A Matter of Life or Death

The icy half-rain, half-snowflakes swirled in the wind and caught in the artificial light of the motorway lighting and car head lamps that lit up the way.

They battered down on the windscreen of James's car. The wipers worked hard and clicked rhythmically as they arced back and forth, clearing the flakes that appeared to melt as soon as they hit the wet window.

It was a dreary, dark Christmas Eve and awful weather for driving on the motorway. It was the same on the opposite carriageway. Traffic was heavy. Everyone just wanted to get home to their loved ones in time for the Christmas celebrations.

****

The alarm sounded again in the heavenly collection station telling the Angels on duty that yet another sortie was required for soul collection.

A group of young hearty Angels chatted excitedly as they ended yet another game of cards while they waited for their turn to make a mission trip. They had recently graduated and were keen to earn their keep.

"You are up Clarence," one of them said when his name flashed across the screen.

They all slapped him fondly on the back and wished him luck.

"May the Lord be with you," the 6 words were repeated by each of his friends as they bid him the traditional farewell.

"And also with you," Clarence responded back to each.

He was excited and felt exhilarated. This was his moment, his first assignment and his heart would be racing if he had one.

Angel Clarence moved forward to respond to his calling and collected the ticket from his supervisor.

"M5 Southbound. Vehicle Collision. Two to Collect. May the Lord be with you."

"And also with you," he responded automatically and took the ticket.

He tucked it into his leather pouch. As this was his first time out on his own, he wanted to set a good impression and to show he was worthy of his wings.

He moved forward with the other Angels who had been assigned collections and drew closer and closer to the launch boards.

The Collections Depot was always busy and there was a steady stream of Angels diving and flying to Earth on their missions to collect the souls of the perished.

Clarence waited his turn and took flight without hesitating to step into the atmosphere. His heavenly light surrounded him, to warm and light his way.

As he flew, not for the first time, he felt the wonder of flight. This time though, he had the added elation of doing something proud and good and worthwhile.

There was one thing he forgot though, in his eagerness to complete this important task. He had forgotten to cloak himself with his invisibility force. It meant he could be seen by the human eye.

****

James was driving his car, listening to the Christmas songs on the radio, determined to lift his spirit with Christmas cheer in this awful storm.

"And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun..." John Lennon's voice sang out and James found himself singing along with him, "The near and the dear ones, the old and the young,"

James was concentrating on the road ahead when suddenly and without warning, he saw a figure in front of him in the road.

It was a vision of a muscle ripped, bare chested man with wings in a golden huey light. He was wearing a short Roman type gladiator skirt and leather sporran.

He had wavy shoulder length hair and a head band on his forehead with matching bicep bands and leather bracers.

He was floating a couple of feet above the road's surface. For a few seconds their eyes met.

James's reaction was instantaneous for he didn't want to hit this strange apparition.

In a screech of tyres and brakes, he took evasive action to swerve around the heavenly being. He skidded on the wet, icy surface of the tarmacked road.

The car spun and then began to tilt over. It crashed into the safety barrier and began to roll.

It was rolling over and over and over as it tumbled down the steep bank.

James looked out of the side window and saw the vision of the rolling world. First it was normal on top, then on its side, then upside down at the bottom, then on the opposite side and back up to the top again.

It repeated over and over, almost in slow motion, in the persistent rolls of the car. Then the blackness took him.

Clarence chided himself for not switching his invisibility cloak on and now he had caused an accident that should not have happened. He would be in trouble for sure.

He collected the two souls from the tangled crash on the opposite carriageway.

They both seemed puzzled at first so Clarence gave them a feeling of well-being and joy. It eased the blow of leaving the Earth-life to go into the Afterlife.

"Please wait here," he smiled at them, "before we continue on our journey. I have another soul to collect."

The two new additions waited patiently at the top of the bank, examining their ghostly hands, their new appearance and watching Clarence's heavenly light slowly descend to the wrecked car below.

