Army of Sin - Season 3 - Africa and Her Secrets

Episode V - Strange Encounter

Location: Spain, 1994...
 

A little girl of no more than five years stood transfixed, lost among the press of bodies, noxious fumes and angry car horns. Her round face which would one day attract suitors both male and female was angled upward as she stared at the giant standing next to her. On the other side stood her mother, holding one of her tiny hands hostage.

Her mother was a giant in her own right, especially when she put on those shoes that made her seem even taller. Sometimes the little one’s arms would hurt from the angle of her mother holding her hand; being carried was always way more fun. At the moment, her mother’s foot tapped impatiently against the pavement while simultaneously arguing with her husband via the phone gripped tightly in her fist. Or maybe that was just the way she talked - after all, every conversation ended with her mommy’s face turning beet red as she whispered many an ‘I love you’.

The sucking on chubby fingers which her mother had tried so hard to put an end to, paused. She froze as the man who provided shade from the late midday sun by his sheer frame, scratched a hand the size of her torso between the arch of his wings. He looked like one of those paintings hanging in the church that mother dragged her to every Sunday. She had not known that Father’s ‘angles’ or angels were real. She still didn’t understand why she had to refer to him as Father. Was it that Daddy was not her only father? Then how come this man with the long robes and sweaty face never once made her mother’s face turn red?

The angel looked over the curve of his wing to stare at the little girl, disrupting the thoughts that cascaded through her fragile, young mind. He tilted a pair of dark blue frames to expose the sternest pair of violet eyes she had ever seen. Whoever this giant was; he was scary.

As their eyes remained locked, the stern gaze upon the angel’s face slowly melted away.

Eyes the size of tiny saucers tracked the movement of a large finger as the man brought them to his lips, smiling to reveal a row of pearly white teeth… Pity for him, the Tooth Fairy would not be sneaking him any money any time soon.

➖➖➖

A deep chuckle rolled through her mind, making her eyes impossibly wide.

It’s okay little one. Tell me, can you keep a secret?

She nodded numbly; her mind not knowing where to focus - on his wings with their twitching to the soft sound of wind moving through his feathers? Or maybe on the sheer fear his eyes inspired – or maybe on the fact that she had heard him perfectly yet his lips had never moved! She was certain with every fibre of her tiny body that it was his voice she had heard. Yes Niñita, it is I who am speaking to you. And we shall speak again, he said after a pause. For you are indeed even more special than your mother says you are, eyes flickering once over her mother’s frame as she remained engrossed in conversation.

His voice soothed her overworked infant mind as he spread his wings before making as if to step off the edge of pavement and into the oncoming traffic. Do you wish to close your eyes? There is going to be a lot of dust. The proverbial cat held her tongue in a vise as the only response she could muster was the vehement shaking of her head, not wanting to miss a moment of this being’s departure.

As you wish. Adios, Cassandra! The soles of his feet never touched the ground, having shot into the sky with blinding speed, leaving behind only the taste of cloying car fumes and dirty streets accompanied by a gust of wind strong enough to steal the toupee of an otherwise bald pedestrian.

 “¡Dios mío!” her mother exclaimed, slapping a hand to her dress to prevent giving some lucky bystander an eyeful, “These winds will be the death of me. Vamonos Cassandra!”

Little Cassandra Pieree swallowed her reply as she tried to keep up with her mother’s brisk strides, chubby legs moving at a furious pace. She could do this. She would keep his promise to speak to her again. She would keep watch meanwhile for the next time of another exciting, secret encounter.

END OF EPISODE