The little black puffball darted from one side of the alley to the other, successfully dodging the repeated attempts of a frantic little girl. While her mother, just a few steps behind, was working on a new meaning for the word"frantic".
"Faith!"
"But mommy!" she insisted. "I gotta get Tasha!" She continued to elude her mother as easily as the kitten eluded her. Her mother gave chase, uttering something about being "last seen", but Faith wasn't really paying attention. Her focus was on her runaway kitten.
Reaching the end of the alley, she found her escaped kitten sitting quietly. Faith stopped short, her deep sapphire eyes growing wider than they ever had before. Her mouth slowly opened, and her face took on a look of total amazement. Tasha sat licking a paw, next to what could only be one thing.
An angel.
Her lower lip quivered as she tried to form the word "mommy". The woman pulled up behind her just then, gasping for breath.
"Faith!" she said sternly. "You know better than this!" Catching her breath, she noticed the her little girl was paying no attention to her whatever. Not that this wasn't the norm of course. Looking in the corner she saw what had her daughter's attention. Her face softened, as did her voice.
"Faith," she began. "We should go now and let this poor man sleep." Faith turned to look quizzically at her mother.
"But mommy," she said quietly, almost whispering. "That's no man, that's an angel." Her mother raised an eyebrow, then frowned, puzzled.
"Sweetheart," she said patiently. "That's just a homeless man."
"No mommy," she replied, her perfectly shaped lower lip quivering even more. "He has wings." She pointed. "Don't you see?" Her mother sighed as she turned to look at the ragged man lying still in the corner. Tattered trench coat, several layers of discarded clothing, two different shoes. He looked as though he hadn't bathed in weeks, and she wasn't about to get close enough to find out, or let Faith. She turned her attention back to her little girl, so innocent of the cruelty in the world, shook her head sadly and swallowed a rising lump in her throat.
Faith looked at the angel. His wings held about him like a large umbrella, silky black. They were beautiful with the lights of the church window shining on them. Between them a sword stood upright, stuck in the bricks somehow. She had seen that kind of sword before at home. Her brother Jason had an action figure with a sword like that, but she couldn't ever remember the name for it. And she had no idea why an angel would need one anyway, but maybe it wasn't his. He sat motionless. She didn't even see him breathing. Even at the age of 5 she was moved beyond words. Her eyes welled up.
"Oh Faith," her mother said, taking her into her arms. "I know it's sad honey, but this happens to people sometimes." Faith realized that her mother didn't see the angel like she did, and could only look at her through watery eyes wondering why. She seemed to remember hearing a story once, or maybe it was a movie, about adults not being able to see angels like kids could. Maybe that's what it was. The thought made her sad. Adults got to do so many things that kids didn't, but if it meant that she couldn't see angels, she was happier being a kid. She hugged her mother, then pulled away some.
"Mommy?" she said, in her best question asking voice. Her mother looked at her with misty eyes.
"Yes baby?" she replied, reaching up to wipe away a few tears.
The little girl looked down, playing with her mittens.
"Can I have a favor?" she said finally, looking back into her mother's eyes with a hopeful face.
"And what might that be?" she said, smiling at the tone of her daughter's voice. Faith went back to fumbling with her mittens. She hated these things, people were supposed to have five fingers, not two.
"Umm,..." she continued. "Can I show you?" she said finally, her face lighting up expectantly. Suppressing a laugh, her mother nodded. She was supposed to be upset after all. Faith smiled, and she ran off back down the alley a short distance, her new patent leather shoes clicking sharply on the ground. "Be careful Faith," she called after her, as the little girl began digging through some boxes. Faith searched around for something she was sure she'd seen while chasing Tasha.
"I got it!" she shouted triumphantly, holding something in her hand. Concerned, her mother squinted her eyes to make out what her daughter had found. Faith ran up to her happily waving a long, red candle.
"And what's that for honey?" she asked, relieved that it was only a candle.
"Well," Faith explained. "I just thought it would be nice if we could light a candle for that, umm,...man. Since it's Christmas and everything."
More tears. She could only nod and smile at the gesture as she tried to keep from crying outright. She dug around in her purse for a lighter, taking a deep breath to regain herself. She didn't smoke,...anymore, but over the years she'd learned how handy it was to have a lighter with you at times, and still carried one. Faith stood patiently waiting. Well,...almost patiently, stupid mittens.
"Found it," her mother said, pulling out the lighter. Faith smiled big again.
"We need something to put it in though." Faith shifted her gaze around quickly, looking for the perfect candle holder.
"There!" she said, pointing to a tall, thin bottle standing next to a garbage can. Her mother walked over and picked up the bottle.
