When Angels Play Poker Read online

E. B. replied, “Sorry, buster, but you didn’t pay attention. Must not have good listening skills.”

  Jenny stood up, looked at both of them with distain, and said, “Both of you, stop! This is ridiculous—it’s just a silly game. And you’re losing sight of the most important outcome of this event: That Maura is truly loved and is getting married to her soulmate.”

  Jimmy replied, “Jenny, as much as I really like hanging out with you and love your cool vibe, I have to disagree on your point. It is about the poker game championship, and based on how many hands I won consistently tonight, I’ve earned the entire pot of coins.”

  E. B. whipped around and stared at Edwin, who had wisely kept out of the discussion so far. “Edwin, help me out here. I think the answer and outcome is quite clear. Agree?

  Edwin pondered this for about thirty seconds and said, “E. B., keep me out of this. I’ve been out of the game for many hands tonight.”

  “Fine, then I will take matters into my own hands.” E. B. quickly reached across the table to grab all of Jimmy’s coins.

  Just then the door flung open wide, and Pat came rushing across the room to Jimmy. “I need you now, so please come outside with me,” she said.

  He glanced up from the table, hovering over his coins, and said, “Kinda busy right now, Pat. What’s up?”

  Jenny could see the stress on Pat’s face and said, “Hey, honey, what’s wrong? You look really upset.”

  Pat replied, “I am. Weren’t you all watching? Or were you too caught up in your stupid poker game to see?”

  Jimmy mumbled, “Um, yeah, I think so.” But he was starting to realize that no one, except Jenny, had been watching the TV. They had been playing poker and arguing about the Roman Coins instead.

  Pat replied firmly, “Outside, Jimmy.”

  He said, “Look, sis. I’m really trying to wrap up this poker game here with E. B., and we’re in a dispute over which of us gets the Coins. Can’t it wait?”

  As Pat began to open her mouth to snap back a reply, all of a sudden the room boomed with a loud voice that said, “Enough!” It was like a clap of thunder reverberating off the walls. Everyone stopped and stood frozen in their spot as the booming voice continued: “This poker game is over. All poker games will be stopped for now.” Then there was complete silence.

  Jenny whispered to E. B., “Now we’ve done it, Eleanor. That never happens!”

  E. B. replied quietly, “Hush, Jenny.”

  Pat looked over again at Jimmy and said, “Now will you go outside with me?” He got up quickly and started following her out of the room, but not without staring at E. B. first.

  Once outside in the hallway, Jimmy sighed and said, “Geez, I just wanted to play a good game of poker tonight. What’s up with all the drama? And why are you looking so stressed out, Pat?”

  With a concerned look, she said, “Bob blacked out down there. He had too much to drink.”

  Jimmy shrugged. “So, it happens.”

  Pat snapped quickly “You really weren’t watching, were you? Damn it, Jimmy—that’s your job!”

  “Okay, calm down, sis. It’s not the end of the world as we know it.”

  “Jimmy, he won’t remember any of it—zip, nada, nothing—when he wakes up.”

  “Let me get this straight: Bob proposed—which I still can’t get my head wrapped around—got a yes, drank a lot in celebration, and then blacked out to a point that when he wakes up in the morning, he won’t remember any of it?”

  “Exactly. And you know what’s even worse? Maura fell asleep thinking she was finally engaged to the man she loves.”

  “Wow. Okay then.” Jimmy saw the grave concern in Pat’s eyes. He added, “Damn, our brother is a piece of work,” and started to pace the hallway.

  Pat walked by his side and added, “We both know Bob’s going to wake up and deny it. And then tell her no way, that he won’t go through with it. Jimmy, do you realize what that means and how serious this is? The absolute worst part is what this will do to Maura. She’s going to be totally devastated.”

  Jimmy stopped pacing and asked, “Can we bring in an angel intervention from Jenny or something?”

  “No, Jimmy, it’s all on you now. THIS is why you’ve been assigned to protect Maura. We both need to go back down to Walden Pond together, before the sun comes up, so we’re at their sides when they wake up. Me for Bob, you for Maura.”

