Blue: Gets a part time job Blue was sitting on the park bench where he had had lunch with Pink. No one else was around, and he did not have any lunch, either. "What exactly was I doing again?' He scratched his head in puzzlement. "Let's see, I was going to school, and, and meeting with Pink to..." "Oh, that's right." The memory, in all of its full and glorious detail, came back with a jarring thud. Blue did not have much of a belief in the afterlife. However, in light of very recent circumstances, he felt he was prepared to change his opinion on the matter. "Also, I really hope Pink is going to be all right." he said to himself. "One way or another, she will be. Her guardian will take care of her." Blue blinked his eyes, as he realised that there was someone else was present after all, sitting at the opposite end of the bench. A young lady, in a flowing white dress, slight smile on her face, looking back at him. A very attractive young lady. Blue could not help noticing that she had a halo, glowing above her head, moving with her head every time she changed position. "Oh, hello. You're an angel? But shouldn't you have wings, also?" said Blue. It would probably have been preferable to give a more deferential reply, but this was Blue after all. Helpless at socialising with anybody, including his Angel of Death. "Certainly, if I want too." she said. And, indeed, she had wings. Wings spanning six metres either side. They looked impressive. They also looked out of place on a lady sitting next to him on a park bench. "But I agree, it makes more sense in the current circumstance not to show them." she said. She went back to showing only the halo. "Let me introduce myself. I'm an angel. In fact, I'm your very own personal Angel of Death. Admittedly I'm a pretty minor angel in the hierarchy, but more than capable enough of acting as your judge. You may call me Esmeralda." "Hmm, right. So, ah, I'm dead, right?" said Blue. "Ah, you have gotten right to the point. In actual fact, you're not. Sort of." said the angel. "Sort of?" "Your body has yet to hit the basement floor. We are taking a bit of time out to hold this conversation." said Esmeralda. "Err?" "Tell me, can you remember when you decided that you didn't have a belief in the continuation of life after death?" "Well, ah, let's see. Yes, that's right. I reasoned that if there was an afterlife, then there must be some God to arrange it. But if such a God exists, why does he or she let so many evil things occur in the world?" said Blue. Esmeralda leant forward, held her hands together and put her chin on her hands. "You know, us minor angels feel the same way. Why let so many evil things occur? But, being mere minor angels, we are not privy to the ineffable workings of free will. It's beyond our pay grade, as you might say. We can complain, but it generally doesn't do any good. However, we occasionally get a break. Probably just to keep us quiet. Occasionally we are allowed to intervene directly in the affairs of men and women." Blue was amazed at himself. He was dead, or maybe he was not. But whatever, his mind was functioning normally. He could think coherently, without panic or fear. "So, you have decided to make an exception for me and let me live?" "Hmm, actually, no. That is, you may live, it will be your choice, but it's not because of your sterling character or even your good deeds." "Oh." "But we do appreciate your actions. You were prepared to give your life in order to save another." "In all honesty, I have to point out that when I started up those stairs, I thought there would be no danger to me." Esmeralda smiled at this. "True. But even when things started going very wrong, you consistently chose to protect Renee rather than yourself. And then you protected Pink, even though by then you knew that you yourself had no hope. We think highly of such choices." "But that not enough to save me?" "Sorry. It's the free will thing. However, you are not the only human that could end up in harm's way. It just so happens that you can be of use to us in saving a lot of other people. Let me explain. I have been given authorisation to intervene, but only by a small amount. Every direct intervention violates the free will principle, and I'm only allowed a certain quota. But, if I was to get the cooperation of a human, and let them do the direct intervention, I can get around this restriction. At least to some extent. I give that human some guidance on what to do, and they do the rest." "But, but, isn't that just going around and round in circles? If you directly intervene, or tell a human and they intervene, isn't the end result still the same?" said Blue. "Maybe. But this is the free will thing we are talking about. If you want a better explanation than that, you will have to ask someone higher in the hierarchy than I am. I don't like your chances of getting an audience, however." Esmeralda was smiling broadly as she said this. Then she became serious. Really serious. Blue could feel the temperature dropping. "Right now, what you need to decide is if you want to do this. Definitely, on your own free will, of course. Acquire a part time job as it were. Be my agent on Earth. If you accept, you get to keep on living. But you will also