The Meek Shall Inherit

Over the course of my life, I've believed love to be a very confusing thing. So much so that I hadn't bothered finding it and rather to have just buried myself in school. I was a very meek person in high school, finishing out my fourth year, I was top of most of my classes, had a 4.0 GPA, and had an open invitation to go to any college I wanted. But I felt something was missing in my life. Not the satisfaction of proving my superiority through academics, but just an empty feeling inside. I brushed it off though and continued to focus on graduation, which was only a couple of days away.

I wasn't a geek who was picked on constantly. I didn't wear braces, have glasses, or wear a pocket protector (if people still wear those things). In fact, most would've called me handsome or cute. But in reality, the only attention I ever garnered from girls was when they asked for my help in whatever class I happened to be in. I helped a couple here and there, but other than that I let them figure it out on their own. I wasn't going to be anybody's personal tutor, or only be appreciated as a brain. This may sound narcissistic, but it's the way I happen to view the world. But what happened to me would be almost an ironic event of sorts, the meek shall inherit the earth and all that jargon.

The story starts on a Friday, last period and class of the day, math, everyone, including myself is packing it up for the day. As I finished stuffing my backpack with my algebra book and notebook, I glanced up and saw a girl standing before me; I hadn't recognized her before from any of my classes. I figured a friend must've told her about me and she wanted help. She was a very attractive girl. She stood a little bit taller than me, maybe 5"11, golden blonde hair that was pulled back into a ponytail, blue eyes, a curvy figure that was covered with a white t-shirt, and long legs in black jeans. Her face was very pretty and had a calming feature about it. She didn't have any make up on, not even lipstick.

I finished zipping up my backpack and stood up before her, she was indeed taller than I was. Practicing the manners I liked to maintain, I greeted her, "Hello, may I help you?" I said, slipping on my backpack. As I started to look into her eyes, she placed her hands behind her back and asked,

"Are you Tyler Monroe?" Her voice was clear, slightly pitched, something I wouldn't mind hearing all the time if I could help it.

"Yeah, I am." As I continued staring into her eyes, I started feeling completely at ease, almost like I was in a trance.

"Would you mine coming with me?" She extended a hand from behind her and waited for me to grasp. I didn't think and I reached out to grasp her hand, when we connected, I felt this rush of almost euphoria overcome me. She could've taken me to the worst neighborhood in town and I wouldn't care.

We walked out of the classroom, attracting looks from various students as we continued on toward one of the exits. The girls were looking at me with a "is he really leaving with a girl?" look, while the guys had on "way to go" looks. We walked out to the parking lot toward an all white classic Ford Mustang; the strange girl unlocked my side first and swung around to open her own. I opened the door and removed my backpack, the girl indicated me to throw the bag into the backseat, I did and sat down.

The car was very well kept; it was devoid of any dust, stains, or any type of dirt. I heard the engine start and a gear shift and we were soon pulling out of the parking lot of the high school. As we started down the road, I felt myself returning to a state of awareness. I quickly assessed the situation; I was in a car with a woman driving to an unknown destination, first things first.

"Ahem...Um, may I ask who you are, ma'am?" The unknown girl turned her head towards me and told me, "Don't worry, just let me pull over here and I'll answer all the questions you ask." She pulled up to a parking lot of a supermarket, put the car in park and shut off the engine. The girl seemed very focused and I had a feeling like she had done something like this before. I started to feel a little worried, but that soon subsided when the girl broke the ice.

"To answer your first question, my name is Angela and I am an angel." I suppose the suddenness of her statement made me think I misheard her, so I asked her to repeat herself.

"I said, my name is Angela and I am an angel." Yep, that's what she said. At first she said that she was an angel in regards of her striking beauty, so I decided to go with it.

"Well, you're certainly a very attractive girl, pretty as any angel." I smiled in a complimentary manner, shielding my true, "what the hell is going on?" feeling.

"Would you like me to prove it?" Angela asked, giving me a matter-of-fact look. What's the harm in asking her to prove it, I thought. I agreed. She turned her back to me and pulled down her shirt down past her neck a little bit, I saw a tattoo of...wings.

"Uh...nice wings. But how does this prove anything?" I asked.

