face. Then, the receiver still in his hand, he said, “Someone just told me he’s sorry he bumped into me on the platform, and maybe next time I should borrow my mother’s car when I come in to New York.”
An instant later in eternity, but one week later by the earthly calendar, Sterling requested and received a meeting with the Heavenly Council.
He sat in the chair facing them.
“You look as though you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, Sterling,” the monk observed.
“I feel as though I do, sir,” Sterling agreed. “As you know, the events of the past week moved rapidly after the car fire. The police and FBI convinced Nor and Billy that it was necessary to go into protective custody until the Badgett brothers’ trial. The expectation was that the trial would take place in a relatively short time.”
“We all know
“Do you have a battle plan?” the admiral asked imperiously.
“I do, sir. I’d like to move through this earthly year quickly. I’m most anxious to get to the point where I meet Marissa and can start doing something to help her. My hands are tied until then. I’d just like to have glimpses along the way of what I will need to know to assist me in safely reuniting Marissa with her father and grandmother.”
“So you don’t want to spend another full year on earth?” The queen sounded amused.
“No, I do not,” Sterling told her, his voice solemn. “My earthly time is behind me. I’m impatient to help Marissa. She said good-bye to Nor and Billy only a few days ago, and already she’s desolate.”
“We’re aware of that,” the nurse said softly.
“Tell us your plan,” the Native American saint suggested.
“Give me the freedom and the power to move through the year as quickly as I feel necessary, plus the ability to transfer myself from location to location by a simple request to you.”
“Who are you planning to visit?” the matador asked.
“Mama Heddy-Anna, for one.”
The Heavenly Council stared at him in shock.
“Better you than me,” the monk muttered.
“Mama Heddy-Anna has put up with a lot,” the nun said.
“I dread the day she shows up here,” the admiral said. “I commanded ships in battle, but a woman like that, I must say, might just turn me into a coward.”
They all laughed. The monk raised his hand, palm outward. “Go forward, Sterling. Do what needs to be done. You have our support.”
“Thank you, sir.” Sterling looked into the face of each of the eight saints and then he turned his head toward the window. The gates of heaven were so close he felt as though he could reach out and touch them.
“It’s time to go, Sterling,” the monk said, kindly. “Where do you want to be placed?”
“ Wallonia.”
“To each his own,” the monk said and pushed the button.
A light snow was falling, the wind was cold, and the village of Kizkek looked as though it had been unchanged for a thousand years. It was in a little valley, nestled at the foot of snow-covered mountains that seemed to form a protective shield against the outside world.
Sterling found himself on a narrow street at the edge of the village. A wagon drawn by a donkey was approaching, and he stepped aside. Then he got a good look at the face of the driver. It was Mama Heddy-Anna herself, and she was hauling a load of logs!
He followed the wagon around the side of the house to the backyard. She stopped there, jumped down, tied the donkey to a post, and began to unload the logs, chucking them vigorously against the house.
When the wagon was empty, she unhitched the donkey and pushed it into a fenced-off section of the yard.
Stunned, Sterling followed Mama into the stone cottage. It appeared to be one fair-sized room built around a central fireplace. A large pot hanging over the fire was sending out the delicious smell of beef stew.
The kitchen area had a wooden table and benches. Mama’s rocking chair was facing a television set, which stuck out like a sore thumb in its surroundings. A couple of other well-worn chairs, a hooked rug, and a scarred wooden cabinet completed the decor.
The walls were covered with photographs of Heddy-Anna’s two offspring and her incarcerated husband. The mantel over the fireplace held framed pictures of several saints, obviously Mama’s favorites.
While Mama pulled off her heavy parka and scarf, Sterling climbed the narrow staircase to the second floor. It contained two small bedrooms and a tiny bathroom. One room was clearly Mama’s. The other had two side-by-side cots-obviously where Junior and Eddie laid their innocent heads during their formative years, Sterling decided. A far cry from the gaudy mansion on the north shore of Long Island they now inhabited.
The cots were piled with women’s designer clothes, all with the tags still on. Clearly these were gifts from the missing sons, all items that their mother found absolutely useless.
Sterling could hear the faint sound of a phone ringing and hurried downstairs, immediately realizing that the Heavenly Council had given him a gift he hadn’t thought to request. I never thought I’d see the day I could understand Wallonian, he reflected, as he heard Mama tell a friend to pick up some extra wine. Apparently there’d be ten of them for lunch and she didn’t want to run short.
Oh good, Sterling thought. Company’s coming. It’s a great way to find out what Mama Heddy-Anna is all about. Then his eyes widened. She was speaking on a wall phone in the kitchen area. Next to the phone, where most people keep emergency numbers, there was a blackboard with a numbered list.
Probably a shopping list, he decided until he saw the words written in bold lettering across the top of the board:
ACHES AND PAINS
Sterling ’s eyes raced down the list:
1. Bad feet
2. Pains around heart
3. Gas
4. Dizzy spell
5. Threw up twice
6. Can’t taste food no more
7. Need operation
8. Broken heart
9. Never close an eye
10. Bad back
11. Swollen gums
Now, I’ve seen it all, Sterling thought, as he noticed checks after each complaint, with dates of the brothers’ phone calls from America. She’s got this down to a science, he thought. She doesn’t use the same complaint twice in a row.
Mama Heddy-Anna had hung up the phone and was standing next to him, examining the list with a satisfied smile. Then, moving with the decisiveness of a drill sergeant, she began slinging dishes, glasses, and cutlery onto the table.
A few minutes later, her friends started to arrive. Wreathed in a smile, she greeted them with bear hugs.
She had said there would be ten of them. They’re all very prompt, Sterling observed. The
