Guardian Angel Academy (5 page)

“All right,” announced Pep.  “We are going to fly over the city and do some assimilation of bombings to give our bombardier some practice.  Then we'll give Budd some assimilated practice as well.”

Flying through the storm, the plane jerked roughly up and down.  The jerky motions made Budd feel sick.  He hated to think that he, a tail gunner, got motion sickness.  He sure wouldn't let that information out of the bag.  There was no way he was going to throw up in the plane and let everyone see it.  That could be the end of his career as a tail gunner.

The vision in the great hall was turned off for a moment.  Angel Crystal floated up to the front.

“All right,” she said.  “As you can see, this is a dangerous situation.  The guardian angels of these boys need to be on the alert and ready to act at any moment.  What dangers are presented here?”

Felix raised his hand.

“Yes, Felix,” Angel Crystal asked.

“All of the men are in danger from the storm and the impending lightning.  They could go down or crash if their plane were to be struck.”

“Okay,” said Crystal.  “That's definitely one of the dangers here.”

I raised my hand and spoke when called upon. “I think that that man in the tail of the plane is getting sick.  It looks like there is something really wrong with him.”

“Possibly.  What can we do to help him?”

Kevin raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“I don't think there is much we can do for him or the others at this moment other than stand by really close to see what happens and then act quickly to save them.”

“That's good,” said Crystal.  “That is the answer I am looking for.  We are not supposed to interfere until it is absolutely necessary.  These boys are well trained and may make it through the storm just fine.  So as guardian angels, we should remain close to see what happens and if we are needed, then act.”

Crystal went back to her place float-sitting with the other two directors and the room was darkened.

The vision continued.

Budd was desperate and willing to take a chance.  He had never felt so sick in his entire life.  He didn't usually get motion sickness, perhaps his dinner wasn't agreeing with him.  As he was getting the dry heaves, he forced open the hatch at the back of the plane, not even caring that he could be sucked out of the plane.  Budd immediately vomited in an explosion into the air.  He quickly closed the hatch.  A look of relief showed on his face.  The plane continued flying on, avoiding the lightning and other dangers, as if nothing happened, finished the assimilation and returned to base camp.

The lights came on and Angel Crystal floated to the front of the room.  “Do you think that the guardian angels had to intervene in this scenario?”

A freshman  in the back raised her hand. “I think that a guardian angel must have helped that guy shut the hatch.  It would have been very difficult for him to do it with all of the air pressure around the plane.”

“Okay,” said Crystal.  “How many of you think this is what happened?”

More than half of the students raised their hands.

“Let's go back to the movie and watch it this time with the invisible guardian angels in view.”

The room darkened and the movie started over.  This time, as the impending danger approached, three angels could be seen floating near the back of the plane, the same three guardian angels in the previous movie.  After Budd threw up, the angels blew a gust of air towards the hatch, helping the hatch to close as Budd pulled it shut tightly.

The lights came back on.  Crystal floated to the front.  “So, you see, the angels helped to shut the hatch using what method?”

“Controlling the elements,” one freshman answered.

“That is correct.  The angels used the forces of air to help save this young man's life.  He was not the wiser, but felt himself lucky or strong, whatever the case may be.  Sometimes humans do recognize when they have been given divine help, but usually they don't.”

We walked out of the great hall and toward our seventh hour class, Floating Techniques. 

“Did you see that?” I exclaimed.  “That was me again.  Future me! I thought the plane was going to crash in that lightning storm.”

“Me, too,” said Journey.  “It looked like it was building up to that.  With the weather conditions and all.”

“Yeah, who would've guessed the guy just had to puke?” Felix chuckled.

“Well, it sure was a twist,” Kevin said.  “If I were the guardian angel, I would've been getting ready to help save him from a crashing airplane.”