"Just a moment if you please." She took her hand and started to rub on the tattoo, a few seconds past and then I saw a bright flash of light emit from the tattoo and I shielded my eyes with my hands.

"It's alright, you can look now." I slowly removed my hands from my face and saw...I couldn't believe it...WINGS. I was frozen in shock. Before me was actually an angel, a servant of Heaven. My shock was broken by Angela's voice,

"Do you mind if I put them away? They hurt awfully bad when they're opened in a tight space like this." I shook my head a bit and told her that she could put away her...wings. I blinked my eyes several times, a plethora of words rushing through my head, but I managed to settle on one: Why. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Angela started to explain.

"I know you're a smart guy, Tyler, so I know I won't have to explain that I am really an angel from Heaven. But you must be wondering why you're sitting in a '77 Mustang with an angel, right?"

I slowly nodded in response.

"Well, I've been watching you for a while, Tyler. In fact, I suppose it's fair to say that I'm your guardian angel of sorts. You may say to yourself, "But I've never thought I needed one." And well, that's true for the most part; you've almost never needed my services. You've taken good care of yourself. I mean, you're pretty much top of all of your classes, your home life is as good as it could be, you've got a bright future..." As she continued on, I thought about what she said, and she was right, I had never been in a really bad spot where guardian angels are supposed to help out.

"...So let me get down to why I'm showing myself to you and what you're doing here. I'm here to impart to you a power. In fact, you would only be the second person I've given this power to. Would you like to know what it is?"

"Yes, I would." I said, my curiosity growing more and more as each moment went by.

"I am giving you the power to control...well, I shouldn't say "control" per say," Angela paused a moment, tapping her finger on her lips, "it's more like the power to...how shall I put this? Sway judgment. What that means is, you can persuade people to do what you want, to a certain extent. Listen closely, you cannot tell people to commit a crime or to do something that they have strong feelings against. This is immoral and if you did something like that, it's a straight shot to Hell, and believe me; you DON'T want to go there. I like you Tyler, you're a very good person, one of the nicest guys I've ever watched over in my after-life, and believe me, I've watched over many." I smiled at her compliment, but she wasn't finished speaking just yet.

"I know you're unlucky in love Tyler." She couldn't be any more right. "I know that that majority of girls who talk to you just want to use your brain and help them with their academics. I think that's a great deal of unfairness and I think you think so too. We in Heaven don't condone vengeance of any sort, but we do believe in divine intervention and karmic justice..."just deserts" as some of you humans may put it. With this power I'm giving to you, you can just think that it's the reward of all of those good deeds you've done through your whole life. You're a good kid, Tyler. I know you'll use this unselfishly and not abuse it, otherwise, you know...You can go to Hell." Angela giggled. I felt soothed by her laughter, so this must be an angel's touch. Everything she had said was true, I didn't want to disappoint her, and I damn sure didn't want to go to Hell, so I put on a smile and simply said, "Thank you."

"Now you understand everything I've told you?" Angela asked.

"Yes, I do." I nodded in reply.

"OK, well I suppose the last thing to do is actually impart with you this power, come here." She beckoned my closer and I inched my head closer toward her. She put a finger to the temple of my forehead and held it there, my eyes shifted toward her mouth; I saw her mouthing some words of some sort. Angela's eyes were shut but were soon opened as she finished mouthing the words and she removed her finger from my forehead.

"Alright, you know have the power of persuasion." I looked at my hands to see if anything had changed, nothing had. I didn't feel any different either.

"Relax; it's all in your head." Angela tapped my forehead a bit.

"So, I can sort of do that Obi-Wan Kenobi stuff from Star Wars now?" The geek within me was making itself known.

"Well, I suppose you can say that. Just remember what I said," Angela's tone of voice changed from a gentleness to a more stern one, "it's very important that you follow those two rules."

"I understand completely. I will follow them to the letter."

"Great! Now that you know what's what, allow me to drive you home." Angela started the engine and pulled out of the lot and headed toward my place. A lot was going on through my mind, but I decided not to give it too much thought right now. One step at a time. Between my glances out the window and around the car, my gaze found itself at Angela from time to time. I giggled to myself about her name, Angela. Why didn't I see that coming? I thought. Occasionally when I looked at her, she would catch me, at which point I smiled. She returned the smile and I felt calm. I wondered if this was what love felt like.