  “Okay then, let’s go now,” Jimmy said anxiously.

  Quickly Pat brought him over to a spot where she knew they could take the slide down quickly. As they went down, with Jimmy hanging onto Pat, it reminded him of all the fun times they had sledding when they were kids. When they arrived at Walden, it was still dark, and they hung out nearby while Bob and Maura were sleeping, waiting for dawn to arrive.

  Meanwhile, back at the Poker Room, things quickly wrapped up. Everyone started going back to their cloud cubes. Uncle Joey announced that he would work on trying to get poker games reinstated. E. B. and Jenny quietly left and made their way back slowly to their respective cloud levels. Both were pensive and somber as they glided along together.

  Finally Jenny said, “Eleanor, we lost focus tonight on our purpose here in Heaven. It’s never been about a poker game or Roman coins. It’s all above love and protecting those we love on earth. You know this!”

  “I know, Jenny. I’m so sorry I let a poker game get out of hand. And who knows if we’ll ever be able to play again, after tonight’s antics.”

  “That doesn’t matter now. What is of most importance is to protect Maura, as we always have done. You saw Pat’s face tonight. Something went wrong; I can feel it. I’m going to go to the prayer room now to pray hard for her and Bob.” She paused. “And E. B., you need to find a way to help too. You are such a powerful and wise angel. Use your gift toward this! Maura is going to need your help, even though we don’t know what happened.”

  E. B. turned, smiled at her, and said, “You are the most caring angel I know, and we’ll all be in good hands with you praying. I don’t know how a wonderful event like getting engaged tonight would take a turn in the wrong direction, but I’m sure we’ll both find out soon enough.”

  At this point, they reached a fork in the cloud levels, and Jenny said, “E. B., go snooze-doze for a bit. You will need it so you have plenty of energy later if you’re called on.” With that she rose up toward the higher level with her beautiful golden wings glistening and blew a kiss to E. B.

  E. B. basked in her incredible warm light and love as Jenny rose up higher to the level 11 floor. E. B. sighed and thought, She is always in a calm state of grace, and I’m always ready to defend those I love and get into arguments with people. But that’s why she’s at a higher level than me. With that, E. B. glided to her cloud cube, which she considered home now.

  When she got there, a lovable Sheltie named Lad was there to greet her. He liked hanging out in E. B.’s cloud cube, and that night E. B. couldn’t get enough love from him as he barked and ran around in circles at her feet. Finally he calmed down, and E. B. crumpled into her comfy cloud bed and immediately dozed off, with Lad on the floor nearby.

  Sometime later, she opened her eyes because she sensed a warm glow in her room. When she looked at the foot of the bed, there was Norm, gently smiling at her. “Norm! Is something wrong? Has a tragic event happened or something? I’m sorry I was snooze-dozing.”

  “No, E. B., luckily no bad events. I just decided to visit and talk with you.”

  “Norm, if this is about the poker game, I am so sorry I let it get out of hand. I should have never acted the way I did to Jimmy and everyone else at the table and in the room.”

  Norm shook his head and said, “Well, you did lose focus, but then again, so did Jimmy. And that’s why I decided to pair both of you to help Maura and Bob. I’m not sure if you’re aware of the situation, but Maura is going to wake up so
on, and everything is going to spiral out of control very quickly when she realizes that Bob doesn’t recall proposing to her last night. He’s not going to remember any of it, except maybe arriving at Walden. And he’s going to deny proposing to her.”

  E. B. gasped. “No way! That’s just awful, Norm. Why would he take it back? Why? He loves her!”

  “We would all hope so, but in the meantime, I need your help to look after Maura.”

  “Always, you know that, Norm,” she stated quickly.

  “You need to join Jimmy and Pat down at Walden Pond now before daylight hits. And you need to get along with Jimmy. Understood? This situation needs both of you working together to help Maura through this.”

  “I’ll do my best. But what if another tragedy strikes while I’m handling this?”

