Lord, they’re looking for him, he’s what they’re after!”
”Ed, what?” his wife asked.
“Those men that came by, the grey suits, I forgot to mention they showed me a picture of something that looked like a feather, white with gold and blue. It was one of these, they know he’s around here somewhere and they’re after him.” He looked at his family, confusion and concern on his face. “They told me to call if anything happened.”
“Will you?” his wife asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Ed, this is one of the Lord’s children, you can’t just hand him over to the CIA or the FBI or whoever they are. Whatever reason he’s here for, I can guarantee it has nothing to do with them. He’s strange and they don’t understand him so they’re chasing him, and if they catch him, they’ll stop him from doing whatever the Lord sent him here to do!”
“Please don’t call them Daddy,” Ninah begged.
“They’ll put him in a cage and do all kinds of tests and experiments on him,” Donna added. “Hell, they probably did that,” she said, and gestured to his damaged and bloody wing.
“We don’t know that Donna, we don’t know anything about them, or him.” He looked around the table; four female faces stared impassively back at him. All shook their heads.
“I’m going to call Father Kelly,” his wife said, heading for the phone.
“Felicity, wait, we don’t know enough about this!”
“Edward, we have to tell him. This is nothing short of a miracle and Father Kelly might be able to help him in his task.”
She turned to leave the room and Ed watched her go in amazement. He knew his wife believed in God but it had never been an ardent belief, more like a keep all bases covered sort. Hell, not three hours ago she discussing the possibility that her daughter may have been abused at church lessons, and now she was going on about the Lord’s missions. Ed looked down at the angel once more. Could she be right? He’d gone to church every Sunday to please his wife, but he’d always been agnostic. Current events however were starting to sway his fence-sitter beliefs.
The doorbell sounded its pleasant two-note summons and Ed, telling the girls to keep the ice packs moving around, went to answer it. He passed his wife in the hall, talking on the phone and gave her a ‘please wait a while’ look before continuing on to open the door.
Ward Parker had been the Blairs' family doctor since Ed had been a kid and had presided over the birth of both the girls. Born in Haven and having come back to practice after medical schooling, he was now approaching sixty, yet was still as sprightly as ever. Parker was an intelligent man with a humorous wit who’d seen his fair share of life, death and hard times. More than just a small town doctor, he was a friend to his patients and well respected by all who knew him.
“Hi Ward, come in, come in,” Ed said warmly.
“Evening Ed, Felicity called but couldn’t tell me what the problem is. Is it one of the girls?”
“No, no, come on through, I could explain it to you but, well, it’s easier if you just see for yourself.” He led the doctor down the hall, Ward giving a courteous nod to Felicity who was still on the phone as he passed her, then followed Ed through to the kitchen.
“Oh my Lord,” Ward Parker breathed upon catching sight of his patient. “I see what you mean.” He approached the table, put his bag down and removed his coat. “My, my, my, let’s have a look at what we have here,” he said to himself as he began a rudimentary examination, checking pulse and temperature, etc.
“He’s an angel, I found him,” Ninah provided helpfully.
“Is that so, little one?” Parker said, not taking his attention from his patient. He then began to rummage around in his bag, removing his stethoscope and his blood pressure counter with its cuff and black rubber squeeze bulb.
Felicity appeared at the doorway. “Father Kelly’s on his way.” she announced to no one in particular.
Doc Parker began moving the stethoscope around the angel’s chest and then moved it to his back. The creature moaned. “Easy does it son, easy does it,” Parker murmured. Donna held his head, running her fingers gently through his hair.
“Well, I think I’d be safe in saying you’re the one our government boys in grey are searching for,” Parker rumbled, more to himself than to the inert form before him.
“You received a visit too?” Ed asked, surprised.
“Sure did, two men came to the surgery, right into my office, interrupting a consultation and demanding I talk to them right then and there. They asked a lot of questions and gave nothing in return, an evasive pair of fellows to say the least,” Ward answered, still going on with his examination and looking carefully at the damaged wing.
“That’s them alright,” Ed said dryly. “You’d think that they were required to undertake a special course during their training where they learn to be rude and indifferent.”
