Short Stories

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Now
there was
a day
when the sons
of God
came to present
themselves
before
the Lord.
[Job 1:6]
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Place: In the Golden Hall,
outside the Throne Room
of the Lord.
Time: Present Day.
_________________________
"Can I go IN,
GUARDINO? I have
to ask the FATHER,
somethin'!"

"What NOW,
ANGELO?
Weren't you just in
THERE,
YESTERDAY?"

"Yeah; it was about
my broken FEATHER!
But......this is even more
IMPORTANT! Is He
BUSY?"

"ANGELO!
OF COURSE!
THIS IS a really BUSY
TIME, right NOW!"

"Aw!
It'll just take a MINUTE!"

(Guardino has been
chomping on a
peanut-butter cup.)

(Angelo stares up at the
huge angel-guard. Guardino
is almost as tall as Archangel
Michael, though a lot homelier.)
"Can I have ONE?"

(Guardino continues chomping.
He replies, with a full mouth.)
"Father TOLD you.....
the candy machine's just for us... GUARDS!"

(Angelo makes a sorrowful
face.)
"Aw!
Come ON!
GIME' one!"

(Guardino shakes his
head slowly, and frowns.)
"Oh.
OKAY.
What kind do ya WANT?"

"SNICKERS!"

(Still frowning and shaking
his big haloe'd head,
Guardino turns around
and touches a button
on the candy machine;
no money's involved, but
only angelic-finger-tips
can make the button
work. If Satan or any
of his demons show up,
they can't use it.)

(Angelo yells behind
Guardino's huge, be-winged back.)
"TWO!"

"OH!
ALRIGHT!"

(Pause.)
(Machine-thudding sounds.)

"HERE!
And, DON'T tell the Lord
that I GAVE 'em to you!
This MACHINE'S only
supposed to be for the
Throne Room GUARDS!"

(Unwrapping-paper sounds.)
(Crunching sounds.)

"So....what's going on,
TODAY, Angelo? I
thought Father said
you can't get your wing
FIXED?"

"Yeah! He DID!"
(Crunch.)
(Crunch.)
"But, this is about
something NEW!"
(Thoughtful crunching.)
"Well.....not REALLY."

(Guardino unwraps another
peanut-butter cup. His
huge angelic fingertips
are full of melted chocolate.
He licks his finger.)
"What's it ABOUT?
Ya know, the FATHER's
real BUSY! There's
a whole bunch a' STUFF,
goin' on, down on EARTH!"

"Yeah!
I KNOW!
But, this is IMPORTANT,
GUARDINO!"

(Guardino rolls his big
brown eyes. He doesn't
have the Archangel Michael's
beautiful eyes, or eyelashes.
And, Guardino doesn't smell
like a campfire out in the
middle of a beautiful pine forest.
But, Guardino was not created
by the Father for beauty.
Guardino's horse, named Rocky,
sits outside the Throne Hall,
under a big shaded tree:
chomping on grass, and
waiting for his master's
guard-shift to be over.
Rocky is a huge, muscular
off-beige horse; he isn't
magnificent or even beautiful,
like the Archangel's horse,
whose name is Majestic.
Rocky snorts and whinnys a lot,
and is always a bit cranky and
hard-to handle.
Archangel Michael's horse
would never snort,
or even buck; once, in the near
future, he will whinny,
but that's only when he
falls in love with a nere-
do-well lady horse,
named Daisy.)
"WHAT: you stubbed
your TOE, yesterday,
on EARTH? What's it
about......NOW?
ANGELO!
You're a FIGHTER-angel!
BE a FIGHTER!
FIGHT!"

(Angelo, his mouth full
of Snickers Bar, yells.)
"I AM, GUARDINO!
I AM!"

(Guardino frowns, and
glances behind his big,
be-winged back, at the
Throne Room Gold Door.)
"SHHHH!
SHHHHH, ANGELO!
I'm not even supposed
to be TALKIN', out HERE!
I'm supposed
to be GUARDIN'!"

(Angelo chomps off another
big piece of Snickers Bar.
A couple of peanut bits
fall to the Gold Floor.)
"HEY! THIS isn't about
ME, OKAY? And, it's
NOT about one 'a my
FEATHERS! WELL......."

(Guardino tosses his
peanut-butter cup wrapper
into the the Throne Room
Hallway golden trash can.)
"WHAT?
Did you run into DITT-DEMON*,
again? I TOLD you
to stay AWAY from that
GUY! He and that buddy
of his......what's that OTHER guy's NAME?"

(Chomp.)
"Angel-Cake!"

(Guardino is now chomping
too. He nods his big,
haloe'd head.)
"Yeah! THAT guy!
He's REAL bad NEWS...
THAT one!"

(Angelo nods;
his off-color halo
is somewhat smaller than
Guardino's, and has a
slight tilt to one side. No
matter how much Angelo
messes with it, it always
has a tilt.)
"WELL.......he's just never
had a CHANCE......"

(Guardino stops chomping.
He squints, suspiciously,
down at his smaller,
squattier friend.)
"Uh, oh.
What's THIS about......"

(Angelo frowns down
at his half-eaten Snickers
Bar. He picks at the edge
of the chocolate-smeared
wrapper.)
"I was COMIN' in to
TALK to FATHER.....
ABOUT....."

(Guardino looks up for
a moment; outside, Rocky
has just given a really
loud, cranky whinny.
There must be some squirrel
teasing him, in the grass
under the big shaded tree.)
"ROCKY!
BEHAVE, OUT THERE!
IT'S JUST A SQUIRREL!"

(Another whinny erupts:
this time, much louder
and crankier.)

"BE QUIET!"
(Guardino looks back
at his smaller, squattier,
and whimpier friend.
He sighs, impatiently.)
"Is THIS what you're
comin' in, to talk to the
FATHER, about?"

(Angelo, making smaller
chomps on his nutty Snickers bar,
looks down rather sheepishly, and
nods. He waits to swallow
the chocolate nuts, before
he answers, in an
embarrassed whisper.)
"Ditt and Angel-Cake
want to..........
DEFECT."
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And
the angels
that did not
keep their
own position
but left their
proper dwelling
have been kept
by Him
in eternal chains
in the nether
gloom
until the
judgment
of the great day.
[Jude 1:6]

*Short for: Ditt'malleon
the Demon.

Copyright 2011.

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