He flew slowly to James's car and saw it was badly crushed. No one could survive such crash injuries. Clarence bent down and winced slightly as he touched James's lifeless hand, poking out of the driver's window.

"Come," he spoke soothingly to the corpse and encouraged James's soul to slowly peel out of his dead useless body to face the Angel.

James sat up and climbed out of his crushed body. He was dazed and bewildered, "What happened? Am I supposed to be dead?"

He looked around him and at the scene. He tried to make sense of it all: The crash; the crushed car; the windscreen wiper trying to work; the back wheel still spinning; his dead arm poking out the car; the mangled car hiding the rest of his dead and crushed body; the two ghosts waiting at the top of the embankment and the Angel glowing in front of him.

Strangely he could not feel the icy rain on him or feel the blustery wind all around him but he could see it and hear it.

"Yes, you are dead." Clarence told him. His voice was soothing and melodic.

"But you caused me to crash!" James protested recognising the apparition speaking to him, "Was it really my time?"

Clarence felt a little uncomfortable and being a creature of good, could not tell a lie.

"Well no. I do not believe it was your time, but your body ... well look at it. You do need to come with me now."

James felt compelled to obey. The feeling of peace and joy emitted from the Angel was surrounding him in a comforting fog. It felt so good and tempting to just let go. But then he thought of his girlfriend, Matilda, their children yet to be born and their plans for the future.

"What if I don't wish to come?" James asked him.

"You are lucky, you could have been collected by a dark demon instead of me and taken down there," Clarence informed him and pointed down at the same time.

Then said more gently he said, "Look, you have no choice, but, you can appeal your time of death if you wish," Clarence informed him.

"Then appeal I will." James stated and allowed the wondrous feeling of calm to wash over him as the Angel transported him and the other two expected souls to the Delivery Hall.

The Delivery Hall was all white, vast and heavenly. It had queues of dead people waiting to be processed.

He waited impatiently in line until at last it was his turn.

"You are not on my list." The clerk exclaimed and informed her supervisor who in turn informed the department head.

Angel Clarence was summonsed to appear and explain the incident. He was very apologetic about the whole thing.

At the end, James stepped forward and said, "So you see, it's all a simple but terrible mistake and I need to return home for Christmas."

"It's not that simple. You see you have died. Therefore it is easier for the time of death to stand. To allow you to live in the same body would mean to turn back time, so your body was never crushed and your car accident never happened." The Clerk explained.

The Supervisor then took over the explanation, "But to do that would involve every single living person on Earth. They would have to live those same seconds again, in exactly the same way. That is some feat to arrange."

The Department Head followed on with a possible solution. "The time of death will either have to stand or maybe another body can be found for you to have. One soul could be extracted and yours replaced there to give an extended life to someone for you to live yours"

"But I want to live. I don't want to live in someone else's body!" James was exasperated by the situation. "I want to live My life, with My lady and the future We are supposed to have together. I don't want my life to end prematurely and I don't want to lead someone else's life."

"Then you will have to appeal and go before Saint Peter who is the ruling authority here." The Department Head concluded. "You will have three days to prepare your case for a decision. I will inform the necessary authority of the case."

He importantly and helpfully held out a sheet of paper explaining what they needed to do. "You can use one of the empty offices on the next floor. Look for DH25. I will allocate it for your use.

Clarence thanked them, then took James's arm to guide him away.

"Come," Clarence said to James, taking the sheet of helpful information from the trio. "I will try and help you put this right."

He felt guilty by what had happened and wished to help right this bad situation.

He led him to the allocated office where they could work in peace. Clarence read the sheet of paper and explained that they would need to argue successfully, that:

1. James life was taken prematurely

2. That the accident that took his life was not James's fault

3. That the life James had lead had been productive

4. That James had people who loved him that would be wrongly deprived by his early unexpected death

5. That a future generation will be lost by James's early demise.

James looked at him feeling dejected, "Have you ever been involved in this type of thing before?" he asked.

