“MarineLand.” At her frown of confusion, he continued, “In Niagara Falls.”
Niagara Falls. That meant that she just fell . . . to the Falls?
She looked up at the clouds and shot whomever might be watching a very dirty look.
“What’s the date today?”
“Are you kidding?”
“I wish I was. Date? What is it?”
“It’s September the thirtieth. A Saturday. Good enough?” He eyed her warily. “What’s your name?”
She knew this one. She didn’t seem to have anything else, but she did have a name. “It’s V-v-
valerie. Valerie Grace.”
He frowned, then reached into his pocket. “Then this must be yours. I was just about to turn it in to lost and found.”
It was a small, black leather wallet. After closer inspection, she discovered it contained a birth certificate with her name on it and a hundred dollars in cash. There was also a torn piece of paper with the handwritten words “Paradise Inn” and an address.
The security guard tapped the paper. “That motel’s just around the corner. Are you staying there?”
It hurt to think. “I . . . I guess I might be.”
Somebody approached from behind and was trying to slip something over her head.
Remembering what the scroll said, she instinctively began to fight against whomever or whatever it was. “Demon!” she shrieked. “Get away from me!”
“No,” the security guard assured her. “It’s only a T-shirt, Ms. Grace. To cover you up. I think the crowd has gotten enough pictures today, don’t you think? Why don’t I get a taxi for you?
Then you can go back to your motel and maybe . . . rest a bit?”
She clutched his arm. “Have you seen any demons? They’re very dangerous. I have to get back to Heaven as soon as possible. This is all a horrible, horrible mistake.”
The water in the tank had been very cold and she started to shiver as the sun disappeared behind some clouds in the otherwise clear sky.
The guard eyed her strangely. “Let’s start with the taxi, shall we?”
Get hold of yourself, Valerie, she commanded herself. The golden scroll was right. Anyone who listened to her would think she was insane. She’d been human for only five minutes and even she could see that.
She nodded at him and tried not to cry.
This was a mistake. She hadn’t done anything to warrant this. She had to go back. They’d take her back, wouldn’t they? She’d always been an angel, it was all she knew. All she ever wanted to know.
The security guard shuffled her through the swelling crowd. As they passed a group of four leering teenage boys, he confiscated a digital camera to their loud and angry protests.
All a mistake.
Huge.
She got in a taxi and left MarineLand headed for the Paradise Inn with three things to her name. A complimentary BOOM BOOM THE KILLER WHALE oversized T-shirt, the security guard’s home phone number (“we should get together for drinks when you’re feeling better”), and the absolute, unwavering determination to get back to Heaven as soon as humanly possible.
You’ve got to be kidding me, Val thought with despair. Is this part of my punishment, too?
The taxi had let her off in front of a run-down motel just off the main strip of Niagara Falls.
She stood in place in her oversized T-shirt, her long, wet blond hair hanging like a drippy curtain over her right shoulder, clutching the wallet against her chest, and just stared at the
Paradise Inn.
All Val had ever known in her existence had been Heaven. And Heaven, as was common knowledge, was perfect. Whatever one’s idea of perfection was, that is how Heaven became to suit them. Beauty as far as the eye could see, clean and comfortable and flawless in every way.
This, however, was a whole other story.
The Paradise Inn had seen better days. To say the least. It was run-down, with roof tiles missing and a big crack in the tacky fifties-style sign. It looked tired and old and only days away from being demolished.
Val closed her eyes for a moment and tried to think of Heaven. It wasn’t cold there, for one thing. Always the perfect temperature. She never felt alone because there was always someone with her or very close by. She felt needed there, not discarded like a bubblegum wrapper. She knew what to expect and that there was nothing to fear there. And, also . . . also—
She frowned. She knew what it was like, how great it was, but as she tried to picture it, the images in her head started to become a little fuzzy. She opened her eyes again and swallowed hard, feeling a wave of panic flood her as she saw where she really was.
It was one thing to be abandoned, when it was so obviously a mistake, but to be led to an obvious dead end like this?
Her bottom lip wobbled. Maybe the nice cab driver—who had seemed so surprised to pick up a half-naked woman that he didn’t even complain about the fact she was slightly soggy from her unexpected nosedive into the tank—would take her somewhere better than this.
Somewhere appropriate where she could think about what she was going to do next, in comfort and luxury.
She turned back to the cab just as it pulled away from the curb.
“Wait!” she called, but it was too late.
She swallowed hard. The street was fairly busy. She could see another yellow taxi in the distance. She raised her hand as it approached.
But it didn’t stop. Instead it drove right through a puddle, drenching Val in a small tidal wave of cold water. She sputtered and wiped at her face.
Her bottom lip began to wobble again.
She turned back around to face the motel.
PARADISE INN. VACANCY.
Lucky me, she thought. There’s a vacancy. Woo-hoo.
Just then, she heard a strange sound. She frowned and listened, then turned around to see that it was squealing tires. A rusty Volkswagen Jetta came to a screeching halt next to her. The passenger door flew open, and a man flew out who hit the sidewalk hard. The door slammed shut and the car sped off.
The man got to his feet, brushed off his faded jeans, and yelled, “Claire, baby! Come on . . . I didn’t do anything wrong!” He sighed heavily, and turned to glance absently at Val. “My girlfriend. She’s the jealous type. No reason to be though.” His gaze slowly tracked down