Before I knew it, we were pulling on to my street. Angela really did watch over me, she found my house like it was driving to a McDonald's. She pulled into the driveway of my house, parked, and turned toward me. I nodded at her and she nodded as well. I smiled good bye and opened the door, but before I got out, Angela stopped me,

"Don't forget this." She had my backpack in her hand, extending it out to me. I took it and thanked her. I started to get out once more and again, Angela stopped me,

"And don't forget this." She leaned over the center console and planted a kiss on my cheek. I felt a huge surge of electricity flow through my body and I felt like I had just won the lottery. We looked at each other for a moment longer; I took in as much as I could of her heavenly beauty before we would part. The silence was broken by Angela once more,

"Remember, I'm your guardian angel, you don't have to call me. When you need the most, I will appear. Take care, kiddo." She waved at me as I shut the door and I waved back, I continued to wave as she backed out of the driveway and started driving down the street. When the white Mustang escaped my view, I couldn't help but feel a bit of sadness. The only girl who was ever interested in me for me was gone. Even though our time together was as short as it was, it still felt nice to be with someone who didn't begin a conversation with, "Say, can you help me with this?" As I made my way to the front door, I began to remember the gift that angel gave to me; the sadness was replaced with happiness. After today, things were going to be a lot different for sure.

*~*~*Home Again*~*~*

Entering the front door, I knew my mother was home since I saw her car in the driveway. Instinctively, I called out and announced my arrival.

"I'm home, Mom!" I hollered, my eyes searched for any immediate sight of her, but to no avail. She must be in the kitchen, I thought. Walking toward the kitchen, I replayed a few moments in the car in my head, specifically the part where Angela told me I could "persuade" people into what I wanted to do. I knew that this was a tremendous power to have and to abuse it would go against every moral fiber that was me. But where was the harm in having a little fun? I wondered.

I pushed open the swinging door to the kitchen and indeed, there was my mother, preparing dinner. My mother was a kind woman, she taught me a lot about being polite and nice to people. She and my father worked hard to provide for me and I had never taken it for granted. Mom looked behind her from the stove and saw me and gave me a small wave.

"Hello, dear, how was school?" she said, all the while stirring something in a pot.

"Oh, it was fine. Since everything's ending so soon, we just did reviews today. Everyone's just excited they're graduating." I sniffed the food that was simmering on the stove, it was very inviting.

"Everyone except you, it looks like." Mom took a spoon and tasted the concoction cooking; she dipped into the pot once more and beckoned me over to her, "Try this."

I took the spoon and tasted it...beef stew, definitely one of my favorites. Handing the spoon back to her, I told her it tasted fantastic and headed upstairs to my room. Walking out of the kitchen and into the living room, I bounded up the stairs two at a time, until I finally reached the walkway leading to my room. Opening the door, that homey familiar feeling took over as my eyes took a quick scan around the room. Lining the walls were various wallscrolls of anime characters and videogame artwork, reflecting the inner-nerd/geek within me. Not to remain one sided, posters of a couple of models also clung to the wall. I tossed my bag to the floor and decked myself out on my bed and began to replay the last couple of hours of my day. I was just drifting off to take a short nap when I heard the phone ring in my room; my mother picked it up from downstairs. I was about to relax into my pillow when I heard my mother calling from downstairs.

"Tyler! There's someone on the phone for you! Could you take the call?" My mother's voice was slightly muffled through the door, but I made out what she said well enough. I sat up from my bed and reached for the phone, picking it up from the handset.

"Thanks Mom, I have it. *Click* Hello?" I didn't know who it was. I rarely gave my number out, the only times was to a few girls who needed some extra help. "Hi, Tyler?" It was a girl's voice.

"Yes, this is Tyler. Who is this?" I didn't want to sound rude, but that's hard to do when someone you don't know calls you out of the blue.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Cheryl, I got your number from Kelly. She said you were sort of a genius and that you helped her out with her grades. I was wondering if you could help me too, what do you say?" She certainly sounded cute. It wasn't like me to turn down someone who needed a little help, but for some reason, I felt a little suspicious. Feeling paranoid or not, I agreed to tutor her as she needed.

"Great! I'm so glad to hear that, do you mind coming over now? I need some help on this geometry homework real bad." In her voice, I sensed a slight tone of desperation. School was over in a few days, why leave her hanging? I thought.

"Um, sure. Where do you live?" I stole a peak at the clock on my desk, only 5:12pm; I guess I could come over and come back in time for dinner.

"Oh, I live over at 310 Laurel St." That wasn't too far away and Mom wouldn't mind me borrowing the car.

"310...OK, I'm heading out now, I'll be there shortly."

"Wonderful, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. Bye. *Click*" After hanging up the phone, I opened my backpack and reached for the math book. After acquiring it, I headed downstairs and back into the kitchen where my mother was.

"Mom, the girl who just called, Cheryl, would like me to come over and help her out with some of her math homework," I held up the book entitled "Applied Geometry", "Do you mind if I borrow the car? I might be late for dinner too, so you and Dad should go ahead and start without me." My mother turned from the refrigerator to face me and gave me a somewhat worried look.

"Well, I'm not sure if you're still ready to drive." She grabbed a bunch of cilantro.

"C'mon Mom. I know I got my license only last month, how am I supposed to get any better if I don't get more real life experience?" I gave her a "weigh the pros and cons" look and waited for her answer. Shortly after I finished speaking, my mother seemed to have a different look...It was slightly blank, but then it changed to a smile.

"You're right honey, I'm sorry I didn't take that into consideration. Go ahead and take the car. And don't worry about dinner, I'll leave you some leftovers and you can eat when you get home. You're such a nice boy, helping out other students like that." My mother walked to the kitchen counter and grabbed up her keys and handed them to me. Taking the keys from her, I turned and made my way to the front door.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll see you in a little bit." Waving to her, I left the kitchen and headed out the front door. I didn't give it too much thought at that moment, but my mom would probably have chewed my ear off about not telling her about this sooner (like I could) or give me a list of reasons why I shouldn't be out driving. She didn't though. And that's when I realized that maybe this "persuasive" ability was the real deal after all. I didn't want to dwell on it, much as I wanted to, I had somewhere to go.

I unlocked the door to my mom's 1998 Pontiac Grand Am and hopped in, tossing the book on to the passenger's seat. After I buckled up and went through the motions, I hit the ignition and backed out into the street, heading towards Cheryl's house. Driving along to my destination, I wondered how exactly I could use this power effectively. What was it that I did that made her accommodate my request? Maybe I just have to be able to convince them that what I think is in their best interest? Perhaps I could just ask nice? I couldn't just tell someone to do what I wanted, I figured. The general idea was to persuade, not goad or coerce.

As my thoughts continued on, I arrived at Cheryl's home. I looked at the house's front and saw the numbers 3-1-0 and concluded I was at the right address. I parked on the curb and got out, examining the area slightly. The house was very well kept, the lawn was trim, and the house looked bright, no discernable areas of neglect anywhere. The driveway was empty though, maybe they parked the cars in the garage, I thought. I moseyed up to the front door and knocked twice, my other hand gripping the math book. Inside, I heard footsteps approach the door and it soon opened in front of me.

Now that I saw her in front of me, the voice on the phone was certainly a match for the body. Cheryl was certainly a very pretty girl, not the kind of pretty that I was accustomed to. There was something different about her, she had a sort of flair about her, I couldn't quite put my finger on it though. She stood just a tiny bit shorter than my 5"10; she was thin, athletic, maybe a cheerleader? She was wearing an old t-shirt and sweatpants; I guess no real need to dress to impress me. I held up the math book and smiled and she ushered me into the house and closed the door behind me.

The house, like the yard, was very well kept. Various art pieces lined the walls, mixed with a few pictures of the family; the house had a very homey comfort to it. As I stood in the living room, my eyes wandered further around, passing the couch and loveseat area in front of the fireplace, passing the mantle lined with various pictures and a few trophies, passing the walls and then finally landing on Cheryl who had stood there tapping her feet.