have to accept some conditions. Alternatively, I can judge you and send you on your way to whatever your next stage will be." Blue had blanched at the mention of being judged. "Don't worry, you don't have much to worry about." said the Angel of Death. "Oh, thanks." Blue supposed that, considering the circumstances, that statement could be taken as a compliment. "So, what are the conditions?" "Not all that onerous, in actual fact. You occasionally take instructions from me to carry out some task. You still need to be judged by me. You can't avoid that, since, technically, you are in the afterlife right now after all. And finally, a small extra imposition. While we don't have any objections to sexuality, provided it is with the usual mutual consent of course, we do feel the need to draw the line somewhere. As an agent for an Angel of the Lord, you will have to put up with having your libido switched off, completely. No raging teenage hormones for you. Except if, you find true love, the sort of love that will last a lifetime. In which case it will be switched on. But only with respect to your true love. Towards all others, you will always be strictly platonic. You will have no choice in the matter." She raised her eyebrows. "Do you think you can put up with that?" Blue, like any other normal male teenager, thought about sex every seven minutes on average. Or was it every seven seconds? It certainly felt like it, sometimes. For him, a heterosexual male, the world of people was divided into two. Boys, who were just, well, boys. And girls. From his point of view, each girl came with a bright neon sign floating above her head, drawing attention to her, rating her assets, giving the chances of him being the one to be chosen by her, compelling his attention. And all of that was to be switched off? On the other hand, not being dead sounded pretty good. And he could always find true love. In fact, finding true love sounded like a good idea, anyway. "Ok, I'll take it. It's not as if I have much choice, anyway." "Oh, you do. Free will and all. So I ask you again to make sure, do you accept?" said Esmeralda. Still looking serious. "Ah. Yes. I do." said Blue. Esmeralda smiled, slightly. "Thank you. Now we come to the judgement part. This will be abbreviated in your case, since you are going back. But don't worry! When you finally die for good, you will be meeting me again." "Oh, right. Err, thanks - ah, I think?" said Blue. He started to wonder, what exactly did this judgment entail? He found he was suddenly compelled to look her in the eyes. He remembered being a young teenage boy, before the illness that had claimed his mother, before the accident that took his father's life. They had gone on a holiday, to a farm stay in the country. Very flat country it was. So when the hurricane had passed by there was plenty of room for the winds to pick up speed and roar past the farmhouse. He had snuck out and stood, facing the flat empty paddocks, facing the hurricane winds. Leaning into the wind as it screamed past, leaning right in, feet dug into the ground to prevent him from sliding and tipping over and being swept away by the wind's power. Watching the grey clouds in the grey skies scudding by overhead. Almost deafened by the buffeting and roaring of the wind. Eventually his mother had realised where he was and called him in, barely managing to suppress her panic at the situation. So it was now. The angel's eyes flared blue and he was in the hurricane again. Only this time it was his soul that was leaning into the power, leaning in, hanging on, as her judgmental power roared through his psyche. The hurricane sought out all of the black spots in his soul and hammered at them, teased them, shook them and yanked them free, swept them away into the swirling vortices of the gale. He remembered the time he punched a fellow school kid during a fight over a can of drink. He cringed with mortification at the memory of peeking under a desk to look up a girl's skirt. There was the shame of pinching a coin from his mother's purse. The guilt of sneaking a look at the test paper of the girl next to him, for one of the rare times he did not know the answer himself. The self-disgust at using porn magazines which he knew were not respectful of women. He could feel the pressure on his soul as each blight and defect and imperfection was highlighted and wrenched out and tossed to the whirlwind. The winds roared by, and then slowly abated. The skies cleared to blue, the hurricane relaxed to a gentle breeze and finally became still. He was facing the paddock, bright blue sky, and the sun warming his face. He collapsed to his knees and put his hands to his face. "All of that greyness clogging up my soul, all the wrong things I have done." He was crying. "How can anyone love me if I have all of that?" And now he had another memory of his parents. When he was younger. They were planting some seeds in the veggie garden. "There you are, poke a hole in the ground, then drop in one seed and cover it up." said his mother. "And it grows to be a tomato plant?" he said. "Yes. Although it will take some time." said his father. The day was fine. His mother had her arms around him. His father was next to him, holding his arm. He