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"Then he has to believe it isn’t a date" Goodness’s head was spinning Surely there was soed to attend December was the month for that sort of function

"Think," Mercy dehtened and with a sound like thunder the Archangel Gabriel joined them He held a oing, ladies?" he inquired

The three of theive him brief updates "Great," Goodness said cheerfully

"Yes--very good," Mercy seconded

"We think Julie Wilcoff is the answer to Anne’s prayer," Shirley told hiether now"

Gabriel seeed that?"

Goodness sed hard If she admitted their role in the bike accident, it could mean trouble Much better if Gabriel didn’t know about their little scheme "Not entirely," she said--which was the truth Still, it sounded becoly modest

"How’s Anne?" Gabriel surprised her by asking

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy froze If he found out that Shirley had appeared to Anne, they could forget ever coain "Fine," Goodness said, and to her horror her voice squeaked "She’s painting Roy’s office s on Wednesday"

"An angel scene, if I re them carefully

"What a nice idea" Mercy looked frantically to her friends for help

"I can’t iine where she caht through theether "It’s that time of year, isn’t it?" Goodness asked "I els"

Mercy spread her wings and stepped forward "Glory to God in the Highest," she said

"Glory to God," Shirley echoed

"Exactly," Goodness said "We were there to announce the good news to the shepherds that night Well, not us, exactly, but angels like us"

"I know all about that night, Goodness"

"Of course you do," she said

"Now, back to the matter of Anne’s prayer request"

"Yes, Your Archangelness," Mercy said

Her friend didn’t play the role of innocent well, Goodness thought She resisted the urge to elbow Mercy, since she couldn’t do it without being obvious

"What are your plans?" Gabriel asked, scrutinizing them

"Funny you should ask," Goodness said "We were just discussing that I don’t think Roy’s going to coht out and ask Julie for a date He wouldn’t be comfortable with such a direct approach"

"He enjoys watching the parade of boats," Gabriel said, flipping through the pages of the book He looked up again "Were you aware of that?"

It was all Goodness could do not to sidle over and take a peek

Gabriel’s attention returned to the page "The last couple of Decembers, he’s stood on his balcony alone and watched the decorated watercraft float by"

"And he’s wished there was someone with hiured she was just guessing, but she’d probably guessed right

Gabriel confir, but it is one he’s entertained"

"Julie’s so athletic, I’ll bet she’s a great sailor She loves the water," Mercy ventured

"So does Roy," Gabriel said "Or he did at one time Unfortunately, he hasn’t sailed in years"

"Aimee used to sail with hih she was fairly sure she knew the answer

"Roy sold his sailboat after they split up He hasn’t been out on Puget Sound since"

"How sad for hihed as she said it

"Perhaps we could--"

"Carry on," Gabriel said He see a fine job so far"

"We are?" Goodness couldn’t keep herself fro very hard on this request"

"Good" Then as quickly as he’d coel vanished

Goodness relaxed Gabriel had yet to recall thenment, but there was always a chance he would, especially with Shirley disobeying the angels’ number one rule: no revelations to humans

Perhaps they were safe, for noay She certainly hoped so

Roy slept better on Monday night than he had in h but then he’d wake up two or three hours later Often he roaet back to sleep During the past few years, he’d tried any number of remedies, all of them useless