Chap 1
“What if all the angel statues could come to life,” thought Ashlee[1]. “Marble angels, suddenly alive, would march and stomp down the isle, shaking off dust and blowing horns, angels would kneel in prayer next to old ladies wearing scarves and trying to slide away down the pew. Fat little angels would circle inside the dome then fly and swoop down on the screaming people. Stone cracked angels would stand guard at the church doors with their swards as people tried to rush out of church.”
Laughter almost burst out as she
visualized all the angels come to life around her Ashlee’s body shook with the
need to hold the laughter inside.. She kept her face in the song book so her
grandma wouldn’t see her laugh. “Better stop laughing,”
she thought to herself, “ or you’re gonna be in deep trouble.” One giggle
escaped, she couldn’t help it.
Her grandma nudged at her with her elbow and frowned down at her as she stood up to go to communion. Lucky for Ashlee that, just as a new giggle threatened to escape, the organist started playing her favorite song, “Amazing Grace.” Ashlee began singing as loud as she could and forgot about the marching angels.
Ashlee liked going to her grandma’s huge, old church in Detroit. Her friend Kay’s church had stained glass windows without any pictures and her brother Chris’ church didn’t have any statues in it at all. She thought that older churches probably had more statues of angels because people believed in angels a long time ago. “I wonder if there are any real angels, not just angel statues.
On the way home she asked her grandmother if she thought there were any real angels. "Oh yes, I believe angels are very real," her grandma answered.
"Well, how come no one ever sees any real angels. The only kind of angels I’ve ever seen are marble statues in church."
“Only some people can see real angels and then only if the angels want you to see them.
“What are angels supposed to be anyway?" Ashlee asked.
"Angels are God’s messengers. They are love beings made by God. There are different kinds of angels, for instance, guardian angels. Everyone is supposed to have a guardian angel. Did you know that? But then, there are a lot of people don't believe in angels.
“How can I believe in angels if I can’t see them. I want to see a real angel. I am going to ask Chris if he believes in angels. He's sixteen now. He knows a lot about church things because he was saved last year. He goes to church all the time.
Just then Ashlee stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk.
"I told you not to wear my shoes to church,” her grandma laughed. “You're going to fall and kill yourself.”
"Darned old shoes," Ashlee said, “We’re almost to your house, I'll just walk barefoot." Her grandma started to get angry when she saw that Ashlee was not only wearing her high heels but her nylons and earrings too, then she laughed and shook her head, “Watch out for broken glass.
The next weekend, when Ahslee’s brother, Chris, came to visit, Ashlee asked him if he believed in angels.
Chris didn’t know if he believed in angels or not. His preacher never talked about angels that he could remember. "Except the angels in the Bible” he told her, The Bible stories have a lot of angels in them.
But it’s about what happened a long time ago, its all old stuff.
Well, lots of people read the Bible every day, they don’t care if its old. You want me to ask my preacher if angels are for real?
Nah, it’s not important. I just wondered, that’s all.
The subject of angels came up again at Kay’s house a few days later. It was close to midnight and Kay and Ashlee were telling ghost stories. Kay had a sheet over her head pretending to be a ghost. “Whooo whooo,” she giggled as she swung her arms around trying to catch Ashlee, “Whooo.”
“Hay, stop it,” Ashlee said, jumping away, “Ghost aren’t white, they’re invisible. I can see you. Lets sneak downstairs and make brownies.
“Then I’ll be an angel,” called Kay as she draped the sheet around her shoulders. As she danced on the bed, the sheet flowed around her. She jumped from the bed to a chair, arms flying like wings and laughing. “See I can fly like an angel.”
“You can’t see angels either,” said Ashlee, “Angels aren’t real or you’d be able to see them. Come on, I am hungry.
While they waited for the brownies to cook, Ashlee asked Kay if she thought angels could be real, “like maybe there are a few left over from the old times.”
