Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

By

Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

http://noahidebooks.angelfire.com

 

 

STORIES for Volume One

1.   The Universal Angel (Short Story)

2.   Falling into Grace (Short Story)

3.   Melanie and Daniel (Short Novella)

4.   Daniel and Abraham (Short Story)

5.   Dario and Andrew – Two Clowns at a Circus (Short Story)

6.   Master Radcliffe and the 7 Epochs of the Shadow Wars (Short Story)

7.   Melanie’s Dilemma (Short Story)

8.   Melanie and Bag Man and an Undying Love (Short Story)

9.   The Dark Sound of Chaos (Short Story)

10.                    Master Radcliffe’s Lazy Sunday Afternoon (Short Story)

11.                    Melanie and Daniel 2 (Novella)

12.                    Melanie and Daniel 3 (Novella)

13.                    Rest In Peace

 

 

 

 

The Universal Angel

 

By

Daniel

 

(All stories in this saga written and dedicated to the singer Melanie Chisholm)

 

Raphael looked at the orange.  It looked tasty.  Tasty and refreshing.  But his will was absolute – totally and utterly committed – and he would not relent from the challenge posited to him by the lord of darkness.

 

He looked at his watch.  3 hours to go.  His throat was, perhaps, drier than the Sahara on the hottest of summer days, and his stomach was in agony.  4 days straight without any water and he was nearly dead.  And the orange, sitting on the table in front of him, the lord of darknesses required temptation for the challenge, never looked so appealing.

 

But so much was at stake – so much at stake.  14 million years of service to Satan’s throne of darkness versus 14 million to his own.  The challenge had been so tempting, and the agreement watertight, that how could the firstborn son of God truly refuse?  How could he ever look his angelic community in the eyes again should he have not taken such an opportunity.  Of course, he would rule, then.  He would rule the universe – the entire known and inhabited universe, should he accomplish the challenge of the lord of evil.  And in the glory that would be his – in the glory that would be practically eternal – he could bring to life the ways and beauties of the most high, especially to those who had never tasted such graces.  He could not fail – whatever else, he could not fail.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daranok looked through the screen at the enemy, Satan standing beside him.  ‘He’s fucked.  He has got be fucked.  I mean, he has got to be fucked.’  Satan said nothing, but just stared at the slumped figure of Raphael on the floor, hoping his ancient adversary had indeed passed on to Sheol.  Gabriel, standing beside him, looked at the clock.  ’30 seconds to go,’ he said to the other two.  Satan gave no reaction.  And then, the chime going off, Gabriel rushed in with a pitcher of ice water, hoping against hope that his older brother had indeed survived the ultimate challenge.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

After 4 months in hospital, having received a healthy number of visitors, Raphael had the slightest of grins on his face.  He was a little happy now – just a little happy.  He would be back to work soon, back in the highest most diamond city of the realm of wonder, God’s heavenly domain.  But it would be different work, now.  Most definitely different.  For he had already sensed it – sensed it in his spirit.  The withdrawal had taken place, and the darkness, the evil, had submitted and surrendered.  For Satan, despite the evil of countless generations practiced, was still an angel dedicated to honouring a divine contract.  And in the 14 million years of light ahead of the Realm of Wonder, Raphael looked pleasantly forward to all the divine opportunities he had available to him with his malevolent, diabolical opponent.  And then he smiled.

 

THE END

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

“Falling into Grace”

 

 

Satan.  It was a name, once, not long ago that, when spoken amongst the heavenly diamond cities of the Realm of Glory, brought fear and worry.  But that was then.  That was then.  Because now, three hundred years since a certain wager had been decided, a wager between the higher powers of the Realm, a wager in which Satan tasted his once held vice of being humbled under the powers of the Sovereign One, that name was now tossed around casually, if at all bothering to be spoken, as one of the most laughed upon and derided members of the eternal realm.  For Satan, truly fallen from grace of the position of Adversary to Archangel Raphael, the Devil himself, these days, in honouring the terms of the contract upon his defeat, swept city streets, cleaned toilets, and dealt with sewerage on a regular basis.  And not exactly in the best of positions either amongst the regular other workers in such an occupation – in no way indeed.  For Satan was the general dog’s body.  If there was a crappy job, Satan was your man:  In fact, the crappier the better as far as some people were concerned, and in the long held spirit of vengeful revenge held by the citizens of the realm upon their ancient adversary, going out of their way to find really horrible jobs was almost deemed a pleasant undertaking.

 

Satan himself, at first, didn’t really mind.  He felt that Raphael was probably just having a go at him and reminding him of his past sins.  But after the first few years had passed, with no sign of relief at hand, Satan gradually sank further and further into misery at his lowly position in life.  And now, three hundred years after being treated as the butt joke of so many, Satan was miserable.  Life fucking sucked.

 

His pay was total crap.  Fifty bucks a week.  So crappy, in fact, that he couldn’t afford to rent anywhere or share a group house and, having purchased a tent, he lived in a park, near a toilet, and made do with that.  The toilet had a tap with running water which he would clean himself with, and was able to shit there, naturally.  The cops occasionally hassled him, letting him know people were often offended by his presence in a place they liked to recreate in, but they would eventually leave him alone as his claim that he had nowhere else to go usually softened their hearts just enough for them to snigger a little and move on.

 

He usually spent the Fifty bucks on food and drink.  It was enough to cover basic meals, and occasionally he would buy a hamburger and a coke, which he liked.  His work overalls were provided, alongside his shoes, so he didn’t have to buy any extra clothing, but had a few jeans and t-shirts he would wear in his free time.

 

Unfortunately his demonic entourage had abandoned him, now calling him a total loser.  And, as such, really nobody gave a fuck about him anymore.  Nobody at all, just about, apart from Raphael who would visit him nearly every first day of the month.  But all Raphael would do was lecture him on his past sins, and remind him that he was his pawn for 14 million years.  And then he would laugh at Satan and call him ‘Sucker’.

 

All of this had been getting to Satan and now, three hundred years into his sentence, he finally started crying at nights.  No, in no way tears of repentance of past sin, but tears of sorrow.  He’d had enough.  Really, he had had fucking enough.  God was still the fucking bastard he had always maintained he was, but Satan had finally realized what he had always feared – God was a sovereign cunt and, in the end, he could get you back for your sins, and in a way which really would rub it in.

 

So, the current state of Satan, adversary of God, in the Realm of Eternal Glory one fine Sunday morning, was misery.  Total misery.  And that is when a new person came into the life of the master of evil.

 

The Celestyel Angel Melanie was a very attractive angel.  Very pretty.  And also very talented at music, singing extremely well.  She’d had good chart success, had a large number of fans on ‘rww.heavenspace.heav’ and, all things considered, happy enough with everything in life.  Yes, generally happy enough, apart from the minor problem of having no boyfriend.  You see, no man had yet touched her, somewhat daunted by her looks and star status.  This didn’t really bother Melanie, but she yearned for the touch of a guy, and to enjoy that forbidden fruit so many of her female angelic sisters all talked about.  ‘Perhaps one day,’ she thought to herself.  ‘Perhaps one day.’

 

Today was Sunday, and after attending Assembly that morning, hearing a familiar sermon on the virtues of godly living, Melanie had decided to visit a nearby park and have a quiet picnic by herself, watching the swans and enjoying life.  She packed a picnic bag full of fried chicken, cola, water, apple juice, fruit salad, and some crisps.  And, packing the bag into the back of her car, tossing the rug in, Melanie smiled to herself at the happiness she would have with a quiet day to herself, out in the sun.

 

Arriving at the park, she pulled up into a carpark, stopped the car, and got her bag and rug.  Walking onto the park-grounds, she looked around, noting it was quiet today, and only seeing the bag man over by the toilets were he lived.  She called him the ‘Bag Man’ as she didn’t know his name and had never introduced herself.  She was silently puzzled why he lived in the park.  As far as she knew everyone in the Realm had a good income and could afford to live in at least a nice unit.  But this guy lived in the park for reasons known only to himself.  ‘I guess he must like the lifestyle,’ was her only conclusion.

 

She reached the centre of the park were the pond was, placed her rug near the edge, opened her picnic bag and began her feast.  The chicken tasted good and as she sat chewing on a wing, looking around, she again noticed the bag man over near the toilet.  He looked as if he was reading something.  ‘Probably not much else to do,’ she thought to herself.

 

Drinking her apple juice she looked at the still waters of the pond.  The swans glided, seemingly effortlessly over the surface, busily engaged in the things swans occupied themselves with.  She wondered to herself what it would be like to be a swan.  To be free, with no cares, no responsibilities.  It must be the easy life, she thought, and in some ways she envied them.  But, no, she wouldn’t swap her glory for the life of a swan, no matter how effortlessly they swam over the water.  Taking a bread roll from her picnic bag she picked off little pieces and threw them at the swans, who swam over and started eating them.  It was so relaxing, and peaceful.  So idyllic that, really, life couldn’t get any better.

 

Sitting there, watching the day pass, Melanie thought on her recent life.  The new album was doing really well now.  It had peaked at number 11 on the Realm charts, her highest position ever, and the first single had got to number 8.  She was possibly at her peak, and she knew it, but things were hopefully still looking up.  ‘Just stay committed,’ she constantly reminded herself.  Her mother had visited her recently, talking her usual stories, fussing her usual way.  But that was mum.  Really, like her to fuss.  But Melanie knew she cared and was grateful because of it.  And sitting there, thinking how nice it was of her mother to care for her, she reminded herself that, as an Angel of God, so should she care.  Care enough to help people, when they were down, and to give a damn, even about the most despondent of souls.

 

Suddenly she needed to relieve herself and, rising, made her way over to the toilets.  She noticed again the bag man reading his book, wondering what it was, then went into the ladies toilet to be about her business.  Coming out she looked at the bag man and thought to herself what she had just been thinking on.  ‘Care’.  She was supposed to care.  And perhaps, just perhaps, Bag man needed a friend.  Someone to talk to, to chat with.  Someone to be there for him when perhaps others had given up and forsaken his life.  So, thinking it a good idea, she carefully approached and introduced herself.

 

‘Uh, hi.  I’m Mel.’

Satan looked up at her, looked at her happy face, almost wanted to smile, but looked back down at his book and continued reading.’

She thought about that but decided to persevere.  ‘Do you mind if I sit down? She asked.  He said nothing so, assuming he really didn’t mind, sat down opposite him.  She looked around.  ‘Nice day, isn’t it?’  Still no reply.  ‘What are you reading?’

This time he reacted, holding the cover of the book to her.  It was a standard ‘Realm Bible’.

‘Oh.’ She said.  ‘So you are spiritual?’  But he said nothing.

She looked at him, a little frustrated at the lack of response, but decided enough was enough.  If he really didn’t want to speak, perhaps it was best not to bother him.  She stood up, looked at him, and said, ‘Well, Seeya around, perhaps.’  And giving him a last look walked off, wondering just what was going on in his head.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie was lying on her back on her double bed, staring up at the ceiling.  She had earphones on and was listening to her CD walkman.  ‘The other side of life, where the wolves and jackal’s play, where the darkness has its might, where the sinners have their say.  The other side of life, is a place where love is lost, where the price of life is high, where that price comes at a cost.’  Those lyrics Melanie had heard many times.  They were a spiritual band, ‘The Light Crusaders’, and they were an inspiration to Melanie, especially at times when she bemoaned her virginity and their lyrics encouraged purity.  She would mate one day.  She knew that.  She did not really know who with, but she was sure it would be the right one when she found him.  She was sure of that.

 

She thought on ‘Bag Man’.  Perhaps, living out there in that wilderness, away from a softer feminine touch, he could be lonely.  Very lonely, despondent even.  Fed up with it all, and even crying at night.  And, thinking that, she suddenly felt for his heart and how bad he could be feeling.  And suddenly, overcome with a desire to help him in some way, she got up from her bed, went to her kitchen and filled a picnic bag with various food items, and grabbed some books and little puzzle games, and left her apartment, heading for the park.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Yes, diamonds are the hardest substance.  So our cities are the hardest cities in creation.  Throughout all the Realms of Existence, it is our cities which are the hardest.  The strongest.  And, with the beauty of diamonds, the most glorious.  And hopefully the most valuable.’

‘That is interesting,’ responded Melanie to Bag Man’s wisdom.

‘Of course, very few appreciate what we have, and few understand how important it is to maintain our glory and improve upon it.  Raphael is a fool.  A foolish angel.  He lets angels carry on their own lives as they see fit, doing practically whatever they want, as long as they comply with the law.  I mean, that is insane.  Totally insane.  People have so much inner talent and capabilities that they need a strong, determined leader.  A leader who can get the best out of them.  Not let them be so slack and second rate.’

‘And you are that leader, are you?’

‘Hey, I was born for that.  I am the greatest there ever has been, and the greatest there ever will be.  I really am the God of glory, you know.  The God of glory.’

Melanie nodded, but kept her opinion to herself.  Bag man, it seemed, was quite an intense individual.  He seemed to have a very strong sense of self worth and self capability, but she questioned just how much reality he had taken in.  Just how aware he was of the way things were.  The way it was.

 

‘And how will you achieve your glory?’ she asked him.

He looked at her for a moment, as if thinking about that, then looked down.  ‘I don’t know.  I almost had it, but it was taken from me.  And now life sucks.  But I will get the glory one day.  I will, you hear me.  I will.  It is just a matter of time.’

‘I believe you.’

He looked up at her, a sincere look on his face.  ‘You do?’

‘Yes.’

‘Uh, thanks.  Good to have a follower.’

 

They chatted on for a while longer, sharing a meal and watching the day pass by.  Melanie give him a Rubik’s cube and some other puzzles and finally, feeling she had done her good deed, bid him farewell and returned home.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel thought it over.  Yes.  Yes, it was the right time to move.  The right time to move.  Melanie had finally given him her address after all his years of adoring emails and, while he was devoted to a number of girls in his heart, Melanie was one right near the top of the list.  Yes, he would lock up his mansion and start again in the new Diamond city, only taking his bare essentials and his bank account details.

