"Oh, don't worry. Nobody else will see me, but you."

"I don't think you'll want to stay in the house all the time."

"That isn't a problem. I'll only let you see me. I don't mind."

"Well, it's up to you, I guess."

She sat on my other easy chair and I went back to reading my newspaper. She was so quiet I peered around my newspaper. She was staring off into space as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Patience, what's the matter?"

"I'd be breaking the rules if I told you, but maybe it will be all right if I just bent them a little bit. You are the only one who can see me. I'm your guardian angel and God is my guardian. I'm here because you only have a little time left on earth. I'm not allowed to tell you how, or when you will take my hand and go to heaven with the other blessed people who will pass over at the same time. God has a chore for you. You're my first assignment, Mr. Franklin, and I want to do things right, but it's so dificult to explain without breaking the rules."

I was stunned. I knew that everyone has a guardian angel and that God loved me, but I had hoped that I had a few more years left on this earth. If she was my guardian angel and she was here, and now, then she must be telling the truth of it. Then it was obvious that my time was nearing an end.

"Somehow I'm glad you have told me this. It will give cause for me to think about how my life has been lived. My dear wife, Elinor, left me to go sit in God's heaven eleven years ago and it's been lonely without her ever since."