Fireflower quickly said, "Toodlelee you three," to his
friends and darted straight up off of Tubal-cain's World like an old fashioned
rocket. He headed for the black hole around Cygnus. It was a simple matter for
the Angel to go shooting through the event horizon of the black hole at just the
right speed and angle to initiate a time warp. Fireflower had done it an
infinite number of times before, a fact that did amaze the Angel. Ancient as he
was he was not blind to wonder. "Someday I'm going to meet myself entering when
I'm leaving, Lord, and then I truly won't know whether I'm coming or going!"
Fireflower left the black hole far behind and streaked
towards Earth, "I've always loved to go on assignments but how are Rodric and
Tubal-cain going to manage all that rearranging of data without me?"
God's laughter, like gentle thunder, brought him to a
roadrunner like halt. "They'll manage splendidly, Fireflower, especially after I
give Starflame an assignment too!"
Fireflower giggled and reached his arms up over his head,
(the universal method of hugging God). "Are you trying to tell me something,
Papa God?"
"Who Me?"
Two friends can enjoy the Universe forever together even
if one is Creature and the other is
Creator. Fireflower felt warm and loved and cared for.
When he was in God's arms he felt as if The Fall had only been a minor
inconvenience and that this Universe, like all the rest before it, would turn
out all right in the end.
"You'll like this assignment, Fireflower. I know you
always like to stop trains."
"This is a job for Superman!" Fireflower crowed.
"Some Superman!" God hugged Fireflower close, "You are too
smart to be Superman, You'll use your brains, not your brawn."
"I know."
"I know you know! And I also know you have this fantastic
fantasy life that just won't quit, so that is why I tell you to stop the train
instead of just the automobile."
God
showed Fireflower a hologram of a train track and a long scarlet car. God
continued to explain, "on Earth today at 5:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
speeding towards home in his red Porsche is an executive with a bad heart and an
unsaved soul. Six months from now he's going to permanently disconnect from his
body thanks to that bad heart of his, and he shall no longer be ours to struggle
with, but he does love his wife and so he will sire a daughter who will grow up
to be a librarian with a listening ear and a caring heart. And, Fireflower, some
of the people she helps are going to need to be listened to, desperately!"
Fireflower nodded, "Not everybody can afford the
therapist's fifty dollar fee."
"Not everybody can afford to buy books!
Anyway our ill fated executive is going to cut off the
life of his daughter if he doesn't slow down. He's racing home and so
unfortunately is the train whose tracks cross the road he's taking. Slow down,
or stop, either him or the train. It doesn't matter which one, but I know you,
you'll stop the train."
"But not the way Superman would."
"I know." Then with a gentle mind-hug God sent His
faithful Angel off.
Deep space is the natural habitat of Angels. Out between
the galaxies there is room to go into overdrive, to stretch and shout at the top
of one's 'lungs' and to just BE without having to worry about running into
bothersome details like worlds or flaming suns. On the other hand inside a
galaxy just where the stars are beginning to come in clusters and groups and
crowded bundles is not a place for any truly fast creature to try to set speed
records. But that was what Fireflower tried to do and the Milky Way may never be
the same. He put the hammer down and really darted through the dimensions. He
almost went through one small red, causing one of the worst solar storms the
young star had ever had and interfering drastically with radio communications on
a nearby world.
"Oh so you are cardinal babies. You wouldn't want any bugs
anyway." Fireflower felt his pockets, "And I don't have any sunflower seeds
either."
Papa landed on the branch, tucked a seed in one of the
open mouths, did a bit of general house cleaning, (the babies weren't nest
trained yet), and then flew a few feet away. He landed on another limb and broke
into liquid song.
Fireflower was delighted, "There's nothing like a bit of
music to brighten up a task!"
The sound of the coming railway train mixed with the
liquid notes. Fireflower stood up on the branch keeping his footing with his
excellent
Angel sense of balance. He put his hands to his eyes to
block out unnecessary sights and focused on the railway. The train was still far
off. Fireflower brightened, "This is the best time to stop it."
Fireflower rushed off his branch. The Papa bird was
startled but did not fly. The babies took it as a
chance for more food. "Cheep cheep!" they exclaimed, "Feed me!"
Fireflower settled down by the track. Where the executive
was, he didn't know. But as long as the train was stopped, it didn't matter.
Fireflower tried to take on a heroic pose. Hands to his hips were fine and
dramatic looking but they did nothing to hide his pot belly. Fireflower told
himself contentedly, "Now if I were Superman I'd brace myself on these rails,
put my hands out and bring the train to a wheel screeching halt." Mischief shone
in the Angel's eyes, "And that would be just fine for everyone in the car, but
the passengers and the crew of the train would sure be jolted. So though I could
do that, there's no law we superheroes can't use our brains as well as our
magnificent powers."
Fireflower floated above the track, zoomed over to the
train, and found no open windows (it was air conditioned). So he oozed through
the wall. Most of the passengers were sitting up in their seats half asleep.
"Isn't there a sleeper car in the place?" Fireflower asked the passengers. "Or
are they cutting costs again? They oughta run the Post Office like Amtrak and
the Amtrak like the Post Office!" But of course they couldn't see or hear him.
Fireflower was making sure of that.
Fireflower found an empty seat, sat down, whistled
cheerfully, cracked his fingers like a safe cracker, blew on them and
nonchalantly reached up and pulled the emergency cord. The train screeched to a
halt.
He scooted up the aisle ignoring the fact that he was
oozing through several porters who were rushing down the aisle asking, "Who did
that?" And several passengers who had stood up to see what was happening. They
couldn't see or hear Fireflower but they could feel him for a split second, and
despite the confusion several people on the train suddenly felt very happy but
couldn't understand why.
In the cabin of the train the engineer, fireman and a
porter were having an interesting conversation. Fireflower was a firm believer
in God's old command, "The ox who treads out the grain should not be muzzled."
This meant that anybody who did some work was entitled to fringe benefits. He
took one of his now. Since the cabin wasn't all that roomy and the three men
were rather husky, he floated on the ceiling twinkling with mischief, listening.
The unexplained emergency halt had rather upset these fellows, and they were
using several colorful terms and words that even Mark Twain would have been
surprised to know about!
"Not a bad job of cussing." Fireflower spoke to the three
Humans (what did it matter that they couldn't see him?) "Ohhhhhh if you only
knew I was up here! I'm glad it's only a nine though. There's only one time in
my life I got to witness a ten and that wasn't between Humans, that was a
fuss-fight between a blue jay and a squirrel! If this isn't already enough for
you guys I'm about to become a saboteur too. There's nothing wrong with being
absolutely certain this train won't run over anybody!"
Fireflower hovered down to the rear of the cabin half
oozing through the fireman to do so. He opened up the fuse box and pulled the
circuit breaker. That gave him a better idea. He sent out a little zap of energy
from himself and cut off the handle completely, neat as a highly skilled
gardener cutting off a tree limb. This he dropped into one of his nice roomy
robe pockets. "Best labor saving device ever invented." He told his pocket
contentedly.