 

Daniel had been a fan of Melanie’s music for centuries now.  She was, in his heart, exactly the type of girl he desired an eternal relationship with.  And perseverance was definitely the call of the day to hopefully attract her attention and win her heart.  There was no real other way in the end.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Of course, the Dragon is the most powerful of all God’s creatures.  And I am a Dragon, Melanie.  I am a grand and glorious Red Dragon, the most feared of all God’s creatures.’

Melanie listened intently as Bag Man continued with his rhetoric.  ‘You sound like Satan himself,’ responded Melanie.

‘Well why wouldn’t I?’

She looked at him closely, looking closely at his face, and then noticed it.  Despite the grime and dirt which he had been covered with, and the filthy beard he was wearing, yes, it was him.  She recognized him now.  It was Satan.  Satan himself.

‘Uh, fuck.  Um.  Sorry, I have got to go.’  She quickly got to her feet, alarmed at the company she was in, and hurried off, not turning her back.  Satan was not someone to tangle with.  Definitely not someone to tangle with at all.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Satan looked at the chapter.  It was the Christian Bible he had picked up, just for a change.  Something different to read rather than his standard texts.  And he was looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 13.  He looked at it, thought on Melanie, and thought it would be nice to have that sort of love with a lady, perhaps someone like Melanie, or some other love.  It would be nice.  And it would be especially nice to have a home to live in with such a lady – a home with servants, and nice cutlery, and a new car, and vacuum cleaners and happy children, and everything fine and dandy.  It would be nice.  But, of course, he had never married.  Never had any children.  Never gotten around to it.  He had been preoccupied with his position of power in the Realm and had never quite been able to find that female relationship, apart from the prostitutes, which could have satisfied such urges.  But, well, it would be nice, he thought to himself.  It would be nice.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie thought on the sermon she heard that morning.  ‘Falling into the Grace of God’ meant accepting, in the end, our frailties and weaknesses.  And accepting them in others.  And then, because of that, accepting them for all that they really could be anyway.  And, without that Grace.  Without that Grace which accepted people and didn’t try to exalt itself in pride against them, which didn’t ridicule or belittle them as if they were nothing.  Without that Grace of God which, when in the end you realized you needed so much anyway, how could you really find in your own heart anything worth calling yourself ‘Angelic’ for anyway?  If you could not show that Grace, the Grace you yourself relied upon, how could you look in the mirror and be pleased with the picture you saw.  How could you.

 

She would go back in a few days.  Back to the park and speak with Bag Man again.  She would try again, trying not to judge him.  Trying to accept him as he was and realize he was how God had made him and how he wanted to be.  And, as worthy as any other of God’s children, he was worthy of kindness and love, just as she herself was.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel looked at the flat.  It was on the second storey, but looked quite spiffy, and the rental price was quite affordable.  He would look inside but, if everything was ok, this one would do.  It was close to Melanie and in a suitable location.  Really, it was ideal.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Yeh.  I guess so Melanie.  I guess so.’

‘That is why I work hard to get along with people.  To try and be accepted by them.  That is why I do it.’

‘But shouldn’t you just try and be yourself in the end?’

‘I am being myself.  That is part of my self expression – caring about the opinions and hearts of other people.  Caring for them and what they want and expect from me.  In a way it is part of service – serving the community.  Remember what Jesus said:  He who will be greatest amongst you must be servant of all.  Remember that.’

‘Jesus, huh.  Yeh, I have been studying his stuff recently.  He was a reasonable thinker.  Deep on some issues, confused on some others.  He was ok.’

‘I think he is brilliant.’

‘Maybe.  A bit of a heretic towards his people’s religion, though, don’t you think?’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘They crucified him.  I mean, he didn’t exactly get along with the Rabbis like you think is so important, did he?’

She considered that.  ‘Interesting point, I guess.  But the New Testament explains that.  God moved on from a stubborn child to people who would listen to the message of truth.  People who had grown up.  People chosen by God from the foundation of the world.’

‘Predestination, huh?’

‘Yes, Satan.  Predestination.’

‘And what of the Revelation?  I don’t recall any of that coming to pass.’

She looked at him, considering her response.  It was a good point he had raised.  And then she decided to respond.  ‘Well, you are stuck here for 14 Million Years, aren’t you?’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ he asked, suddenly taken aback.

‘Well it sounds like the Ages of Ages to me.’

‘Huh?’

‘Never mind.  Well, I have to be going – things to do.  But I will be back tomorrow, k.  See you then.’

‘Yeh, ok.  See you then.’

She left him then, returning to her car, and her mind starting to think a little over his words about Jesus.  Perhaps they were pertinent points.  Certainly some food for thought.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie and Satan developed a relationship over those few years she visited him.  It was a relationship of friendliness, Melanie doing her best to show Satan the grace she knew God desired her to.  And she hoped Satan realized she cared about him, even if not romantically interested.

 

Eventually, though, she started visiting him less and less, satisfied that she had, to a degree, done her good deed.  He was not the one for her, if that had ever been a consideration, so for now she would remain virginal.  Whoever the man was to tame her wild heart, well time would tell on that.  Time would definitely tell on that.  But for now life went on for the angel Melanie and only the future could guess just what would happen next.

 

The End

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

“Melanie and Daniel”

 

If 4 years with Satan had taught Melanie anything it was that without a heart which showed grace – without a heart which showed tolerance, acceptance and mercy - only judgementalism would arise and, in that spirit of judgementalism, when placed upon an individual in the pride of heart which renders irrevocable judgements of hatred, criticism and mockery, such pride would eventually be found out and undone by the glory God would give to the one abased in such eyes.  For Melanie knew a truth – a truth she had learned which she now held sacred - ‘What am I, really?’ Melanie thought to herself.  I know I am pretty.  I know I am talented.  I know I am popular.  But where have I come from?  And where am I going?  And what does the future hold for me?  I know, once, when I was a child, I had immature ways.  I smoked often, and would curse from time to time.  And while I often justified my vengeance, as I grew I came to realize that such ways just don’t work as well in the end as kindness and friendliness.  For a heart which shows hatred and pride towards another heart, inevitably in my experience, just calls itself a snob.  It feels as if it has all these great values, but looks at the way it treats people and ends up saying ‘Well what makes me so great?  Aren’t I just a nasty bitch which people don’t always like anyway?’  And then, in my experience through life, I have watched some of those I derided.  And I have learned this lesson – this inevitably true lesson.  So many people – so many people who have chosen good over evil, even in the absolute crappy way I once viewed them – so many of them, even slowly mind you, but so many of them start gradually and carefully improving.  And, after time, I notice some of those I once derided so greatly – some of them are now quite nice people.  They dress a bit better, smile a bit more, speak a little more softly and display a bit more talent.  And while once I derided so many people as ‘Try Hards’ I have noticed them getting better and better.  For it is a truth I have learned.  It was a song – I song I heard about one of those Christian artists.  I forget her name, now.  But I liked her in my youth.  It had a line which went ‘We’re all just diamonds in the rough, but we love because he first loved us.’  So all of us are diamonds – diamonds in the rough.  We have unpleasant bits.  Crude bits.  Nasty bits.  We can mock, deride and hate.  We can insult, hurt and even fight.  But we are not finished yet.  We have not yet arrived at were we are going or were we are supposed to be.  And perhaps we will never reach the end of that destination.  But as we journey along the road – as we venture further along the walk of life – we, putting it simply, grow up.  And we learn better values.  Values we had not really known in younger years.  Values which show just how juvenile or stupid earlier ways of thinking really were.  And I have noticed, many people slowly and gradually learn these values, and the earlier ones too.  So, well, what I am saying to myself is this.  Why judge someone so harshly.  Why be so hard on someone, so insistent on pointing out their faults or shortcomings.  For they may well get there eventually on what you perceive as weaknesses or faults.  And this thinking permeated the mind and heart of Melanie for so long that, when she finally parted from the romantic relationship she’d had with Satan, a relationship which saw no physical attachment, but romantic affection, Melanie had learned to cope with one of the more awkward and frustrating of God’s children and, in her heart, saw the peace and joy which came from someone who showed kindness and grace.  And, because of this, appreciated the wisdom of her eternal father in the life lessons she had always known were true, in her heart, anyway.

 

Daniel smiled at her.  She noticed him straight away.  A faint smile, just a hint of one, and then he was gone.  But she knew he liked her.  She knew that.

 

He had been a member of the fan club for many years now and, finally, after she had let him know were she lived, she found he had moved not far down the road from her.  And, unsurprisingly, whenever she was at the mall in the food-court he had an uncanny sense of being there, sitting just a little away, sometimes noting her, but trying to be as casual as possible.

 

He still emailed her, and sometimes she would answer.  In his letters she noticed he tried hard not to ask anything of her.  Anything which would allude to him making demands on her time or attention.  And, perhaps because of that, she had started to like him a little.  It seemed, although she had not quite fathomed him yet, but it seemed he generally respected her and wished her well in life.  As if he wanted good things for her.

 

She puzzled, though, why he wasn’t a little bolder, and why he didn’t come forward more often to talk to her.  ‘Perhaps he is scared of my success,’ she thought to herself.  ‘Or perhaps he is just a little shy.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel wanted to fuck Melanie.  Boy, did he want to fuck Melanie.  She was death on two legs, as far as he was concerned.  The hottest vagina he had seen in a hell of a long time.  Naked.  That is how he wanted to picture her, and as much as possible.  But not yet – not even in his mind.  It was a line, at the moment, he refused to cross.  Because, perhaps more than anything else, he seemed to think that girls like Melanie wanted to be respected.  That girls like Melanie wanted to be treated well, and with care and forethought.  To be treated kindly and esteemed as a decent person, with good values.  This much he thought was true because of the way she presented herself.  Her album lyrics were carefully written to be sensitive to people and promote a decent way of life.  He really did not know wether she was so very deliberate in crafting such words to be politically correct towards the masses, or wether they were genuine, natural words, which simply reflected the heart of the angel Melanie.  But even if intentionally deliberate he worried not because they still would have reflected a heart of total concern.  He had been a fan of Melanie for the last 700 years, seeing her live performances many times, owning all her CD Albums and most of her singles as well.  He had tonnes of merchandise which he stored in his small mansion, a mansion he had bothered to go to the effort to afford simply because of his strong desire to own a lot of things about his favourite musicians and various other things.  He found he just needed the space to store it all, no longer convicted about the size of the mansion because  of his genuine love for the articles he had obtained and the joy that they gave him.  A counsellor had told him, once, after his query wether it was too much that he really shouldn’t worry because he had a genuine liking for the artefacts, and it had nothing to do with hoarding wealth or trying to be showy with possessions.  In such circumstances a small mansion was quite appropriate.

 

Of course, he had a lot of other favourite musicians as well, in his early years a lot of male ones, but he had finally gotten rid of all his male musicians’ paraphernalia and decided, in true hetero style, just to concentrate on ones from the opposite sex.  In the end he was just basically a guy who digged chicks and liked their music, so there was no point in pretending otherwise.

 

But fucking Melanie would not be easy.  Probably not easy at all.  For starters, he doubted she would be that easy to score with.  And perhaps that would be a good thing.  Because if she really was that easy, then she could end up fucking any Tom, Dick or Harry.  And he really didn’t want her to do that.  If she got to a Tom, well, that would be bad.  But Dick, well that might be too much for him.  And Harry, you could never trust a Harry.  Oh, he came on all smooth and stuff, but get him naked and watch out.  So he hoped to hell that if she got to a Tom Cat she would leave it at that, and hopefully he would be the next name and the last name on her list.  Hopefully.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie looked at the dildo.  It was that time of the week again.  Lonely, frustrated, and alone.  Still no man.  She went to the cupboard, grabbed the X Rated video, put it on and started watching.  It took about half an hour but slowly the fire down below started getting a little hotter and she reached for her pleasure stick.  Then, as the scenes heated up, the orgasm gradually approached as she plunged the erotica instrument into her feminine glory.  ‘Oh fuck,’ she said to herself, and suddenly that familiar feeling exploded through her loins, as she came hard.

 

Breathing heavily, starting to calm down, she got up, went to the shower, and cooled down, cleaning herself thoroughly.  She came back into her living room, took the video out of the cassette player, and returned it to her cupboard.  Suddenly she was hungry, and needed some meat.  She grabbed her purse and keys, gave the flat one last look, and headed off for the mall.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Sitting there, eating some fried chicken, she noticed him pretty quickly.  She had been there for about 5 minutes when he showed up at Subway and ordered a roll and a drink.  And then he sat down, just at the next table.  He looked at her, sipped on his drink and said ‘Hi Mel.  Hope you are well.’

‘Yeh, things are good Daniel.’

‘Cool,’ he replied and went back to his meal.

 

As she sat there, working through her chips and sipping on a Coke, looking up at the foodcourt television screen, she couldn’t help but notice the gaze upon her.  The not so subtle gaze of Daniel’s eyes on her body.  ‘What was he imagining,’ she thought to herself.  ‘Was he picturing me naked?’  She continued eating and finally decided to give him a little glance.  She turned towards him and he instantly turned his head to look at her, giving her a faint smile.  She smiled back a little, and returned to watching the TV screen.  And then, suddenly, he stood, took his food to the bin, and left.  As she watched him go she wondered if he really did in fact like her, or wether he, in the end, was just a fan watching his idol.  Returning to her food she continued watching the screen but Daniel was in her head a little and, while she was not really sure if she liked him at all even, his face still lingered a bit.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel put on the Geraldine CD, one of his other favourite singers.  She was a fiery redhead, who he fancied shockingly.  Like Melanie, he thought Geraldine was intensely cute and desired to fuck her as well.  Hey, she was a babe and he was a guy – it was only doing what any other angel wanted to do in their heart anyway.

 

Listening to the CD, happily singing along quietly to himself, he considered the latest chess move in the mail correspondence game he had going on with a friend on the other side of the Realm.  It was a brilliant move he had made and Daniel was stumped.  Things were looking bloody difficult now.  It was game number 3,457 in the games between them and he had only want 703 of them with 417 draws and his friend winning the rest.  He really was bloody hard, but Daniel was getting there.  He’d catch up eventually.  It was just a matter of time.

