Celestial Worlds

Chapter Twenty-seven

I wake up and find Daniel still sleeping and snoring lightly.

     I rub my eyes and look at Daniel’s calm face. I smile at the sight and I go down the bed, careful to not wake him up. I pick up my hoodie on the floor and my brain flashes scenes from last night. I touch my lips with my fingertips. I’ve done so much with these lips in a month. I’ve already kissed two boys, I’ve cussed and cursed and shouted with these lips.

    When I open the door, I see Ford curled up in a ball. Poor Ford, she must’ve waited here all night. I scoop her up and she gives a purr as I stroke her head. I carry her downstairs into the kitchen and place her one of the countertops, which I know she’s going to do anyway.

    “You want some tuna?” I ask Ford, smiling, as if she’s going to answer. I realize that I’ve actually said it like chuna. Ford gives a lousy meow and I grab her food bowl which is located in the cupboard. It’s a little tin bowl with Ford written cautiously in script with paint. I open a can of tuna and glance at the clock. 9:00 am, and he’s still not awake. I dump the contents of the tuna can into Ford food bowl and push it toward her. She approaches it immediately and starts eating the big chunks. I open some eggs since I have no idea how to make pancakes. I open about five and beat it so it becomes scrambled, the way Daniel likes it. I can’t help but think how hard Mortals have their life. They all cry and work and cry some more, in Angel Country, there’s nothing to cry about. I dump the egg in the pan with a sigh and the pan sizzles in response. I was just scraping egg off the pan sides when Daniel wraps his arms around me from behind.

    “Good morning sweetheart,” he whispers, muffled against my hair.

    I smile at the pan and say, “Good morning.” He removes his hands on my waist at the same time I turn off my pan. I flip the egg and put it on a plate.

    “Hey, baby,” he says to Ford, rubbing his nose on her head. Ford’s eyes droop as usual and she gives a bored meow. “You’ve already eaten your tuna?” Daniel asks her with furrowed eyebrows. He turns to me and smiles. “So sweet of you to do this Victoria.” He sits on the chair he placed beside the counter. He stands up again to help me move the plates. We place the cooked egg on the countertop and we sit beside each other.

    “So,” he says after a moment. “What do you want to do today?”

    I made up my mind where we’d go today. Actually, I wanted to tell him this since last week. I look up at him and hope he doesn’t get off or angry. “I—I want to go to your mom. I want to meet her.” He stares at me for a moment, his dark brown eyes into a confused state. He continues to stare at me like he’s sad and I’m afraid I’ve set his mood off. Instead of exhaling and saying no, he breaks into a smile so wide and so thankful, I exhale the breath I didn’t know I was holding and smile.

    “Victoria, thank you—I” he breathes. “I...thank you for thinking about my mom. I would love to do this with you.” He smiles and hugs me to the side with one arm and leans on my shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispers.

    After we eat, we do the usual, I help him clean the dishes and he helps me wipe the table. We go up to his room and we shower, me first, and we dress up. I dress up in normal jeans and a white cotton tee. He dresses in a plain navy blue button down and khakis. We leave at twelve and the ride to St. Theresa’s is about fifteen minutes. We enter the hospital and to my surprise, it doesn’t smell like dead people or corpses. As an Angel, we never really get hurt or impaled so we don’t need hospitals, we don’t need nurses. So, in isolation from these buildings, I actually thought they let people rot and die and let them bathe in formalin. And die. But the hospital smells like fermented air and medicine. It’s okay, compared to corpses and rotting flesh. We arrive at the front desk which is occupied by a papery skinned old white lady with librarian glasses, the one with the straps so they don’t fall off. She looks up and squints at our beings.

    “Mr. Miller? Is that you?” she asks with her old lady tone and adjusts her glasses.

    Daniel laughs and tightens his fingers around mine. “Yes Mrs. Somerville, It’s Daniel.” He looks down at his shoes.

    “Oh, well, it’s glad to see you again!” she exclaims, excited. “Here to see your mom?” She adds with the same tone.

    “Yes ma’am. Here to see Martha Miller,” Daniel says, gripping my hand more tightly in his.

    “That’s a delight. Is this beautiful lady your girlfriend?” The woman asks, looking at me with a wide smile. She has pretty dentures.

    “Yes ma’am, she is,” Daniel replies looking at me and winking. The woman gushes and instructs us to room 308 which is on the third floor. We head to the elevator and Daniel presses the button labelled three. We arrive there and head to hallway A where all of the even numbered rooms are located. Daniel looks distracted and pursing his lips along the way, I tug on his hand and give him a warm smile. He smiles back and we arrive in room 308. He hesitates on the door and turns to me.

    “Are you sure you want to do this? We can always—”

    “Yes, I want to do this, I’m sure,” I say sternly. He nods and pushes the door, and there, across from us, is a woman with IV and dextrose around her, lying on the bed, motionless.