LET’S SEE THE FIREWORKS!

A TBAA short story

By Deyse M.

Hundreds of people gathered together in the streets of the big city, surrounded by magnificent skyscrapers and still adorned with Christmas decoration, millions of small lamps adding more beauty and charm to that already enchanting scenario. It was a cold winter night, but, despite the low temperature, there were no clouds in the sky and it was covered with twinkling bright stars, which formed, together with the moon, a wonderful view. The new year was about to start and, in the main avenue of the city, a huge clock ticked the last minutes to midnight.

On the top of one of the tallest buildings, rather distant from the crowd, a tall, handsome man observed the happiness of the people down in the streets waiting for the fireworks to welcome the first minutes of the day. He was wearing a green sweater, a pair of jeans, black leather shoes and a black overcoat. A cold breeze blew upon his face and his short blond hair and, after glancing at his pocket watch and realising that it was just a question of minutes before midnight, Andrew rubbed his gloved hands trying to send away the coldness of the night.

Suddenly, another pair of equally gloved hands showed up from behind him and gently covered his green eyes. The blond angel smiled mischievously and covered the ‘mysterious’ hands that rested upon his face with his own:

"Let’s see... I think I know these hands... They’re soft, delicate and I love holding and squeezing them...", Andrew stopped talking, trying to make some suspense, but, after hearing a small giggle right behind him, he continued:

"... I guess I already know who this is... It can only be one person, someone I love very much and that I always miss when we’re not together... My little Joy!", he concluded, causing Monica to uncover his eyes and cross her arms in front of her chest with an indignant expression on her pretty face:

"Hey, that’s not funny!", she protested, with a rather upset tone in her voice. But, seeing her annoyed physiognomy only made Andrew let go a loud laugh:

"Come here, Angel Girl!", he pulled her close to him in a tight embrace, "I can hardly believe I’m hugging you right here, right now! It feels really good!"

"Well, despite you quite peculiar sense of humour tonight, Andrew, I think I can say the same thing about you..."

Chucking at the remains of her annoyance, the blond angel pulled away just enough to look at her face. He put a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear and kissed the tip of her nose:

"When I came up here I had no idea how beautiful the view could be..."

That statement was enough to make a big smile appear on her face, as she wasn’t really upset with his previous little joke:

"I thought we would be working on different assignments this night..."

"Tess and I managed to finish our assignment some minutes ago, earlier than we expected!"

"And how in the world could you find me here?"

"Well... We had some help, you know...", she replied, with a wink, and he nodded his head understandingly.

"Besides, we were also informed that you too had been given some free minutes, so we decided to come around and say hullo to a dear friend...", the Irish angel explained, lacing her fingers into his own and with happiness evident in her twinkling brown eyes. Her best friend smiled even more:

"That was the best surprise I could ever have!", he looked around them, "But where’s Tess?"

At that exact moment, the two heard an unmistakable strong voice behind them:

"I’m sorry for the delay, Angel Boy, but I just couldn’t bring my baby here without protecting her from the night air first!", the supervisor said, holding little Joy in her arms. The black cocker spaniel puppy was wearing a pink sweater and pink earmuffs, and let out a small bark to greet her ‘mother’ and ‘father’. Tess placed her on the ground and the first thing that she did was to run clumsily towards Andrew and undo his shoelaces. The blond angel smiled and scooped the playful animal:

"Hey little one, you’re quite elegant tonight!", he said, receiving lots of ‘kisses’ in return. Tess joined them with a worried look upon his face:

"I still think that she’s too young to be up until that late! She’s still a baby and should be in bed at this time!"

"I think you’re absolutely right, Tess. I really do...", Monica agreed, stroking the puppy’s soft fur, "But today is a special occasion: it’s her first new year here on Earth and I thought that she would love to spend it with us, after all, Andrew and I are her parents and you are her grandmother; we are her family!"

"I guess Monica is right, Tess. And she’ll be able to sleep until late tomorrow and, as you said, she’s well protected against the cold now that she’s wearing this... outfit..."

