Angels Dare to Fly... Chapter Three

"Ok kids, I gotta get going. Remember what I told ya, and follow these instructions exactly," Grandma said, handing Angie the instructions she had written down.

Angie gave her a hug. "I'm going to miss you." She had tears in her eyes.

"Only for a little while, child. I'll see you two back in Heaven in two shakes of a lamb's tail, if all goes according to plan. If ya screw up... I'll no doubt have to come to the rescue again. And if I have to, I'm NOT gonna be happy, ya hear me?"

They nodded their heads in unison. "How come God sent you to help us?" Danny asked.

"He didn't."

"What do you mean, he didn't?"

"Just what I said! I'm not sure if he knows yet where ya are... That's why we have to get ya back in the right year fast, otherwise yer gonna be in deep do-do with the head honcho."

"But, how did you know to come looking for us?" Angie asked.

"Like I said, I was in the middle of a great Poker game, and Abraham decided to join us. On his way to the game, he saw you jump and told me. Good thing he did, too. You kids will be the death of me yet... if I wasn't already dead, that is!"

She fluttered her wings, gave Angie a kiss and Danny a 'high-five', then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Danny looked at Angie, who was looking down at the list of instructions in her hand. "Well, never a dull moment in Heaven, eh?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "That's for sure."

They gathered up all their stuff and started off in an easterly direction. Five hours later, they stopped at the top of a rocky hill. Danny consulted the paper in his hand.

"This looks like the place. What do you think?"

"Yeah, there's definitely an ugly face carved in that rock over there. So, we take a right here?"

"Yep. That's what Grandma said. Then we go about another four hours until...."

"What was that?" Angie interrupted him.

"Shhh...."

They stood frozen, listening. There it was again, a sort of faint gibberish. Angie looked at Danny, wide-eyed.

Danny's eyes were scanning the area, seeking the source of the sound. When he noticed Angie shaking, he whispered, "No need to be afraid, remember that whoever, or whatever it is can't see us."

She visibly relaxed. "Oh, right...I forgot about that." Just then Danny's eyes focused on the ugly face in the rock. Something was moving. The mouth appeared to be slightly open now, whereas before it had been closed. As he watched, a rope was extended to the ground. Angie gasped.

"Danny, that looks like...little people?" she said and asked at the same time.

"Yeah, it does. They sure are small, aren't they?"

The Little People were climbing down the rope to the ground. They didn't look much larger than a parakeet in size.

"Let's get closer and see if they're speaking our language."

Angie didn't think that was a good idea, even if they couldn't see her. She followed Danny, reluctantly.

"Okee, now, les git de wood an de wata quick-quick afore our foes eye oos," one of the Little People muttered.

They set out toward a nearby stream. Angie looked at them curiously.

"Danny, it will take them forever to do that. Look how little distance they can cover with their tiny legs."

"Hmm... and they can't carry much, either."

"Right."

They watched in fascination as the Little People went about their tasks like a colony of ants. And like an ant, they could only carry a small crumb at a time back to the face.

"Angie, maybe we can help them in some way."

"How?"

"Well, what about mind-talking? We could give them an idea for, say... making a wheel barrow or something to haul more stuff in."

"Oh, good idea, Danny!"

"Let me think... How exactly do we do this? Did Grandma say?"

"Umm... not exactly. She just said she mind-talked with Potty in '69."

"Oh, great. Well, maybe if I just pick out one person and direct my thoughts to him...."

"Might work. Give it a go."

"Ok, I'll try that little dude with the purple beard."

Angie watched and waited. Danny seemed to be concentrating hard, but for all his efforts, nothing seemed to be happening.

"Must be more to this than what I'm doing," he finally had to admit.

"Let me try."

Angie had no better results than Danny had. Then she remembered something.

"Danny, it won't work 'cuz we aren't assigned to him! Remember Grandma said only the assigned person could see or hear her?"

"Oh, dam...er..dang! You're right. She did say that. Now what?"

"Guess we'll just have to physically help them, eh?"

"You mean build them something to haul water and wood?"

"Either that or move the wood and water closer to the face."

"Ok, moving it sounds easier." He grinned. "First, let's gather some wood and dump it near the face."

They hauled wood until the pile was waist high, which was a virtual mountain to the Little People, then turned to the task of moving water. They decided the best thing to do was dig a large, deep hole near the face, then fill it with water. That didn't work too well. The water just seeped into the ground.

"Hmm... We need something to line the hole with," Danny mused.

"Like what? Maybe we could dig a sort of trench from the river to the face? Re-direct some of the stream to the hole? The stream is slightly uphill, so it'd flow down to the hole easily enough. What do you think?"