 

Suddenly feeling hungry he went into the kitchen and grabbed some cold pizza which he had left in the fridge since last night.  He also grabbed a pitcher of homemade lemonade and, sitting on the couch, looking at the chess set.  As the seventh song on the CD ended, and one of his favourites came on, he suddenly found him in a good mood.  Finishing off the pizza and lemonade, he gave the chess set one last look, went into the kitchen and put some pizza in a lunchbox and filled a flask with some lemonade,  grabbed his coat, and left his flat heading off for the nearby park.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Bag man was there again.  Daniel noticed him, reading through a book as he usually did.  Poor old Satan.  Hopefully Raphael would give the bastard a break one day.  He thought he might go over and have a chat, but remembered that Raphael was pretty insistent that Satan learn his lesson, so decided to comply with the party line for the time being and not worry too much.  Satan would be fine, in the end.  Some lessons had to be learned the hard way, so that was life, wasn’t it.

 

He sat down by the pond, opened his lunchbox he had brought with him, and finished off his cold pizza.  That finished he started on the lemonade.  Looking at the pond, noting the ripples from the gentle breeze which was blowing, he felt content.  Things were good, at the moment.  Really good.  The move had been the right thing to do.  Sure, Melanie was the main reason he had made the choice to switch locations, but the city he found himself in was really an awesome place to live.  It had great services and top food.  In fact, everything he generally wanted could be found here.  And, of course, Melanie herself.

 

He didn’t think he really wanted to marry Melanie.  Not really.  In fact, probably never.  Probably never.  Marriage was an old sacred cow of the religious maniacs as far as he was concerned.  Pledges of loyalty that they never ended up keeping in the end anyway convinced him, as far as he was concerned, that there really was little point in trying to stay faithful to a partner in a commitment before God which really, in truth, was just a monument of pride and boasting which the fundamentalists used in their legalisms on normal people.  And the way they judged them was often with so much pride and hostility, as if they were creatures of perfection.  But, no, they weren’t.  They were a joke in the end.  Hypocritical beasts denying their own true natures.  People were naturally attracted to other people – as simple as that.  And even in a relationship where you really liked the other person a lot, it was a fact as far as he was concerned that you still liked looking at other people and thought about them.  Why bother denying the truths of existence.  Why bother at all.

 

He watched the trees blow gently in the breeze, smiling at the ways of the creator.  The world of nature – the natural lifestyle.  The only way an angel should really behave and flow in harmony with.  He remembered an old religion, one he had almost accepted.  One which taught that its followers were superior to the natural order, as if they were teachers of salvation from a God who supposedly was their own special God and they his special flock.  But that was a joke.  A fucking joke.  They were hypocrites, in the end, out of harmony with the way people really were supposed to be in the true creators order.  They were servants of a dark lord – one who masqueraded in cloaks of righteousness, but whose evil was plain to see in the mind of a repentant heart.

 

Getting down on his knees he drank some water from the pond, splashed some on his face, and stood up and stretched himself.  The day was passing and he was starting to get tired.  He thought on the morrow’s activities and felt, perhaps, seeing as it had nearly been a decade, he would finally get around to his new book.  The ‘Chronicles’ were still coming out and he had a large realm-wide readership.  He was not a well known author though, selling books through his own private website and not putting the sales figures on the official charts.  He avoided media and tried to keep a low profile.  And he had even removed his picture from his rww.heavenspace.heav homepage.  Daniel wanted to maintain a low profile with the general public, instead preferring to concentrate on genuine fame.  Fame in which his fans were genuine fans, not based on any hype from the media, but those who found his website through word of mouth or through a “googolplexianite” search engine web search.  In this way his entire popularity would be genuine, with no fake hangers on.

 

As he walked back to his car, he noticed Bag Man again, reading through one of the books he read.  Perhaps he would introduce himself one day.  Perhaps – but not for now.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie sat in her room, listening to a CD by one of her other favourite female singers.  Geraldine, she felt, was a very talented singer – very talented indeed.  Her voice, to Melanie, resonated with a beauty which came from an inner soul dedicated to a standard of behaviour a little bit more mature than the average angel.  Geraldine was, in Melanie’s way of thinking, complex.  Quite complex.  In fact so bloody complex that Melanie, on some of Geraldine’s earlier albums thought to herself ‘What the fuck is this bitch on about.’  You see Geraldine had developed the fine art of sarcasm.  Extreme sarcasm.  But this was hidden amongst lyrics which were often cryptic and difficult to decipher in their true intent and meaning.  She would say one thing, and you would think ‘oh, that is what she is on about.’  But, after a deeper listening and a cogitatious philosophical reflection you would learn she was often having a go in the way she subtley praised something.  You noticed it in the tone of her voice or the choice of words.  One song in particular, called ‘Fair Gentleman’, had always made Melanie a little bit suspicious on the choice of the word ‘Fair’.  Melanie assumed, perhaps rightly or wrongly, that Geraldine was attempting to put the male sex in its place with a response to the long held compliment of masculinity to their counterparts in the language they verily used.  Perhaps, one day, she would track down Geraldine and mayhaps do a project together.  It would be interesting to see the fruit of such an endeavour.  It would be most interesting.

 

Feeling thirsty she went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of coke from the fridge.  She started drinking it and sat down at her PC.  It was usually left on and connecting to the realm net, she surfed to her homepage.  There she was, looking as beautiful as ever – definitely the way she wanted, in her heart, to present herself.  Suddenly, out of nowhere really, she decided to type in Daniel’s name.  Perhaps he had a homepage on one of the social websites.  While she was not really interested in him in any romantic way, it might be interesting to see what he was like if he had a profile available.  She typed in his first name and surname and the name of the city she knew he had come from.  She found a number of entries but about half way down the list of 100 entries she found something which looked interesting.  It was his name, like the others, but this one claimed it to be of an author of a series of books.  She clicked on the link and funnily enough the rww.heavenspace.heav website came up.  Checking the details section, which matched up with him, but not seeing a photo, she assumed it might be him.  She looked at the profile for a few minutes seeing his favourite hobbies, interests and beliefs and decided to click on the link to the books.  ‘The Chronicles of the Eternal Realm of Glory’.  They seemed interesting.  Raphael, by the looks of it, was one of the main stars of the series as a number of the stories featured him in the title.  But near the end of the list, with a note which read ‘New’ was a book which had Satan in the title.  She read again and noticed that it had just been added that day.  This one she would look at.  It could prove most interesting reading material.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Currently, regular masturbation was generally the call of duty for Satan’s little soldier.  Satan had not scored with Mel, no matter how sweet he had been in the end, and as such had resorted to the standard pornography to alleviate his sexual urges.  It was a ‘Solo Man’s’ last recourse but, fuckit, such was life.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel watched as the garbage truck pulled up, hoisted his wheely bins into the air and dumped the rubbish into the truck, and moved on further down the street.  It was Thursday morning and the garbos came without fail.

 

Melanie was on his mind.  He thought, today.  Perhaps today he would be bold enough to go and visit her.  Perhaps today.  He had waited a fair while and, after all, it had been the reason he had moved in the end.

 

Getting into his GYZ4000, Daniel put a CD into the player.  It was a band he had just started listening to – ‘Le Ultrafuckables’ – the hottest girl-band he had ever seen.  French chicks, with breasts which would make any man die from over-orgasming.  Fuck, they were hot, and Daniel digged the hell out of them.  Of course, so they all claimed, they were 5 of the sweetest virgins in the Realm and would only allow the absolute hottest of all angelicdom come near them for discussions on dating.  They were the elite of the elite and Daniel fancied the hell out of them.  But, in the end, they were simply pleasure-bots.  Bodies made to carnal perfection, it would seem, but with an intelligence quotient just a little too low for Daniel.  And some of their personal mannerisms, while they were quite expert in the French style, betrayed a heart which suffered just a little too much from lack of mercy.  They were hot – they were slick – and the music was awesome.  But that was all it was.  Soul seemed to be lacking to a great degree and, perhaps like fast food in some ways, it tasted great but was not necessarily that healthy for you in the end.

 

He pulled up in the carpark of Melanie’s apartment block.  He looked up at the window to see if he could see her.  Suddenly, quite surprisingly, she passed by the window and Daniel got a shock.  She was topless.  So now he had seen Melanie topless for the first time ever and he liked what he saw.  Quite a bit.

 

He came up to the door, pushed the button and waited.  After a few seconds the intercom came on and Melanie’s voice spoke, saying, ‘Yes, who is it.’

‘Uh, it’s Daniel.  You know, from down the road.’

There was no reply immediately, but after a few seconds Melanie spoke, saying ‘Yeh, ok.  Come on up.  Just push the door open when it buzzes.  Number 13.’

 

After a few moments the buzzer rang and Daniel pushed open the door, climbed the stairs and knocked on number 13.  Melanie opened up and a looked at him.  ‘Hey Danny Boy.’

‘Hey, Mel.’

‘So watcha want?’

‘Oh, um.  You know.  Just thought I’d drop around to say hi.’

‘Come on in.’

He came in, looked around the unit, and sat down on the couch Melanie motioned for him to sit at.  ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Uh, sure.  Juice if you have some.’

Melanie went off and returned shortly with a glass full of watermelon juice and ice.’

‘What’s this?’ Daniel asked.

‘Watermelon juice.  I can’t get enough of the stuff.’

He took a sip.  ‘Tastes great,’ he said.  ‘Thanks.’

‘Your welcome.’

He sipped on his juice while Melanie sat down on the couch opposite him.  She looked at him for a few moments, and finally he looked away, staring up the diamond records up on the wall behind her.

’10,000,000 album sales achieved, huh?  That’s not bad.’

‘Oh, that record has 17 Diamonds now,’ responded Melanie.  ‘It has sold pretty much constantly since its release.’

’17, huh?  Not too bad.  What is the record, anyway?’

‘You don’t know?’

‘I haven’t studied the all time charts for millennia.  No idea who is currently on top.’

‘Well, Gabriel is currently number one.  42 Diamonds currently, and still going strong.’

‘Which album?’ asked Daniel, curiously.

‘Intensification’.

‘Oh, that one.  Not surprising, I suppose.’

‘Yeh.  But I’ll catch him.  I don’t give up, you see.  I keep at it.’

‘Yeh, I know you do.  It is why I am such a big fan, you know.’

‘Really?’ said Melanie, a slight smile on her face.

‘Yeh, well, I have this philosophy on life.  Life is full of countless numbers of people, but so few really bother to use their talents that well and just live a life in the doldrums, remaining mr and mrs average.  I mean, good luck to them, but they are kind of boring in the end.  Not much spark.  Often not a lot to talk about apart from simple family issues or work issues.  And after a number of years going through that shit it gets pretty repetitive.  I mean who gives a fuck who aunt Sally is shagging these day.  Sure, its juicy goss, but I have heard it all before.’

Melanie looked at him, slightly concerned at the tone of heavy criticism, but decided to consider his point anyway.  ‘Don’t you think you are being a bit judgemental, Danny.  I mean, I guess you have a sort of intellectual perspective on things, from noting that comment, and I guess I see were you are coming from, but people are just people in the end.  So why so much pride?’

‘Pride?  Are you fucking kidding me?  The flock of God are second rate on a good day.  And believe me, that is a fucking good day.  I mean, they have talent and abilities but their too lazy and they complain too much about God’s holy standards to bother getting off their arse and having a go.  They suck, Mel.  By and large most of them fucking suck.’

‘So what.  Who gives a fuck?’

‘So says the heart of one who has settled for mediocrity.  I mean if that is what you are into, then fair enough.  But while the stars shine brightly, lass, and the stars do often shine brightly, and I guess you really are one of those, one of those mediocre stars, I know were I am heading.’

‘And were is that?’ she asked, carefully, not letting the sledge get to her?”

‘Well there is only one bloody sun, isn’t there.’

She looked at him, softened a little, thought on his book she had just read, and considered that.  ‘Only one sun, you say?  Only one sun?’

‘Uh, yeh babe.  Yeh.  I mean, Yeshie boy worked his ass off and so did that Jacob fellow.  But they are small fries in the end, sweetheart.  Minor competition.’

‘And what gives you such confidence?’

‘Well I actually am.’

Melanie considered that, looked at him carefully, and forewent her criticism.

‘Fine,’ she said, went to the kitchen, returned with another glass of watermelon juice filled with ice, and sat down in front of, legs crossed, waiting for him to speak further.

 

Daniel finally continued, after looking at her for a short while.  ‘Well, what I am is what I am, and that is they way I was made.  So I don’t actually end up bragging about my own abilities.  But I have noticed, and this is where I really don’t excuse the rest of the flock.  I have noticed that so bloody few of them, and with huge amounts of talent available to them, ever really bother applying themselves.  Few ever really go to hard enough efforts.  And, I do know, they have the talent.  They’re just fucking lazy.’

She looked at him for a short moment, thought on all her successes and how hard she had applied herself and continued to work at it to achieve her glory, and, despite knowing it might be a hard choice of heart to accept, assented anyway.  ‘I suppose he is right,’ she thought to herself.  ‘I suppose he is right.’

