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WITH ROBERT AT OUR side, we ride on the bus, halfway across town, to a 50's themed diner with waitresses on roller skates. Sandalphon still hasn't told me his plan, and I haven't tried to badger it out of him. I figure he'll tell me when the time is right.
I crash into the booth next to Robert and peruse the menu with him. “Oooh, the double decker cheeseburger looks good!” I exclaim, and when the waitress comes by, he orders the double decker cheeseburger. I keep forgetting I actually have influence on people and their decisions. The burger does look good, but Robert only has thirty dollars or so. After the burgers and bus rides, he'll probably have twenty.
“So,” Sandalphon starts, “I was thinking... we might want to recruit some outside help on this mission.”
He sits across from us and folds his hands on the table. At the same time, a waitress skates by and smacks into our booth. Robert asks if she's alright, she apologizes about seven or eight times, and skates away in a panic. The fifties theme is cool, but some of these waiters and waitresses look unsteady on their feet.
I ask Sandalphon, “Are we allowed to get outside help?”
“Of course. In this case, I don't think it's absolutely necessary, but it could help our charge's mental state.”
“Can you elaborate on that?” I ask.
Sandalphon launches into a long speech, but I miss some of it because he's so damn handsome. I always knew I would eventually get distracted by his face. “As you know, the woman in Robert's photograph is his mother. She died three years ago, and that was the beginning of Robert's hardships. It wouldn't be fair to blame it all on the mother's death, but it was certainly a contributing factor. I would like to bring the mother here and encourage her to have a chat with her son. He won't see or hear her, of course, but that doesn't mean she won't be able to get through to him.”
“Has she ever gone back and visited her son?” I ask.
“Probably. Most people do go back and visit their loved ones, you know.”
I'm ninety-nine percent sure that remark was aimed at me. I haven't visited Grandpa yet, and Sandalphon knows it.
“If you approve, I'll contact Wendy Godfrey on my LightTab.”
“Why wouldn't I approve?” I ask. “You're the man in charge. Besides, I think it would be nice if the mother visited her son.”
Sandalphon asks me to sit beside him, so I can see what he's doing. While I'm crossing to his side of the booth, the clumsy waitress returns with Robert's double cheeseburger and crashes into the table. If I was her spirit guide, I would probably try to convince her to get a different job.
Sandalphon messages Wendy, and she replies, “Be there in a half-hour.” That's enough time for Robert to scarf down his burger, pay at the counter, and head to the woods behind the diner. He even left a tip for the clumsy waitress. It was only a dollar, but he's so broke, I didn't expect him to leave anything.
As we venture into the woods, Sandalphon says, “You never know what a person might be going through. That's why no one deserves to be judged too harshly. Some people might look at Robert and see nothing but a layabout stoner who lives with his father, but... he's seen more death than a young man should.”
“I never judged him!” I exclaim.
“I didn't think you did,” Sandalphon says. “I was just rambling to myself.”
Robert picks a tree and sits cross-legged on the ground beside it. He has nowhere else to go, so I guess he's claimed this spot.
“You know...” Sandalphon starts rambling again. “There are only a few acres of woodland between the diner and the strip mall behind it. It always saddens me to think of how little space is left for animals.”
I follow his pointing finger to a deer, watching us behind a wall of trees. She is beautiful, but I don't want to scare her away, so I suppress my squeal.
“Deer are often a sign that someone is watching over you,” Sandalphon says. “The same goes for birds. I wonder if Wendy sent this one?”
Robert starts sniffling, which breaks my heart, and his mother arrives a few minutes later. Without a word to us, Wendy drops to her knees next to her son and takes him into her arms.
“Don't cry, Robbie,” she whispers, stroking her son's hair. “Mom's here.”
He leans forward slightly, as if to rest his head on her shoulder.
“Don't cry, baby,” she whispers. “I know it's hard. I know.”
Whenever I see someone cry, there's a fifty percent chance I'll end up crying with them. This is one of those times. As Robert cries, I cry.
Between sniffles, Robert bellows, “I'm shit! I'm worthless!”
His mother protests, “No, you're not. You've made some mistakes, but everyone does. You'll always be my little boy. You know that, don't you?”
“Mom!” Robert suddenly shouts, as if he can sense her presence. “Mom... you would be so disappointed in me.”
“I'm never disappointed in you,” she corrects him. “And your father loves you too, whether you believe it or not.”
When Robert's tears dry up, Wendy finally faces us. “If you're contacting me, I can guess what happened. Did he have another argument with Arthur?”
I'm still crying a little, so I let Sandalphon answer the question.
“It was a very ugly argument,” Sandalphon confirms her suspicion. “Your husband... kicked him out of the house.”
“Oh dear.” Wendy shakes her head. “He's thought about doing that before, but I never thought he would. I bet he regrets it. Robbie is one of few boys his age without a phone. Arthur can't even contact him. He's probably worried.”
I haven't been part of this conversation yet, but I feel like I should be, so I ask, “So... what do you think we should do? Do we get him to go back to his dad?”
Wendy smiles at my suggestion. “That is exactly what I think we should do. If Arthur refuses to take him in, I'll smack him on the head and tell him to behave.”
While Wendy tries to get through to Robert, I shuffle closer to Sandalphon. He still smells good—so good, in fact, that I'm briefly distracted. Do all Archangels smell this good, or is it just a Sandalphon thing?
I whisper to him, “Do you think she knows you're an Archangel?”
“I doubt it. I have been, and always will be, the Archangel that no one knows.”
“That's crazy to me,” I tell him. “Everyone should know you. Everyone should be a Sandal-fan.”
“Do you remember what I said to you before, Mikayla? It's still true,” he says. “I only want you to like me.”
During our secret, flirty chat, Robert gets up and grabs his bag. Even though he can't hear her, his mom has some serious power over him.
Wendy reports to us, “I believe he is heading home.”
“To his dad's house?” I wait for her nod, then add, “Dang, Wendy! I feel bad that you had to do our work for us!”
“It was my pleasure. Really,” she says. “If you don't mind, I would like to accompany you the rest of the way.”
Sandalphon gives her a nod, and the three of us follow Robert back to the bus stop. Along the way, I learn a little more about Wendy. She used to be a librarian, Arthur was the first and only man she dated, and she's close to becoming an angel. I'm not even a little surprised to hear that. She has the face of an angel, and one of the sweetest smiles I've ever seen.
After yet another ride across town, we return to the place where we started this mission, and I clench a fist as Robert rings the doorbell. To say I'm nervous would be an understatement. I really want this to go well for Robert.
And it does.
As soon as Arthur answers the door, he captures his son in a bear hug.