the quiet, hushed surrounding of my room was broken by my annoying ring tone. My cell phone was ringing and vibrating off the night table.
“You should probably answer that. It’s Hope.” Willy said as he and Rachael walked out the door, closing it gently behind them. Picking up my phone, sure enough, it was Hope.
“Good afternoon, Hope.”
“How did you… never mind, angel thing right?”
I had to laugh sometimes she was so innocent. “No, caller I.D.” Then I could hear her laugh in the background. The extra sensitive hearing was an angel thing, but I didn’t tell her that.
“Dad said I could go stargazing tonight. If you still want to.”
“Hope, that would be perfect. Same time and place and I’ll show you the Genesis star.”
Again, I found myself leaning against a rock with my wings wrapped around Hope, protecting her. I pointed toward a cluster of stars.
“See that bright one?” as I pointed toward the north. “It’s called Polaris, the north star.”
“The Little Dipper, Dad taught me that one. I got lost once and Dad said I would always know which way was north if I found that star. So I would always be able find my way home.”
Find my way home, I never thought of it that way. I longed for home. Sometimes I questioned my memories. I knew that some of the beauty of heaven was slipping away from me.
“It’s more than that to me. The Little Dipper, as you call it. To the powers it’s called the Genesis Star, the beginning. A reminder of what we were created for.” What I once was long ago, I thought to myself.
“I don’t see a star, just a dipper.” Hope was tilting her head back and forth. I guess she was trying to see my star. Suddenly a wave of intense emotion surged through my body and the fever was starting to return. This time it was just a slight warm feeling. I pulled my necklace over my head, holding it out in front of me. I positioned it to the stars.
“The top of the sword is the North star. The next one on the handle is the hilt of the sword. The next star down from there is Heaven star. Then there’s the center star followed by the South star and the corner star is the Earth star.”
“What about the last one. What do you call it?”
“That star is the tip of the swords blade, its called… Justice.” Now, I questioned the justice I gave to the end of my sword. I knew right from wrong. It was as clear as black and white, or was it?
“What does it mean, your star?” Hope’s voice was just a whisper again. She probably felt my body tense up, not understanding why.
“It’s a symbol, a reminder. The four points on the side of the star represent North, South, East, and West. The top star points toward the heavens. The bottom star points toward earth. It’s one piece folded over then under. It has no beginning and no end. It’s to remind us why we were created, to protect all, in all directions, the heavens above and the earth below. The sword was Father’s gift, the power to do so.”
“Any other stars up there that have any meaning to you like your Genesis star?” Hope had her finger pointing upward.
“No Hope, only that one.”
“There's so many out there, they're all beautiful.” In a whispered voice, that sounded so sad. “Daniel how long… have you been here on earth. Living like the rest of us.”
“I have seen too many wars. I have seen places in this world built, and rebuilt, many times.”
“So you're not going to tell me how old you are?”
I was trying to think of a way to tell Hope that I've walked on this earth almost two thousand years. The truth, always the truth, would she understand? “Hope, I've been here for almost two thousand of your years.”
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