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel looked up at his bookcase.  100% Daniel.  All his books he had in his bookcase were his own creations, all his own works.  In the end, so he had concluded, why the fuck would he want to read the amateurs.  They were only second rate in the end.  No spark – no fire – and when they seriously tried to compete they had no fucking idea, full of all sorts of sin and evil.  No fucking idea the competition.  You see Daniel had a philosophy on his writing.  A strong level of holiness and fundamental spiritual lessons as his foundation stone.  On such a foundation he could push the edges of hetero cool.  And hetero cool was were it was at as far as Daniel was concerned.  Of course, his characters needed an edge.  An erotic, hard core, hetero edge.  But they needed a strong foundation of spirituality – one which knew exactly where it was and what it was doing.  And when they pushed the edge a little too much had the sense of mind to return to the older, safer standards, keeping the faith and breathing a little easier.  Be daring, go for broke, push boundaries, but in the words of a sensible chick ‘You must be kidding me’, in reference to questions of how far exactly she would push it.  See, Daniel was grounded, and laughed at those who might slur him.  For he saw in them this truth – once they thought there sins were cool, in they would go.  But they just wanted the forbidden fruit – that was all they fucking wanted.  And Danny Boy, the old Devil, chuckled to himself because of it.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie looked in the mirror.  Danny boy was on her mind.  She had read another of his short stories that morning, one which featured a few of the top angels in the Realm that she was familiar with, and she was surprised by the quality of the storytelling.  It really was of a high standard.  He had made claims to her yesterday – strong claims.  And she was thinking to herself, in her criticisms of this angelic fellow, that if his claims really where the truth, then there would have to be, at least, a high enough level of intellectualism which addressed such claims.  But more than that – really, for Melanie, she needed more than just clever, intellectual and witty storytelling – she expected to see something of the other – some of the divine – something ineffable, as it were – something which spoke of only the hand of God at work.  And unless she saw such things at work in the writings of Mr Daniel, then she really would lose interest and disdain his brash and bold claims.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel went to the cupboard and pulled out one of his porn videos.  It was R Rated, as his entire collection of 3 porn videos were, all of them basic ‘Girls’ only vids, as suited his diehard attitude on heterosexuality.  He put it in the slot, pressed play, and sat down to relax.  Sitting there, watching the usual girl go through the usual routine, his mind started wandering.  It would be nice, he felt, if Melanie was one of the girls in his video collection.  He could satisfy his lustful desires built up over many decades of silent observation, gratified in the carnal heat of the solitary man’s pleasure.  But, really, didn’t Mel deserve more than that.  More than being a ‘video’ girlfriend, an object of affection, an idol desired but never met and developed into a real relationship with.  And thinking that, suddenly feeling convicted, he stopped the tape, returned it to his cupboard, and went off to think.

 

He looked up at the lamplight.  It shone brightly in the dark sky.  He turned away from the lamp, and walked further up the path, veering off to the left and sat down in a quiet, dark place.  He looked up at the sky – the stars radiated their usual message of simplicity of a gentle guide to the nocturnal traveller.  Daniel thought on the ‘Rainbow Bible’.  Genesis 1 – 11:9.  His sacred scripture as a human.  Pacifism.  It taught pacifism – peaceful behaviour towards people.  But its principles also taught to separate from heretics – those who followed after idols.  And such was the Abrahamic faiths of Samaritanism, Karaism, Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Bahai and the others.  Also, all the other false belief systems such as Atheism, Agnosticism, Deism, Deitheism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Eckism, Scientology, Any system based on Jesus of Nazareth and all his various titles and names, any system which utilized books which were called holy, scripture or in any way admired or respected apart from the ‘Rainbow Bible’ and Daniel’s own ‘Chronicles of the Children of Destiny’ and his other works.  Basically, everything apart from Daniel was wrong.  It was a simple as that.  They were all heretics, into sin, and set on the pathways of eternal destruction.  And such was the way of life.  They’re were a few people who seemed to acknowledge principles of truth, but they were usually besotted by idolatry and carnal sin anyway, so they were also on the road to death, denying the very truth which was intended to save them.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Britney looked at the clock.  12:45.  She had just finished lunch.  But she was still thirsty.  She went into her playroom, grabbed a 1 dollar coin from the glass bowl on her bookcase, and put it into the Coke Machine.  Drinking the Coke, she thought on ‘Danny Boy’.  It seemed he was in the slow process of actually growing up.  But, while she didn’t mind being coveted, she thought he was still a very big dork.  But some of his books were ok.  Not bad for a tryhard.

 

She looked at the latest book he had mailed to her.  ‘The Erotic Adventures of Santa Claus in the Queendom of the Lust-filled Fairy Princesses.’  It was tempting her, all the time.  Perhaps she should read it.  Perhaps.  Maybe later.

 

She finished off the Coke, went to the fridge, grabbed some cold pizza, and another can of coke, sat on the couch, and watched ‘The Breakfast Club’ for probably the 7,000th time.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Madonna looked at the X-Rated video Daniel had sent her.  ‘The Erotic Adventures of Lucifer Hellfire Armageddon in the land of the Ultrafuckable Amazonian Princesses’.  The title, really, was quite arousing.  And slipping out of her nightgown, naked in front of the LCD screen, she put the DVD into the player, pressed play, and sat on her couch in front of the screen, watching anxiously as the movie got under way.  Really, she was in the mood, and this really could be the kind of entertainment she had been waiting for.  Something to fire up in orgasmic, carnal and slutty ecstasy, the vivacious and bellissamae centre of her feminine glory.  And fuck was she turned on.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie sat down near the Apple Tree.  She looked at her pet snake crawling around the branches, hissing occasionally, and generally seeming quite content.  She had named her pet snake ‘Satan’, which she thought was a lovely name to give to a snake.  She fed her snake mice and rats regularly , and Satan would always hiss at her with pleasant affection.  She liked watching ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ with Satan.  She always teased him when ‘Slythering was mentioned’, saying ‘They’re’ they are dear Satty.  Lovely house Slythering.  And Satan would watch intently at his heroes such as Malfoy and the other regular crew.

 

She stood up, picked an apple, and started eating it.  It was delicious, full of fruitiness, and tasted lovely.  It was crisp and fresh, and she was very happy eating it.  Very happy indeed.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie B sat down near her Orange tree.  She looked at her pet snake ‘Semyaza’ slithering all around the branches.  ‘Semmy, Semmy, Semmy.  Oh how I love you, dear Semmy.’  Semmy hissed a ‘Thanksss’ at her, and continued his lovely slithering.  She reached, picked a fresh orange, peeled it, and ate a piece.  The flavour rushed through her mouth, alive with sweet and tangy perfection.  They really were awesome oranges.

 

She sat there for a few hours that afternoon, having retrieved some orange juice from the fridge, filled with ice, and sitting in the shade of the Orange Tree, watching ‘Semyaza’ happily slither around, she thought to herself ‘Life was good’.  Eternal life really was good, and thank heaven above that all things were working out.  Thank heaven for that.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Britney decided to go for a walk.  She grabbed her coat and her purse and made her way off to the nearby shopping mall.  As she was walking along, past a park, she noticed ‘Bag Man’ doing his usual thing – reading a book.  It was, apparently, from what she had heard, apart from his miserly work, all that he had going for him.  ‘I guess that was life at the bottom’, she thought to herself.

 

Getting near the shops she looked up at the Greeny Orange sky.  It was late in the day and the sky looked quite beautiful.  It was such a haunting change from earth, one she still hadn’t quite gotten used to.

 

Getting near the shops she noticed a snack bar and decided to get a drink.  She ordered a Caramel Milkshake, a cold one, and sitting there drinking it with a straw, she noticed Mr Radcliffe was out the back of the snack bar, in the kitchen doing some cooking.  That was quite like Daniel Radcliffe, a very adaptable person who was not full of ego, interested in doing this and that simply to broaden his experiences on life.  Britney quietly admired him and thought he had, from her perspective these days, in reflection of the kind of virtues he had displayed in his heavenly walk, earned the glory he had received on earth and the fame he had achieved.  And, now, he was as popular as ever, willing to do the kind of things which other people were often simply to proud to do.  Willing to humble himself and serve God, as people with the name of Daniel often in fact did.  It was just like the lessons of the book of Daniel, with its fundamental teaching on the pride of ‘Nebuchadnezzar’, and the humbling lesson he learnt and taught to others.  The Book of Daniel, it seemed, was meant to teach these lessons, and it seemed it was  a great honour when the spirit of God chose that name and put that name into the parents mind to give to their child.  Really, it did seem a great honour indeed.

 

She finished off her milkshake and, thinking it tasted so nice, ordered another one.  As she sat there, drifting off into space, Mr Radical approached.  ‘Hey Brit.’

‘Hey DR,’ she responded.

‘Watcha doin?’

‘Drinkin a milkshake.’

‘Yeh, we make the best.’

‘So do you like tossing burgers.’

‘Oh, its work.  You know.  I am after the manager’s position.  Working my way up the chain.’

‘What’s the plan?’

‘I’ll go solo one day.  I have a name for the store – ‘Fatty Burgers’.

‘Fatty Burgers?’

‘With as much animal fat as you can handle.  Dripping in wholesome goodness.’

Britney licked her lips.  ‘I can’t wait.’

‘Oh, and the high grade Coca Cola – you know the one with the Extra Added Sugar – the one which is on Raphael’s blacklist.  Man, does it give you a rush.  You’re in heaven for hours with the stuff.’

‘Cool.  Well, Seeya.’

 

She continued on to the shops and noticed a video game arcade over to the side.  She ventured in, noticed Daniel was over playing Gauntlet 7, his usual favourite game, and Rebecca was sitting in the corner, reading from the ‘Book of Rebecca’ by the looks of it, seemingly happy and content.  JT was playing pool and noticed her immediately.  He walked over.  ‘Brit.’

‘Hey.’

‘Wassup’

‘Usual shit.’

‘Wanna play?’

‘Ok.’

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie put on another CD.  The Spice Girls ‘Lost in Spice’.  It was one of their best albums.  She looked through the 9 track titles.  Track 1 – Hot Spice, Track 2 – Sugar is Sweet, Track 3 – Totally Wicked, Track 4 – Carnal Affections, Track 5 – That Boy is Spunkadelic, Track 6 – Divine Fire, Track 7 – Lost in Spice, Track 8 – Callodyel Harmony, Track 9 – Out of Sight.

 

She sat there, on the floor, the music playing, drinking watermelon juice, eating a vegeburger which the guy from ‘Hungry Jack’s’ had delivered, in her own little heaven of bliss.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Alecia sat on the steps of her house.  She looked at the sky.  It was green as usual.  It was getting hot at the moment, so she walked around the back, stripped down, and dived into her pool.  After about half an hour of swimming around she went inside and put on a CD.  ‘Bon Jovi – New Jersey’.  ‘Lay your hands on me’ came on and she disappeared into the heart of ‘Jon’, letting go of some anxiety which had built up, feeling a bit better, feeling a bit more positive about things.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Britney really looked fucking hot today, Daniel thought to himself.  Like fire itself.  But the bitch went over to chat with JT, and didn’t even give me a fucking look.  Bitch.  Bitch.  Bitch.

 

As he sat there, considering the drowning of his sorrows in a Coke, he decided he may as well, and went to the fridge, grabbed a Coke can, opened it, sat down in front of the tv, put on Brit’s greatest hits, and for the next 3 hours said everytime her face appeared, ‘Bitch, Bitch, Bitch.’  But everytime he got a little bit of a smile on his face and realized he loved her, so such were the ironies of life.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie looked at the picture of Daniel he had finally caved and given to her, sitting on top of her piano.  He really was quite handsome.  Quite a catch she was now thinking to herself.  Should she date the devil?  Should she date this man who was determined to be the very ‘Sun of God’ if he was at all capable of achieving such glory.  Should she date Xaddadaxx himself.  It was an interesting idea, but if Kalan liked her, as he claimed he did, if Callodyn really was the man for her, then she wanted a sign.  Some sort of sign of commitment which would prove to her that his love would last forever.  Some sort of commitment.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel picked the ‘Rainbow Bible’ off his shelf, walked outside, and made his way steadily to Melanie’s house.  He knocked on the door, Melanie answered, and he threw the Rainbow Bible at her.  ‘Get the fuck over the Jesus Boy, Mel.  Get the fuck over it.’  And that said, he disappeared, back to his home, realizing she would eventually get the fuck over it.  Idols were idols in the end – who the fuck really wanted to be up the butt of Jesus boy whose only agenda was to try and rule the world with the underlying motivation of fucking as many females and males as he possibly could.  Using them up, spitting them out, defiling their honour, and then judging them to hell to keep them in line.  He was cancer, evil and an abomination to Daniel and one day, he knew, Melanie would admit the truth.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel sat in his room, thinking it over.  It was the right thing to do.  It was about time she learned the truth, and got over Satan.  Jesus was just no good, just no good.  Corruption and sin eats away at itself in the end, just like the Jewish religion as well.  The circumcision was the point where the Jews had died and gone into death.  And after thousands of years of justifying such hypocrisy their evil was steadily and inevitably damning them.  And Daniel was relieved because of it.  He knew down on earth that the standards amongst them had slipped so much that suicide itself was starting to become an attractive option.  The quick rush and the end to the struggle.  And of course, murder was looking more and more appealing all the time to the mind of the damned ones.  Hellfire and oblivion waited, but such was life.  Such was life.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie was disappointed.  Daniel was so judgemental.  Really, she thought he was terribly arrogant to be so hard on Jewish people, just because they circumcised.  I mean, what was wrong with circumcision?  Why was that a problem?  And so, deciding to give the issue some thought, she approached her PC, opened the ‘Word Forever’ word processor, and typed in a new document ‘The Circumcision Question – An investigation into a spiritual dilemma by Melanie C’.  She sat staring at the screen, wondering what solutions life itself would provide for her, and slipped out into the kitchen, drank from her pitcher of watermelon juice, and stood there, thinking.  Just thinking.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel looked at the ‘Orianthi’ CD Single.  ‘According to you’.  Released again.  God she was an arrogant bitch.  Up her arse something shocking.  She was stupid, useless, couldn’t do anything right.  She was difficult, hard to please, and couldn’t do anything right.  She was pathetic.  And there was this other dildo who wanted her.  But who gave a fuck anyway.  Who gave a fuck.  Besides, she was boring, moody, she sucked at telling jokes.  But the song was alright.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Walking around on a broken leg.’  Melanie couldn’t get the fucking song out of her head.  ‘Walking around on a broken leg.’

