Nancy Collins Angels on Fire

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window in your bedroom, by the way."
"So-why are you here?"
"To help the angel."
"How do you know he's an angel?"
"Because I know one when I see one."
"That's impossible-!"
"My dear Ms. Bender!" Ezrael laughed. "After all you have experienced in the
last few hours, you still cling to such concepts as the impossible? Believe me
when I tell you that I recognized the angel the moment our eyes met-just as
birds know one of their feather from that of any other. We are kin, of sorts-"
Ezrael lifted his garish Hawaiian shirt and pulled on the waist of his khakis,
exposing a midriff that was unremarkable-except that it lacked a navel-"you
see, once I was as it is."
chapter 6
"Come, I know this is too much to handle in so short a time," Ezrael said with
a kind smile. "Why don't I fix you some tea while you try and relax? And since
our friend is in a fugue state, we might as well make use of the down-time."
"Fugue?" Lucy frowned. "You mean he's depressed?"
"Not mentally or emotionally, no. Elohim do not sleep, as you understand the
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term. However, they do have periods of inactivity, usually after physically or
spiritually draining events, that permit them to regenerate their energies."
Ezrael motioned for Lucy to take a seat.
Too weary to argue, she sat and watched the white-haired stranger locate clean
cups and saucers and put the kettle on the boil. He moved with surprising
speed and grace for a man of his apparent years, with a minimum of wasted
movement. Lucy was surprised at how Ezrael's puttering about in her tiny
kitchen did not make her feel in the least anxious, despite the fact she had
known him less than five minutes. Then again, she was nowhere near as
territorial as Mam-Maw, who had been notorious for snapping a wet tea-towel at
intruders into what she considered her private domain.
Within minutes the kettle was whistling and Ezrael poured the hot water into
waiting cups and dropped tea bags in.
"Mind if I join you?" he smiled, sliding a mug of herbal tea across the
dinette in her direction.
"No, go ahead."
As Lucy lifted the chamomile to her lips, she looked the old man square in the
face and noticed for the first time that his eyes were golden, like those of a
cat. But after all she'd seen today, such things were interesting, but hardly
startling.
Ezrael sighed and put down his tea cup, glancing out the window into the air
shaft before returning his gaze to her.
"What I am about to tell you, Ms. Bender, is something that pilgrims have
frozen on the rocky soil of Tibet attempting to learn, that crusaders sacked
the Holy Land to protect, and countless heretics died under hideous torture
for daring to question. I am going to divulge to you the exact nature of the
creature you know as God."
"What?!?" Lucy choked, sending chamomile tea out her nose.
Ezrael laughed, shaking his snowy head. "Come now, my dear! Having been
witness to angels, seraphim and daemons, surely God is not so hard a
stretch?"
"It's just that, well, I-I don't really believe in God."
"That's okay. The God you're referring to doesn't exist, anyway. Nor does
Buddha. Or Krishna. Or Zeus. Or Ishtar. Or any of the other millions upon
millions of names for the Clockwork. But that is not to say they are
completely invalid, either. They are all aspects of the Clockwork--imperfectly
perceived and imperfectly translated, but there is truth in each, just as
there is falsehood.
"But for me to explain, at least as it relates to you, I'm afraid it's
necessary to start at the Beginning. And I do mean the Beginning. Do you
mind?"
Lucy shrugged. "Naw. I kind of expected it might be a, um, complicated
story."
Ezrael smiled and nodded. "You're a wise woman, for this day and age. Let me
start by stating that that which is responsible for Creation is not a giant
old man with a long beard and flowing white robes, seated high up the clouds.
That which makes all things is the Divine Clockwork.
"None know where the Clockwork first came into being, or how it did so. Not
even the Clockwork itself, for it is incapable of what you and I understand as
thought or speech."
Lucy frowned. "Wait a second-are you telling me God is dumb?" Ezrael shook his
head. "You must not confuse the Clockwork with anything you have ever known, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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