“Oh, there must be real angels,” answered Kay. My mom says there are angels and besides angels are everywhere on Christmas cards and wrapping paper. We bought an angel with long gold hair for the top of our tree last year.
“Yah, but have you ever seen a real angel?
“No, but everybody knows there are angels.
“Mmm, those brownies are beginning to smell good,” said Ashlee.
“Yah, I can’t wait for the brownies to get done. Hay, remember, we’re leaving for the cottage Friday. We’ll be able to swim for the whole week. Did your dad say you could go, yet?
“No but I am working on him. I’ve got most of my cloths packed already. Which bathing suit do you think I should take, my two piece plaid or the pink one that makes my boobs look bigger.
As soon as Kay’s mom drove up the long, winding lane through tall evergreen trees and parked at the cottage, Ashlee opened the door and ran down to the water. “Look at these waves,” she yelled back up the hill to Kay and her mom. “I’ve never seen such big waves, I am ready to go swimming right now.
Kay ran behind her, taking her shoes off on the way. Ashlee was already wading in the splashing foam.
“Oh I just love it. Why are the waves so big,” Ashlee asked.
“Because its a big, lake, silly. We’re standing on Michigan’s thumb. This is Lake Huron. My dad bought the cottage five years ago.
“Girls,” Kay’s mom called down to them, “we have some unpacking to do. Work first, swim later.”
And swim they did. During the whole week of their vacation Ashlee and Kay played in the water every day. There wasn’t anything else to do because the cottage was far from shopping malls and movie theaters. Ashlee didn’t care, she didn’t get bored at all. Water was her first love.. Her dad always said that she was part fish.
Both girls liked to start at the top of the hill near the cottage and then run down the grassy hill onto the sandy, hot beach, then jump right into the large waves crashing to shore. Sometimes Ahslee would ride the yellow raft and Kay the inner-tube out past the rough shore waves into the more still water far beyond the shore. There was a sand bank far out with shallow water where they could float around and talk about cute boys, new school cloths, and someday dreams.
At night Kay’s mom would make a huge fire and they roasted marshmallows until they were dripping and sticky and burnt on the stick. The sky was so black and the woods so dark that they could see the Milkyway galaxy floating high above their heads. None of them were familiar with the constellations, just the big dipper and little dipper. Kay thought she could find the north star, but they weren’t sure. It didn’t matter, the stars were so vivid against the deep velvet of the sky, you wanted to reach out and touch them.
Then on the last night of their vacation, while they were sitting around the dying fire looking up at the stars, one of the stars suddenly shot across the sky. It fell in a wide curve down into the trees on the far horizon. “Did you see that?” exclaimed Ashlee. “A star fell down.”
“What was it?” asked Kay.
“It was only a shooting star”, answered Kay’s mother. It’s a small asteroid falling to the earth. They burn up as they enter the earth’s atmosphere. There is a myth my mother told me, once, long ago about shooting stars. The myth said that angels ride the falling stars down to earth when someone needs their help. She told me that when you see a shooting star, it means an angel is on their way down to earth.
“Oh, mom, that is such a nice story, but Ashlee doesn’t believe in angels. Do you, Ashlee?
“I didn’t say that. I just said that I never seen an angel.” If you can’t ever see them, how can they be real
“You can’t see freedom or courage, but they are real.” said Kay’s mom.
“Yah, I guess so,” agreed Ashlee, but that seems different.”
Kay’s mom smiled and told Ashlee that maybe it was her angel riding on a star. “ She wants to visit so you will know she’s real.”
“I want to see an angel. I wish an angel would visit me. Of course, we all know that a myth is just a story, its not really true. True or not, if I had an angel she could ride on a star of she wanted. Ashlee imagined an angel riding down to earth on a red, hot asteroid, “On a really, really hot seat.” she said laughing.
Both girls laughed at the silliness of an angel riding on a hot asteroid. “It must be a real hot,” they said, “A too hot to handle ride.”