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie looked at the seagull on the beach.  It was busily eating a fish which had come to the shore, met its fate, and provided itself as a noble sacrifice for the hungry gull.  She was on her long towel, the umbrella shading her, looking at the hot boys on the beach.  She had her sunglasses on, the transistor radio was playing, a bottle of iced champagne by her side, and all right in the world.  Boy after hot boy came up, smiled at her, often flexed their muscles, and offered her various affections for a night of carnal lust.  And while she was at times quite tempted, she let them be.  She’d had her fill of carnality for a while, and other things could suffice.  But those hot spunks sure did look good.  They sure did look good.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Orianthi looked at the website.  ‘Chronicles of the Children of Destiny’ – An Amazing saga of the Lives of the Eternal Angels.  It could prove interesting reading.  And, by the looks of it, it was all free to read online.  Mmm.   Perhaps something to check out.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

JT was now, just about, over Britney.  Just about.  Rihanna was looking finer all the time, but he was now into ‘Orianthi’.  She was now the new hot thing.  Totally hot.  Totally and completely hot.  Yeh, she was the one to go for.  Chase that tail.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie sat down at her PC, having given it some thought, and wrote out these words.  ‘I suppose, it couldn’t really be argued that the foreskin doesn’t have a natural part in the design of the human body.’ In fact, it seemed to Melanie quite probable that the foreskin did have a practical and important purpose in the design of the male human body.  It protected the head of the Phallus, which was naturally a sensitive part of the human body.  Going further, the actual act of circumcision was an act of deliberate aggression and violence on the human body of the male.  Even if the one doing the circumcision was embarrassed or had no actual hatred towards the baby, they were still practicing enough evil to mutilate the child anyway.  They were, inevitably, in the position of error and, as error was sin – the fundamental basis of sin, the Abrahamic, Samaritan, Jewish and Muslim systems of religion were fatally flawed and on the road to destruction.  It was a logic of universal spiritual truth which, now, seemed to make sense to Melanie.  The only cure – the only real cure – was the renunciation and repentance of the deliberate act of circumcision.  This was the only possible cure.  The only, inevitably, possible cure.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie picked up the Rainbow Bible which Daniel had given her.  Genesis chapter 1 through to Genesis chapter 11 verse 9.  It covered ‘Creation’ to the end of the ‘Tower of Babel’ incident.  Daniel had written some notes for Melanie.  Apparently he acknowledged that the general documentary hypothesis seemed sound and correct and advocated ‘Richard Elliott Friedman’s’ ‘Who Wrote the Bible?’ as a both scholarly, academic and mainstream work, accessible by anybody with a basic sense of biblical knowledge, and also anyone outside of that field who just had a general interest.  Daniel’s view was that the early Hebrew scribes compiled together histories and legal rulings from their history in the compilation of the Torah and the Hebrew Bible.  But, in Daniel’s judgement, Abram was led astray by deceiving spirits, and the circumcision was not the work of the creator, or the sign of any divine covenant.  Daniel presented to her the basic view that the ‘Rainbow Bible’ was still a basically sound and acceptable historical document, relative mainly to the era in which it was produced were the recording of history was still at a basic level, meaning that there was no reason to expect such things as ‘Divinely Written’ or ‘Infallible’ or ‘Inerrant’ or anything like that.  Yet, simply because it was the only real information that mankind had available on the origins of earth and the universes creation, and that it likely spoke, in Daniel’s opinion, of a sound enough recording of history, that it was thus acceptable to use in a ‘Scriptural’ or ‘Religious’ sense.  The actual coining of the term ‘Rainbow Bible’ had indeed a precedent, established in the ‘Noughties’ decade of the 2000s, thus there was a factual historical witness.  This much was true, correct, and could not be disputed on an historical basis.  The sign of the Rainbow Bible’s covenant was, of course, the Rainbow itself.  This covenant promised mankind and animals that God would never send another flood.  That was the promise of the covenant.  There was also rules given pertaining to the covenant, and those established earlier in mankind’s history.  The main rules pertaining to the time of the covenant were ‘The forbidding of the eating of blood’ and ‘The forbidding of murder, with God’s intent that murderers be put to death.’  Daniel had written a note which said ‘Murderers, once having killed, are always capable of killing again, no matter what type of repentance they may have claimed.  Thus, the term ‘Death Entities’ meaning creatures capable of killing, and thus being a spirit or entity of ‘Death’.  Because of this, those who did not kill who were worthy of life had the fundamental human right granted to them by God to live and, because they had the right to live, they had the fundamental right to protection from murder, and as such the only responsible thing to do with murderers was to put them to death.  It was just, fair and appropriate punishment.  As for their fate beyond death, well that was in the hands of God.

 

The Circumcision problem was that it allowed ‘Death’ and ‘Murder’ in for the act of simple things common to human beings.  For example, ‘Homosexual practice’, which was, in Daniel’s opinion, simply an alternative type of lifestyle some people felt suited to and enjoyed, was something which the religion of the Israelites tried to destroy.  They were intent on killing them and had devised the sexual sanctions in Leviticus 18 & 20 and the story of ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ for the intent of removing such behaviour from their populace.  This was simply an ‘Elitist’ spirit, not tolerant or accepting of people who chose different things for themselves.  Such madness also applied to rulings on ‘Adultery’ and ‘Incest’.  For example, Seth had sexual relations and married one of his sisters.  This was normal and acceptable behaviour for human beings, part of the natural design.  Many humans often found parents or children sexually attractive, and desired sexual relations with them.  That was also a natural thing for many human beings.  Daniel agreed that ‘Bestiality’ was inappropriate behaviour because of the potential embarrassment which it could cause animals.  To Daniel, only sexual relations within a species or perhaps genus for certain animals, seemed appropriate.  The passing on of venereal diseases, in Daniel’s view, ultimately originated with Bestial behaviour.  Homosexuality, to Daniel, was a scope of behaviour not as much in harmony with the natural world as Heterosexual behaviour, which was behaviour which produced offspring and, thus, when Aids first arrived ‘Homosexual’ men were the first victims.  Homosexuality was not wrong, as it were, but simply less nature based.  It was a divergence from the norm, but it was not an act of aggression or violence, and thus did not violate fundamental principles of the ‘Rainbow Bible’.  As such it was an allowable divergence which humans had the right to look into and explore for themselves.  Whatever lessons they wanted or needed to learn, they would learn for themselves and ‘Live and let live’ was the core motto Daniel applied and was quite happy doing so.

 

And his notes went on further, but that was enough for Melanie to feel quite a bit better about this Daniel she had started to like.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Up in heaven above, the Creator was pleased.  Quite pleased.  Daniel had shared with Melanie some truths of life – truths of absolute existence.  Her soul would mend even further and heal from the lies of her earthly upbringing.  It would simply happen in the fullness of time, as knowledge of truth carefully and inevitably won the heart of his dear daughter.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel walked down to the river, carrying a bag with various bottles of juices.  As he sat on grass overlooking the river, the water following its course in happy regularity, Daniel considered Melanie.  She seemed like an intelligent enough girl.  He was thinking, probably, that she would see the point in his arguments.  That she would understand that what she had been raised in was not the way of reality and had been, in fact, the way of death.  Something which had inevitably killed her.  Daniel had finally passed from life, really, for one reason.  The women he really did in fact love had also passed and he just wouldn’t let them go.  As simple as that.

 

He drank down the orange juice, feeling a little bit better today.  Some anxiety had built up for a while.  But now he was feeling good, and the juice was doing wonders.  Staring at the water as it flowed along, he started thinking other thoughts on life.  Other thoughts than the usual high spiritual dramas he had been mostly involved with for a very, very long time now.  It seemed to himself he had reached a general conclusion on certain spiritual issues, was satisfied with his beliefs, and could now rest.  It was alright now – it was alright.  The devil of lies had been defeated in his heart, and his faith rested in the truth he knew to be true.  The Rainbow would always last – as simple as that.  It was an everlasting covenant and, while he knew certain technical possibilities in the Rainbow Bible, it seemed the intent of the creator for the Rainbow to Remain eternally.  And that was good, Daniel thought to himself.  That was good.

 

He started on the watermelon juice, enjoyed its sweet, light flavour and just drank in the peace and happiness which came from a heart which had found truth with God.  And for this he was grateful.  Truly grateful.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie picked up the dictionary, something she was doing more and more these days, simply to continue her study of words to enlarge her knowledge base and improve her thinking.  A greater personal vocabulary of words had the effect, it seemed to her, of, as words were added, improving intelligence.  It seemed that a person’s intelligence increased as more knowledge was taken in and, perhaps what seemed important to Melanie, that this new knowledge was processed, thought upon, pondered, philosophized, and gradually brought into harmony with the other words known of in her mind.  A continual increase and expansion of her knowledge base on life in the English speaking world seemed to be the resulting fruit, and an occupation of careful work worth the effort of pursuing.  She remembered her ancient school days.  Education had not always been the most exciting of pursuits, mainly focused then on being ‘Cool’ and crafting out a place in the ‘Social Hierarchy’.  That of course had been a very important priority for Melanie, as it was for most people.  But now, as her knowledge base was increasing, and she was starting to understand more of life, she now valued the idea, very highly, in true English tradition, of ‘Working on Things’.  Showing an aptitude for gradually improving in areas of knowledge, skill and virtue, to be a truly ‘Accomplished English Lady’.  It had been a strong part of her English tradition from an earlier period, especially in the Victorian era.  But, and this was interesting to her now, their needed to be an impulse - and this impulse was 100% absolutely essential for her particular sand of infinite progression to continue forwards.  Their needed to be a spirit of life within her, a drive, a focus, something which committed to the eternal – something which committed to the infinite.  Of course, in the ‘Rainbow Bible’ it spoke of the ‘Tree of Life’.  Yet, there was this lesson which Daniel had driven home as ABSOLUTELY FUNDAMENTALLY NECESSARY,  or only DEATH could result.  When God presented to your heart the choice of eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge of good and evil, you were a complete and utter tosser if you ate the stuff.  Totally fucking nuts.  And why?  Just look at what happens to them all, says the Holy One.  They all fucking die in the end, don’t they?  They all fucking die in the end.  So stick to the fruit of life, babe.  Stick to the fruit of life, the spirit spoke to her mind in pleasant little ditties of joy.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.  Six days of creation, 7th day of rest.  The angel Saruviel, the 7th Angel of the Realm of Eternal Glory, was curious on an issue.  A theological issue which Daniel had been writing about on his website.  Rejection of Circumcision did not seem quite right, so Saruviel was now writing an email with a response.

 

‘The Supernatural system of knowledge, dear Daniel, is a system which encompasses infinite knowledge and understanding.  The design of the natural system is simply one aspect of the creator’s knowledge and designs.  The purpose of the ‘Circumcision’ on the Eighth day is to represent ‘Supernatural’ intervention.  As you know ‘8’ people were taken on board the Ark and, as such, this number represents supernatural intervention on behalf of God and indicates the power of ‘Salvation’.  This seems quite abundantly clear.  The ‘Natural’ system of the Universe is simply one potential design within the creator’s arsenal of potential designs.  I feel you are quite mistaken on this issue, Daniel.  Quite mistaken.’

 

It was about 3 days later, Saruviel checked his email, and Daniel had responded.

 

‘The Creator is consistent with himself.  Perfectly consistent.  He has complete knowledge of good and evil, but chooses good based on his spiritual nature.  He is motivated by goodness, holiness and perfection.  His system of design knows no flaws, inconsistencies, or error-based principles.  God is flawless and without any error of any kind.  His spirit is a spirit of absolute truth, with no corruption whatsoever.  The deity of Israel is resplendid with principles of knowledge and truth – this is in no way disputed.  But the funny thing about an apple which is rotten in its core is that it eventually dies and decays away and, really, is no good at all.  The Israelite representation of deity has corrupt elements associated with it – this I know from personal spiritual observation.  It is a corrupt element which will eventually destroy itself, succumbing to sin and death.

 

The Creator of the Rainbow has no flaws.  No inconsistencies.  No imperfections.  He is a perfect being.  The imperfections come from the deity of Israel, which we term the ‘Serpent Spirit’, a spirit imperfect and resorting to hatred and violence to justify its personal views on what is supposed to constitute divinity.  It is this spirit which is responsible for disease, virus and death within the earthly system.  This spirit was placed, by the Creator, within the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil.  As such, ‘In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die’.

 

The Creator himself is separate and distinct from this evil, perfectly aware of it’s dark nature.  Yet, while the creator has perfect knowledge of this evil, the Creator’s heart is perfectly motivated by goodness, holiness, love virtue and good and positive things.  It has no ill will, no ill intent, no arrogance or hatred towards those children made in its image.  The deity of Israel, on the other hand, arrogates to itself qualities ‘Supreme arrogance, demanding what it perceives of as the sovereign rights over life and death.  It may kill at will, torture at will, hate at will and practice at will any other form of evil it so chooses.  It displays this vanity by statements which suggest its ‘Absolute Authority’.  On the other hand, the creator is decent, gentle, careful with people, loving of its children and desiring the very best of and for them.  It is a creator which cares and is not motivated by destruction and ill will.  Israel’s deity is very good at imitating this behaviour, but the soul is lacking.  It has no true heart, instead delighting in its fallen Israelite child, attempting to corrupt the hearts and minds of the children of men with its barbaric views on morality, and its death sanctions within the Torah to exterminate all who would dare oppose it.  The God of Israel is fucking evil, so get the fuck over it Saruviel.  Get the fuck over it.  Yours sincerely, Daniel.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Saruviel was thinking it over, and finally responded.  ‘Well, Daniel.  Whatever the case may be, I don’t think the God of Israel is quite as motivated by evil as you think.  I get the point of what you are arguing on circumcision.  If you see it that way, fine.  No problems.  You’re a bit a harsh though, aren’t you?  How about lightening up a little?’

 

Four weeks later Daniel finally responded.

 

‘Ok.  I will lighten up a little.  I don’t accept those views, so don’t think I will anyway compromise on my beliefs, but I am happy enough to LIVE and LET LIVE.  Ok.  Sincerely yours, Daniel.’

 

Saruviel responded quickly.

 

‘No problems.’

