Page 10 - Archangel

the devil in mourning

Startled and barely avoiding a fall into the cavern reserved for his
comrade of two decades, MacIain only managed a nod toward a red
haired, redder skinned wraith. Standing at Skye’s shoulder to interrupt
his misery and despair, the stranger was in turn flanked by two irreverent
sentries with lethal bulges ill - concealed under their rain coats.
Caring little through his own pain about these three apparitions,
MacIain remained silent and stoic hoping the Elder wraith and his ilk
would leave Skye alone to contemplate a darker future. That future was
forever robbed of a life friend who in the end sacrificed himself to shield
and save a patient from perishing under a Rwandan Hutu perpetrator’s
bloody machete. That same hand of hate severed the Northern Irish
doctor’s final grip on a life well - lived for others – exchanging one
precious life saved for another who had saved thousands.
Turning toward the grave, the Elder apparition finally crossed himself
and whispered “Dea beannacht leat” [God Bless You, Gaelic]. Before Skye
realized it, he unconsciously responded “Dia anseo isteach” [God Save
All Here, Gaelic].
To that, the stranger turned, smirked, and quipped, “I’ll be damned,
but I thought Sean was having me on when he said your Gaelic was better
than his, even if tainted by an English accent.” The insult shaking him
from his stupor, MacIain spun, tripped, then staggered toward him in
fury. Waving off his menacing siblings, the Elder skillfully sidestepped the
wobbly advance, and bear–hugged the malice from Skye’s limbs until he
stilled in exhaustion.
Regaining his balance in the mud and slinging himself away from
the Elder’s grasp, MacIain looked into the menacing stare of retribution
blazing far too similar to the one Skye sometimes saw in his own
morning mirror. With MacIain barely breathing and robbed of speech, the
interloper again broke the silence in his Ulster lilt with, “I came here early
for your same reasons, I did. To fall apart in peace. And having lost the best
thing I could find on this wretched earth, I also now ask Sean the same
fuggin’ thing you just did – ‘What now’? So here we are, Skye.”
Shocked again by his familiarity, the Elder brother steadied MacIain
with a hand on his arm, saying, “I feel I know you thoroughly from Sean’s
letters and calls in the wee hours. A privilege to meet the man as decent

4