When Angels Play Poker Read online

  Jimmy pondered this for a minute and asked, “What level is my sister?”

  “She’s a Level 8 angel.”

  “Geez, I guess I won’t be hanging with her anytime soon!” Jimmy said with a discouraged grimace.

  Norm gently said, “For now that is true, but if it makes you feel any better, the person you’ll be assigned to is a former Level 8 angel.”

  “Huh?” said Jimmy, looking tired and confused.

  “The person we’re assigning you, luckily for you, is a very old soul. That’s why she was a Level 8. But sadly she’s being strongly tested in her latest visit to earth, and we’re concerned that she might come back unworthy of being a Level 8, based on her future actions on earth.” Norm sighed and shook his head.

  “Describe to me what a Level 8 means, Norm.”

  “Level 8 angels are wise souls that have been around for a very long time, and thus they have abilities that others at lower levels don’t have. In other words, this person, a woman, that we’re assigning you, is called an Intuitive.”

  “Oh baloney!” exclaimed Jimmy with a wave of his hand. “I don’t believe in that stuff.”

  Norm let out a deep laugh and said, “Oh, you have so much to learn. But, hey, it’s been a long day-night for you, so let me leave you with a file of this Level 8 angel for you to read and review. And I’ll now take you down to your place, known as a cloud cube.”

  Jimmy followed Norm, and they glided along as if they were on an airport walkway. While they were moving, he noticed other people gliding by and observed that no one had wings. Some had interesting-looking backpack contraptions on their backs, but no wings. “How ironic,” he murmured.

  Jimmy also noticed that they seemed to be moving downward. They ended up going down a long hallway and finally came to the smallest, most boring room he had ever been in. It looked like a dorm room, but with no finesse to it. It held just a desk and a chair.

  Jimmy exclaimed, “This looks like a monk’s room!” Everything was white, no matter where he looked. “Where do I sleep? Where’s the phone and the TV?”

  “There is no TV or phone. We don’t need them in Heaven, Jimmy.”

  “Okay, then what on Earth—or should I say Heaven—will I be doing all day?” Jimmy asked sarcastically.

  Norm tossed him the file and said, “Reading, Jimmy. It’s a wonderful thing to do—that is, when you’re not snooze-dozing.” He started to walk out the door.

  “Excuse me, little man, but what is snooze-dozing?”

  Norm slowly turned and looked seriously at Jimmy “Because of our responsibilities to those we guard, we don’t sleep. We nap, otherwise known as ‘resting our eyes.’ Thus we can quickly be alert, since we never know when we’ll be called upon and needed. Remember, Jimmy, your assignment is everything—twenty-four hours a day if needed.”

  “Okay, little man, whatever you say—but where do I snooze-doze?” Jimmy looked very tired at that point.

  Norm felt bad that he hadn’t shown him that part “Oh, Jimmy! I forgot to tell you. This is the best part of your room. Lie down on the floor.’

  “On the cloud floor?”

  “Yes—go ahead,”

  Jimmy sighed noisily and then lay down. Within seconds he felt that he had fallen onto a bed of marshmallows. The floor was so fluffy, soft, warm, and comfy.

  “Wow, Norm, this is so comfortable, I don’t want to get up!”

  Norm chuckled. “Well, you must, because I need you to at least glance at the file now and to let me know if you have any immediate questions.”

  Jimmy got up quickly with a sigh. “Okay, hand it over.” He opened the file, and his immediate outburst was “Who the hell is Maura?”

  Norm said firmly, “You must stop saying hell, Jimmy! It will be a setback for you to move ahead in the future.”

  Jimmy glared at him and rolled his eyes. “Look, little man, I don’t know who this woman is, and quite frankly I don’t care! I need to be looking after my kids and even my ex-wives—especially since they are all going to be at my funeral. I thought that when you died you looked after all your loved ones. That’s still the deal, right?”