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie looked at the painting she was working on.  A lovely green valley on a rainy day, with a Rainbow radiating soft, gentle purity.

 

She felt happier, now.  Much happier.  As a sign of a Covenant the Rainbow was simply better.  Really,  just simply better than any other sign.  It worked, God maintained it, and it was eternal.  Really, there was NO reason to leave it.  No reason whatsoever.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel finished off his watermelon juice.  He was happy.  Happy.  At peace and, finally, having found consolation.  His faith had been shown true, and the Devil was giving up.  It was unable to tempt him any further, and the Rainbow was now going strong.  Thank God for that.  Thank God for that.

 

THE END

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

“Daniel and Abraham”

 

3 years since responding to Saruviel’s letter on the issue of circumcision Daniel finally assented to Saruviel’s request for a meeting between the two of them and Abraham.  Daniel, who was currently involved in a strong relationship of friendship with the pop singer Melanie, invited her to attend.  He had softened, it seemed, in the last 3 years, especially as Melanie had carefully prayed that God would reveal to Daniel what he needed to know.  So Melanie, agreeing to come along for the conversation, was present with Daniel as they sat on a seat in the local mall foodcourt, with Abraham and Saruviel who had just joined them.  Abraham began the conversation.

 

‘I am afraid I will have to use some of Saruviel’s logic, Daniel.  But please, hear me out.’

‘Go ahead,’ responded Daniel.

‘You see, circumcision was given to be a sign in the flesh – literally marked in the flesh.  It wasn’t intended as a sign of violence, but more as a deliberate cutting of our own will to serve the God who had literally marked us as his own for service.  The eighth day of the circumcision represents the supernatural order of intervention.  It represents a system one step beyond the natural system, a system necessary for the redemption of the natural system which had been disaffected by the choice of Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.  The circumcision, in this sense, represents a doctors cutting of our flesh, Israel’s, to heal the rest of humanity.  And that is why it is primarily Israel who receives the Torah law to set a higher example than is perhaps necessary for the rest of mankind to ensure the average standard of mankind’s behaviour rises up to an acceptable level.  You see, in the early times, sin was great, and God needed to make corrective surgery in this sense.  What you are saying about the natural order being perfect is indeed true, and in the way it was intended to function there would have been no circumcision.  But because of the fall of Adam and Eve corrective surgery, of supernatural intervention, took place, and that is what the eighth day circumcision represents.  People go to Doctors for surgery.  God performed surgery on myself and my male offspring to ensure mankind’s healing took place.  Later on, when the Christians took the old testament to the world, so much more was accomplished, and it was never really necessary to try and circumcise the whole church – in fact the church did the job for so many in providing the teachings of holiness necessary in a practical sense.  But we remain, as the circumcised, God’s correction of the sin factor.  That is what circumcision is meant to represent.  I think that sums it up.’

Saruviel spoke up.  ‘I think, Daniel, your passion for what you perceive of as the perfection of the created order needs to understand the ability of freethinking humans to choose sin.  Because of sin, an intervention by God needed to occur.  This is represented by the circumcision.  It was never intended by God himself to be a slight against the uncircumcised, which was a problematic attitude which did unfortunately come into Jewish thinking for a while.’

Melanie spoke up.  ‘Well, Dan.  That seems reasonable.  I think that addresses that issue.  What do you say?’

Daniel remained silent.  He picked up his lemonade, took a sip, and thought it over.  ‘I will have to think about it carefully, Abraham, but yes, that is a pretty good answer.  It does make a logical idea, what you are saying, so I will think it over carefully.’

‘Please,’ began Abraham.  ‘Realize we are not your enemies.  We are your friends.  It is not something to concern yourself with.’

‘Ok Abraham.  Ok.  I will think it over.’

 

 

It was four weeks later, Daniel had sent an email to Saruviel and Abraham, accepting their viewpoints.  He commented that he would continue to think over the issue, but for now their answers were satisfactory.  They made sense and were consistent enough with logical truth.

 

Later, he reaffirmed his commitment to the Rainbow Bible, but also began studying Israel’s Torah a little more.  It could prove useful to understand their faith more over the years, and be a little less judgemental.  After all, if they were part of God’s plan, then it was important for him to accept that, and perhaps, just perhaps, get over a bit of his personal pride.  Yes, he knew he was up himself some what, but had softened in his time with Melanie.  Time would produce a better heart in him and, having found a better consolation on an important issue, he put his mind to further study of the sacred texts and examining what was next in his own walk with God.  Something would come up, but for now he was happy.  A generally content and happy little child of God.

 

The End

 

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

‘Dario and Andrew – Two Clowns at a Circus’

 

Daniel and Melanie, now dating, were quite happy together.  Melanie had noticed that gradually, over the last few years, Daniel’s symptoms of extreme pride and arrogance were slowly diminishing and he was becoming something more of a regular and down-to-earth angel.  But he still pushed it often enough.  However, he had redeemed himself in her eyes just the other night when, at the circus, he handled a most difficult situation.  A most difficult situation indeed.

 

 

 

‘So when the clowns come on, we run up, pull down our pants, and moon the crowd.’  Andrew, the more compliant and susceptible to his best friend Dario’s often frantic behaviour, just nodded and took a puff on his 47th cigarette that day.  The two of them, purchasing their tickets, entered the big tent and took their seats next to a happy couple.

 

Daniel looked at the two rather drunk looking fellows who had just sat down, eyed them suspiciously knowing them a couple of trouble makers, but gave them no further thought.  They had travelled to the ‘Joniquay Star Circus’ and the last thing he wanted was for his date with Melanie to awry.  He sipped on his coke, put his arm around his girlfriend and said ‘It should be a good show.’

 

The show proceeded as circuses do and after the first act on came two clowns.  Suddenly the drunkards in front of them lurched to their feet, staggered down to the ring and, dropping their pants and underwear, started mooning everyone.  The clowns looked embarrassed but, as nobody seemed willing to do anything about the situation, Daniel rushed down, grabbed one of the drunkards and forced him to pull his pants back up.  The other one complied also and he brought them to the side of the ring and out to the exit.  He spoke to them sternly.  ‘Are you guys literally insane?’

Andrew chuckled.  ‘Insane – that’s a good one.  Probably.’

‘Insane is as insane does,’ said Dario.

Daniel just shook his head in unbelief and, after cautioning them to settle down, returned to his seat with Melanie.  She turned and asked him if everything was now ok and he responded by saying ‘I hope so.’

Yet, as clowns are wont to do, Dario and Andrew re-entered the ring and started chasing the clowns.  Funnily, though, the audience was now quite amused by the performances of these ‘Ring-ins’ and started cheering them as they chased the clowns.  The ringmaster was looking nervous, but let the situation be.

 

Dario ran over to the ringmaster, grabbed his microphone, the ringmaster relinquishing it, and said to the crowd, ‘And now my friend, Andrew the Magnificent, shall dive from trapeze into the pool of water.’

Andrew bowed and climbed up the ladder onto the trapeze and waving to the crowd, jumped off.

 

Of course, he missed the pool and, half an hour later, the medics taking Andrew and Dario off to the hospital, Daniel just shook his head.  ‘I should have known those two would be trouble.  I should have never given them the money for the tickets.’

Melanie spoke up ‘You know them?’

‘I didn’t want to say anything, but one of them called Dario dates my younger sister.  He insisted I give him money for the tickets as we met up here in Joniquay when I went out from the hotel room yesterday.  I am so sorry they spoilt the show, Mel.  Perhaps we can go again.’

‘Don’t worry about it, Daniel.  You acted maturely.  You should be proud of yourself.’  She kissed him on the cheek and he blushed, but was still embarrassed about the man who would likely become his brother-in-law.

 

 

 

As Melanie sat reflecting on the night, just having had dinner with Dario and Andrew the night before, she could well understand Daniel’s reservations.  ‘Just what am I getting into with this Daniel fellow’, she laughed to herself.  Just what indeed.

 

The End

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

‘Master Radcliffe and the 7 Epochs of the Shadow Wars’

 

Epoch One

 

Raphael had for so long worried about young Daniel Radcliffe.  One of Satan’s old Shadow demon’s had been procreating out in the darklands, focusing on Master Radcliffe as the source of its sustenance in feeding on spiritual food of the legends.  Back in Earth days, Master Radcliffe had risen to fame as the star of the ‘Harry Potter’ movies and had become exceedingly popular.  Due to this he had been the focus of much adulation and attention from many adoring fans and his spiritual dynamic – his spiritual ego self – had manifested much growth in the ways of attracting people and feeling spiritually exciting.  And so ‘Dagraziel’ the Shadow Demon, upon being cast out of heaven to the darklands, a place beyond the ways of life in a sense, had attacked Master Radcliffe in the dark of night and fed, when and were he could, on the spirit of Daniel.  He was a hungry demon and he liked the rush.  But now, at the end of the First Epoch, getting around to tasks he had long left undone, Raphael had had enough.  Daniel had complained to him often, but Raphael’s creed on attacks of the darkness were usually that an angel must overcome such difficulties for themselves if they were ever to truly survive in this thing called life.  And so,  Dagraziel himself not being the subject of a rebuke, Raphael glided from the heavenlies down to the abode of Daniel Radcliffe, to give him fundamental lessons once and for all how to handle the dark enemies.

 

 

Epoch Two

 

He had looked forward to the celebrations at the end of the Epoch, but when Raphael had shown up 7 weeks before the grand culmination to the Realm of Glories first Epoch, to lecture him on overcoming the darkness, Daniel had missed much of the excitement of the final days of the first grand Epoch of the Realm.  But that was probably for the best.

 

He was now familiar with the attacks of Dagraziel, sensing him when he showed up at night, feeding upon him in his dreams.

 

Daniel had mysterious dreams.  Mysterious and strange, often disconcerting dreams.  Dreams of glory, dreams of power, dreams of vengeance and dreams of forgiveness.  And of course, dreams of love.

 

But it seemed, whenever he was reaching a climactic moment in his silent lucidities, the darkness would enter in and feed on his very soul.  And because of this Daniel had started to fight in his dreams – he had started to become a dream warrior.

 

It was not easy at first, for Dagraziel laughed at his attempts to fight back and defend himself, but slowly Daniel was getting stronger.  Slowly he was fighting off his nemesis and, as the second grand epoch of the Realm progressed, Daniel was sure his demons of the night would one day threaten him no more.  How wrong he was.

 

 

Epoch Three

 

For one billion years he had struggled – for the entire second epoch Daniel and Dagraziel had been locked in combat – and it seemed the struggle would never end.  But then, right at the ending of the second epoch Raphael had commented that ‘You will be getting stronger now.’  And while Daniel puzzled on the cryptic words Raphael spoke with, he believed him anyway.

 

And then the third Epoch had begun and, in his dream self, he had struck Dagraziel a telling blow and the demon had retreated.  And for the last half a billion years he’d had peace.  He assumed, now, he would never have to face the horror of Dagraziel again, but he was wrong.  For the demon lord had been patiently breeding offspring and was soon to return to Daniel to once again torment him with unending horrors of the night.

 

 

Epoch Four

 

Daniel took the sword in his dream self and cut off the head of yet another of Dagraziel’s Demonspawn children.  He was used to this battle now and, while he longed for peace, he realized in the words of Raphael that God was making him stronger – making a champion out of him.  And so he worked each night, fighting the demons from the pit of hell, enduring his task with pride and strength.

 

 

Epoch Five

 

Dagraziel had summoned his whole host, for now, what he had been delaying for so long, was ready to occur.  The final devouring of the spirit of Master Radcliffe – a feast they would digest for millennia.

 

Daniel had been warned and Raphael had told him to gather his forces.  And, somehow, in the way he had learned to connect to other spirits in the dreaming, Daniel gathered the strange faces he had met in his long dreamlife together for the war with darkness.

 

They met on a battlefield – an enormous battlefield.  And there were signs of ‘Megiddo’ everywhere, signs which Daniel sensed Dagraziel had put up.

 

And there they fought, bitter enemies, until Daniel came forth and smote Dagraziel.  He took his sword Excelsius, and drove it into the very heart of the demon lord.  And while it hissed and spat at him, it slowly and inevitably went through its final death throes, never to bother Master Radcliffe again.

 

 

Epoch Six

 

And then, a new epoch, and the dreams of Daniel turned to glory again.  And peace was restored to him and, in the trials and tribulations of aeons of struggle, a new man had been born.  One capable of leading and forging a world of glory.  And in this Daniel found consolation for his lifelong struggle.

 

 

Epoch Seven

 

For he dreamed not again, for a billion years, and rest touched the heart of Master Radcliffe, legendary dream warrior………………………..

 

The End

 

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

‘Melanie’s Dilemma’

 

40 years they had been going out now.  40 long years, and she was in a dilemma.  He, apparently, wouldn’t wed her.  He had told her that, for so long, marriage was not for him in the end.  That he wanted many relationships with many different women, relationships of friendship and love and that, over eternity, he wanted to see numerous women.  And that was Melanie’s dilemma with Daniel.  She needed one man – that was the strongest wish of her heart – one loyal and true man, who would not forsake her for the arms of another woman.  And so she presented this to Daniel and told him it was time to choose.

 

‘Ok.  Ok.  Ok.  I get the fucking point, Mel.  I get the fucking point.  Well, it was good while it lasted.  And remember, I will always love you and be your friend.  I will always be there for you when you need a friend, a kind face, a heart to share struggles with.  I will always be that much for you.  But I love easily and I love a lot, and many women have caught my hearts affections.  I can only be what I am in this sense, dear crazy funky Melanie.’

She looked at him, nodded softly, and a tear formed in her eye.  It would be a hard heart to win, and to keep forever, the heart of Daniel.  But he was what he was, and perhaps she should not try to change him.

‘I’ll pick up my clothes tomorrow, Mel.  I’ll pick them up in the morning.  And remember, it was good knowing you.  Give me a phone sometime,’ and then he left, walking out the door, without even a backwards glance……………

 

 

 

She still loved Daniel, but she had never slept with him.  Her virginity was intact, and now the future again, and whatever mysteries that held for the life of the angel Melanie.