felt warm and loved and protected. A precious memory. The memory slowly faded out and he was back at the park bench, facing his very own Angel of Death. He wiped the tears from his face. Esmeralda was holding his hands. "In actual fact, you are very easy to love. You need have no worries on that score." she said. "Ah", sniff, "Right, I can be loved." "That's right." "But, if I'm so easy to love, how come I had such a difficult time even getting a girl to talk to me?" "Well, because, as you know, the death of your parents set back your socialisation skills quite a bit. And, of course, those raging teenage hormones don't help, either." There was silence for a bit, as Blue got his emotions back into order. "Now, of course, you don't have to worry about the hormones. You can just concentrate on finding true love, which I'm sure you will find much easier." said Esmeralda. "Ok, ok, I feel better. Hmm, what is the next step?" "Well, I need to explain how you will be helping me in doing the interventions. Basically, I will be lending you some of my powers." "I can let you read a soul and find out who they really are." "I can let you allow a person see some of your soul, to let them see who you am, let them see how you feel about them." "I can let you judge a soul, and if need be send the soul on its way to its next stage. Or I can let you partially judge a soul, straighten it out just a little, but leave the soul still connected to its body." "Of course, since you are merely human, your mind is no where big enough to do any of without any help from me. But by simply willing it, you can invoke my power, and I will allow you to direct it, and allow you to see the results." she said. "Oh, wow. That's some scary super power I'm being granted." "Yes, indeed. But remember, you have been prejudged. Your morality is now as clean as a human's can be. And, of course, I can, and will if need be, veto any request you make if I deem it to be unnecessary or dangerous or unwarranted." Blue was thinking things out. "I can, ah, judge a soul? Or, more accurately, I can request judgement. On my own free will. And if I determine that the soul is sufficiently evil, I can, again on my own free will, request that you send the soul to, ah, wherever such souls go to? And you, unless you veto my decision, will comply?" "That's right." she said. She waited for him to work out the implications. "Parting a soul from it's body. In other words, I will be an executioner. But always only if you approve." Esmeralda kept on waiting. "That's a rather, ah, like, a big responsibility... Actually, it's a bit like what you were saying in the beginning, isn't it? You angels could take direct intervention, but that would involve violating someone's free will. Which you are not normally allowed to do. So, if I judge someone, and decide to send them on, then I'm the one violating their free will, not to mention their life. And I will have their life on my conscience. But if I choose not to send them on, the evil they do will continue, and I will have now those evil acts on my conscience." He put his head in his hands. "I'm beginning to see why this free will business is so tricky." Esmeralda was still waiting. "Ok, I think I get the hang of this. You are never going to let me do anything that you don't want to happen, so I have a safety net. And if I have to send someone on, to execute them to put it bluntly, well I have the ability to actually, really, know the evil they can cause. Granted to me by an Angel of the Lord, no less. So I will just have to tough it out, and do the right thing." "Yes, I can see you have got the right idea." said Esmeralda. "Nobody said it was going to be easy." Sigh. "Shame" said Blue. "There's a few points I have still to make. For a start, don't be afraid to experiment with your granted powers. No harm will come to anyone, of that I will make sure. But don't go crazy with it either. Use you powers with responsibility." "Secondly, just because you have avoided death once, doesn't mean you will automatically get more free passes. I will try my best to bend a few rules in your favour, but you can still slip on a banana peel and fall under a bus, even on your way to carry out one of my requests. So take care, as you would usually do." "Thirdly, remember what you thought of me when you first saw me?" "Ah, I was thinking how, err, attractive, you were. Oops, I was hoping you wouldn't notice that." he said. "I can read your soul. Naturally, I noticed! But have a look at me now." she said. Blue looked at Esmeralda, a young lady with halo glowing, flowing white dress... "Amazing. I can't tell any more if you are attractive or not. In fact, why was I so compelled to notice in the first place?" He shook his head in puzzlement. He felt the answer was just out of reach, but it faded and he was left in ignorance. "Whatever, I don't suppose it was all that important, anyway." Esmeralda smiled and nodded her head. "And finally, become friends with Pink. She is more than worthy of your love." "Worthy? Oh, right." said Blue. Esmeralda clapped her hands - And Blue was back at school, face up, in free fall and falling fast, watching the final floor, the ground floor, of his school building flick past, the next and