“OK, it’s funny, but that is enough fun for tonight. I have a long day driving us home tomorrow. Time for bed.
As they walked back up the hill to the cottage, Ashlee thought it would be nice to have a real angel of her own.
Ashlee woke up in a good mood until she remembered they were leaving this morning. “There won’t be time to go swimming tomorrow,” Kay’s mom had said, “As soon as we wake up and eat breakfast, we’re packing to leave.”
“Darn,” the whole week had been so much fun Ashlee didn’t want it to end, of course, she did sort of miss her mom and dad. She looked over at Kay who was still sleeping, rolled up in all the blankets. “No wonder I woke up,” thought Ashlee. She went into the kitchen for a glass of pop and looked at the clock on the stove. “Six o’clock!” She never woke up at six o’clock in the morning. Grabbing her heavy pink housecoat she lay back down. But, it was no good, she just tossed and turned. Can’t sleep so might as well get up. She looked in the other bedroom where Kay’s mom was slept. She was sound asleep too.
Ashlee decided to she’d have some fun before Kay’s mom woke up and they had to leave for home.” She hurried up and put her suit on and ran down to the beach.
The early morning looked beautiful and unusual to Ashlee because she never got up this early, especially on a lake. Even the air smelled sweet. The early day was misty with patches of fog like silver jewels floating on the water. The sky was white and creamy and gave everything a silver sheen.. The water was cool and frothy as she stepped in, a lot more silky than usual.
When she went back up to the cottage for the yellow raft, she checked on Kay and her mom. Both were still sleeping. So she grabbed the raft and ran down into the waves again, enjoying the feel of the water as it splashed and foamed around her legs and hips. I’ll stay in the water until breakfast she decided as she jumped on the raft and rode the waves to shore. Then laying on her belly she took the raft far out past the waves using her hands as oars to propel herself further out.
The morning was still and quiet except for the slap slap of waves against the far shore. A light mist was still rolling and curling on the water. It gave the scene a magic land look. “Like Alice looking through the looking glass.” she thought as she rocked gently with the waves. Rolling and laying on the warm raft, the sun laying heavy on her back and legs, the whisper of the waves splashing against the rubber raft was making her drowsy. “Oh, this feels so nice but I should start back before Kay’s mom wakes up, Ashlee thought, while drifting with her eyes half closed, half awake
Chap 5
Her next thought was a shriek, Oh my God, what was that.” A large clap of thunder had pounded her awake. By the time she realized what the noise was, she had slid half-way off the raft. Climbing back on, she looked around to see which direction the thunder was coming from. Crash, bang, there it went again, a crash of thunder over to her right.
Ashlee didn’t frighten easy. She was always the dare-devil, the first one in front, the first one to take a chance, but now she felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Looking up at the sky her fear intensified. The sky was a churning cauldron of deep, charcoal gray, boiling and sizzling like hot coals in sudden rain. Ashlee looked in front and then all around for a golden beach or a tall, stand of evergreen trees. The land was gone.
Every direction she turned was a sheet of white fog. There was heavy fog rolling and twisting as far as she could see. She began yelling for help as loud as she could, for a very long time. She kept yelling but no one answered.. Screaming for help wasn’t doing her any good, just getting her throat sore. She must have called for an hour; her voice was horse. Didn’t her science teacher once say that sound didn’t travel far in a fog or did he say sound traveled crooked?
The thunder boomed again but, lightning would be even more scary. Did thunder always mean lightning? She didn’t know. She just knew that she shouldn’t be in the water during a lightning storm. The thought sent her into a panic.
