The Visitation

It was a Bluthery winter, in the year of 1800 and '89, and Jack Harnum was fighting his way through it. He had to get to work, or so he thought. He had a job that he couldn't stop working on. Plans. That was the trouble. Plans that constantly needed perfecting. The goal which he had set for himself was to construct a house that could be heated by a single flame of no more than six candle power. He worked sunup to sundown. His plans constantly needed to be changed. He knew that he was on to something, but nobody else did. The grants he got from the government weren't enough to survive on, let alone run experiments with. So, he scrounged upon one meal a day of raw cabbage. He would boil it, if he had enough wood for a fire, and now, in a blizzard, in the middle of a dormant, yet surviving town on a western prairie he was dying of starvation and cold.

He coughed, because of a cold which he didn't deserve. Two hours of sleep wasn't enough, his wife kept telling him. He couldn't very well support her ether, but she got the best of what there was. He stumbled in the deeply packed snow underfoot. Drawing his cloak closer to his body. He turned his face crossways, away from the burning wind. It whipped at his flesh, mercilessly, and filled him with pain. He rushed forward, in a final effort.to gain ground. He slipped, fell, and remembered no more.

The room in which he awoke was ablaze with the morning sunlight. Shielding his eyes as they gradually began to adjust, he looked about the room, empty. He lay back down and tried to figure out where he was. Just as he realized that he was in one of Doc Murphie's sick beds, he heard heavy breathing at his side. There in a chair, where just a moment ago is lay empty, was an old man. The man wore white and had a uniquely benign face. "Jonathan B.?"

Jack blinked, "Yeah. Who are you?"

"Call me Inrico."

"Inrico?"

"Well, then call me anything you like, just so long as it isn't bad."

"Where did you come from? Why are you so winded. Why-"

"Please,one question at a time. Well, first, I come from a place that you would like to go, and second, I had to make it across the Horse-Head nebula before suppertime."

"The Horse head what?"

"Nebula. Oh, well, that's about a thousand years ahead of your time. Any other questions?"

"Yes. What are you?"

"Yes, Jack, well I was afraid that you were going to ask that. Let's just say that I'm your guardian Angel."

"You certainly are grey...."

"Greyer Than yourMother."

"Huh?"

"Oh, come ON, Jack. I've seen everything you did that your mother didn't. Even your thoughts."

"You didn't!"

"Settle down, Jack. I'm your friend, Remember that."

"Well then, GA-"

"That's my sister's name."

"Then how about RAVI?" Jack chuckled. "Anyway, why can I see you, Angles are invisible, aren't they?"

"You're wrong there, Jack, we angles have the option, of whether to be seen or not to be seen."

"I see..." Said Jack.

"I found you in the snow, and, I admit that I never should have fallen asleep on the job, I should have waited another year until you--"

"Until I what?"

"There I go, putting my visibility in my mouth again. I've really come to warn you." "Warn me of what?"

"Don't take this to hard, Jack.. but if you keep working as hard as you are, then, Within the next year, your wife will leave you, and you'll die of exhaustion, and of a broken heart."

"How do you know all this?"

"I was having lunch at Death's last night, and your name was of the undecided list. The thing is, you will have to decide."

"Decide. But if I stop work I'll lose my jo-"

"And gain your life."

"--and if I keep working--"

"You die."

"Why did you come to warn me?"

"I don't know, exactly, Jack. It's just that I think I like
you better than all my other Guardee's. Take Blue
Beard, for example. His guardian Demon spoke to him a lot
more than I could, and believe me, I tried."

"Do I have a"

"A guardian Demon, yes, but when I'm here, he's to scared to
show up. Chicken you know. Now, let's here a decision from you."

"Sir," said Jack firmly, "I'm gonna live."

"Jonathan Bernard Harnum, You've got an ugly name, but I sure am glad that you're gonna be around a while longer. Oh, one more thing. If you don't tell Him about me falling asleep, I won't. Bye pardner." The old man cocked a finger and muttered "Bang." while giggling slightly, as he did, the wall behind Jack exploded. The Angel smiled at Jack, who smiled back, and muttered, "Oops."