Dexter Meets Irving

Dexter was kicking at the dirt road as he was walking home from school, his head hung low and tears swelling in his eye.
“What’s the matter, my little friend?”
“Who’s there?” He asked looking around, and seeing no one.
“Why it’s me, Irving.”
“Who is Irving, where are you, and what do you want?”
“Why I’m your guardian Angel. Why don’t we have a little talk and maybe I can help you with your problem”.
“How do you know I have a problem?”
“Well, you are kicking the dirt like it has no right to be beneath your feet.”
“I just don’t like coming home from school because that means it will be bedtime soon and I keep having bad dreams.”
“Do you realize that dreams are only your innermost thoughts and that they are just figments of your imagination?’
“Huh?” asked Dexter with a tilted head and an arched eyebrow.
Now Irving was using really big words that had Dexter all confused.
“Listen son, it is beginning to get dark and you have many chores to finish before supper. You run along and I will talk to you again soon and explain everything the best that I can.”
“But I still won’t sleep tonight!”
“Trust me little fella, everything will be just fine tonight. You rest peacefully and I will return soon. Look for a sign near your bed that tells you I’m watching over you. Bye for now…”
Hurrying home to see what Irving was talking about, Dexter cut across the pasture that joined the family property with the neighbors pasture. Swerving around the cows and jumping over the cow poop. Scampering up the front porch steps, swinging open the screen door, and flying up the stairs to his bedroom, Dexter ran to his bed to look for the sign as promised. Nothing could be found.
Downhearted, he lifted his small frame up from the floor and walked to the bay window. Peering up at the sky, Dexter wondered if he didn’t imagine what had happened or if it was all just a lie.
“Dexter, you have one hour to do your chores before suppertime. Better get on them.” said his mother.
“I’m coming mom.”
After the chores were finished and they were sitting down at the supper table, Dexter asked, “Mom, do you believe in guardian angels?”
“My goodness son, what brought that up now?”
“Just wondering, is all. I thought I talked to one today, but maybe I was wishing real hard for help with a problem.”
“Well, let me tell you something. If you think you talked to one then maybe you did. To answer your question, Yes, I do believe in them.”
After explaining to his mother what had happened and what was said, Dexter asked his mother about the sign he was promised.
“Well maybe it just hasn’t shown up yet. Keep your eyes open and you will find it at the right time.”
“I guess so. Night mom, I love you.”
“Love you, and sleep tight dear.”
As Dexter lay down for the night, he wondered what type of sign was supposed to appear, a bright light, a picture, or a lightning bolt. Finally Dexter drifted off to sleep. Upon awakening, Dexter realized it was Saturday, the beginning of the weekend. It was a nice day, the sun shone brightly and the temperature was already around 70 degrees.
Lazily getting out of bed, he realized there was something on the floor next to the bed. A feather? Yes, of course—the natural sign of an Angel!
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
Picking up the feather, Dexter felt the hard plastic spine and the feathers as soft as cotton balls and wondered whom it belonged to. Was it one Irving’s?
Running as fast as his little feet could carry him. He trotted down the stairs, almost tripping when he missed one of the steps.
“Mom…Mom!”
“Dexter stop running in the house before you trip and break something.”
“But mom… it came, it came!”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“The sign…it came, see it’s a feather. Irving told me it would.”
“I told you to be patient and it would show up at just right time. A time least expected and when it was necessary to show you that what Irving said was true .”
“Mom …I didn’t have a bad dream last night and I think it was because Irving was with me all night and that is when he left the feather. Do you think that it belongs to him? I mean one from out of his set of wings?”
“I guess you’ll have to ask Irving that, dear.”
As Dexter was finishing his oatmeal and orange juice, he wondered if he would ever get to see Irving again.
“Go get dressed honey; we have some errands to run today.”
“OK Mom.”
Traveling along the dirt road, bouncing in the seat of the car as the tires hit the potholes, singing along with the radio, Dexter, who had the biggest smile with all his teeth showing (except for the one missing in front) held tightly to his feather. But he was very careful not to bend it.
At the grocery store, Dexter sat outside on the bench waiting for his mother, as he often done, so as not to get in the way of the other shoppers.
The shop was a small country store that only carried the bare necessities needed in any home. There were toiletries, cleaning products, baking items, the newest and finest of fabrics, and of course locally owned produce and canned goods.
The owner was a lonely sort of man, a widower around mid 80’s, 5’6” tall with a slender build…but the nicest man of all time. He even allows credit for the real needy families.
After mom finished the shopping, they went to the post office, to the feed store, and then to the gas station for a fill up and a cold drink.
When they arrived home the groceries were unloaded, put in the proper place, and then it was time to prepare supper. Dexter worked on his chores and finished about the same time that supper was set on the table.
Heading up to his room to prepare for bed, Dexter carried his feather close to him, thinking that he wanted to talk to Irving again, and wondered if he ever would.
When he was lying comfortably in his bed, all tucked in under the covers, he called out, “Irving are you there?”
“Yes, Dexter, I’m always here. I’m always with you.”
“Even when I go to school, or shopping with mom, or even when I go out to play?’
“Yes, little one, I am.”
“Do moms have a guardian Angel to watch over her to?
“Everyone is assigned one the minute they are born.”
“Oh.”
Now you go to sleep and when you think of the feather, know that I am with you every step of the way for the rest of your life.”
“Goodnight Irving.”
As Dexter drifted off to sleep a message kept replaying in his head as if put there by Irving…
‘REMEMBER, WE’RE ALWAYS WATCHING”

Love from Heaven, Irving.