There seemed to be so much work to do in the three precious days they had been given.

Clarence shook his head. "No but a good friend of mine Conductor 71, missed a pilot once through fog over the English Channel. The pilot woke up alive instead of dead on the beach."

"What happened to him?" James asked.

"Well in the extended time on earth he should not have had, he met and fell in love. He successfully argued with powers that be, that he should therefore be given the right of life and that the earthly commitment should take precedence over the afterlife's claim on him."

James eyes narrowed. "I have heard this story before. Do you remember the pilot's name?"

Clarence thought for a moment, "Yes, yes, the couple involved were Peter and June Carter and the Earth year was 1945."

James sat down and looked at Clarence in disbelief.

He said, "You won't believe this. That story was told over and over in our family but I thought it was all make believe. It was just a nice story to tell children, especially at Christmas. Peter and June were my Great Grandparents. My name is James Carter."

"Wow," Clarence looked at James with new eyes. "What a coincidence! We must work hard then. It would be a tragedy if we were the ones to break your family tradition and lose a heavenly appeal for the first time!"

"No pressure then huh?" James smiled ruefully at the enormity of the task at hand.

Both worked solidly in the three days they had to prepare the case. After all it was a matter of life or death for James and he and his future generations depended on the outcome.

On the day of the court, Saint Peter was dressed in all white flowing gowns. He was tall, proud and had an aura of authority about him.

James knew he would take no nonsense and yet sensed he would be treated fairly. Saint Peter took his seat at the head of the court. It was a majestic and impressive wooden carved throne that befitted Saint Peter's standing in these proceedings.

A large wooden gavel and sounding block were placed in front of him, to pound when decisions were made in the case or to call order to the court. He looked almost Godly sat there.

The prosecutor was an American, Crispus Attucks, who was widely considered to be the first casualty of the American Revolutionary War.

He was of African American heritage and he had made it known, he felt the time of James's death in this case should stand.

He after all had also suffered a premature death in his eyes. Crispus Attucks had not been allowed to live and sire more of his own generation.

Attucks was also dressed in white regal gowns but wore a blue straight sash that hung down his left shoulder. His dress gave him an air of prestige and great importance.

Whatever he had lacked on earth during his lifetime, he had no such restrictions now in the afterlife. He was an impressive figure.

Where once he had once been poor, dressed in rags and lacked education except for what he had been taught by life and his peers, now... now he had more than made up for it. What he had been denied in his earthly life, he had been given the opportunity tenfold in his afterlife.

He was knowledgeable, experienced and held in high regard by all who knew him. He was a Great Angel here.

Attucks stood up and importantly explained to the celestial court.

"Fate is fate! No matter how it is wrapped up. Death to the departed always comes too soon."

He looked around the court, purposefully catching the eyes of the on lookers. Some were nodding at his words.

"An Angel running into the path of a car is the same as a deer," he paused for effect.

"Or a rabbit," another pause for the image to embed itself in the minds of the jury.

"And it is the driver's decision making that caused the death." Attucks paused again. He certainly knew how to keep an audience's attention. They were hanging on his every word.

"I call James Carter to the stand."

All eyes turned to James while he stood and walked self-consciously to the stand.

An Usher asked him to announce his name and read from the card while holding the sacred bible up in his right hand.

"Name" She directed.

"James Carter."

She pointed to the oath on the card for him to read out loud.

James took a deep shaky breath, "I swear by Almighty God to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"Are you here representing yourself?" The Usher asked him.

James nodded and answered her and the celestial court, "Yes Ma'am, Yes Sir, I am"

"Will you please explain to us why you are here today?" She asked him.

James looked around the regal court room. It was like a Roman Arena where the seating was tiered and he was the centre of attention. He swallowed nervously and felt all eyes were on him waiting, gripped by the unusual proceedings.

He could see the room was full and spilling out the doors. He suddenly became aware of the microphones and TV links that were placed around the room so all could see and hear. He wondered how long they had been there and how many were watching.

The Usher coughed softly bringing him back to the task in hand.

James spoke out, hoping he could be heard, "I'm here today to fight for my life, to stress to the people here who make these important decisions that this is a matter of life and death, My life!"

He saw the grey image of the Grim Reaper with his sickle guarding the door and shivered.

He focused on his wonderful girlfriend and saw her smiling face.

"I want to live." He said with genuine feeling, "I want to give my woman everything she deserves."

James paused, remembering his deep love for her. "Let me tell me what happened on Christmas Eve..."

James told the court of the terrible storm, the awful drive on the motorway, the sudden apparition, the crash, the car rolling and then the horror of discovering his life had ended so abruptly.

He finished with... "So you see, it was all a terrible accident and misunderstanding. I shouldn't even be here. I should be home with my girlfriend."

The court was silent and he looked at the jury and St Peter and tried to gauge their reactions and where their sympathies lay but it was impossible to tell.

Crispus Attucks stood up to cross examine his account. He deliberately took his time so James could feel the tension hanging in the air. He slowly looked at the papers on his desk in front of him, shuffled them a little and then looked directly at James.

"Do you believe in Angels James Carter?" He asked, his voice strong and confident.

"Yes Sir, I do," James acknowledged.

"You know they are heavenly beings, there to do God's Good work." Attucks sought for confirmation.

"Yes Sir, I do," James agreed.

"You know they won't hurt you, they are there to protect you?"

"Yes Sir, I know they help us out when we need it," James agreed again.

"You know that Angels can't be killed easily?"

"Yes Sir, I guessed that only another Angel or God could end their time," James expressed his beliefs.

"Then it stands to reason, hitting an Angel with a car would not kill him, not even scratch him. In fact, you could drive straight through him without hurting a soul."

"But it was a react..." James tried to explain but was interrupted.

"Answer the question James Carter, You could have driven straight through him without hurting anyone, including yourself," Crispus Attucks insisted.

James answered to the court truthfully, "Yes Sir, I could have."

Crispus Attucks pretended not to have quite heard his answer, "Could you say that again James Carter, a little louder this time, I didn't quite hear it."

James raised his voice, "YES SIR, I COULD HAVE."

Crispus Attucks repeated his answer again, "YES SIR, I COULD HAVE."

He paused to let the words sink into the listener's minds. He nodded and looked around the court room, "YES SIR, I COULD HAVE."

"In James Carter's case," he continued, "no matter how admirable his actions, if he had just mowed through the Angel, there would NOT have been a crash."

Attucks held his hands out as though saying, "What was he thinking!"

He continued his disparaging speech, "An Angel can't get hurt! The car would have travelled straight through Angel Clarence and then..., then there would have been no early death, no crash and just a strange phenomenon that had occurred in his life that James may ponder on every now and then."

Rumbles of agreement seemed to echo round the court room.

"All Earth people know an Angel is a heavenly body, is a sign of good and cannot be hurt." Attucks pressed home his advantage while the room was on his side.

"James Carter knew this. He has admitted to the court that he knew this. He knew he could have driven straight through Angel Clarence, but he didn't. That evening he chose to swerve around him and he lost control of his car. His actions caused his own early demise. It was fate that night. It was just a terrible accident of fate and because of this James Carter's time of death should stand."

The court seemed to accept this and Crispus Attucks summation had given them cause for thought.

Rumbles of agreement seemed to resonate round the room.

Fate should not be interfered with. It should be embraced and accepted as God's will.

James stood up and looked around. He knew he had a battle on his hand and knew he was nowhere near the font of knowledge Crispus Attucks had.

He was defending himself with Clarence's help. He had to. No one else would be able to instil in the courts how important his life was.

"Wait!" he announced and waited for the rumbles to die down so he could be heard. He walked to the free area between the tables of the prosecutor and the judge's bench.

"It is not the same as a deer or a rabbit running into the road." He spoke loudly and hoped with the same authority Crispus Attucks had shown.