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In the meantime, the angel who came to Mary’s call managed to disappear, to vanish. And not just to disappear, but hurried straight to the "heavenly office" to report everything in color. But that is the point: none of them, even the closest angels, have ever seen Him. And His requests, which one ca
ot but accomplish, were received in writing. After that, they reported orally, just speaking out loud, quite sure that they were heard. But that wasn’t always true, since God was already sure that His orders were executed without question.
“What have you done? Are you happy? Proud of yourself? Wanted some publicity?”
“And if I did?” She asked calmly.
“What?!”
“You heard. Anyway, they all know. Does it make sense to us to lie to them? You're not stupid. Don’t you understand? Remember, you said that something was wrong... It seemed to me that you meant exactly the same. Didn’t you? After all, once they know everything, they let us understand that none of the chiefs are aware. So?.. It turns out that for some reason they need this no less than we do. So come on, stop the panic and turn the brain…”
“You decided to reverse the roles with me, our dear local headshrinker?”
“No, just like you said, I’ve become smarter a little. And all more or less savvy creatures understand that panic and nerves are useless and helpless. They just take away the precious time that could be spent on resolving a particular issue that bothers us at the moment.”
“Was that you just talking?”
“Come one, I’m not such a lost cause as you thought. You have to admit that a man always likes to feel stronger than a woman, an imp – stronger than an angel. Kindness is not a weakness. But our strength looks different, and you find it difficult to understand. And I like to look weaker, to see only light in everything. But this doesn’t mean that it is. To look is not to be. Apparently, it's time to leave the ‘comfort zone’.”
Michael smiled gently and looked away so that she didn’t notice. “It is always nice,” he thought, looking at Mary reverently, “when your close ones become smarter...”.
“As for the publicity, I don’t think that you’re very afraid of public opinion. It seems to me that you know that public opinion is the opinion of those whose are usually not asked.”
“Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz, isn’t he?”
“Yes, that’s the one. Before I went on this mission, one of the brethren said that God would soon visit me personally and nobody yet has been honored this way. So someone was informed about this. Perhaps they knew in advance about this situation and even pla
ed it themselves. If not, then I’ve got to a very important level for everyone, I’ve changed. Not a higher one, just different from the others. In this case, if someone asks for prove of my faith, I won’t be obliged to answer them. No one but Him. What’s that saying? If I have to say who I am, it means that I am nobody. That’s what even the Duchess of Windsor said.”
“Suppose you’re not the duchess… By the way! Just for your information. A real man, whether he’s an angel or an imp, doesn’t need a woman playing weakness. It’s like admitting himself a zero, if he needs someone weaker for comparison, and he isn’t able to grow stronger next to his strong companion. A real man needs a real woman.”
“All the better!”
“Okay, hold up, I got you. You just wanted some significance, this is normal. It would be abnormal if you didn’t, or you did but hid this harmless desire. This is even a greater sin.”
“Oh, I see you’re an expert…”
Mary sat down on the edge of the stool, looked around the kitchen, and gasped, remembering the stain on the ceiling.
“Aren’t you going to fix anything? That woman, she will get into the kitchen, and here’s this!”
“In the ordinary world, it’s impossible to cover the magic traces with the same magic.”
“You talking to me?”
“I’m just thinking out loud. We can only whitewash the ceiling.”
“Are you crazy?! How are we supposed to do that?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have acted all nuts. Actually, I have the right to drop everything and you’ll deal with the mess you caused yourself!”
“Sorry…”
“Just look at her! Give me a brush!”
“Don't grumble,” there was something kindred in her smile. She handed him a brush that materialized out of the air.
He quietly moved the stool under that spot on the ceiling where there was a black stain, and nodded to her in a conspiratorial ma
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