Rick Mofina - If Angels Fall

Dawn, hugging a rock. Someone lifting him. Warmth. A motordroning. Antiseptic hospital smells. Someone calling him. Joan’s face. Edward!Where are the children? Telling Joan what happened. Her face. Breaking. Herbroken faced seared into his soul.

My angels! My angels! Edward, where are mychildren, please!

Squeak-creak. Squeak-creak.

Keller set the Bible aside.

Time to resume his work. He went to the basement.

“Home. I want my mommy and daddy,” Danny Becker moanedfrom the floor were he was scribbling with crayons in a fat coloring book. Thedog sat dutifully at his side. The room was foul. Danny’s clothes were soiled.He had wet himself. Keller went upstairs, ran a hot bath, pouring Mr. Bubbleinto the water.

A watery death.

Keller knelt at the tub. The cocker spaniel paddedinto the room, then Danny appeared, gazing longingly at the water. It was asign. Keller smiled, began removing Danny’s clothes, then hoisted him into thewater. He unwrapped a bar of soap. Danny was docile, enjoying the warm waterand bubbles. Noticing Keller’s silver crucifix, he reached up and held it inhis tiny hand for inspection.

Jesus said to his disciples: You shall not despiseany one of these little ones, for I say to you that in Heaven their angels seethe face of my Father

Keller cleared a circle of water in the bubbles,cupped the back of Danny’s neck, and immersed his entire head. Fear leapt ontoDanny’s face. Underwater his eyes widened. His hand shot up, seizing Keller’scrucifix in a pain-stricken grasp and he pulled Keller closed his eyes andsmiled.

For since by mankind came death, by mankind cametoo the resurrection of the dead.

“Pull, Raphael! Pull, sweet healing angel! I beseechyou! Will you pull my Josh from the watery purgatory into which I cast him?”The crucifix chain sank deep into Keller’s neck. Danny’s breath escaped in awild underwater scream boiling to the surface. Clutching the crucifix in awhite-knuckled grip, he raised himself from the water, coughing, gasping forair. The dog yelped. Danny rubbed his eyes, his tiny body shaking as he cried.

It was wondrous, like the sound of a newborn. Kellercovered Danny with a towel, and lifted him from the tub. He had baptized him,readied him, for the transfiguration. “It will be done! It will be done! Ohthank you, Raphael! Thank you!” Keller’s voice trembled. He was tingling withexultation, eyes brimming with tears. He carried Danny to his bedroom andopened the closet. It was crammed with cardboard boxes.

“I want my mommy and daddy.” Danny wiped his eyes,brimming watching Keller slide the box before him.

“Joshua” was written on the box in neat femininescript. It was jammed with children’s clothing-boy’s summer items, neatlyfolded and smelling powerfully of mothballs. Danny coughed. Rummaging, Kellerfound a set of pajamas, powder blue, dotted with tiny fire trucks.

“These will be your new clothes.” Keller put the pajamason Danny. “And there’s a special set for the transfiguration.”

Danny didn’t understand.

“It’s time for a story,” Keller said.

Back in the living room, Keller selected a blueblinder from the table. The dog followed them. Keller sat in his rocking chairwith Danny on his lap and sighed.

“Later, can I go home please? Danny said.

Squeak-creak. Squeak-creak.

The chair rocked. The binder, marked. “Daniel RaphaelBecker/Joshua,” cracked when Keller opened it.

“This is the story of a little boy named Josh who hasgone away.

Keller turned to the first laminated page. It was acolor portrait of the little boy Danny saw the other night ridding the rockinghorse in the movie on the wall. In the picture, the boy’s eyes danced withhappiness. His hair was parted, the boy’s eyes danced with happiness. His hairwas parted neatly, his hands were clasped together in his lap in awell-directed studio pose.

“Who’s that?” Danny touched the page.

Keller hesitated.

“My Josh. He’s waiting in a cold dark place for me toget him. Only you can go there. That’s why you’re here. I sent for you. Andthis is how I found you.” He turned the page to a photocopy of a microfilmednewspaper clipping of a birth announcement. It was placed under the words: IT’SA BOY! And a graphic of a smiling stork, wings extended, a baby suspended in abundle swinging from its beak.

Keller read aloud:

“BECKER Magdalene and Nathan are proud to

announce the birth of their first child,

Daniel Raphael, who arrived March 14,

weighing 8lbs, 7oz.’

Raphael and the month were circled in red. JoshuaKeller had been born in March.

Keller turned to an enlarged shot of Danny chasing theswans at the pond behind his house, then to a section of a city map with theBeckers’ street circled. Next, there was a photocopy from the San Franciscocity directory listing Magdalene and Nathan Becker, their Jordan Park address,and Nathan’s job as an engineer with Nor-Tec, then the Backers’ municipal taxand land title records. The next pages were printouts of data on the Beckers andtheir property taken from municipal, county, state, and federal websites.Keller then reviewed some pages of the Beckers’ family history that he hadpurchased from a genealogy service on the internet. Then he turned to creditbills, bank statements, a wedding invitation, a doctor’s appointment notice forDanny, a grocery list, telephone bills, utility bills, and community newsletters. All were stained, creased, and torn. Keller had retrieved them fromBeckers’ garbage. Then there were some snapshots of Danny’s home, taken fromthe front, sides, and rear.

“That’s my house!” Danny slapped the pages.

Pictures of Maggie Becker walking with Danny, helpingDanny from the car in their driveway, were on the next page. Then pictures ofNathan walking with Danny in the neighborhood, in the BMW, Nathan enteringNor-Tec, then at Candlestick, and walking in Golden Gate Park.

Then came Keller’s notes.

FATHER: Mon to Fri, 6–6:30 a.m. goes downtown and catches CalTrainfor Mountain View. Home by 7-9p.m.

MOTHER: 7 a.m., rises with A. Breakfast. Morning errands. Grocerieson Thursday. Mon-Wed-Fri afternoon paints in studio loft while child is inlocal day care.

WEEKENDS: SAT: father takes A on Sat. outing. Eves. parents go outand sitter watches A at Becker home.

SUN: mother and child attend church in morn. AFT: all three go forexcursion.

The notes were meticulous, his work precise. He hadreaped success.

He had prepared, responded, and prevailed. He followedthe sign and was rewarded.

Poor Nathan Becker. Surely, his heart was broken. Buthe had let Danny wander on the train that day, had rested in the devil’s arms,cloaked in the shadow of a deadly sin: avarice. His failure to be vigilant overDanny was testament to the value he placed on his worldly pursuits. But that wasnot Keller’s concern. His work was his concern. And so much remained.

The Angel would help him.

It was preordained. Raphael was his name.

Keller closed the binder and looked upon the Angel,shifting drowsily on his lap. He had arrived the same month Josh was born andwas the same age as Josh when he was lost. Keller had recognized the signs. TheTruth was revealed to him. His children were not dead. They were waiting to bereborn n celestial light.

Squeak-creak. Squeak-creak .

Only God’s Angels could rescue them, transfigure them.

Raphael was the first. One of the Powers. Chief of theguardian angels. Guardian of mankind. Protector of children.

Kelly reached for a second binder, a thick pink onebearing the title “Gabrielle Michelle Nunn/Alisha.” He turned to a portrait ofa six-year-old girl. Her shimmering chestnut hair was a halo in French braids.Her radiant eyes. Her emerald velvet dress, delicate lace trip… “Alisha. Mybeautiful Alisha.” Keller caressed the picture, sniffed, and turned to anotherbirth announcement: