"Damn it, who's the fool who forgot to shovel the frigging store entrance?" I said to myself as I got up. You see, I slipped on a freshly fallen patch of snow as I walked into the Walmart located at the heart of Nepean, Ontario. That's what I get for wearing my steel-toe boots on the day of a major snow storm. Winter is here, and like a lot of people in Canada's capital region, its ferocity caught me by surprise. So much for the whole global warming thing, eh?
"Are you alright, Gabe?" comes a voice, and I turn around to see my pal Joel Gutierrez, a young Latino guy pushing a heavy cart full of stuff. Joel has been employed at the department store almost as long as I have, and over the years, we've grown to develop a mutual respect. The dude is one of a few mortals I can actually stand, you see...
"I'm cool, Joel," I reply, and as Joel extends his fist, I hesitate, then bump it. I smile at my buddy, then walk into the men's room to get cleaned up. Fortunately, I didn't tear anything. I'm the loss prevention officer for the store. Meaning that I'm that guy in plain clothes who watches customers from the camera room, then steps out to make an arrest once I've seen someone actually steal something.
I stand before the mirror, and look at my reflection. A six-foot-three, broad-shouldered man with dark brown skin and thick, curly dark hair looks at me. I look pretty decent in a black leather jacket over a blue silk shirt, black silk pants and black boots. I don't look a day over thirty. I've been told that I look a bit like Hollywood actor Peter Mensah, and usually take it as a compliment, since I love his movies.
That's the body I will inhabit until the end of time, or, if ever, I get killed by one of my fellow Angels. Does that surprise you? Angels can die, folks. Both the ones in the Kingdom of Heaven and the Fallen Ones like myself. Certain heavenly weapons can end our lives. I am earthbound and my powers are severely limited, but I'm still Immortal. At least that's what I tell myself. Ah, how I miss the old days...
"I'm the Archangel Gabriel, and I have a message for you from the Maker of All Things," I said to the beautiful young Hebrew maiden, and she looked at me without fear as I passed along the message. Outside this simple wooden house, a fierce storm raged which had nothing to do with the whims of mother nature. When Angels of heaven come down to earth, natural disturbances often precede our arrival...
After I told her that she was to conceive the most holy prophet of the Lord, a man endowed with divine powers destined to change the world, she fell to her face in prostration. I hate it when mortals do that, because while my Angelic brothers and sisters are powerful and blessed with great knowledge, only God Himself is worthy of worship. Anyone who says different is a liar...
"Thy will be done, o messenger from heaven," the pious young woman said, and I looked at the bronze-skinned, raven-haired and brown-eyed Hebrew maiden, and nodded respectfully. My message having been delivered, I returned to the Kingdom of Heaven. Once upon a time, I was content to be a leader of the heavenly host and a faithful servant of the Creator. He who is called Yahweh by the Hebrew, God by the Christian and Allah by the Muslim.
It's been well over two thousand years, but one never forgets one's last mission. Ask any old soldier. That's what I was, you know. A soldier of heaven. I miss being in the presence of the Lord, but I understand why He no longer has anything to do with me. You see, I am one of the Fallen. One of tens of thousands of Angels, out of the millions of us originally created by the Lord, who turned against Him.
I stood beside the ArchAngel Michael and our brothers Raphael and Uriel when they battled against Lucifer and his horde. I aided our sister Ariel when she fought against the war-like and robust Angel Jophiel, one of the Devil's principal servants and his most faithful warrior. I watched Lucifer fall, and I was present when Michael sealed him and his fellow fallen Angels in the Pit.
Want to know what the most baffling thing of all is? In spite of all that I've done, all that's happened to me, I still love the Creator. I just don't know what He sees in humans. Even now, after living on the planet earth for untold centuries, I can barely tolerate the species. The things they do to one another irk me. They're still fighting over questions of race, religion, sexuality and nationality. Don't they know that they're all creations of the Lord? I would have thought this was common knowledge at this point.
I look at the cameras, and watch as an attractive, blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman with alabaster skin comes into the store. Clad in a stylish coat that I recognized as part of Talbot's winter collection, she walks around the store for a bit, then heads for the makeup aisle. Interesting choice, I thought as I continued monitoring her from the camera room.
I smile as the pretty lady talks to the gay male cashier, a young Syrian guy named Ibrahim something or other, and she continues browsing as he's called to the customer service office to pick up his overstock. That's when she grabs a ton of makeup and puts it in her coat pocket. With a confident smile on her face, the attractive and stylishly attired thief heads for the exit...
"First catch of the day," I said to myself as I exit the camera room, and briskly walk to the entrance. The store's security guard, an old Somali guy named Ahmed, is checking receipts. The blonde lady changes tactics and heads to the ladies washroom. I wait in the general area for a few minutes. I know exactly what she's doing in there. Taking the tags off the makeup so it doesn't ring when she's exiting with it...
Blondie exits the ladies room, looking like a million bucks, and then she casually walks to the exit. I casually follow her from a distance, tossing a couple of fruits into a blue basket and walking with them, looking like any ordinary customer. The lady exits with the makeup while the security guard is busy checking the receipt of a tall, large old white guy who's trying to exit with a TV and doesn't feel like being checked. Time for me to pounce...
