THE
NEW ANGEL By Amanda J Rees.
Did
you know that every good person has a guardian angel? You can't see
them of hear them, but they are around helping anyone who is in trouble
or in danger. Have you ever hurt yourself and someone has told you
that you were lucky nothing was broken? Well perhaps it's because
your guardian angel saved you from a more serious injury! Angels are
normally the spirits of a once loved pet. Most pets help their owners
at some time in their lives. Whether itÕs warning them of a fire or
simply being there when their owner is sad. Well, this is their training
for becoming an angel!
This
is a story about a new angel called Scrappy. When he was a pet, he
concerned himself with chasing butterflies, eating anything and everything
and driving his owners mad! Scrappy had a lot to learn as an angel.
The head angel decided to let Scrappy help a family, these people
had been going through a bad time with illness. Scrappy decided his
first job was to get them fit. He entered the house with such speed
that the wind that followed him blew over a vase on the hall table,
which fell on their cat knocking him silly for a few minutes!
Scrappy
found the family in the garden enjoying the sunshine. He
decided to put an idea into the father's head about going for a walk.
The dad asked the others about a trip to the park and they all agreed.
On their way the little boy was stung by a wasp, so the family quickly
returned home. Scrappy was disappointed and thought hard about another
plan. Like a flash it came to him, the family should have a holiday
by the sea, everyone feels better when they are at the seaside. Scrappy
planted the idea into the mother's head and it worked. The family
booked a caravan by the sea. All seemed to be going well, until they
were told they could not go swimming because the sea was full of jellyfish.
Next they were told they had to leave the beach as the local council
were moving in with big diggers to remove some of the sand for building
purposes. The family returned to their caravan rather cross. In the
night it began to rain and the family woke up very damp as the caravan
roof was leaking. Well, the family by now were very angry and decided
to go home.
Back in the clouds the head angel was watching and agreed to get Scrappy
back as he wasnÕt doing any good where he was. The head angel allowed
Scrappy to return to a different part of the country and to a small
farm. Living there was a little girl called Jodie, she was very sad
as her rabbit had just died. Scrappy wished he could tell her that
Flopsy was very happy as an angel and was about to set off to help
a little boy. But Scrappy knew she couldnÕt hear him or see him. The
little angel followed Jodie around the farm, she picked some flowers
for her bedroom and then played with the farm cat.
While
Jodie was busy Scrappy thought he would investigate the farm and nearby
fields, as he was flying around, he saw a very run down building near
some waste ground. He flew over to take a look, he entered the barn
through a small window, it was very dark. He dodged the cobwebs that
were hanging thickly from the beams. Over in the corner was a large
shape, Scrappy flew down. Near a pile of bricks and rubble stood a
very poorly looking goat. He had rope tied around his neck and his
legs were scratched and bleeding, the end of the rope was caught in
the rubble and the goat was stuck.
As
Scrappy approached, the goat lifted his head and pricked his ears,
as if he knew there was help on its way. Scrappy turned and flew with
all his might back to Jodie. He had to think quickly how he was going
to get Jodie to follow him, but what could he do? She canÕt hear or
see him, perhaps he could put a thought in her head about exploring
the waste ground. It took time to plant the idea, but finally she
got up and told her mother she was going for a walk. It took Jodie
about 20 minutes to walk the distance, she picked flowers on the way
and watched the dancing butterflies. Finally they got there but Jodie
did not go near the building, as she knows how dangerous they can
be. Scrappy needed Jodie to make some noise, hoping the goat would
hear her and call out. A song! He thought, "please Jodie, sing"
he said, Jodie started to hum a song that she had heard on the radio
that morning. In the building the goat once again lifted his head
and let out an almighty bleat! Jodie stopped in her track, "what's
that?" she said out loud, "Beh, Beh!" the goat called.
Jodie went towards the sound. She looked into the building. "Hello?"
she whispered. "Beh, Beh!" replied the goat. "Alright,
I'm coming" Jodie said carefully climbing over the rubble, she saw
him huddled in the corner. "Oh, you poor thing" she said
sadly. She put her hands out to the goat, "I wonÕt hurt you",
she said trying to keep him calm. Jodie struggled to pull the rope
out from under the bricks. With one almighty pull he was free.
Together
they walked slowly out of the building into the sunshine. Jodie checked
him over; he was scratched but otherwise all right. She took him back
to the farm where her father cleaned him up and dressed his wounds.
They put him in the old stable with plenty of bedding, food and water.
"Where did he come from" her father asked, Jodie explained how she
found him. Her father rang the local police station where he was told
that no one had reported him missing! "Can I keep him dad? Please",
Jodie pleaded, "well, only if you promise to feed and care for him"
he said. "Of course I will" Jodie replied jumping up and down. "What
are you going to call him?" her father asked. Jodie thought long and
hard, "IÕll call him Scrappy!" she said proudly. "Why Scrappy?" her
father 
asked,
"I donÕt really know, the
name just came to me!" she replied. Scrappy flew around so fast with
excitement; he flew straight into a tree!
"SCRAPPY"
came a loud booming voice. It was the head angel, "time to come
back!" Scrappy returned to the clouds. The head angel was very
pleased with him and decided that his soul purpose was to find and
rescue animals in danger. Everyone in the end was happy. The goat,
Jodie and most importantly Scrappy.
| all illustrations by Max Buckland |