terminal stop being the basement floor. Wait! How am I going to survive this? Pink: Moves fast There is a smart phone app for everything. Including physics experiments involving falling objects. Pink had gone down to the basement, and seeing several students already there getting ready for their experiments, had wandered a bit along the floor. She stood under the void, took out her mobile, and opened the appropriate app page. The idea was that Blue would use his phone to film the release of the ball. Pink's phone would film it hitting the floor. The app would calculate the time difference, and request the user to enter the height that the ball fell. From here, it was an easy calculation, using the appropriate physics equations, to work out the acceleration. Exactly how all of this automation actually helped the students to understand the underlying physics models was another topic altogether. So there stood Pink. A few metres in front of her were a high jump bar, plus the high jump pad that the jumpers landed on. Quarter of a metre thick and three or four square metres in area. She idly scanned the app page. Nothing of any great difficultly, at least for her. "Pink, Move out!" She looked up, froze for a small moment, flicked the phone to one side and then she became a blur. She moved with amazing speed, straight for the high jump pad. She also showed incredible strength, by flicking up the edge of the mat, then rapidly moving under the mat. She changed direction and ran back to where she had been, bent down low, the mat resting on her back and head. When she got there, she straightened and pushed the mat upwards, again demonstrating strength way beyond what a petite girl should have. The mat in the air and rising, she ran a few more steps, braked, turned, and came to a halt. Blue, facing upwards, arms and legs sprayed out, slammed into the mat two metres above ground zero. The collision produced a thump that echoed around the basement area, attracting the attention of the other students. Blue's body was slowed down, while the mat's motion was abruptly reversed. It went down, hit the floor and bounced up again. Just in time to meet Blue, still travelling down. He hit the mat for the second time, and both he and the mat then crashed onto the floor. His body pushed deep into the mat, and then the rebound bounced him up again, before he finally came to a rest, lying sideways on the mat. He turned his head to look up at the ceiling, so far away. And the hanging, swinging scaffolding staircase. It appeared to be staying where it was. Pink had looked up also. She was taking no chances. She grabbed the edge of the mat and pulled it rapidly sideways, getting out of the range of any falling debris. Now, normally, even with the gym mat, Blue would not have survived. No way. Not a hope in hell. But this was not a normal situation. For a start, he was already in the optimal orientation, face up, arms and legs straight. The gym mat thrown up by Pink was moving fast, and hitting that absorbed some of his momentum. It also pushed his body just slightly, so that his arms and legs were slightly down, and everything was precisely aligned. For the second collision with the mat, and the floor. And the mat itself, by this time, was slightly bowed and bent. In just the right shape, when Blue's body finally started to really push against it and the floor, to mould itself to his body. With exquisite perfection, exerting just the right forces at the right times to his body, in exactly the right places, to allow his body to absorb the shock, but without causing any damage. Normally this would be impossible. So let us just call it a miracle and leave it at that. Blue: All this fuss over me? From Blue's point of view, one instance he was free fall, the next instance the gym mat and floor pushed him hard. The air whooshed out of his lungs, his arms and legs slammed down and buried themselves in the mat, his torso followed and tried to flatten itself. Then the recoil, he bounced up and around, and hit the mat again, much more gently this time. He ended up on his side. He turned his head and looked upwards, then turned back to see Pink as she rapidly dragged the mat away from any possible crashing scaffolding. And, finally, everything stopped moving. There was stillness, comforting stillness, and silence. Pink kneeled on the floor right next to him. They looked into each other's faces. Pink hesitantly reached out with her hands and held his. There was a confusion of expressions going across her face. Concern, worry, happiness, fear, worry ... An endless cycle of emotions. And yearning? Blue was coming to the conclusion that Pink really was desperate for some human contact. "Are you all right?" asked Pink, eventually. "I think so." said Blue. He made an attempt to sit up, only to be firmly held down by Pink's hand. She's stronger than she looks. He did not know the half of it, yet. "No!" said Pink. "Wait until a doctor arrives. You might have damaged your back." "Hmm, right." There may have initially been stillness and silence, but this was a school full of children after all. It did not remain still and quiet for all that long. Pink had to raise her voice and order the students not to crowd Blue, and to