  Norm paused as his watched Jimmy look at him intently, then said, “Well, no, Jimmy, actually it’s not. It’s about watching over the last person you were thinking of. Now if you had been thinking about your last wife, then, yes, you would be watching over her. If you had been a good father, concerned constantly about your kids and their well-being, then, yes, you would be watching over them. And finally, if you were closer to and cared more about your entire family, then you would be watching over all of them. But, Jimmy, you were concerned about only you when you died last night.”

  “Whoa! Wait a minute there, Norm. That’s not true. I was thinking about my brother.”

  “Nooo, Jimmy. Actually, you were thinking about Bob’s girlfriend, as I remember it. And that is who Maura is—Bob’s girlfriend.”

  Jimmy snorted and said, “You’re joking, right? I mean, come on. I don’t even know this woman. I never even met her!”

  “Oh, you’re mistaken on that as well, my friend,” Norm said with a slow, knowing smile. “You actually did see her, across a crowded street once, many years ago.”

  “Well, I don’t remember that, and I don’t believe it’s even true. Thus it’s not significant,” Jimmy snapped back.

  “Actually it was significant at the time.”

  “Okay,” sighed Jimmy. “So what? Why her? Norm, there are probably thousands of people right now starving, in danger, dying, in need of something. Why can’t I help or watch over them?”

  “Because, as I explained,” Norm said quietly and patiently, “whether you like it or not, you’re assigned to the last person you thought of. Take, for example, a person in a car crash. Who is the last person they are thinking of? The individual they hit. And that is the person they end up watching over. You could say it’s retribution.”

  “But I don’t have retribution coming to me with this lady!”

  “Ah, she is a lady, and a very special one at that. When you read her file, you’ll find that out. Therefore, I will leave you to snooze-doze and read.”

  Jimmy quickly snapped, “Okay then, I’ll jump right on that, Norm. Not that there is anything else to do in this room anyway. It’s so boring!”

  Norm walked out into the hallway, turned, and said, “Do me a favor. Close your eyes.” Jimmy stood in front of him, and did as told. “Okay, now open your eyes, and turn around, and look at your dull white wall.”

  Jimmy turned and gasped in disbelief. Where once had been a wall was now a small cascading waterfall, similar to the one he had seen in the garden earlier. “Wow, how did that happen?”

  Norm just smiled and laughed, and said, “Hey, you’re in heaven now, Jimmy! Anything can happen, even a few miracles.” And with that, the little man winked, bowed, and was gone in a flash down the hall.

  CHAPTER 4

  Learning about the Assignment

  Jimmy dove onto the floor after Norm left, engulfing himself in the marshmallow-like feeling it had. With the comfy warmth surrounding him, he instantly started to doze. Even as he drifted off, he could tell that it was a much lighter sleep than when he had been on earth. But let’s face it, Jimmy thought, No bed every felt like this! And with that he “rested his eyes” for a while.

  When Jimmy opened his eyes later, he had no idea how long he had been napping, since heaven didn’t have clocks or light and darkness. It was like being in Alaska in the summer; it was daylight all the time. Regardless of how much time he had dozed off, short or long, he felt completely refreshed and energized.

  Jimmy stared for a while at the beautiful waterfall where one of his walls had been. It made such a difference in his little sterile cloud cube, having this incredible sight as well as the sound of cascading water.

  Eventually h
e sighed, walked over to the desk, sat in the chair, and sulked as he glanced occasionally at the closed file he was supposed to read. He wished in a way that he had never seen his sister and some of his buddies, because he wanted to hang out with them something fierce. He also longed strongly for his family and kids. Jimmy wanted to be watching over them now more than ever and to make sure everyone was doing okay. He knew that the entire family was in shocked, since he had died so suddenly.

  But his sister, Pat, was overseeing the funeral and the family, and thus protecting them. And Jimmy didn’t know when he was going to see her again and get an update. He stared at Maura’s file again and then had an idea. If he read the whole file quickly and acted interested, maybe Norm would let him go visit with his sister and hang with her when she was checking in on the family.

