The icy half-rain, half-snowflakes swirled in the wind and caught in the artificial light of the motorway lighting and car head lamps that lit up the way.
They battered down on the windscreen of James's car. The wipers worked hard and clicked rhythmically as they arced back and forth, clearing the flakes that appeared to melt as soon as they hit the wet window.
It was a dreary, dark Christmas Eve and awful weather for driving on the motorway. It was the same on the opposite carriageway. Traffic was heavy. Everyone just wanted to get home to their loved ones in time for the Christmas celebrations.
****
The alarm sounded again in the heavenly collection station telling the Angels on duty that yet another sortie was required for soul collection.
A group of young hearty Angels chatted excitedly as they ended yet another game of cards while they waited for their turn to make a mission trip. They had recently graduated and were keen to earn their keep.
"You are up Clarence," one of them said when his name flashed across the screen.
They all slapped him fondly on the back and wished him luck.
"May the Lord be with you," the 6 words were repeated by each of his friends as they bid him the traditional farewell.
"And also with you," Clarence responded back to each.
He was excited and felt exhilarated. This was his moment, his first assignment and his heart would be racing if he had one.
Angel Clarence moved forward to respond to his calling and collected the ticket from his supervisor.
"M5 Southbound. Vehicle Collision. Two to Collect. May the Lord be with you."
"And also with you," he responded automatically and took the ticket.
He tucked it into his leather pouch. As this was his first time out on his own, he wanted to set a good impression and to show he was worthy of his wings.
He moved forward with the other Angels who had been assigned collections and drew closer and closer to the launch boards.
The Collections Depot was always busy and there was a steady stream of Angels diving and flying to Earth on their missions to collect the souls of the perished.
Clarence waited his turn and took flight without hesitating to step into the atmosphere. His heavenly light surrounded him, to warm and light his way.
As he flew, not for the first time, he felt the wonder of flight. This time though, he had the added elation of doing something proud and good and worthwhile.
There was one thing he forgot though, in his eagerness to complete this important task. He had forgotten to cloak himself with his invisibility force. It meant he could be seen by the human eye.
****
James was driving his car, listening to the Christmas songs on the radio, determined to lift his spirit with Christmas cheer in this awful storm.
"And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun..." John Lennon's voice sang out and James found himself singing along with him, "The near and the dear ones, the old and the young,"
James was concentrating on the road ahead when suddenly and without warning, he saw a figure in front of him in the road.
It was a vision of a muscle ripped, bare chested man with wings in a golden huey light. He was wearing a short Roman type gladiator skirt and leather sporran.
He had wavy shoulder length hair and a head band on his forehead with matching bicep bands and leather bracers.
He was floating a couple of feet above the road's surface. For a few seconds their eyes met.
James's reaction was instantaneous for he didn't want to hit this strange apparition.
In a screech of tyres and brakes, he took evasive action to swerve around the heavenly being. He skidded on the wet, icy surface of the tarmacked road.
The car spun and then began to tilt over. It crashed into the safety barrier and began to roll.
It was rolling over and over and over as it tumbled down the steep bank.
James looked out of the side window and saw the vision of the rolling world. First it was normal on top, then on its side, then upside down at the bottom, then on the opposite side and back up to the top again.
It repeated over and over, almost in slow motion, in the persistent rolls of the car. Then the blackness took him.
Clarence chided himself for not switching his invisibility cloak on and now he had caused an accident that should not have happened. He would be in trouble for sure.
He collected the two souls from the tangled crash on the opposite carriageway.
They both seemed puzzled at first so Clarence gave them a feeling of well-being and joy. It eased the blow of leaving the Earth-life to go into the Afterlife.
"Please wait here," he smiled at them, "before we continue on our journey. I have another soul to collect."
The two new additions waited patiently at the top of the bank, examining their ghostly hands, their new appearance and watching Clarence's heavenly light slowly descend to the wrecked car below.
He flew slowly to James's car and saw it was badly crushed. No one could survive such crash injuries. Clarence bent down and winced slightly as he touched James's lifeless hand, poking out of the driver's window.