Panic griped her guts, panic grabbed her mind, panic threatened to consume her. “Stop,” she yelled to herself, “don’t let fear take over, you got to get back to the cottage, you’ve got to, you got to.” The thought half formed that she needed to get back because she missed her mom and dad, but she refused to finish the thought. It could push her over the brink of fear. She was in danger of loosing her cool. Instead, with a courage and inner strength that she didn’t know she had, she calmly studied her predicament. “I just got to think, just think, darn it, think.” Fear tried to poke its fingers into her mind again but she held on to her toughness. Taking a long, deep breath, she quieted her inner screams so she could think. There must be a clue, there must be a best way to
Chap 6
“Don’t waves always move towards shore? she asked herself. She watched the waves for a time, but the wind was blowing so hard around her that the waves seemed to be circling the raft instead of moving in any one direction. The waves were getting higher though. She needed to start paddling now.
After another bang of thunder pounded in her ears, she looked up and saw that the sky was getting more black. The storm was going to hit any second, it was moving towards her. That decided her, she began paddling away from the storm as fast as she could.
It wasn’t something she wanted to think about as she paddled but she knew she wasn’t on a small lake, she was on a huge lake, Lake Huron. If she paddled the wrong way, she might end up in Canada, or worse yet, never find land. Her body shivered at the thought. She paddled faster.
Ashlee paddled and paddled and splashed with her hands and arms while the thunder threatened behind her. She paddled so long that her arms hurt and she felt out of breath.
“Oh, please God, help me find the beach,” she cried. She didn’t think she could have slept this long, to drift so far from shore. “Oh my God, don’t let me go the wrong way? she cried as she paddled harder and harder.
Just then, the storm broke. Sheets of heavy water came rushing at her like a waterfall, like a faucet turned on full. Thunder screamed as lightning split the sky. Wild, pounding water caught her in its ferocious claws. Searing winds blew high waves over the raft. Her body felt like a thousand needles were attacking her bare back and legs.
Ashlee gritted her teeth and clung to the small raft, with her fingers squeezed tight to the edge. “The storm will stop soon,” she told herself, “summer storms are powerful but they get over quick.”
But shock replaced hope as a swift gust of wind picked the raft up and flung it out from under her. She felt the plastic slip from her squeezed fingers; she screamed at fate, clawed and reached and swam harder and harder, but each new wave pushed the raft further and further away.
She gave up chasing the raft. She stopped swimming and dog paddled in the high waves, rain and tears sliding down her face. Her arms felt heavy and sleepy, numb. It was hard to keep her head above water in the high waves and rain. Ashlee was too tired to move, too tired to swim, almost too tired to try.
Suddenly she saw a blur in front of her, a form coming towards her through the rain. “Its the raft?” she hoped, “No, it’s not the yellow raft, then what is it?” The rain wasn’t falling as hard now, but still, she still couldn’t make out the form. Ashlee blinked the water and tears from her eyes. There!
A beautiful lady was swimming towards her. Ashlee grinned from ear to ear. The lady, dripping and sparkling silver through the rain, stopped in front of Ashlee and motioned with her arm for Ashlee to follow.
“This way,” the lady called out to Ashlee, “Follow me,”
“Oh, yes,” cried Ashlee feeling a spurt of renewed energy and hope. She followed the lady swimming up and down through the waves, unmindful of the spattering rain. The lady’s long silver hair flowed and fanned out just in front of Ashlee as they swam together.
Ashlee felt hopeful now because she wasn’t alone. She kept on swimming behind the lady but the rain was still falling and the waves were still big, and her arms were growing more tired and her stomach felt sick from swallowing too much water. She tried to keep swimming, she tried real hard but her arms got so they wouldn’t move any more. Her head keep slipping beneath the water, again and again.
“I can’t swim, “she gasped at the lady, “I can’t swim any more.”
“Here, Ashlee, take my hand,” the lady called to her. “Put your hands in mine.”
Ashlee began to sink beneath the water again just as she saw the beautiful lady hold out both her hands. In desperate hope and wonder, Ashlee watched as the smiling lady put Ashlee’s hands into both her own soft, gentle ones and lifted. Ashlee felt herself rise out of the water.....