Before we could enter the classroom, our teacher met us at the door. Angel Samuel was a wise-looking man with white hair and neatly trimmed beard, still young and handsome. “Before you go inside, I'd like to find out who has been practicing their floating at home and who would like to demonstrate?”

About half of the class raised their hands.

“Only half of you have been practicing?  Very well, who would like to try floating into the room and to their seat first?”

“Is this a trick question?” one of the students asked.

“You'll find out,” said the teacher.  “Who would like to go first?”

I raised my hand thinking others would, too and that I really wouldn't be chosen.

“Josie,” said the instructor.  “It seems you are the only one brave enough to try.  Very well-- go ahead.”

I concentrated on what I had practiced the night before when I actually was able to float across my dorm room.  It hadn't been easy and the landing was quite abrupt.  I knew I could do it, though, so I was confident that I'd be able to float to my seat.  I looked at the other students staring at me to make my move.  Journey smiled and nudged my elbow, “Go ahead, you'll do great.”

I floated through the door and as I did, several viperous snakes inside the room jumped and hissed at me.  Their fangs protruded from their mouths as their tongues sprang back and forth.  The snakes were large and all coiled up together as if joined against me.  I breathed and let out a muffled scream. However, I kept floating and made it to my seat, heart pounding, relieved that I made it unscathed.  The landing into my chair was somewhat to be desired, but I didn't care.

“Very good,” said Professor Samuel, looking at me from just outside the door.  The students were still outside whispering and visiting with one another, oblivious to the snakes slithering on the floor insidiously flinging their tongues from their fanged mouths.

“Now, we will have the rest of you float into your seats one at a time.”

The students came in one at a time, some of them shrieking when they saw the snakes.  The last few students who were unable to float stopped still when they saw the snakes.

“Well, are you coming in to class today or not?” Professor Samuel asked, teasing an inpatient voice.

The students shook their heads, fearfully.

“If you cannot float, then you really should be here to learn how, don't you think?” asked Professor Samuel.

I was glad I and my friends had made it to our seats and that we had taken the time to practice.

“Well, I simply cannot wait any longer,” said Professor Samuel floating near the door.  “We need to get started on today's lesson. There's really no time to waste.  Either come in or I must shut the door.”

“But the snakes will get us,” said one of them, trembling.

“Oh, is that all you are worried about?” Professor Samuel laughed.

The students nodded.

“I assure you those snakes are merely a mirage I have created to scare you.  Nothing more.  Now come in and join us.”

The students slowly walked in and through the snakes.  The snakes were an aborition, but that didn't make them any less scary.  Professor Samuel pressed a button and the snakes disappeared.  “See,” he said.  “Like the movies we show, they were simply a vision.  Not real.”

Chapter Eight

As we walked toward our final class of the day, the bright blossoms and neat rows of flowers and shrubs along the path caught my attention. Fountains and statues of famous guardian angels seemed to be expecting us as we neared each one. Some of these angels we were learning about in our classes. Funny that I could go through life on earth never hearing about any of them. I loved to take in the sweet fragrances and watch the colorful birds as they sipped from the fountains.

Only the freshmen walked along these paths, the other students were floating in the air. Some of them flew quickly, some slower, and some floated just above the walking path so they could enjoy the beautiful flowers and bushes.

Journey spoke up. “That was brave of you, Josie, to go first.”

Felix and Kevin agreed.

“They didn't call me Annie Oakley for nothing!” I laughed. “But seriously, I don't know if it was bravery or stupidity. I had no idea there were a bunch of venomous snakes awaiting me. Who would think a teacher would do that to his students?”

“Well, at least they weren't
real
,” said Journey.

“They weren't, but they sure scared the living daylights out of me,” said Felix.

Kevin laughed. "Living daylights? That's a good one.” Being he had never been to Earth, Kevin hadn't heard some of the cliches we used from time to time. “I wasn't scared. Poisonous snakes are not something I'm familiar with.  We don't have them in heaven. But I suppose the method was effective. The students who didn't do their homework really regretted it. Now I doubt that they will be playing flotation ball and eating Angel Food cake if they hadn't yet completed their studies.””