  Jimmy quickly opened the file of Maura’s first eighteen years, and started to read through it. He found himself enraptured pretty quickly by her journey in her young life. As a matter of fact, part of it truly stunned him. Jimmy thought no one could have a worse relationship with a parent than he had with his father. And he’d felt strongly all his life that no one should. After reading Maura’s file, he realized someone else had. She had survived years of abuse—physical and verbal—and emotional rejection. No matter what she did, it always seemed to be the wrong thing, and no matter how she tried to fix it, it never was the right answer or action.

  During these difficult years, Maura prayed every day to God, Asking why he had done this to her, why she was so bad, why she was so unloved. And she begged him to give her the strength and support to leave home and never go back. At an early age, she felt strongly that her purpose on earth, God’s mission, was to see how long she could survive without being loved by anyone.

  It was heart-wrenching for Jimmy to read this about her—that she truly believed that. There were people in her life that loved her, but she had been so beaten down by one person that she didn’t see this at all in others.

  After reading the first eighteen years of Maura’s life, Jimmy was really impressed with her and a bit in awe of the inner strength she found daily through prayer and resolve. Though there were some happy parts in her life along the way, and she certainly didn’t need to struggle financially, the best part of her story for Jimmy was at the end. For some miraculous reason, Maura’s prayers to God were answered. She was going to get to escape from her environment and go away to college—a small Catholic school in a nearby suburb.

  As Jimmy finished reading this good news, on the final page in the file, Norm appeared suddenly.

  “What timing, little man! I was just finishing up the last page of the first file. By the way, do you have clocks up here?”

  “We don’t have clocks up here, because we don’t need them. As you will see in time, we watch over the people on earth, thus their time is our time. What did you think of Maura’s first eighteen years?”

  Jimmy said sheepishly, “It was definitely ironic and a bit humbling to read. I never knew anyone could go through as much as I did growing up.”

  “Well, what you’ll learn over time, as you get to know her, is that Maura is a very strong woman who has survived a great deal. As I mentioned before, if she were to die today, she would come to Heaven to be placed as a Level 8 Angel. In other words, she’s at your sister’s level. Furthermore, because of this level, she has a lot of powers.”

  Jimmy had been listening intently. “What does that mean? What type of powers?”

  Norm looked at him seriously. “As I had started telling you yesterday, she’s an intuitive. She can channel spirits, has telepathy, can see things happening before others do, and can read people’s thoughts and feelings by touching them. As you start studying her daily, you’ll see some of this magic appear, and some amazingly cool things might happen,” Norm said with a grin.

  “The irony is”—Norm continued as he paced around the little cube—“Maura doesn’t realize the level of power she has, or if she does, she’s afraid of it. But what she does know is that her powers are a gift from God to protect her all her life, and she will only use the power she has for good.”

  Jimmy had no comment to this. Since he didn’t believe in any of that stuff, he couldn’t get a handle on what it all meant. Yet he could see that Norm was a true convert, so he thought the best action was to keep his mouth shut and let Norm keep talking.

  “In addition, just to forewarn you, a lot of spirit guides, and some angels who know Maura from past lives or heaven, including your sister, like to watch Maura and see how much of her magic she uses on Earth. So beware that sometimes you’ll be watching over her, and visitors will come hang out to see what she’ll do.”

  Jimmy saw his opportunity and leaped at it. “Well, speaking of visitors, when can Pat come by and hang out? Since she knows Maura, I could probably learn a lot from her.”

  “No, Jimmy—not yet. Give it some time,” Norm said firmly.

  “Look!” Jimmy exclaimed as he leaped up off the desk chair and stared down at Norm. “I read the damn file! I gave you some feedback. I even said she seemed okay in my book. I thought that, based on this, you would cut me some slack and at least let me see what’s happening at my own funeral!”

  “Jimmy that is what Pat is assigned to do, and quite frankly she’s pretty busy. She’s watching over all your family members, and you know how big of a group that is. It’s an important job, and only someone at Pat’s level can handle it. Besides that, it’s also an exhausting job for her. She’ll visit you when and if she can.” Then Norm added in a booming voice, “Okay?”