  Norm smiled at her concern. “E. B., you’ve built an amazing team of angels beneath you. They can handle things if needed. I need your total focus on Maura—to make sure a tragedy doesn’t happen with her.”

  “Absolutely! I would hope that Maura wouldn’t do anything stupid because of Bob.”

  “Ahhh, Bob sadly just doesn’t know how to deal with things in the right way. He didn’t read the instruction manual on relationships and marriage,” Norm said with a sigh.

  “Okay, Norm. I’ll head down there right away.”

  “Great, I’m counting on you!”

  “Always,” E. B. said with a smile. With that, she got ready to fly down to Walden, and Norm said a prayer and gave her a blessing as he watched her leave.

  CHAPTER 11

  Meanwhile, Back at Walden

  As E. B. arrived at Walden Pond and joined Pat and Jimmy along the stonewall steps near the trail around the pond, dawn was just starting to break. As they looked across the pond, it was a breathtaking moment and view. The water, trees, and nature overall were completely still, as if just waiting for the day to begin.

  The three angels sat in silence, taking in the beauty and magic of the moment. Eventually E. B. turned to Jimmy and broke the silence. “Norm sent me down and asked that we work together side by side to help Maura through whatever unfolds today.” Jimmy just nodded as he looked seriously at his brother and Maura, who were still sleeping, curled up together on the sand. He was anxious about what was about to happen and how the day would evolve.

  He also knew that having E. B. join him was either going to make or break his day. But as his sat there pondering the situation, he realized that if Norm sent her, there had to be a good reason. Besides, E. B. and Maura had been very close on earth, and Jimmy didn’t have that history. And so he really didn’t mind having E. B. joining to help out. He was actually feeling a bit over his head with the intensity of the situation overall. Before E. B. showed up, Pat had had a chat with him, telling him to respect E. B., because she had a lot of responsibility up in heaven and a team of angels behind her when needed. Jimmy wondered if he would ever see that side of her in action.

  E. B. broke the silence again and said, “Okay, Maura’s about to wake up.”

  Maura stirred, and as she opened her eyes, she realized there was sand everywhere—in her hair, on her face, and all over her body in every crevasse. She grabbed the comforter and pulled it up around her chin, sat up, and looked across the pond.

  “Wow” was all she could say softly as she took in the incredible scene in front of her. The sky was a pale pink-purple color as dawn was breaking. And there was a soft, beautiful mist surrounding the pond and hovering over the water. It was surreal, a moment of total serenity. And it made Maura wish she had her camera handy.

  She glanced over at Bob to share the moment, but it was clear that he was totally out, with his face planted in the sand. Maura sighed in contentment and smiled as she looked at him and remembered the amazing night they’d had. She went back to staring at the water, and at that moment she could hear the sound of the water lapping gently on the sand. At the entrance area of the pond, she spotted a lone swimmer starting to do laps. She thought he was most likely a long-distance swimmer, one of many that frequented Walden Pond to train for the Olympics.

  As she watched him, Maura realized he would be the first of many that would come to the pond in early morning to exercise and train. She knew she and Bob needed to get a move on, especially since the sun would be rising soon. She turned to Bob, and as much as she hated to disturb him, she started to shake him gently awake. He didn’t stir. “Odd,” Maura murmured. “He’s always the early riser.” She started to shake him more firmly and said, “Bob, wake up. Come on. We need to get going.”

  Bob groaned, turned onto his back, and said, “What?”

  Maura looked down at him. “Sorry to disturb you, but we have to get moving. It’s almost daylight, and people are starting to arrive to swim.” He still hadn’t opened his eyes. He just murmured, “Oh my head,” in response and covered his face with his hands.

  Maura could clearly see he was in pain and that he didn’t want to open his eyes—not a good sign. She started to get dressed quickly as Bob lay prone on the beach. “Honey,” she said. “I’m sorry your head’s in pain, and I know the last thing you want to do is move—but we have to! We need to hightail it out of here before a park ranger arrives and tells us we’re trespassing, since it’s clear we stayed here overnight.”