"Come," he spoke soothingly to the corpse and encouraged James's soul to slowly peel out of his dead useless body to face the Angel.
James sat up and climbed out of his crushed body. He was dazed and bewildered, "What happened? Am I supposed to be dead?"
He looked around him and at the scene. He tried to make sense of it all: The crash; the crushed car; the windscreen wiper trying to work; the back wheel still spinning; his dead arm poking out the car; the mangled car hiding the rest of his dead and crushed body; the two ghosts waiting at the top of the embankment and the Angel glowing in front of him.
Strangely he could not feel the icy rain on him or feel the blustery wind all around him but he could see it and hear it.
"Yes, you are dead." Clarence told him. His voice was soothing and melodic.
"But you caused me to crash!" James protested recognising the apparition speaking to him, "Was it really my time?"
Clarence felt a little uncomfortable and being a creature of good, could not tell a lie.
"Well no. I do not believe it was your time, but your body ... well look at it. You do need to come with me now."
James felt compelled to obey. The feeling of peace and joy emitted from the Angel was surrounding him in a comforting fog. It felt so good and tempting to just let go. But then he thought of his girlfriend, Matilda, their children yet to be born and their plans for the future.
"What if I don't wish to come?" James asked him.
"You are lucky, you could have been collected by a dark demon instead of me and taken down there," Clarence informed him and pointed down at the same time.
Then said more gently he said, "Look, you have no choice, but, you can appeal your time of death if you wish," Clarence informed him.
"Then appeal I will." James stated and allowed the wondrous feeling of calm to wash over him as the Angel transported him and the other two expected souls to the Delivery Hall.
The Delivery Hall was all white, vast and heavenly. It had queues of dead people waiting to be processed.
He waited impatiently in line until at last it was his turn.
"You are not on my list." The clerk exclaimed and informed her supervisor who in turn informed the department head.
Angel Clarence was summonsed to appear and explain the incident. He was very apologetic about the whole thing.
At the end, James stepped forward and said, "So you see, it's all a simple but terrible mistake and I need to return home for Christmas."
"It's not that simple. You see you have died. Therefore it is easier for the time of death to stand. To allow you to live in the same body would mean to turn back time, so your body was never crushed and your car accident never happened." The Clerk explained.
The Supervisor then took over the explanation, "But to do that would involve every single living person on Earth. They would have to live those same seconds again, in exactly the same way. That is some feat to arrange."
The Department Head followed on with a possible solution. "The time of death will either have to stand or maybe another body can be found for you to have. One soul could be extracted and yours replaced there to give an extended life to someone for you to live yours"
"But I want to live. I don't want to live in someone else's body!" James was exasperated by the situation. "I want to live My life, with My lady and the future We are supposed to have together. I don't want my life to end prematurely and I don't want to lead someone else's life."
"Then you will have to appeal and go before Saint Peter who is the ruling authority here." The Department Head concluded. "You will have three days to prepare your case for a decision. I will inform the necessary authority of the case."
He importantly and helpfully held out a sheet of paper explaining what they needed to do. "You can use one of the empty offices on the next floor. Look for DH25. I will allocate it for your use.
Clarence thanked them, then took James's arm to guide him away.
"Come," Clarence said to James, taking the sheet of helpful information from the trio. "I will try and help you put this right."
He felt guilty by what had happened and wished to help right this bad situation.
He led him to the allocated office where they could work in peace. Clarence read the sheet of paper and explained that they would need to argue successfully, that:
1. James life was taken prematurely
2. That the accident that took his life was not James's fault
3. That the life James had lead had been productive
4. That James had people who loved him that would be wrongly deprived by his early unexpected death
5. That a future generation will be lost by James's early demise.
James looked at him feeling dejected, "Have you ever been involved in this type of thing before?" he asked.
There seemed to be so much work to do in the three precious days they had been given.
Clarence shook his head. "No but a good friend of mine Conductor 71, missed a pilot once through fog over the English Channel. The pilot woke up alive instead of dead on the beach."