"Now why didn't I think of that?"

"'Cuz women are smarter!"

"Yeah, right," he chuckled.

Fortunately, the stream wasn't that far away, so it didn't take them forever to re-direct some of it to the face. The constant flow of water to the hole would keep it full, even with seepage into the ground. They took the added precaution of lining the hole with rocks to, hopefully, curtail the water from getting too muddy.

"Whew! This is the most work I've done since I died," Angie declared.

The Little People seemed totally dumbfounded at the turn of events.

Purple Beard said, "Ho kin this be? Nuff wood to last yirs, and wata where none was afore."

Another answered, "Don't query, joost haool it up afore the foes fin oos!" And so they did--in record time.

Danny and Angie were about to turn right and continue on their way to the exit when a large shadow passed overhead. The wind picked up with such force that the trees were bending under the onslaught. The Little People were yelling and frantically trying to get up the rope to safety.

"What now?" Danny asked.

Angie was hiding behind him. "I-I dunno, Danny."

"C'mon," he said, as he ran back to the face. He scooped up the Little People in his large hands and deposited them at the entrance in the mouth. Angie gathered up the rest of them. With a confused look over their shoulder, the Little People ran into the safety of the face.

Danny and Angie stood with their backs to the face, guarding it--from who, or what, they had no idea.

"What do you suppose it is?" Angie asked through trembling lips.

"I haven't a clue."

Just then this huge, weird-shaped thing landed near the stream, humming loudly. It was so big it made Danny and Angie look like little people themselves. Some creatures--certainly not human in form--emerged from the depths of this craft. They stood about 8 feet in height.

"Whoa...will you just look at that!" Danny exclaimed.

"Are-are you sure we can't be seen?"

He nodded his head. "If the Little People couldn't see us, these things can't either."

"Geesh, I feel like I'm caught in some Sci-Fi movie."

"I hear ya! If I didn't see this with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it."

The creatures, for want of a better word, seemed to be half-animal and half-insect. They were covered in fur, had as many legs as a spider and stood upright. The head looked like that of a Praying Mantis, but the eyes looked almost human. Their language seemed to be a hiss uttered with a lisp. And they looked really irate.

"What do you suppose has them so pis...er, ticked off?" Angie asked.

Danny shrugged.

They appeared to be tracking where the Little People had been while gathering wood and water, which led them ever closer to the angels.

"If I was still alive, I'd have nightmares for years after seeing this," Angie shuddered.

"Good thing we're dead, eh?"

"This is no joking matter, Danny!"

"Aww...lighten up, Angie. If we don't laugh about this, we might turn into screaming lunatics."

These ani-sects, as the angels now referred to them, had finally reached the face, and stopped in front of them. Close up, they were even more grotesque. Angie closed her eyes, which did no good because their image was already imprinted in her mind. They were trying to get at the face, but the angels were blocking them. It was like there was an invisible wall between the face and them.

They hissed loudly, unable to reason why they could not touch the face. One tried jumping up to touch it at a higher level, but the angels just followed it up, blocking its attempt. This seemed to go on forever before they finally gave up and left.

Danny grabbed her hand. "C'mon, let's get outta here!"

As they turned right, Angie looked over her shoulder and whispered, "Stay safe, little ones."

They made camp that night in a hollow rock. The area was strewn with boulders and stones, which had made the going rough for the last several hours.

"We were lucky to find this rock," Angie said.

"Got that right, baby. You get the credit for that. If you hadn't fallen in front of the opening, we'd never have seen it."

"I just hope this isn't the den of some strange 'thing' that will come home soon."

He chuckled. "Since it won't know we're here, we could easily share the space with it."

"True, but I'd rather not spend the night looking at some hideous creature."

"I don't think this rock has been occupied recently. There'd be some evidence hanging around, if it had."

"You think?"

"For sure. Trust me."

"Do you think those Little People will be all right?"

"I dunno. I hope so...."

"But what about food? I didn't see them looking for anything edible."

"Maybe they grow their own inside the face."

"Maybe...."

Danny sighed. "1880 will be a piece of cake after this, don't ya think?"

"For sure. At least we'll be among humans again. That's a definite plus."

"I hear ya! We're a bit out of our element here, that's a fact."

"Wonder if this is how the pilgrims felt...strange new land...."

"Well now, I dunno. Granted it was a new land to them, but it was something they recognized. I mean... a tree was a tree, birds had feathers, insects did NOT have fur and stand 8 feet tall...."

"I see what ya mean." She wiggled around, trying to get more comfortable on her cloud.

"Tomorrow, I think we should fly instead of walk. Save us some time. What do you say?"

"Let's do it. The faster we get outta here, the better."