FIC: "Order of Appearance"
Mar. 8th, 2006 04:55 pmNotes: PG, In Nomine, Something * Positive
“Mrs. MacIntire,” the angel tried to say, “you really must understand…”
“Don’t ‘Mrs. MacIntire’ me,” Faye said angrily, “I’m telling you, you’ve got to send me back. Fred needs me.”
Faye MacIntire was not having a good morning. Yesterday with Fred had been wonderful. Just the two of them, together, talking and laughing and loving. Then she went to sleep only to wake up in Heaven, dead of a heart attack. It had taken her most of the day just to get a hold of angel who looked like a proper angel to explain things to her, not a six winged snake, or a space alien, or something with too many eyes and mouths and legs that looked like a picture from those strange games Davan used to play with his friends when he was a kid. And then to find out this!
“Mrs… Faye, you are dead. You met your Destiny. This is your reward,” then angel started to explain again. “Your husband will be along shortly, as things go. You can’t go back.”
“You tell me my Fred is coming down with Alzheimer’s, and that I can’t go back and take care of him?! Dahlia can’t do it, she just moved out of the house. Davan can’t do it, he’s in Boston and it isn’t fair to ask him…”
“Actually, according to our records your husband already asked him to return when the time came, and he agreed,” the angel said. “Ma’am, the only way you can go back is as a Saint, and that’s a… complicated and long process. By the time you’d be in any position to do anything, Mr. MacIntire will have joined you.”
“But I have to…” she started again.
“Mrs. MacIntire, you may not choose to believe this, but your husband is actually relieved that you’re dead.”
Faye felt her jaw drop open. “What?”
“Not because he didn’t love you, but because he did love you so dearly. You died before he had to reveal his illness to you, before he became a burden to you, before you had to face the possibility of his forgetting his love of you, even as his body stayed alive. He feared being such a burden to you, and now that fear is gone.”
“Oh,” Faye said softly. “Oh. Oh…” She sat down hard on the bench that suddenly appeared behind her, and didn’t object when the angel sat beside her and wrapped his white wing around her in comfort. “Davan… I guess Davan will take care of Fred all right. He’s a good boy. He won’t take any of Fred’s nonsense.”
“Of course not,” the angel agreed.
“Well, I guess your right,” she finally agreed. She suddenly felt old, and tired, and lonely. But this was Heaven, and she supposed she could wait until Fred came along. “I guess this is all part of God’s plan, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the angel agreed smiling warmly.
“And God loves us, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“God loves us,” she repeated, feeling stronger. “Gods loves me. God loves Fred, even if Fred doesn’t care for the idea. God loves Dahlia. God loves Davan…”
The angel’s comforting smile dropped. “Actually… about Davan…”
The End
“Mrs. MacIntire,” the angel tried to say, “you really must understand…”
“Don’t ‘Mrs. MacIntire’ me,” Faye said angrily, “I’m telling you, you’ve got to send me back. Fred needs me.”
Faye MacIntire was not having a good morning. Yesterday with Fred had been wonderful. Just the two of them, together, talking and laughing and loving. Then she went to sleep only to wake up in Heaven, dead of a heart attack. It had taken her most of the day just to get a hold of angel who looked like a proper angel to explain things to her, not a six winged snake, or a space alien, or something with too many eyes and mouths and legs that looked like a picture from those strange games Davan used to play with his friends when he was a kid. And then to find out this!
“Mrs… Faye, you are dead. You met your Destiny. This is your reward,” then angel started to explain again. “Your husband will be along shortly, as things go. You can’t go back.”
“You tell me my Fred is coming down with Alzheimer’s, and that I can’t go back and take care of him?! Dahlia can’t do it, she just moved out of the house. Davan can’t do it, he’s in Boston and it isn’t fair to ask him…”
“Actually, according to our records your husband already asked him to return when the time came, and he agreed,” the angel said. “Ma’am, the only way you can go back is as a Saint, and that’s a… complicated and long process. By the time you’d be in any position to do anything, Mr. MacIntire will have joined you.”
“But I have to…” she started again.
“Mrs. MacIntire, you may not choose to believe this, but your husband is actually relieved that you’re dead.”
Faye felt her jaw drop open. “What?”
“Not because he didn’t love you, but because he did love you so dearly. You died before he had to reveal his illness to you, before he became a burden to you, before you had to face the possibility of his forgetting his love of you, even as his body stayed alive. He feared being such a burden to you, and now that fear is gone.”
“Oh,” Faye said softly. “Oh. Oh…” She sat down hard on the bench that suddenly appeared behind her, and didn’t object when the angel sat beside her and wrapped his white wing around her in comfort. “Davan… I guess Davan will take care of Fred all right. He’s a good boy. He won’t take any of Fred’s nonsense.”
“Of course not,” the angel agreed.
“Well, I guess your right,” she finally agreed. She suddenly felt old, and tired, and lonely. But this was Heaven, and she supposed she could wait until Fred came along. “I guess this is all part of God’s plan, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the angel agreed smiling warmly.
“And God loves us, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“God loves us,” she repeated, feeling stronger. “Gods loves me. God loves Fred, even if Fred doesn’t care for the idea. God loves Dahlia. God loves Davan…”
The angel’s comforting smile dropped. “Actually… about Davan…”
The End
no subject
Date: 2006-03-08 11:10 pm (UTC)Good short piece with Faye coming to terms with her own nexpected death. I like the angels reasoning for her husbands sense of relief. It's true that people descending into dementia on top of all the other wretched things they feelalso feel a great sense of guilt about the impact their disease will have on their partners. Nice one.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 02:28 pm (UTC)Well, aside from God hating Davan, but that's pretty obvious going by the strip. (grins evilly)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-09 02:18 am (UTC)Oooh, that's horrid. I love it!
*hands over Essence, irony-flavored*
Sure explains alot
Date: 2006-03-09 02:18 pm (UTC)Randy
Re: Sure explains alot
Date: 2006-03-09 02:27 pm (UTC)Link: http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02012003.shtml
Re: Sure explains alot
Date: 2006-03-10 01:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-10 12:00 am (UTC)I don't read S*P regularly, but a friend of mine linked me to the comic with Faye's last day, so this was really touching.
I'm also really amused at her search for an angel that looked like an angel. ;) (Mercurian or Bright?)
no subject
Date: 2006-03-10 02:04 pm (UTC)