Read Part 1 here

“I’ll do this,” Magna said solemnly.

Lizbeth stood up and pushed in her chair. Dorothy smiled one last time before standing up, also pushing in her chair and moving closer to Magna, almost gliding.

“Wait,” Magna started. “What do I need to do?”

Both of the angels shared a thoughtful glance. They moved together towards the kitchen sink. Magna could tell they were getting ready to leave, and a huge wave of sadness struck her. They had been here in her kitchen for such a short time, but she already felt like her life was more complete.

“All you have to do is smile, sweetie,” Dorothy said. And then they vanished in a wave of beautiful yellow light. The kitchen was awash with the glow, and this time Magna was sure she had seen what Heaven looked like. Just a glimpse as the two ladies walked through their ethereal portal. The smile on her face never seemed so big.

And so she sat in the little outdoor café and watched as her smile radiated outwards, crashing into every solemn face and ugly comment. She watched in awe as those solemn faces, and ugly comments, shattered into the air and became an invisible rainbow of joy that splashed down onto the patrons in a glorious shower. Magna had been charged with her task nearly a month ago, but this little routine never failed to move her. She couldn’t understand how anyone could not continue with this. It all seemed so easy. Easy, that is, until she got home that night and found out what her angel friends had been doing while she was out.

She arrived home a little after six, and the sun was starting to dip in the west. She felt good, having had only one large latte and a delicious sun-dried tomato bagel with low-fat cream cheese. She had made more than two dozen people smile. The day seemed complete. But when she opened the door to her place, she heard the ruckus. There was a crashing in the kitchen that sounded like pots, and then Tabby and Abby came racing out to greet Magna in a terrible fit of panic. Magna squatted down like she always did, but this time the cats jumped up onto her shoulders and clung there.

“Oh my. What is it?” Magna asked, coddling both of her cats as they slowly calmed in her arms. Another crash from the kitchen, this one sounding like silverware crashing to the ground, rang out. Magna grabbed both cats and set them on the ground. They stayed near her feet, circling as she made her way to the kitchen.

“What is going on in there?” Magna shouted.

“It’s Lizbeth,” Dorothy said from the kitchen. “She’s incorrigible!”

Magna moved into the kitchen and saw what mess awaited her. All of her pots and pans had been pulled from where they hung over the island in the center of her kitchen. Several drawers had been pulled open, and their contents spilled out onto the floor. And off in the corner of the room, puffing on a cigarette, was Lizbeth. She looked winded but angry. And to her left, in the other corner of the kitchen, was Dorothy. She was leaning against the wall, looking exhausted.

“What on Earth happened here, ladies?” Magna asked.

Dorothy and Lizbeth looked at each other, like children caught doing something they shouldn’t. Lizbeth leaned forward to speak, but Magna held her hand up and silenced her.

“Let Dorothy explain,” Magna said.

Dorothy shot a snotty look towards her angelic counterpart and leaned away from the wall. “Lizbeth here seems to think that we should not have bothered you with this task,” Dorothy said.

Magna looked towards Lizbeth. “And why is that?” she said.

“Oh, can I speak now? Am I allowed?” Lizbeth said. “Wonderful! Well, it’s simple, missy. You were not the one we originally were told to call on. We had other qualified people.”

Magna looked towards Dorothy for some kind of confirmation, and the look Dorothy shot back at her told her it was true.

“Go on,” Magna said.

Lizbeth took a deep drag from her cigarette and moved towards Magna. “As normal and mundane as it might sound, we have lists that we take into account when we get assigned to this type of work. And it is work, mind you. Anyway, these lists are pretty much set in stone. We don’t stray from the list, and we most certainly don’t pick someone not on the list.”

Dorothy made a motion towards Lizbeth to silence her. “We have probably said enough, Lizbeth. Let’s discuss this elsewhere,” Dorothy said.

Magna was a rock. She held a hand up to both ladies, silencing them immediately. Magna marveled at how wonderful it felt to shut these two bickering women up. There was nothing she hated worse than arguing.

“No,” Dorothy stated, “I’m a big girl. I can take it.”

Lizbeth smirked, and Dorothy shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyway,” Lizbeth said. “You were not on the list.”

“And yet for the past month, I have been doing exactly what it is you asked of me, right?”

“That’s right, Magna. You have. And you have been doing it rather well, I might add,” Dorothy said.