  Bob still didn’t open his eyes, and he just said, “Yeah, okay, whatever,” and didn’t move.

  Maura stared at him, frustrated, and thought, Seriously? When did he get so trashed last night? Then she said, “Okay, here’s the deal. I’m going to pull everything together and take it up to the car while you pull your pants and yourself together ASAP.”

  “Yup” was the reply with still no movement.

  “All righty then,” Maura said. She let out a loud sigh and started gathering items, except the comforter, which Bob clearly still needed. As she left for the parking lot, she said over her shoulder, “I’ll be back in a jiffy, so hopefully you’ll get it together by then.”

  When she arrived back at the pond, Bob was dressed and slowly putting his sneakers on. As Maura watched, she marveled at the reality that she was now finally engaged to this handsome man. It made her burst into a big smile, walk over, throw her arms around him, and say, “I love you!”

  He blinked and said, “Yeah—I know,” and lightly kissed her.

  Looking deep into his eyes, she added, “Thanks for an amazing night. I’ll never forget it—ever.”

  Bob grinned slowly and said, “Well, that’s good to hear!”

  Maura turned toward the water and could see now three colorful swim caps moving out on the water as they swam. “Okay, we’ve gotta get out of here now. It’s almost total daylight.” And with that, she started grabbing anything remaining, including the comforter, which she pushed into Bob’s arms.

  Bob watched her in action, mystified. First of all, he knew she was NEVER awake at that hour in the morning, and second, she seemed very happy with him as well. As much as he tried though, he couldn’t remember any details of the night before, except arriving at Walden. The rest was a fuzzy blank blur. But clearly, he thought, it must have been a good time and a great night on the pond.

  Once everything was accounted for, Bob and Maura walked together up the steep entranceway out to the parking lot. As they were climbing up the big hill, a ranger was coming down. Maura held her breathe as Bob said, “Good morning.” The ranger gave them a big smile and said, “What a beauty for a sunrise, huh? Can’t beat that on Walden Pond” and kept going.

  Maura kept trudging up the hill and was happy when they reached the car. She dumped everything in the trunk, and once Bob was buckled in, she started driving back to their meeting spot from the night before. Along the way, she stopped for coffee, since Bob clearly needed it for his hangover. He was quiet the whole time, which Maura thought was odd. But she decided his head must just really hurt. Still, she remembered what
an incredible night it had been, and she was surprised he hadn’t brought up anything about their engagement or the wedding proposal.

  Once they were getting close to their meeting spot, she said, “So, Bob, who do we tell first about our big news?”

  He looked blankly at her. “What news?”

  Maura laughed and said, “Our engagement, silly!”

  Bob sat up straighter in his seat, turned to her, and replied, “What engagement?”

  Maura almost went off the wrong exit when she heard his reply. She immediately went pale, and with a stunned expression on her face, she said, “Bob, what are you talking about? We got engaged last night. You proposed to me.”

  Bob’s face turned white. as he said “No, I didn’t.”

  Luckily, at that moment Maura was turning off the highway. There was totally silence as she drove down the road and into the parking lot where his car was. She flew into a parking spot, turned off the engine and stared hard at him in disbelief.

  “Are you going to tell me that it was a bad dream, a delusion, or that you don’t remember last night?”

  Bob gulped and softly said, “I don’t remember.”

  “What?!”

  “Look, Maura, you know where I stand on this. I am never remarrying. I made that clear to you a long time ago. Nothing has changed on that viewpoint. And just because I tied one on last night and got overemotional in the moment and proposed doesn’t mean that we’re now getting married.”

  “But you said you loved me, and all these other wonderful things,” Maura said, choking up and holding back tears.

  “I do love you. You know that! You’re my soulmate in life; there’s no one like you. But I like things the way they are. Our relationship works great as is, so let it be.”

  Maura was speechless and said in a low growl, “Get out of my car now. I don’t believe a word you just said for a second, or that you don’t remember last night.”

  Bob looked at her and could see how upset she was. “Look, I—”

  She put up her hand and snapped, “Stop—just get out.”