An Angel In Waiting

In heaven, the recently deceased are known as Angels In Waiting, or AIW for short followed by a 12 digit number. If they made it into heaven, they were a good person and have earned a prime spot for their afterlife.  Mind you, it takes about a year from the time of death until an AIW gets placed.  The typical, mundane red tape that people were accustomed to on earth is here in heaven too: paperwork, housing issues, background checks.  A person has to be placed where they belong and where they are most needed in the promised land that is heaven. There’s a lot more juggling than you would think. Have you ever had to create a seating chart for a wedding? This is kind of like that but for all of earth’s angel worthy inhabitants.  An AIW’s time in limbo is basically an orientation program, a simulation of actual heaven.  The AIWs are housed in a series of apartment complexes almost like a beautifully maintained idyllic university campus.  Angels look back on this part of their afterlife with very fond memories. Over the course of the year, they become more comfortable with the idea that they are dead, they know they have made it to heaven, and there’s a lot of camaraderie and bonding amongst the AIWs, who are kind of like heaven’s freshmen.

Let’s focus our attention on AIW427118824755, or as he was known on earth, Sal. He was a great man who died a long, painful death.  Sometimes we wish we could intervene when one of our heaven-bound angels experiences too much suffering but alas we have zero control of a person until after they have passed, no exceptions. We’re going to take great care of Sal though, these are our favorite kinds of cases. Of course he would rather be on earth with his family and friends but we do everything we can to make his stay in heaven as sweet as he earned it to be.

Sal occupied one of our best sea view penthouses during his orientation and one morning while I was bringing him his tea, Entenmann’s golden fudge cake (original recipe) and a NY Post, he seemed lost in thought. He always greeted me with a smile and asked me how I was doing, but not this morning. I could tell something was not right. I asked him what was troubling him, and he told me that tomorrow would be his granddaughter Liana’s 4th birthday, that she and his beloved wife and daughter and son-in-law would be down celebrating at the house in Florida that was meant to be his retirement home before he got sick. Sal had been the picture of health before he got sick, full of energy and life and he worked on his feet all day long as a hairdresser even after he began his chemo treatments. He never thought he would have a grandchild, but then his daughter gave birth to a baby girl a year before his cancer diagnosis. He and his wife and best friend Lenore bought their retirement home and they believed they had set up a beautiful future. As they say down on earth, then the shit hit the fan.  Knowing all that I know about Sal from his files and from meeting him in person, I knew how much he yearned to be there with them. To hug them, laugh and celebrate with them, to talk to his granddaughter who was no longer a baby as he knew her, but a child. He was missing all of it.

“You know, Sal. When you get through the pearly gates, there’s a really cool thing we do, twice a year you get to go down to earth, as an animal of your choice and for ten minutes you can be with your loved ones. Of course the animal you choose can’t be a giraffe in the middle of Brooklyn, or anything like that, you have to remain incognito. Typically people choose cardinals, squirrels, butterflies, that sort of thing. I’m thinking, as we’re getting to the very end of your orientation, maybe you can try out this special feature tomorrow? I would have to ask my supervisor, but you’re being a fan favorite, I have a feeling she’ll allow it. What do you think?”

“Wow. I would absolutely want to do this.  I’m not sure what I should be, my wife’s family always believed in animals symbolizing their family members visiting from heaven.  Will she know it’s me?” He asked hopefully.

“That would all depend, the likelihood is rarer than you think, but if she’s intune to the idea, there’s a greater chance she probably spends her time looking for this kind of sign. I’m going to go talk to my supervisor. I’ll be back later today to let you know her answer. If she says yes, we’ll go over the rules together. This is exciting! What are you going to do in the meantime?”

“I think I’ll stay in my room for a bit, maybe watch my family play in the pool a little. I won’t do it too long, just a quick visit, then maybe I’ll go fishing or bake some bread, I found some new recipes I would like to try out.”

“Sounds like a great day, I’ll see you in a bit and I’ll look forward to that bread.” I winked at Sal and went to see Regina after I finished my rounds.