Parker snorted, then stood back and began preparing a syringe. “Well, I’ll give him something that I hope will bring the fever down and also a broad spectrum antibiotic to fight anything in there that could be causing strife, but aside from that I’m lost. His heart and pulse are racing and I couldn’t tell you if it’s due to his condition or if it’s normal for him.”
“What do you mean normal?” Donna asked before anyone else could.
“What I mean is I just don’t know, sweetheart. He’s not a human being; I don’t know what his vital sign standards should be. He has these wings here, and I know for a fact that birds’ hearts beat faster than ours.”
“What about his wing, doc?” Ed asked.
Ward Parker sighed, shaking his head. “Ed, I just don’t know, I’m out of my depth here. Just looking at it I’d say it’s a gunshot wound but it’s a clean penetration. Whatever went through broke one of the bones in there and it’ll have to be set. Unfortunately I only have the vaguest notion as to how to go about it. Arms and legs I can handle, wings…” He shrugged.
“Then what do we do?” Felicity asked.
Parker stuck the syringe into a phial and pulled back the plunger, half filling it. He withdrew it and held it up before him, squirting some out to remove any air bubbles. “Well, I guess we could call Dave Morris,” he said.
“The vet?” Ed asked, surprised.
Parker spread his hands indicating he was at a loss. “He’d know more about setting broken wings than I would.” He turned and swabbed the angel’s upper arm with alcohol and pressed the syringe in, pushing the plunger home.
The angel had been docile thus far, but now he stiffened and cried out. His eyes snapped open and upon seeing the syringe he screamed and started to thrash about.
“Hold him!” Parker ordered. “Hold him or he’s likely to hurt himself worse.” They all tried to comply but despite his weakened condition the angel was impossibly strong.
“Don’t hurt him, please don’t hurt him,” Ninah cried, starting to sob.
Parker was quickly preparing another syringe.
“What’s happening?” Ed grated through gritted teeth as he struggled with two flailing arms.
“I’m not sure, I think something about the syringe frightened him. I’m going to try and put him out for a while,” Parker said.
“Shh, shh, stop, it’s okay, we don’t want to hurt you,” Donna was saying as, seemingly to the contrary, she helped hold his shoulders down. She felt close to tears herself.
“Hurry!” Cassie called; she and Felicity were holding one leg each. No one dared to touch his wings and they fluttered wildly, sending air racing around the room, their tips hitting the lampshade, causing it to swing about and give the kitchen an eerie, surrealistic light show. A few feathers came loose and wafted slowly to the ground.
Parker finished and quickly jabbed the sedative into the distraught creature’s arm. At that the angel howled, a sound that seemed to contain all the despair and suffering a soul could possibly sustain and still survive. Slowly it faded awa
y along with his strength and he lay quietly on the table once more, breathing heavily and staring at nothing until his eyes began to flutter and close.
The group around the table let out a sigh in unison, aside from that only Ninah’s sobs broke the silence. Felicity went to her daughter and knelt down. “It’s okay honey, we didn’t hurt him, he’s sleeping now that’s all.” She smiled and hugged her and slowly her tears started to abate.
“Did you happen to see his eyes, Ward?” Ed asked, turning to Parker.
“I saw them alright.”
“It looked like they had specks of quicksilver in them, could that be natural you think?” Ed continued
Parker shook his head. “Who knows Ed, this all goes beyond anything I’ve been taught. Right now though I’m going to call Dr Morris and get him over here, see what he can do about the damaged wing. Might I use your phone?”
“Certainly,” Felicity said.
Parker headed down the hall and after a second Ed followed him. “Ward, hang on a second,” he said, tugging him into the living room. “Look, is this such a good idea, I mean surely you yourself could have a go at fixing that wing?”
Parker looked at Ed seriously. “Yes I suppose I could at that Ed, but say I do and I botch it up and he can never fly again as a result?” he said heavily. Ed looked back at him but said nothing.
“Look Ed, I know what you’re thinking. Those boys in grey are after that poor creature and they want him pretty bad. I’d be willing to bet a
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