Chap 8
The sharp glare of a bright light and the scream of a helicopter motor woke Ashlee up. Blinking the sleep away she sat up. For some reason it was very hard to push herself up into a sitting position, her arms felt asleep. The helicopter was flying in circles over her head. She turned away from the glare and noticed a damp fishy smell, she was sitting in a pile of seaweed. Bits and pieces of seaweed, leaves and tree branches were scattered around her on the damp sand. Ashlee was beginning to remember the high waves and choking in the water. Just then, she heard her name called.
“Ashlee, Ashlee.”
“Dad?” “Mom?” The sight of her dad and mom running down the beach made Ashlee cry; she sobbed; tears ran down her cheeks like she was a little baby; her dad picked her up and squeezed her tight.
“We were so worried. The Coast Guard found the raft five miles down the beach. We’ve had the Coast Guard out looking for you all day, little lady.” Her Dad was crying with her and her mom was crying too. Kay and her mother also came running up to her with big smiles on their faces.
Ashlee hugged everyone and told them how she woke up on the raft in the fog. Sobbing again, she told about getting caught in the storm and paddling for a long time. Then she remembered loosing the raft and finding the lady.
“Oh, where’s the lady? Where’s the lady who helped me swim?” Ashlee let go of her mom to looked around.
“Oh, no!” You’ve got to find the lady, you’ve got to! She might need help, she might still be swimming. Oh, please, we gotta help her!”
“What lady,” her mom asked. “Who are you talking about.”
“The lady who helped me, I was so tired I couldn’t swim no more. She saved me. Dad you gotta find her, you gotta see if she’s OK”
“Sure, let’s check it out,” her dad said as he called the Coast Guard officer over to them. He asked if they had found a lady on the beach and explained that the lady had saved Ashlee’s life..
“I don’t think so,” the officer answered, “but I’ll call on the radio and check. He came back to tell them that no one but Ashlee was found on the beach or reported missing, but he promised to call them at home in a few days if they learned anything else.
“Well, whoever the lady was, we owe her a world of thanks. “Although,” her dad suggested, “It’s possible that the lady was only a dream, a lot of people see images when they are undergoing great stress.
Ashlee shook her head. “Oh, no, it wasn’t a dream.” She could still remember the gentle touch of the lady’s hands on hers. She remembered something else, too. She remembered that the lady had called her name. “She knew my name, dad, she called my name.”
“Hay, OK, we don’t care if the lady was real or not, we’re just thankful that you are safe.“ Her mom and dad smiled at each other and gave her another hug.
A few days later, while they were sitting in the living room watching TV, the officer called to report no missing persons. He thought the lady was probably a hallucination brought on by stress.
Her dad and mom talked it over and agreed with the officer, “After all,” they explained to Ashlee, “people who are in grave danger often have visions, they tend to see unreal images.
“Nobody ever believes me,” pouted Ashlee, “because I am just a kid.”
Ashlee knew the lady was real and no one could ever tell her different. She’d reviewed everything that happened, over and over. Now she knew who the lady was, but who would ever believe her. Even Chris didn’t. When he called. Ashlee told him who the lady was. His comment was, “Oh, yeah, get real.”
But Ashlee knew. She remembered the lady’s silver hair floating in the water, her beautiful smile, her soft gentle hands covering her own. She almost remembered being lifted up ...?
Just then, she heard the crunch of gravel and saw her grandma’s blue car pull into the driveway. Ashlee ran out to great her. As soon as her grandma got done hugging her, and as they walked into the house, Ashlee retold the events of the storm.
“Grandma, I’ll bet you know who the lady was, don’t you?” Tell mom and dad. They don’t believe me, they think she wasn’t real.
“Oh, the lady was definitely real,” her grandma said. She looked over to them and said, “I am surprised that you haven’t figured it out yet. Don’t you see, that beautiful lady was Ashlee’s angel.”
The End