“Oh, cut the crap, Dorothy! You know as well as I do that this won’t last. It never does. These damn mortals always get bored with this stuff. It’s only a matter of time. That’s why we use people on the list. He approves the list.” Lizbeth pointed a finger skyward.

And then a disconcerting thought struck her like a punch in the gut. If He didn’t approve her to be on the list, and yet she was doing the job anyway, was that a form of blasphemy? Magna didn’t like that thought at all and immediately pushed it out of her head. She felt the cats rolling around her feet and was brought back to her kitchen and the oddly comical scene playing out in front of her. Having a visit by angels was one thing, but to see them arguing was quite another. Magna looked at both ladies and smiled as big as she could. Lizbeth smiled back and then started laughing.

“What is so funny?” Magna asked.

“You smiled at me as if you thought that might work. We are made of love, sweetie. There’s nothing you can do for us,” Lizbeth said.

Dorothy only grimaced, as if she tasted something awful. “Let her be, Lizbeth,” Dorothy said. “She’s been doing exactly what she’s supposed to.”

Lizbeth flicked her cigarette into the sink, where it simply vanished. She then stormed from the kitchen. “Blow it out your ass, Dorothy,” she said on her way out, and Magna would have sworn that she flicked Dorothy the bird as she left the room.

Dorothy stood there only a moment longer. “I’m really sorry about all of this, Magna. You really should not let it affect what you’re doing, though. You should be proud of this task,” Dorothy said, and then she too left the room. This time there was no great splash of yellow light. There was only silence, and a mess for Magna to clean up.

Magna spent the next three days in a flurry of activity. She tried to stay busy with her task, obviously but also tried to reconnect with some friends. After college, she was swamped, trying out her new career as a journalist. She spent most of her time writing for several small newspapers in Kansas before moving back to her home in O’Fallon, Illinois. But the time in Kansas brought her many friends that she missed very much now that she was away. So now she wanted to reconnect, and maybe smile at those friends if they needed some joy in their lives.

Most of the correspondence she had with her friend Holly was via email. It was quick and easy, and Magna hated the telephone. But Holly was always a good listener, and Magna had a good feeling that maybe a phone call was in order this morning, just before she started for the café and her task of smiles. So she picked up the phone and dialed Holly’s number.

It rang once before Holly answered.

“Hello?”

“Holly! It’s Mags,” Magna said.

“Holy shit, Mags! I haven’t heard from you in forever!”

“What are you talking about? I responded to an email yesterday,” Magna said.

“You know what I mean. On the phone. So how have you been?” Holly asked.

“Wonderful. In fact, more wonderful than you can possibly imagine. Wanna meet for lunch?”

“Of course.”

And so plans were made, and a lunch date was set. Magna smiled as she hung up the phone. It would be so good to see her friend Holly again. She hadn’t seen her in person in nearly four months. So lunch would be good. It would also be good to tell someone about what had happened in her life. She wasn’t sure how her friend would take it, but she knew that if Holly was accepting of this, it would take a great weight off of her shoulders. Magna needed some reassurance that she wasn’t going crazy. And so far, Tabby and Abby were the only ones who knew anything about the odd little ladies that had visited her in the kitchen.

She wondered how Holly might react to the news of angels and a mission from God. Magna had a feeling that she would react like a good friend, with smiles and comfort, even if Holly didn’t believe her story one bit.

They had lunch at a small bread shop just off the main strip. The smell inside always made Magna think of home. Fresh bread seemed like comfort food to her and having a good friend share some shaved turkey on rosemary wheat, and a cranberry aioli seemed delightful.

“You know,” Magna said after they devoured their sandwiches. “My life has really taken a strange turn in the past month or so.”

Holly offered up an odd look and a tilt of her head. “Really? Now, this sounds interesting.”

“Well, I won’t beat around the bush, so here goes. I’ve been visited by angels recently,” Magna said, and then waited, bracing herself, for Holly’s response.

Holly looked down at the table and then back up at Magna. “Now that’s interesting,” she said. “In all the years we’ve known each other, Mags, you have never come up with a story like that one.”

“It’s not a story. And I know how that must sound, but it’s true. And the funny part is, that’s not even the most intriguing bits of the story,” Magna said.

“It’s not?”

“No. These angels that visited me are old ladies who argue,” Magna said, pausing for effect. She wanted Holly to feel the weight of those words. She wanted her friend to step back from normal thought and think that maybe she was telling the truth about this. So she waited patiently while Holly processed the words.

It took only a second before Holly responded. And when she did, it was not the response Magna was hoping for.