Sal sat down with his tea and Entennman’s golden cake. He dragged his knife through the entire length of the cake to create one long rectangular piece, dunked it into his tea and savored it.  He was instantly taken back 40 years ago, he was in his old house, the kitchen where they spent all of their time.  He could hear his kids arguing over something in the den off of the kitchen, his wife preparing their Sunday dinner.  Those were the hardest days, but those were the best days.  He finished his cake and his daydream, and then he put on his EarthVision glasses.  Each AIW got one hour to watch anything in real time back on Earth.  Just like magic, there was his wife Lenore walking around their Florida lanai with his daughter, Lisa.  It looked like it was a beautiful, sunny day.  They walked over to the edge of the lanai, staring out at the water. Probably looking for alligators in the lake. A swarm of dragonflies buzzed around the lawn and he could hear Lenore tell Lisa, “Jillian says she thinks dragonflies are dad.” Lisa scoffed and said, “those dragonflies have always swarmed around like that in a big group,  they were here when dad was here with us.” Sal laughed, of course Lisa would say that. Then it came to him, he knew exactly what he would be, if he could.

I got back to Sal’s penthouse later that day. He was covered in flour and had some bread with hot peppers and heaven-grade olive oil waiting for me, and he seemed more excited than some crusty bread should warrant, even really good crusty bread, which his was.

“Sal, I said between bites, “Regina said you can go. You should bake her some of this bread as a thank you. There’s a lot we need to go over to prepare you for tomorrow. Is now a good time?”

“I’m ready and I know exactly what I want to be.”

“That’s great! What is it?”

“A dragonfly.” He said with a big grin on his face.

“That’s great! Great choice. Very appropriate. I thought you were going to say an alligator.”

Sal laughed. He had a great laugh. We talked about the rules, what the jump would entail physically and mentally. He told me he wanted to make the jump when they were out swimming by the pool, so we would play the timing by ear.

The next day, we were all set for the jump.  Sal, myself and an EarthJump technician.  It seemed only his Granddaughter and daughter were out in the pool and judging by the looks of it, his wife wasn’t coming out to the backyard.  Sal said it was ok, he understood this was already a treat to be doing this, his excitement palpable.

Sal had great first jump, and pretty soon he got the hang of it, buzzing around like he had always been a dragonfly.  He quieted his wings and watched his granddaughter in awe, she had arm floats on and was splashing, laughing and screaming, her voice so high and squeaky.  She was so beautiful.  There was Lisa with her playing, in the flesh right in front of him.  He was so excited when he saw her, the familiarty of her, that he flew into the screen of the lanai and one of his dragonfly limbs that he didn’t even know was a part of him, got caught into the screen.  “Shit.” he thought to himself in a panic.

Lisa looked over for an instant at the dragonfly stuck to the lanai and then she turned back to her daughter and then she looked over again at the lone dragonfly, no swarm to be found. Sal could see Lisa’s mind working, she always understood what he was saying or thinking. “Lisa!!! Lisa it’s Dad! I love you!!! Get Mom!!!!” Sal screamed.  Through his earpiece the EarthVision technician reminded him, “AIW427118824755, they cannot hear you, please conserve your energy and desist from calling out to them.”

Sal frustratedly went back to watching them, Liana played on, laughing and screaming but Lisa just treaded water, staring at the dragonfly, tears welling up in her eyes.  So she knows, for sure she knows thought Sal.  He relaxed his dragonfly body and wings as they both stared at each other.  She would look away to check on Liana for a moment and then turn back and smile at the dragonfly, wiping a tear.  Then she spoke, “Mom has covid and she gave it to Darin, if you could believe that.  We’re making the best of it, which is all we ever do now it seems.  We love you so much, we miss you so much.  I would do anything to have you here with us.” Liana swam into Lisa’s arms and looked up at the dragonfly.  Lisa told her, “this may sound crazy but I’m pretending that’s Nonno. Do you want to tell him anything?”

Liana looked up at him, squinting in the sun and said, “hi nonno, I miss you.” Sal chose to believe that. To believe that she remembered him. To believe that maybe if he returned every year for her birthday, she would somehow know how much he loved her.  In his calmer state, he released from the screen. He fluttered about for a moment and then his ten minutes were up.

Sal moved into his permanent home in heaven a few weeks later on the one year anniversary of his leaving Earth. He had a really great afterlife.  We had him close enough to his dad, father-in-law and grandfather-in-law where they got together and heatedly played cards in Italian every few days. He got to fish with his father. He was able to see many of his customers who made it to heaven. He met new people. He played chess, he cooked, he cut hair. He even became involved in building sets when the actors who made it to heaven wanted to perform plays. He laughed, he ate, he missed his family. Every time he got to jump down to earth for a visit, he was that dragonfly and every time he did it, he felt like he was in heaven.