 

The End

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

‘Melanie and Bag Man and an Undying Love’

 

She laughed, being gentle.  The Joke was coarse, but that was not surprising from Bag Man.  That was his way after all.

 

She had been visiting him again, for several months now, because Daniel had not contacted her since leaving.  She had grown accustomed to Daniel’s presence, his strong smell of malehood, his gentle ways with her, his courtesy.  His love.

 

…..But he had left, told her his heart, and she was lonely again.  She had friends, of course, but often she wondered wether her fame had purchased them for her.  Wether, in fact, that had been all that had attracted Daniel to start with.  But, no, he was successful enough, and always claimed to simply like her for her.  As simple as that.

 

She had listened to Bag Man’s tales of his adventures with his darker companions in the early days of the Realm of Glory.  When he had first spoken against Raphael and, as an adversary of sorts, risen to power with a strong opposing view of self reliance and rejection of the notion of divine authority.  And he had attracted angels and even humans since those times, those who affirmed such beliefs, those who looked to self and not the giver of life.

 

She sat with him these days, not so much anymore out of a sense of compassion, but rather simply for someone to talk to.  Oh, she had an endless supply of emails on her heavenspace page to answer, and they never ended, but few of them really ever expressed a desire to meet her personally, mostly just words of encouragement like ‘You are so Kewl’ and ‘I luv your music’ and the like, and mostly from younger females as well.  But that was her target audience, so she shouldn’t really be that surprised.

 

But, for reason’s unknown to her, she was unable to attract serious men – men who were mature, grown up and interested in a permanent relationship with a proper woman.  Apart from Satan for a while, who had given up after she had disappeared from her life, and now showed no interest whatsoever.  And Daniel, of course.  Apart from him.

 

She sat there, at the pond, looking at the swans glide across the waters, listening absentmindedly to Satan’s latest plans of universal conquest, to the point of relaxation in many ways, to the point of quiet and gentle melancholy.

 

She knew, though, what she needed.  She needed activity – to get out of the current rut – to do something different.  And asking to Satan to accompany her, they came to her vehicle, and made for the mall.  Shopping cheered a girl up, and it might get her out of her current malaise.  Something to do anyway.

 

*   *   *

 

‘Geraldine.  How good it is to see you.  But, how do you know Daniel?’

‘Oh, he has been a fan for a long time, and he has emailed me forever, you know.  I am here touring briefly in town and Daniel asked to visit with me.’

‘Uh, yeh Mel.  A long time fan,’ said Daniel, almost looking guilty at being in the presence of Geraldine so soon after splitting up with Melanie.

‘Mel.  Tell you what.  Why don’t we go out for dinner tonight.  The four of us.  Me, Daniel, you and your friend.  It would be great to catch up.  Haven’t seen you in ages.’

‘Uh, sure,’ said Mel, eyeing Daniel suspiciously.  ‘That would be great.’

 

*   *   *

 

They dined in quite an expensive restaurant that night, atop one of the higher towers of their diamond city, but they could afford it.  Three of them were quite wealthy.

 

Bag man was the voice who kept the night rolling, when others were quiet, calmly surveying the others.  Calmly jealous, if such a thing could be.

 

Geraldine and Daniel danced for a while and as Melanie watched them she knew, looking at him, his words were true.  He loved many, and freely.  But watching him, watching the man who had been her life for most of the past 40 years, she was quite jealous.  And suddenly, regretting the freedom she had insisted on, the freedom that had been her right, an inclination entered her head.  If she was not willing to fight for her man, than he never really belonged to her anyway.  And so, getting up, interrupting the duo, she asked if she might have the dance, and Daniel obliged.

 

He spoke well with her, and he looked in her eyes.  He looked into them, as if peering into her very soul, and an action of choice her heart had made, to be loyal to him.  And so he spoke.

‘Can I move back in Mel?  Can I?  If you need loyalty, if you need just me to stay true to you, then I can make that commitment.  I will be with just you, forever if that is what you want.’

She looked at him, nodded slightly, and rested her head on his shoulder.

 

And they danced.   They danced the night away.  They danced, happily, blissfully, perfectly.  And some hours later, resting on the bed, her virginity finally gone from her, Melanie was now in love.  And a love, she truly believed, that would last forever.  Always, always and forever.

 

The End

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

‘The Dark Sound of Chaos’

 

‘Satan!  Lord of Misrule, lord of evil, bow down minions of the dark, Raaaarrrrgggghhhh!’  As Satan listened to the sound of the lyrics on his first Album release, ‘The Dark Sound of Chaos’, he was suitably impressed with his malevolence.

‘Fucking cool!’, said the producer simply known as ‘Darkthorn’.  ‘You rock, Satan.  The album will sell a shitload.’

‘It fucking better,’ said Bag Man.  ‘Do you know how fucking long I have been saving money to produce this fucking album?  Too fucking long.’

‘Well, it’s going to be a hit, so your Bag Man days are over I think.’

‘They fucking better be.’

 

*   *   *

 

Melanie had often reflected that Bag Man swore quite a bit.  Yet, despite his dark heart, she practically insisted that he be Daniel’s best man, and while Daniel had his brother in mind as first choice, he eventually yielded to his bride-to-be’s demands.  She was going to be his wife so he must honour her and her choices of the heart.  If she wanted Satan at the wedding, then so be it.

 

*   *   *

 

Sitting there, listening to his best man sing songs from his death metal album ‘The Dark Sound of Chaos’ at Daniel’s first wedding, well, it was an experience not quite to be forgotten.  Angel Ambriel, over in the corner with his wife Angel Meludiel, was apparently enjoying the music, bopping his head in a friendly and loving manner, as befitted Ambriel’s eternal charm.  Of course, Daniel had heard his fair share of death metal over the years, but somehow the dark strains of telling people to worship the lord of evil had never quite caught his heart’s attention.  Which was a pity in some ways, as Satan was singing his ass off.

 

2 hours later, quite inebriated, Satan took to the stage again, and Daniel, much to Melanie’s laughter, began singing along with the title track of the album.  People stared, many chuckled and it only seemed to egg Satan on who started banging his head in the mosh pit which formed in front of the stage.  Truly, it was a night to remember.

 

*   *   *

 

4 months later, sitting in his new TurboThunderStorm 1,000,000, the hottest sports car on the market currently,  Satan was feeling better.  He had not been on the streets of poverty for so long after all and while Raphael was still enforcing his obligations, he was now technically allowed to pursue his own talents if they could make wealth for him.  And so he had, and was proving mightily successful, which meant things were now right again.  As for Raphael, he would see out his contract with him, but he would get his vengeance one day.  You could definitely count on that.

 

 

‘Master Radcliffe’s Lazy Sunday Afternoon.’

 

Daniel Radcliffe sat on his couch, having woken up after another late Saturday night partying, wondering were on earth he could get some booze on Sunday morning.  The best cure for a hangover, as his crew of wannabe friends always told him, was to get drunk again.  But for the life of him he couldn’t be bothered to move from his couch.  ‘Uuhh, my head hurts,’ he said to his girlfriend Stephanie as she came in the room.  ‘Make it better Stephanie.’

‘I am always telling you, Daniel, don’t drink so bloody much.  You have to work on Monday and your body can only take so much of this constant partying.’

‘But I have a reputation to maintain.’

‘It’s your reputation I am thinking of.’

‘Go get me some booze, sweetie.  I’ll romance you later on if you do.’

‘Oh, I can hardly wait,’ she responded in a sarcastic tone.  ‘Look, whey don’t we have a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Not go out and see anybody.  Just you and me and some pizza and some DVDs.  What do you say?’

Daniel just groaned, so she took a cushion and threw it at him.

‘Ooookkk, Steph.  I’ll stay in.  But you order the pizza.  And for God’s sake turn down that music.  I have a splitting headache.’

‘What music?’

‘That’d be right.  I am hearing things already.’

 

Half an hour later Stephanie had returned with 4 boxes of various pizzas and a large supply of Coca Cola with enough caffeine to sober him up.  He took the pizza, munched it down, and laid out fully on the couch as she put on ‘Titanic 7 – The Long Journey Home.’

 

‘Jack Dawson.  He is sooo romantic.  Why can’t you be more like Jack, Daniel.  He is a real man.’

‘Jack is totally gay.  He hardly even kisses Rose anymore, let alone shag her.  I think he likes boys, you know.  His type always do.’

‘And what type is that?’ asked Stephanie, trying her best not to smile at Daniel’s humour.

‘The Thriller type.’

‘I know you never liked Michael, but you don’t have to sledge him.’

‘Whatever.  You aren’t going to make me sit through the 7 hours of this enormously long epic of absolute boredom, are you?  Oh, Rose.  You are such a devil.  Oh, Jack.  I love you Jack.  Oh, Rose.  If there was only a place for us in this world, were the rich and the elite could not hunt us down and make us their clones.  Oh Jack, I will love you always, dear Jack.  Oh Rose.’

Stephanie did her best not to laugh at Daniel’s sarcasm, but couldn’t help herself.

 

Later on, the afternoon gradually passing by, Stephanie was absorbed in Titanic 7 and Jack’s adorations towards Rose.  Daniel was half watching it, half paying attention to his twelfth piece of pizza, determined to get as much of it down as possible, when the phone rang.  It was Rupert.

 

They chewed the fat for around half an hour or so and when he finally hung up Stephanie gave him a curious look.  ‘What was all that about.’

‘Oh, nothing.  Business, you know.’

‘They aren’t doing another one, are they?’

‘You guessed it sweetie.’

‘What, this is about your millionth Harry Potter movie.  Don’t they ever run out of scripts.’

‘Apparently not,’ responded Daniel, concentrating on devouring the pizza.

‘I mean, come on,’ said Stephanie.  ‘How many possible ways are there of bringing the dread lord Voldemort back from the dead.’

‘I think they have a list of ideas.’

‘And will Malfoy ever make up his mind?  Is he a good guy or a bad guy.’

‘He’s indecisive,’ responded Daniel.

‘And that Luna Lovegood.  Slut. I know she is coming on to you in those love scenes.  I can tell you know.  A woman knows these things.’

‘She just has a crush.’

‘Whatever.’

 

They continued watching the epic Titanic 7 and Daniel decided it was time for a nap.

 

He dreamed, for a while, and Dagraziel had him on the edge of the Titanic, begging for mercy.  But then Luna Lovegood swung down on a rope which magically appeared, kissed her beloved, and they swung away to safety.  And Daniel was happy, dreaming away, on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

 

The End

 

The End

 

 

Chronicles of the

Eternal Realm of Glory

 

“Melanie and Daniel 2”

 

By

Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

http://universalfaithassembly.angelfire.com

© 6175 SC by Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly and ‘Universal Faith Assembly Books’

 

Chapter One

 

‘I am so fucking jetlagged.’

‘Watch your language,’ nudged Melanie, as Daniel almost fell off the airport waiting lounge seat.

‘Were the hell are we anyway?’ queried Daniel, with bloodshot eyes.

‘You don’t know?’ queried Melanie.

‘No fucking idea.’  She nudged him again.

‘We are in Sandranvania.  The capital city, Sandravon.’

‘Sandravon?  I don’t think I have even ever heard of the bloody place.’

‘It’s new,’ she responded, turning another page of her magazine.  ‘Only a few centuries old.  I checked the details before the band arrived.’

‘You do that often?’ he asked, with no better question on his mind.  ‘Check up on new cities?’

‘Only when our band is touring somewhere new.  Were we haven’t been before.  The other girls and I always like to answer well at interviews and we make mention of things like this in our concerts.’

‘Oh,’ said Daniel, but probably couldn’t care less anyway.  He was well and truly bored shitless after 4 fucking centuries of solid touring to promote just one bloody album anyway.

‘You didn’t do this in the old days, you know.  4 centuries of this.  It was a 4 month getaway, and then that was enough for ages.  But now – 4 bloody centuries.’

‘Things have changed, Danny boy.  We are committed now.  VERY committed.  We now plan on pursuing this music as our primary career eternally.  The girls and I have worked out in true ‘Viva Forever’ fashion, that life never ends, and that eternity never ends, so as the heavenlies go on expanding forever, we will increase our tour every new time to every new city.  Constant, continual, eternal growth.  Girl power, Danny Boy.  Girl power.’

‘You are a freak, Melanie Chisholm.  A freak.’

‘Takes one to know one, Daniel Daly.  Takes one to know one.’

 

After a while Daniel spoke up.  ‘My novel.  Morning Stars.  The Chronicles of the Children of Destiny volume 1 epic.  It is still number one, you know.  World wide.  Still the all time best seller.’

Melanie looked at him, seriously.  ‘I know, Daniel.  I know.’

‘Yes,’ he responded, with bloodshot eyes.  ‘But I do fuck all to promote it, sweetie.  Fuck all.  I worked, once, for a while.  Got the series finished.  Got it published.  Promoted it.  And then did nothing more.  Nothing.  And it is still fucking number one.’

Melanie scratched her head, ignoring his boasting.  Eventually she took issue with him.  It was a vain attempt at humility and splendour.  ‘Nothing?  Really?  What is it that you do on Google every Friday?  Every single Friday, around 4 in the afternoon, forever.  Literally forever.  I have never seen you miss.’

He turned to look at her, and said ‘fuck’ under his breath.  ‘Well, okay.  You have got me.  I post a regular add for the book every week.  So sue me.  Google groups are free.’

‘Yes,’ she says.  ‘But you do promote it.  I have read the messages.  You put on one of the short stories every time, from a list of about 400 that I have seen.  Yes, I have been reading it for thousands of years now also.  Then you give a few hundred words of autobiography from the past week, and you post your website links, and you post the message to 15 specific Google groups that you never budge from.  THAT is what you do, Danny.  You have never changed from it.’

He looked guilty.  ‘And you think that does it, do you?’

‘100%, Dan.  100%.  You dish up a constant supply of new work with your autobiography, and you have a heck of a readership.  I see it in the webhits those groups get.  And Google is everywhere on the net, all over heaven, and there are literally sextillions of souls who read those groups on a daily basis.  It explains everything.’