  Jimmy decided he’d better not push the issue any further for now. “Okay, I guess.”

  “Good! I need you to now read the second file—the last twenty years of Maura’s life. I think you’ll find this file most interesting. After you finish it, I need to start getting you acclimated to watching Maura daily and being comfortable around her. Your first connection with her will be coming up soon, so you need to be ready for it.”

  Jimmy replied brightly, “Alrighty then. Bring on the next file! I love reading about college life.”

  Norm did just that, and left him to focus on reading. Jimmy leaned back in his chair and opened the second installment, which started with Maura going to college and ended in the present. It was a much larger file, since it had more years to cover and thus would take longer to read. The first section started with Maura arriving on the small college campus and happily saying good-bye to her overbearing family. The first person she met was her roommate, Katharine, a Lauren Bacall look-alike. Maura’s quick assessment was that she had never seen greener eyes in her life or anyone with a more voluptuous body, which she found herself quickly becoming envious of. But what Katharine had in looks, she lacked in personality. She was the most boring and studious person Maura would meet on campus, and she thought it was just her luck that this girl was her roommate.

  After only a couple of weeks on campus, Maura soon discovered that Katharine was twice as envious of Maura’s body and looks. Though Maura had never focused much on it, since her family did nothing but put her down, she had always wondered about modeling. It quickly became apparent that Katharine thought she should do that—and with that came a lot of jealousy. Since Maura with a tall, fashion-model body, a few small curves but shapely legs, and Katharine was a shorter, a bit overweight, fully curved woman, the tension and jealousy started to build between them.

  One beautiful Sunday, while Katharine wanted complete silence in the room so she could study, and Maura was in no mood to do that, the tension became unbearable. So she left the dorm room quickly to get some fresh air and to walk off the anxiety she was feeling.

  It was a gorgeous warm autumn day in what is often called Indian Summer in New England. Maura decided to walk around the whole campus and take in the beautiful scenery around the college. As she was doing this, she came across a dormitory building that she ha
d never seen before, called Angel Hall. She was curious about what was behind the building and decided to walk around it. As she came around the other side, the vision she encountered would change her life forever.

  Coming out of a side door was the most handsome man that she had ever seen. The fact that he was in a campus security uniform didn’t take away from the scene either. He made Maura stop in her tracks. He was an older, tall man, but well-built with dark-brown hair and kind brown eyes.

  He smiled slowly and said, “Hello.”

  Maura stood there transfixed and softly said hello, realizing at that moment she wasn’t capable of more than one-word answers.

  He spoke again, and said, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  Maura softly answered, “Yes,” and thought she must look like a dunce with the one-word answers.

  He continued calmly, as if they had met several times before, and said, “May I ask where you’re going?”

  She answered more confidently, smiling, “Just going for a walk around campus.”

  He then gave her a slow once-over look from head to toe, which made her blush, but in a good way. Other men had done that to her over the years, and it always made her feel very uncomfortable. But this was different. She didn’t even know his name, but she was overwhelmed with a feeling of complete trust—as if she already knew him.

  Then there was a silence while they both stared at each other.

  Finally Maura slowly turned to walk away. As she did this, she could not stop smiling. She had a grin ear to ear, and she realized that she had never felt so happy in her life. How is this possible? Maura turned to look back, just to see if he was a mirage. To her glee, he was still rooted to the spot, staring at her as she walked away.

  This was the first encounter of Maura and Bob, and the start of a very intense emotional relationship that lasted for four solid years and beyond.

  Jimmy had to put the file down. He was completely stunned. He never knew that Bob met Maura while he was working at one of the college campuses. In all the years from then to now, Bob had never mentioned any of this to him. To think that they had carried on an incredible romance at a Catholic college, and Jimmy had never had any clue. None of the family had—including Bob’s fiancée and future wife at the time.