“Speaking of flotation ball,” I said. Now that we can float, flotation ball will be a lot more fun because we will be able to play while floating instead of standing on the ground.”

“I know what you mean,” said Kevin. “We had to play it on the ground at first, but now we'll be able to stay in the air to play it, except for occasionally touching ground.”

“Why don't we try floating instead of walking between classes?” asked Felix.

“Okay,” I said. “But I will have to touch ground from time to time and walk when I get tired. I can only float for short distances at once.”

The others agreed. “But a little floating is better than none.”

When we entered the Invisibility class, once again Professor Occult was nowhere to be seen. The students were on their best behavior, however, because like last time, the professor could be standing right in front of them, only invisible. So, we waited patiently at our seats for the class to start. After the starting bell rang, some papers rose into the air. After that, a ball came whirling through the air toward the door.

Finally the professor came into view. “As you see, you can do things while you are invisible and it will look like those things are moving on their own. You do not always need to use Controlling the Elements to move things. If you are invisible, you can throw or touch things with your own hands and people on earth will not see that you are responsible. However, in this school we have a rule that you remain visible at all times. It would be just too chaotic to have everyone going around invisible. So, you are only allowed to practice your invisibility in the practice rooms. Of course, if you try to become invisible outside of the practice rooms, it will not work anyway. Only the professors and directors of this academy are allowed to be invisible so that we can use it in our teaching. And usually only the instructor of the invisibility course, namely me, will be using it while we are here in the Academy. Today, we will go to the practice rooms and practice what you have been studying to see if any of you are ready to become invisible, at least for a short time now.”

Another day of Guardian Angel training was complete. Journey and I walked back to our rooms, freshened up and headed toward the Eatery for our evening meal.

“So, what homework do we have for tonight?” I asked as we took our seats. “I am going to practice my floating, and singing in my room and then go to the practice rooms to practice Thought instillation and Invisibility. How about you guys?”

“That's a lot to do for one night,” said Felix. “I'm going to concentrate on Thought Instillation and Controlling the Elements over at the practice rooms.”

“I'll go with you and we can practice on each other,” said Kevin.

“I'll practice what you are practicing,” Journey said to me, “that way we can use the practice rooms together.”

The next morning, I woke up early as usual, but instead of waking up to my alarm clock, I woke up to a warm glow that was filling our room. Journey smiled mischievously as she looked down at me.

“What are you doing?” I asked, slightly groggy and upset.

Others were also waking up. We had six girls in our room, three sets of bunk beds.

“What's going on?” asked Julie, shading her eyes.

“Yeah, who turned the lights on?” Cami asked from under her sheets.

“I thought I would practice my glowing and see if I could wake everyone up,” Journey laughed.

“Well, you did a fine job of that,” I said as I rubbed my eyes. “But I'm the snooze kind of girl. I like to wake up really gradually, maybe hit the snooze button about three or four times before getting up.”

“Not me,” said Journey. “I'm a morning person and like to wake up instantly. Rise and shine everybody.”

“Wow,” said Emma, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. “I could have slept three more minutes. Now you can expect to be getting payback for this!”

Emma was in the bunk across from me. I knew she loved practical jokes, because I had seen her involved in one earlier. “Just you wait!”

We took our showers, got dressed, and headed to the Eatery for breakfast. I picked up a tray and deliberated this morning's food choices. “I'll have the veggie omelet, whole wheat toast, and some fresh strawberries on the side. Oh, and orange juice to drink, please.”

The server offered me the dish of food and I set it on my tray. She handed me my small bowl of strawberries and cup of orange juice. After our trays were filled, Journey and I proceeded to our table. Felix and Kevin were waiting. After we sat down, I prayed and gave thanks and we began eating. As angels, we prayed before everything we did. It is the way that we talked to God when we were not in His immediate presence.