request someone call in the school nurse. Those students who knew Pink because they were in the same class were amazed. She had never, ever, done anything to call attention to herself, and yet here she was, taking command. And doing so without any noticeable effort. Half an hour later, in the school infirmary. The school nurse, and a doctor who had been visiting by chance, had shooed away everyone else except for Pink. The doctor, seeing how Pink and Blue were holding hands when she had arrived on the scene, decided it would be best for all concerned if she stayed. She finished her examination. "Well, Reid Rednoll, all I can say is that you were extremely lucky. Just don't ever try that again, hey?" "I have no intention of doing so, doctor." "And, also, you should give profuse thanks to Pink. Getting that gym mat under you undoubtedly saved your life. Although you should have still died, even with the mat, but, you're here, so..." "I will." said Blue. Pink simultaneously smiled and blushed, and squeezed Blue's hand. "Also, thank your parents for giving you a small and slim body. If you have to fall from a height, the less weight the better." Ten minutes later he was standing. "I'm fine. See?" said Blue, has he walked around the bed, supported by Pink. "I'm fit enough to go back to class." "Hmm, we shall see. I shall have a talk with the vice principle, suggest a few arrangements for today." said the doctor. She was not looking all that convinced about his statement. "So, take care, young man. And for the next few hours, make sure you have your girlfriend with you, just in case there are complications." With that, the doctor was off to see the vice principle. Pink and Blue had sprung apart like two magnets that had been carefully arranged with the same polarity faces next to each other. "But we're not..." started Blue. But the doctor was already on her way. Faces red, and definitely not holding hands, they made their way to their classroom. The first class for the day was already over by the time Blue and Pink reached it. Naturally, it had been a complete shambles. The only way the physics teacher was able to keep the students under control and mostly in the classroom was by being in constant contact, via his phone, with the school vice principle. She relayed a continuous stream of updates about Blue, and Renee, and everything else of relevance, which the teacher then conveyed to the class. Not only was Pink and Blue missing, but also Rebecca and James. When Blue and Pink arrived for the second class, it was bedlam all over again. Honestly, isn't all of this a bit much? After all, if I had, today, transferred out to another school and never seen them again, in a week's time most of them would barely remember who I was. True. But he was still currently a member of the class, and thus he was considered to belong to the class, not withstanding his complete lack of connections. And whatever happened to him, the others could imagine it happening to themselves. So they cheered him on for surviving. And cheered Pink, for saving Blue. The teacher had many decades of experience. So it only took him half an hour to get his students under control. Just in time for the arrival of Rebecca. And James. And Renee and her parents. Followed by the vice principle, trying her best to act as if this was just another normal every day activity. Renee's, and Rebecca's, mother stood at the front of the class. "The principle tried to delay this until lunch time, but," here she wiped tears from her face, "I really must, right now, express our extreme gratitude to Blue for saving our darling daughter. And to James for also saving her. And to Pink, for then saving Blue. The teacher and the vice principle herded those three to the front, and the class cheered and clapped, Renee's parents bowed to the three, and thanked them, and hugged them, and in general there was bedlam all over again. The third class, the one before lunchtime, was mostly under control after only a quarter of an hour's cajoling by the third teacher. Rebecca was not present, but everyone else was. The teacher made some hasty cuts to her planned programme, and began the scheduled lecture on calculus. At last, Blue was back to normality. Sitting in his chair at his desk in his classroom listening to a maths lecture. Except in his mind was an endless loop of visions. The floors of the school floating upwards as he went downwards. Esmeralda smiling at him. Esmeralda judging him. Pink holding his hands. The basement floor, so far beneath Renee's feet as he grabbed her. "Hello?" He focused his eyes, to realise that the teacher was kneeling in front of his desk, elbows on his desk, waving her hands in his face to attract his attention. "Oh, ah." he said. There was some laughter from the students. Kindly laughter. "You've been zoning out for the last ten minutes. I really think you should stop for the day and go home. And Pink is very concerned about you; she is looking at you more than she is looking at the board. So how about you have an early lunch, and then she accompanies you and takes you home, hmm?" So, fifteen minutes later, they were having their agreed upon lunch date, at the same bench as yesterday. Just slightly earlier than planned.