Chapter 30 #2
“‘Soul swapping’” isn’t exactly the right term,” Stu noted, getting off his knees and likewise sitting. “But I understand why you’d assume that. Just remember what Father Fitz said to you in Clara’s about God’s wisdom being different than man’s.”
“First Corinthians,” she recalled.
“Very good,” he smiled.
“If I go back, will I remember what happened here?”
“Of course you will. You don’t learn anything from all this if you don’t.”
“A-and if I choose to stay? Will I remember my life in New York?”
“Again, yes. That’s part of the lesson. But you won’t be allowed to use your knowledge of the future for personal gain. No betting on the World Series where you know who wins. Or buying stocks that you know will take off. Oh, you could try. But I’d know and it wouldn’t work out.”
She glanced around with a furrowed brow until her eyes fell upon the confessionals.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to just give me a clean slate in confession or somethin’?”
“Would you have learned anything?” he asked.
Her shoulders slumped. “P-probably not.”
He looked her over.
“You okay?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Any gut reaction to staying or going?”
“I don’t know,” she repeated.
He smiled a little. “If it helps, you’re not the first to be in this situation.”
“What do ya mean?”
“Others have shown up unexpectedly in Sparkledove before.”
She paused for a moment, then her eyes widened with realization.
“Claude Bolton! And the woman in the white nightgown!”
“Her name was Agnes Dundee,” Stu nodded.
“Like you, both Claude and Agnes were souls on the bubble. Both were given the opportunity to make choices and redeem themselves through different circumstances. Both might’ve been given choices to stay or go as well, but neither could cope with being displaced. ”
“So they killed themselves,” Goldie concluded.
“Purgatory isn’t easy, Goldie,” Stu affirmed.
“And God just keeps them trapped here?” she asked, annoyed at the unfairness of the notion. “So, they can kill themselves day after day? Year after year?”
“No. They’re not caught in some continuous loop,” Stu corrected.
“They chose to reveal themselves to you the only way they could. But there are limitations to what they could do. By showing you what happened to them, they made you curious for answers. They were telling you to keep going. Not to give up. And see? You didn’t. ”
She thought for a moment. “So, where are Claude and Agnes now?”
“Going home.”
“What do ya mean?”
“I mean, they helped you, you prayed for them, and they’re going home.”
“I never prayed for—” she began to say. But then stopped and remembered what she said the second time she saw Agnes, the same morning she was chased by the mountain lion: “God, why don’t you help these poor souls?”
“Go look outside,” Stu suggested.
Skeptically, she rose and went to the front door of the church.
Stepping outside, she looked around, saw nothing unusual, then glanced toward the clear sky.
When she did, she saw two bright shooting stars, one right after the other.
But they weren’t falling to earth. They were going upwards toward heaven.
Smiling a little, she turned back toward the church, and her eyes lingered for a moment at the snow-covered nativity scene in the front yard that was illuminated by a floodlight. After a few seconds, Stu walked out the front door.
“Whether you realize it or not,” he said, “you showed Claude and Agnes great empathy, and God answered that. Now, they’re in paradise.”
She nodded appreciatively. “Good! Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” he replied, pointing upward. “Thank Him.”
She looked up, said, “Thank you” sincerely. Then she looked at Stu and changed subjects. “Eli kissed me tonight.”
He cracked a small, knowing smile. “I’m not surprised. He’s liked you for a while.”
They both fell silent for several more seconds. Goldie didn’t know what else to say, so the angel offered one more suggestion.
“Why don’t you go see Clara tomorrow?”
“Clara? Why?”
“Ask her about her life here since she decided to stay.”
“You mean, sh-she’s from another time too?”
“Go talk to Clara. Maybe she can help you decide.
He looked around. “I gotta get home. I have deliveries to make bright and early.”
They started walking back toward the hotel and his truck.
“Stu, I’m sorry to repeat what you said, but I’m still tryin’ to wrap my head around it, you’re a rancher who sells meat and an angel?”
“Yeah, but only you and Clara know about the angel thing.”
“And you’re here every day?”
“Not every day. My ranch is out of town a ways. But, like I said, this is my territory, so I’m around a lot.”
“H-how big is your territory? Did you have another life before you—”
“Let’s stick to the immediate choice before you, eh?” he interrupted. “Where would you like to go? I’ll give you tomorrow to decide. All right?”
“Yeah… okay.”
They walked in silence until they were almost all the way back to his truck.
“Hey, Stu?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“Just one more question: Are you okay? I mean, are you happy doin’ what you’re doin’?”
He looked at her and smiled warmly.
“A human asking an angel if they’re okay. It’s that kind of concern for others that tells me no matter what choice you make, you’re probably going to do well—Goldie Maraschino, like the cherry.”