“We are having an assembly before our first class today in the great hall,” said Felix.

“I wonder what this one is about,” I said while opening the lid of my juice bottle.

“I heard we are watching another movie and practicing a choir number all together with the other levels.” said Kevin, in between gulps of his orange juice.

“This morning I was so rudely awaken by a bright light,” I joked, changing the subject.

“What?” asked Felix.

“Tell him, Journey,” I replied.

“Well, I just decided to practice my glowing skills. And I think I am pretty good.”

“I bet everyone loved that!” said Kevin. sarcastically.

“Not too much,” I said after swallowing a bite of my toast. “I think Emma is planning some kind of revenge on Journey. I can't wait to see what that is.”

“I'm not worried,” Journey chuckled, “Any joke she can do, I can do better.”

The bell rang and we headed toward the great hall.

We entered the great hall and took our places for the opening choir number. Today we were singing “Guide Us, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah.”

This time Angel Crystal directed the music. Her sparkly jeweled headband glistened as she floated to the front of the room. Upon the completion of the song, Angel Angelique got up to begin the lesson. “We will begin by watching this movie clip.”

The crew of the B-17 got into the plane and took their positions. It was a cold dark night. Budd and the other gunners (two waist gunners, and ball turret gunner) assembled in the radio room for take-off. After the plane was in the air, the gunners went to their positions. The two waist gunners, Steven and Anthony, went into position in the middle of the plane while the turret gunner, Christopher, squeezed into the small turret on the underside of the plane and curled himself into a fetal position. The turret had to be hand cranked to revolve the hatch inside the plane. Budd crawled around the tail wheel and seated himself. He then plugged in his heated flying suit, oxygen, and intercom. He took a kneeling position with his knees resting on the padded supports and his legs doubling back.

Budd's plane was the third plane in the squadron to take off, heading for a steal factory in Czechoslovakia. When they were directly above the target, the bombardier dropped the bomb. As the two planes ahead of them flew upwards after dropping their bombs, Budd's crew watched in horror as the two planes collided, killing all men on board instantly. Immediately, Pep, the pilot dove the plane to avoid the falling chunks of the broken planes. When the plane suddenly dove downward, Christopher, the turret gunner, thought that the plane was going down because it was shot down. Instinctively he pulled the ball up to get out, but Christopher forgot to turn off the power. Rather than falling out of the plane and releasing his parachute, as was his plan, he was caught with his arms pinned to the catwalk of the plane. Immediately, the crew cut the power and ran from their places to hand cranked him out and back up into the plane, all this done in fifty below temperatures. When Christopher was safely aboard, his eyes were glazed over and he appeared extremely traumatized.

The movie ended and the lights came on.

“Where do you think the guardian angels presented themselves in this example? asked Angel Angelique.

A senior answered, “I think the angels must've helped hand crank the turret gunner out.”

“Okay, any other ideas?”

A sophomore answered, “I think some angels helped the plane to avoid the falling chunks of metal in the air.”

“All right, let's see if you are correct.”

The movie started again, only this time the guardian angels could be seen. One of them helped pull the crank, while three others blew the falling parts away to miss the B-17.  The four guardian angels belonged to four different men in the plane, but they acted as one, one purpose and goal--to save the men's lives.

“Good job,” said Angel Angelique. “The angels used Controlling the Elements to blow the plane parts out of the way and one of the angels actually helped to pull the crank, using invisibility to do the job without being seen. Sometimes as a guardian angel you will not be working solo. You will need to learn teamwork. It helps when you can communicate telepathically.  When using telepathy you insert thoughts into others minds and receive their incoming thoughts.  It is much like speaking only not out loud. There is no mind reading involved because you don't read their thoughts, but you just receive the thoughts that they give you. And they only receive the thoughts that you give them. Each of you will be required to help with one life-saving event for practice while you are here at the Academy."