Jackie sighed as she leaned over her cloud, narrowly missing falling off as she watched the world below.
"Dad's probably down there STILL blaming himself about my death. I wish that I could get through to him."
"Well, that's a problem that hasn't been solved. No one, except Hershey, maybe, knows how to get in touch with people on Earth," Jackie's companion, Alissa, stated gloomily.
A month ago, when Jackie arrived in Skie, totally confused, she had a lot to learn. Now, she knew all about her new temporary home. Everyone, after they die, comes to Skie. It is just the same as Heaven, or any other place like that in religions. After test basis of a month, the people who pass become angels. Of course, if you don't pass, you get sent over to Ramand, or Hell, as Christians call it. The ruler of Skie is nicknamed Hershey, because, as no one knows what the real name is, Hershey is both male and female, so if you say he/she together really fast, you get Hershey. He she, Heshe, Hershey! Get it? Anyway, you don't stay an angel for very long. Only for a year. When the year is over, Hershey calls you to him, and you get dropped into the slot, where you become just a small particle of a human, and you are delivered into your new mother's stomach. While that happens, you forget all about Skie, and Hershey, so that you can become ready for whatever obscure teachings that you will aquire in Earth. Then, when you die, it begins again. After you are taught about Skie again, you remember all your lives in Skie and in Earth, which is really neat.
"Hey! Want to go over to the leaving and coming station and watch the angels become babies, and help teach the new arrivals?" Alissa was trying to cheer Jackie up.
"Well, all right! Maybe one of the arrivals will be a baby! That'll be neat."
As the two friends made their way to the station, hopping from cloud to cloud, Jackie suddenly started. "Alissa! This is the day I become an angel!"
"Hey, that's right!" Alissa was already an angel, she had beat Jackie to Skie by about a week.
"Well, sorry, but I can't go over to the station. I almost forgot! I have to get to Hershey by, um, 3:00!"
They asked a pasing angel what time it was.
"2:55?" Jackie cried. "I better get moving! Do you want to come?"
"All right," replied Alissa, and away they went.
"Oh, man, I wish angels got wings," Jackie panted, leaning against Hershey's headquarter building.
"Jackie?" A new voice asked. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Hershey. Sorry if I'm late."
"No, you just made it. Come on in."
The ceremony was brief. When it was over, Jackie felt no different, but she was now an angel!
As Jackie and Alissa skipped back to the cloud they shared to play on, Jackie yelped.
"What is it?" Alissa questioned, frowning at Jackie's flushed face.
"Nothing. Just that I just figured out how to contact dad. Come on!"
They raced back to the cloud, gasping for breath.
"All right. What is this idea of yours?"
"Well, we're right over where my dad lives, right? Well, all we have to do is, well, borrow one of the senior angel's wings, and fly down to talk to him, probably in the night so he'll think that it is a dream."
The senior angels were the ones over 60. Every time you lived a year in Skie, your angel body became a year older. After your lifetime on Earth, you were still that age. When you turn 60, Hershey gives you wing for your devoted service on Skie, and you become a helper angel, but you don't go back to Earth again, until you turn 100. then God takes your angel body and changes it back into a baby body, and send your sould back to Earth. Then it begins again, but you don't remember your last life on Skie. You are just like a baby, nothing to remember.
Two days later, Jackie nervously adjusted her stolen wings. Luckily, no one had been around when they snitched them from first Senior Helen, and then Senior Pauline. Jackie glanced over at Alissa, she noticed that her friend looked as nervous as she felt.
"Are you sure we should do this?" Alissa asked, not really meaning it.
"Not do it? Are you crazy? This is my big chance! After all, you don't want dad to be down there, totally wearing himself out thinking about how it was his fault I got killed, do you?"
"Well, of course not. Let's get on with it."
Holding hands, the two angels jumped from the cloud. Jackie stiffled a scream. She was falling, falling! Just lie before. Jackie beat back a strong rush of panic. And then her wings caught the wind and she rose in the air. As they flew down to Earth, Jackie's heart was thumping. She and Alissa finally landed in fromt of her old house. One window was open, as it always was. Jackie's dad was a firm believer of fresh air. The two friends flew into the small, lonely looking house. Jackie's father was sleeping in the master bedroom, and when Jackie jumped on the bed, his eyes flickered open.
"Jackie!" he cried. "Oh, my child, I am so sorry. When you fell, I knew that it was my fault......"
"But it wasn't," Jackie whispered. "That's all I wantd to tell you. I would have looked over the cliff anyway, even if you hadn't of let me. Oh, this is my friend Alissa."
"Hello, Alissa." The man looked bewildered. "What are you two doing here? Jackie, you're dead! Oh, that must be it. I'm dreaming."
"No, you aren't, Dad. But even if you think that you are, you must believe me. It wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. I have to go now."
"Goodbye, darling. I'll see you in Heaven."
Jackie did not correct him. Grabbing hands, the two angels rose back up to Skie. Then they heard a familiar voice.
"Jackie, where are my wings?..................."