"It’s my own design!", the oldest angel said, pleased with her work and letting go of her previous worry.

"And these earmuffs..."

"That was Monica’s idea!", she quickly added, not missing his amusement to see Joy wearing a pair of earmuffs, which, in fact, caused the small animal to look really funny. The Irish angel took the puppy in her arms:

"That way, she will be both protected from the cold and won’t be scared of the noise of the fireworks, you know."

Andrew and Tess exchanged a quick glance; amusement evident in their eyes. Trying to hold his laugher, as he wanted to avoid teasing her again, the blond angel wrapped his arm around Monica’s shoulder:

"It’s an extraordinary idea, sweetie!", he said, shooting her a loving gaze, which she immediately returned with a tiny kiss on his cheek. Seeing that, Tess rolled her eyes to the sky with some mock distress:

"Oh my... Here we go again...", she muttered, causing the other two to smile. At that moment, they heard a voice from the loudspeaker:

"Let’s count to ten and welcome the new year!"

Andrew wrapped his other arm around the supervisor’s shoulder and they watched as the second hand of the huge tower clock ticked the last instants of the new year; its pace in accordance with the crowd’s countdown. Finally, hundreds of fireworks filled the sky with a multitude of colours and forms, lightening up the winter night. The cold was broken by the warmth of millions of hearts which were filled with one common wish: love and peace to the entire world.

The angels witnessed not only the beauty of the spectacle in the sky but also hundreds of people hugging one another and wishing happiness to their family, friends or anyone else they met in the streets. And little Joy seemed amazed to see the fireworks, as the puppy observed with attentive eyes the dozens of coloured pictures formed in the starry sky:

"I think she likes it!", Monica said, noticing how entertained her precious baby was.

"And she’s totally right, it’s really beautiful!", Andrew remarked, equally pleased with the scenario.

"Well, it has its charm, I admit it. But the 3 of us know that it’s God’s time that really counts."

"We know that, Tess. But I think the new year is very important to humans; it is a chance to review everything they’ve said and done recently, to reflect about their successes and losses and make plans for the future.", the blond angel said. A broad smile appeared on Monica’s face:

"Yes, you’re right, Andrew. And isn’t it wonderful that some people whose misfortunes have saddened their lives in the past have their hearts filled with faith and hope by the Father Himself and have the chance to start all over again, at the beginning of a brand new day?"

Hearing those words, Andrew and Tess exchanged another look, now with contentment in their eyes, as Monica kept on talking:

"And isn’t it also wonderful that, even for the ones who had their lives filled with happiness, it is an opportunity to thank their Creator for everything good He has given them?"

"I couldn’t agree more with you, Angel Girl!", the blond angel proudly said, gently squeezing her.

Pleased with the beautiful celebration right before her eyes, Monica sighed:

"Besides, it’s always a blessing to wish happiness to other people!"

It was possible to see that the two other angels were extremely happy with her statements and equally proud of the little Irish angel:

"Angel Girl, if you continue like this, I’m afraid you won’t need a supervisor anymore!", Tess joked.

"Well, I’d say there’s something I need more than a supervisor, Tess. I need two wonderful friends, who make each day of my existence a brand new year; with fireworks and all!"

At that moment, Joy barked twice, indignantly staring at the Irish angel, who smiled down at her:

"And of course I also need a precious wee baby, who brings so much joy to the 3 of us that I wish the rest of the world could feel it too!"

Pleased with that statement, the little puppy dog covered her ‘mommy’s’ face with lots of tiny kisses, while her ‘daddy’ and her ‘grandma’ laughed at that scene:

"You’re absolutely right, Angel Girl!", Tess said, "And being here, celebrating a new beginning is also a way to welcome the Father once more and allow Him to bless our hearts with His love. So, happy new year, babies!!!"

"Happy new year, Tess!!!", they replied.

The 3 angels held and kissed one another with all their love reflected upon their happy faces, while a white dove cooed and flew above their heads, crossing the colourful sky.

THE END