Talk of Angels

Alexa places the two plates from the tray she expertly balances in front of Elizabeth and her grandson who had recently returned home from the war.

She carefully places the steaming cups of coffee by the plates as she smiles fondly at the old woman who smiles up at her.

Elizabeth made it her duty for the past thirty two years to have breakfast at the Angel's Cafe but today she was highly happy because her beloved grandson was here and would be spending Christmas with her.

"Did I tell you that you're looking splendid this morning Lizzy?" Alexa said, liking the way her wrinkled face glowed with happiness as she held her grandson's hand that was resting on the table.

"Oooh ain't you sweet," she giggled as she beamed up at Alexa. "Christmas and my grandson are just two of the reasons for that."

"Two of?" Alexa queried, "Are you holding out on me? I clearly remember you saying to me nothing but Christmas and having Ryan home would be your happy ending this year."

"Well I do have one more but I can't share it with you yet, but in time you'll know," the older woman informed me with a mysterious smile.

"Now gran," Ryan said with a little laugh, "Don't tell me you're keeping secrets."

"Well it's not really a secret dear," she said with a little shake of her head causing her Christmas tree earrings to jingle. "It's just that I don't want the Angel to not come because I couldn't wait patiently."

"Angel?" Ryan asked, reaching for his coffee as he waited for his grand to explain.

I knew the story she was about to share and it still amazes me that Lizzy really believed in what she was about to share.

"Well honey this here cafe ain't no ordinary cafe. Angels come here and have been doing so since the Macintoshes came over from Scotland and made Mistle their home over a hundred years ago," she replied with delight. "They protect this place."

Alexa could not help herself in wishing one of those angels would pay homage to her. She could use an angel.

"Hmm sound intriguing," Ryan smiles as he indulges in Lizzy's whimsy. "I take it you've seen these angels?"

Alexa stared at the blonde man for a minute upset that he was patronizing his grandmother but she realised he was genuinely interested in what Elizabeth was sharing.

"No, only special people get to see them. It's been a long time since I have felt them though," she said sadly but her face beams up again as she looks up at Alexa, "but I know their purpose is about to come into play soon."

Alexa look at the old woman and for a minute wanted to boil all Elizabeth intrigue with Angel's down to her ailing age but the woman who now ate heartily from her plate was no senile senior. Elizabeth at 86 had all her wits about her.

She lived long in Mistle to know more about what was myth and what was truth. She had no doubt seen things that made her believe that the stories that surrounded the Angel's cafe were more than stories.

She on the other hand was just a girl seeking refuge, looking for a brand new start. Life had taken her six months ago and placed her here in the little backwoods town of Mistle where the people treated you like people. Here you mattered not because of what you wear, drive, where you live or who you were married to.

"Hey Lexie, can you refill my mug for me," Bert the owner of the mercantile called from a few tables down before quietly returning to burying his face in the newspaper he was always reading.

"If you'll excuse me, I best go do my job before Mr. Shedon Grumpy Pants gets here," she said to them before she went to get the coffee pot.

As she refilled Bert's mug she thought back to the story that Elizabeth had shared with her as she had served her a few days back and had made polite conversation.

"That boy doesn't know how much he deserves this place," Elizabeth had said as Sheldon McIntosh the now proprietor of the Angel's Cafe had walked in through the front door his usual reserved and grumpy self.

Alexa was surprised by the outright sadness that had masked Lizzy's sweet elderly face as she watched Sheldon walk into the mellowed with age eating area.

His dark brown eyes the colour of pure liquid coffee had quickly glanced over the small amount of morning regulars that were mixed with out of towners who were stopping in for the Christmas season briefly came to rest on her and she felt something tug at her.

"His great, great, great grandmother fled Scotland with her husband and their two children when England and Scotland started warring. They founded this Town, yes they did. Called it Mistle as Maude had found thriving all on it's own a lonely mistletoe tree."

Alexa who was fascinated by history and the past had sat and listened to Lizzy.

"Maude and Gary worked hard to build their life but two small kids, no money and miles from civilization it was hard. So she stayed home while he went miles to work. He came home less and less sending food and clothing for the kids and Maude by a carrier boy."

"Why didn't Maude just move to the town where Gary worked?"

"Because this was the place where the Angel had shown here her generation would strive and also here no one would find her and take her back to Scotland."

"Angel?"

"Yes and that angel because of Muade's belief and discipline ensured that Mistle, Maude and her family were forever prosperous, soon the right people could settle here and this place began to make its own little journey to prosperity," she said with a smile. "But with all things comes tragedy."

Alexa sighed as her heart was caught between wanting to believe and fearing to believe that it took a belief and an angel to bring forth this beautiful Town.

"Maude was like Mary choosing to believe in the things above and constituted by the pure love of God. That Angel made her a promise that he would forever keep Mistle in the hands of people who would value it."

Alexa's mind drifted back to the huge Angel statue that stood in the center of the town on its majestic platform. The people here fervently ensure that angelic replicas were incorporated in almost everything Mistle.

"However over the past year the Angel's presence has been less. For Sheldon has come to the belief that his history is nothing but a fairytale, a wives tale and a story. Without his belief it has no substance, just words knocking at the ears and not the heart."

They had sat in silence and then Lizzy had gotten up her faded blue eyes sparkling "But there is hope yet my lovely girl, there is hope yet."

Only Elizabeth knew what she meant and their conversation prior and now slipped from her mind as she busied herself with the rush of afternoon customers.