"Faith, this is beautiful," she said, admiring the striking deep blue glass, and flowing shape. "I don't think I've ever seen a bottle quite like this." Faith swelled with pride. She wanted this to be special, after all, this was for an angel. She handed the candle to her mother. They both knelt down as her mother sparked the lighter and held it beneath the candle for a second to melt the wax a bit. Faith watched intently, as if everything in her world depended on this. She smiled again as the candle was pressed down into the bottle top for a perfect fit. They smiled at each other, and Faith threw herself into her mother's arms, hugging her as tightly as her tiny arms would let her. Kissing her mother on the cheek, she stood back and held out her hands. Carefully taking the bottle, she held it still as the lighter sparked to life again. The wick flared and sputtered as the dampness burned away. The warm gold of the flickering candlelight lit Faith's face with an angelic glow. Her smile seemed to be permanently fixed. With one hand under the bottle, and the other around the neck, she carefully started towards the angel.
"Faith,...be careful baby." She was a mother, and couldn't help but worry about her little one. Faith looked back at her with a look that melted her every time.
"Don't worry mommy, it's ok," she said with absolute certainty, and turned back to the task at hand. So much trust to be found in innocence, the woman thought, as she watched her little girl walk up to the stranger. Maybe Faith really did know something she didn't, or at least felt it. It was time to trust in her daughter she decided, and stood still and silent.
Faith moved cautiously around the sword, and positioned herself between the domed wings of the angel. From here she could see that he was in a kneeling position, as if he were frozen in prayer, but his head was at such an angle that she couldn't see his face. She lowered herself and set the bottle carefully on the ground. The interior of the wings shimmered and almost seemed to come to life in the wavering illumination of the candle. She watched in awe as the shimmer grew, became almost a glow. Suddenly she realized that from here she could see his face.
And he could see her.
Startled, her eyes went wide, her face almost pale. Then a calm fell over her, and she smiled. Slowly, he returned the smile, not moving his head. She looked down at the candle, then back up at him. She looked pensive for a moment.
"I thought this might be nice, I don't have anything else to give you," she said, sadly, her lip forming the perfect pout. Then she managed another smile, he smiled back at her, and she beamed.
~...little one,...what you have to give is beyond price,...and you give it to the whole world~
She heard it in her head, but never saw his mouth move. She wrinkled her brow at him. His eyes moved to the candle, then back up to her. Her confusion increased.
~...your name,...and the candle,...Faith and light,...call it, 'Hope',...~
Her eyes glazed over, and she nodded, somehow understanding. Removing one mitten, she reached out and touched his face with a tiny hand. She found his skin wasn't pale and cold, as it looked. It was warm, and alive. She thought he looked like someone she knew, but couldn't remember who. His smile gathered her up and held her, warm and safe as her mother's arms. Then a thought struck her.
"Why are you here? In this place I mean. If you're an angel, aren't you supposed to be in Heaven?" she pondered. Then something else. "Are you lost?" she asked finally, her eyes growing bigger. The angel looked down at the deep red orchid on the ground before him.
~...lost,...yes,...but only for the time being,...~ he told her. She thought he looked sad now, something had changed in his face.
"How can an angel be lost?" she wondered out loud. He smiled at her reassuringly.
~...the light has gone for now,...when it returns, I'll know my way,...~ Faith nodded, but really didn't understand. Grownups always talked like that. She was pretty sure they did it to confuse kids because she was confused a lot, and now this angel was doing the same thing. She sighed.
"Will you have to wait long?" She looked at him with hopeful eyes. "I can say a prayer for you if it will help?"
~...a prayer,...yes, that would help little one,...~ Faith felt she would burst with happiness, she was going to help an angel!
~...the light will return after the full moon,...~ he continued.
"You mean the moonlight?"
~...no little one,...this light comes from someone's heart,...it's the light I follow,...~
She'd heard her parents say stuff like that before, and heard it in church too. About how people had a light inside, they said it was love.
"So,...after the full moon you won't be lost anymore?"
~...no Faith,...I won't be lost anymore,...~ She understood now. He missed someone he loved, that had to be it. She reached up and tugged on her lip a bit in thought, suddenly realizing how cold her hand was. It was nice to have five fingers again, but not when they were this cold. Back to two.
"I'm glad," she said, putting her mitten back on quickly. "I have to be going now, mommy and I are going to church." Her eyes welled again as she looked at him one last time, her lip quivering.
"Merry Christmas," she whispered.
~...and to you little one,...~ And his eyes closed again, and he fell back into silence. She smiled radiantly, stood up and backed away very slowly, not really wanting to leave. She gathered up Tasha, who hadn't moved from where her escapade had ended, and walked slowly back to her mother. The woman stood silent, tears flowing freely down her face. She nodded to herself,..."Faith" indeed. Lifting the little girl into her arms, they left the alley without speaking.