‘I am just lucky.  I have a priority address for postings.  My message usually stays on the right hand bar tab for 2 or 3 days, gradually dropping down the list.  That sort of exposure, with those numbers, adds up to everything in the end.’

‘Yes.  I do know Daniel.  I do know.’

 

He smiled, took a sip of a flat coke, and went back to his grumbling.

‘What city are we in again?’

‘Oh, shut up,’ responded Melanie.

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Geraldine took out a hanky, blew her nose, and looked at the mess.  ‘Good God.  That was up my nose.’

‘Charming,’ said Victoria, handing her a bin.

‘It’s a perfectly good hankie,’ said Geraldine.

‘Bin!’ exclaimed Victoria.  ‘Believe me, Geraldine – you can afford it.’  Geraldine humbly obliged.

 

They were at the next show on their list, the eternal Spice.  5 British girls who were showing the world that Girl Power could do it better, an eternal theme for the group.  Wether they, in truth, actually meant that or not was indeed another question, but when you were onto a good thing….

 

‘The problem with men,’ began Emma, sitting in her white skirt, looking ever so ‘Emma’, is that they just don’t know what they want.’

‘Oh, they know what they want alright,’ said Victoria, patting her butt.  ‘And they usually know how to get it.’

‘It is just that they are too stupid to properly appreciate it,’ said Geraldine, which made the little group of 5 girls laugh.

 

Emma continued.  ‘No, seriously.  They just don’t know what they want out of life.  They spend forever changing careers, trying to be a hotshot at this or that firm, before finally moving on and then, when they are finally secure and you can rely on their income, off they go dreaming of forming a business of their own.  They are never bloody satisfied.’

 

‘Now,’ began Melanie Brown,’ while girls certainly can do it better, it is very hard to match the ego of men when it comes to their ambitions.   But, of course, they set big goals, yet reality is far more frugal.’

‘True,’ said Geraldine.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ responded Victoria.  ‘David usually achieves his goals after a while.  And what about that Daniel fellow of yours Mel.  Apparently he is still number one all time.  In fact, I saw his book yesterday, at the newsagents at the airport.  Sitting in the corner, with a few others of his.  Nice cover – basic, but dramatic.’

‘That’s Daniel,’ said Melanie.  ‘Always a trier.’

‘What I think,’ began Melanie Brown, ‘is that despite all their flaws, and shortcomings, and their utter reliance on the fairer sex, we still couldn’t live without them.’

And the group all nodded.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

They were at yet another airport lounge, sitting there, waiting on their flight.  Melanie always wanted to arrive early and, despite Daniel’s constant bemoaning that they simply use the ‘Spice’ plane and have enough of this regular carrier nonsense, which Melanie and the girls usually refused on the grounds of trying to come across as everyday girls in touch with the people, Melanie was still in an upbeat mood.

 

‘So, where are we now?’

‘Same country, new city.  I won’t bother telling you its name.  You will learn it eventually I suppose.’

‘I suppose,’ responded Daniel.

 

He, finally out of boredom, pulled a rubiks cube out of his jacket pocket, which he had purchased at the airport newsagents when they had arrived in their current city, and looked at it.  He knew how to solve them, generally, and had mastered it aeons ago, but never kept at the technique, and these days was a bit fuzzy as to how to actually solve the thing.

 

Melanie looked at it.  ‘You think you can solve that then?  You’re not that bright, are you?’

‘Huh, I’ll show you,’ and for the next 45 minutes he twisted and turned the thing, eventually getting 2 sides, before giving up.

‘Told ya,’ she said, smiling, and Daniel just moaned.

 

‘So, were to next, beloved?’

‘The other main city of this nation.  It is an interesting one, you know.  About 70 main families populate it, all of them descended from one couple who wanted to form their own nation ages ago.  For a long time that was all there was – just their family, but in recent millennia they have opened up somewhat and allowed free movement.  But mostly the same family.  A very strange project.’

 

Daniel thought that over.  ‘Interesting, Mel.  I will think over that.  Food for thought for a while.’

‘You do that, she responded, turning another page in her magazine.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

‘You know, Melanie.  I kind of fancy that Daniel fellow of yours.’

Melanie turned to Geraldine.  ‘You are kidding aren’t you?  He has the appeal of a slug.’

‘Then what are you doing with him,’ responded Geraldine defensively.

Melanie stared at her, but said nothing.  She sat there, in their dressing room, the other girls doing their makeup and things, before eventually responding.  ‘Look, Geri.  What I said was too harsh.  Perhaps I was just jealous.  Remember, he’s mine.  Look, the way Daniel often comes across is in a very rigid and legalistic way at first, until you get to know him.  He is actually quite liberal on many issues, but is very careful with the reputation he seems to think he has.’

‘Oh,’ said Geraldine.  ‘Well, I was only remarking that he is cute.  Kind of guy I could go for, if he was available.’

‘But he’s not, so don’t even think about it.’

‘I won’t,’ said Geraldine, but wasn’t promising anything.

 

Later on that night, after the concert, sitting alone in the dressing room after the girls had all left, waiting for Daniel who shouldn’t be too much longer, Melanie thought on her husband.  Daniel Daly – the man who had finally taken her virginity.  What sort of guy was he, really, in the end?  Why had Melanie bothered with an author, albeit a successful one, to hang around and fall in love with.  Was it his stability?  His success?  His charms?  He had a fair degree of them.  But was there something else.  After a while she concluded she didn’t really know, but a soft voice in her heart said ‘He will probably love you, in the end, more than anybody else anyway,’ and that seemed to satisfy Melanie’s question.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘We are in Prontington!’ he exclaimed, with something of a victory noticeable in his voice.

‘Oh, well done,’ responded Melanie, to Daniel’s triumph.

‘And the city has over 1 billion inhabitants.’

‘Yep.  There you go again,’ she responded.

‘Yep,’ he said, and proceeded to take out his rubiks cube and puzzle over it.

 

After a while he spoke up.  ‘But what about genetics?  Isn’t that a problem?’

She said nothing for a few moments, before finally responding.  ‘Uh, Genetics, a problem?  For who?’

He finished with his Rubiks cube.  ‘Well, them, I guess,’ he said, pointing at those gathered in the waiting room.

Melanie frowned.  What was he on about?  ‘Do you care to explain?’ she asked him, putting down her magazine.

‘All these people.  If there are only 70 major families, and they are all related, shouldn’t there be heaps of genetic problems.  I mean, they are all inbreds.’

‘Oh,’ she said, finally catching on.  She looked around them, at all the people, suddenly looking at their faces, looking to see anything of those potential genetic defects.  There didn’t seem to be anything immediately noticeable.

‘I mean, sure, maybe the original couple had very good and diverse DNA for this project.  Maybe it wasn’t a problem for the original couple.’

‘I guess,’ she responded, returning to her magazine.

‘Yes, that was probably what it was.  Good DNA.  A suitable match.  The kids never ended up having problems with interbreeding.’

‘And if the parents had sex with the children,’ said Melanie, cautiously, still looking at her magazine.

‘Fuck,’ said Daniel.  ‘Never thought of that.  Adam and Eve all over again.  Incest – a game the whole family can play.’

Melanie smirked at that.  A funny one from her beloved.

 

‘Family get togethers could be a thing, though.  I mean, who do you leave out?  You could end up inviting half the bloody neighbourhood.’

Melanie had to again smirk at the comment.

‘Oh.  And birthdays for the family members.  Who DON’T you send a card to?  Could be bloody expensive.’

‘I guess so,’ she said, sobering up somewhat.

‘I guess blood is thicker than water, after all,’ he finished.

‘Yes,’ she said, as he returned to his Rubik’s cube.

 

‘I probably wouldn’t want to do that kind of thing.  That kind of experiment.  Probably not me,’ he finished, and puzzled on his cube.

 

She sat there, not wanting to, turning her pages of her beauty mag, but she thought on that anyway.  A kingdom – a country – full of her offspring.  Her own seed, and nothing but.  Surely she would never contemplate such a thing.  Surely never.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

‘Some things work.  Some things don’t.  We are supposed to work it out in time and, I feel, inevitably most of us usually do.’

The two of them were in yet another airport of this quite large country, in a smaller city this time, but the band wanted to be extensive after all.  Daniel had been sharing, in response to Melanie’s recent question pertaining to the concept of ‘Sin’ as to what Daniel felt on the subject.

‘Of course, Morning Stars, with the dialogue between Michael and Saruviel, addressed something of the core issue.  Your own way as opposed to God’s way.  God’s way wins, in the end.  You will be even admitting it.  He already knows, that is all it is.  He already knows the fullness of morality.  For most of us, our early years are found simply in arguing with him.  And then, as I said, we work out on our own issues which God doesn’t address too much that some things work well for us and some things just don’t.  And that is the way it is.’

 

‘But why should we agree with God?  I mean, what makes him right?  How are you so sure he has the truth on every moral issue.’

Daniel looked at her, a little bit taken aback at what he felt was a slur against his lord, but took it on the cheek.  Melanie wouldn’t have meant it like that.  ‘Look, see it this way.  The being who is Almighty God – Yahweh, as we mostly know him as – designed the human body, the human mind, the human psyche.  He knows, in all intricacy, the depth of intellectual questionings our minds are capable of, in all their synaptic glories.  He already knows – he has already had those thoughts, and he has already worked out the truth of the deepest mysteries we could ever hope to plumb the depths of.  He has already done what we crave as our own original glory of thought.’

‘So you say,’ responded Melanie suspiciously.

‘Yes.  So I say,’ responded Daniel, returning to his Rubiks cube.

 

They sat there for a while, Daniel working on his cube, Melanie working up to a reply.  She had one coming – in the guts of her – and wanted to now have a go.

 

‘But how do you know, really, that he has bothered to work everything out properly?  How do YOU know?  Has he told you?  Personally?’

‘I read the book of Job, Mel.  Probably the first spiritual book I ever completed.  It has all the answers on that one.’

‘Yes.  I know the text.  You would quote that.  But who wrote it?’

‘It was still, whatever you might say on that issue, placed into the canon.  It still ended up in what came to be regarded as his word.  And, whatever its origins, to me it addresses the core of the issue.  God made it all – he already knows.  Who the hell are we to think we have originality in us?  Huh?’

‘But aren’t we made in his image?  Don’t we have something new to offer him?’

He looked at her for a few moments and, then, thinking that over, responded a little more carefully.

‘Well, maybe.  Maybe.  Yes, we are made in his image.  Yes, we are his children, with lives of our own.  I don’t think we surprise him very much in what we do, because he knows each of us by design very carefully, and we respond in the way we are supposed to.  But, perhaps – perhaps there is a spark of originality in our knowledges which he never looked into per se but, having said that, I don’t think we are ever going to really surprise him with that anyway.  He probably has everything figured out by now, if he didn’t so already.

 

She didn’t dispute him.  She wouldn’t, now.  He had answered carefully and kindly.  But, she was not really sure if she agreed and, in truth, not really sure if she disagreed.  It was an interesting question.   Very, very interesting.

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Geraldine and Daniel were backstage, Melanie still signing autographs, and the other girls had disappeared for the night.

 

‘So, you like ‘Spice’, I take it?’

‘I think I have expressed that to you plenty of times previously.’

‘Oh, you know, Dan.  Tastes change.  People move on – to something else – something new.  Time marches on and all that.’

‘I’ll put it this way,’ responded Daniel.  ‘I never get sick of oranges.  And while I like apples and pears and watermelons too, I still always like oranges as well.  They are good for you, taste nice, and a part of a natural diet.’

‘So that is what we are, is it?  Oranges?’

‘Oh, you are a definite fruit salad of flavour, dear Geri.  A definite fruit salad.’

She smiled on that point.

 

‘So, what are your favourite fruits, then?  Your favourite bands?’

‘Too bloody many to mention.  At the moment ‘Panic at the Disco’ is on my current iPod.  A large selection of their early stuff.  They impressed me, once, with a couple of videos from an early album.  I put them on my listening routine from time to time.  Of course, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Dio, Madonna, Britney Spears and of course Spice are among my most regular tunes.  Iron Maiden, Evanescence and Roxette also make the list a heck of a lot.  They are still probably my favourites.’

‘I see,’ she said.  ‘The oldies.’

‘Oldies but goodies.  Oh, heck, I have heard pretty much all of it by now, and bands grab me from time to time with new sounds.  But for what I am into personally, the stuff I had in my first 60 to 70 years of life was about enough for eternity.  I haven’t dabbled seriously with great listening to too many bands since that time.  Didn’t think there was much point.  I’ll buy a new CD, but unless it really strikes me as deserving more attention, I will stick to what I have.’

‘Yes, I am sort of the same way,’ responded Geraldine.  ‘A core of favourites makes up my playlists, and after that, well, you know.  Whatever is playing on the radio.’

‘Exactly,’ responded Daniel.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘You and Geri,’ she said, out of the blue, as he continued to puzzle on his cube, sitting again in a typical airport for this nation.

‘Uh, what?’

‘You and Geri.  You both seem friendly.’

Daniel was flabbergasted at that.  What WAS she on about.

‘Umm.  Me and Geri have gotten along well for a long time.  Is that a problem?’

She turned to look at him, almost spoke, but bit her lip and stared at him.  She then turned back to looking into space, and gazed up at the clock on the wall briefly, before returning her gaze to nothing in particular.

 

After a while, Daniel returning to his cube, she picked up a magazine, and started humming to herself.  Whatever was on her mind, Daniel didn’t really know.

 

 

It was the next airport, after another sold out show, they were sitting there again, and again he was still trying to work out the cube, when she brought it up again.

 

‘Geraldine.  Is there….  Is there anything I need to know, Daniel?’

He looked at his cube.  3 sides, now.  He had mastered getting about 3 of them with effort.  But 4, 5 and 6, which he knew now would come automatically when he had gotten the fifth anyway, were still an ongoing challenge.

 

‘Uh, no.  Nothing I am aware of that you need to know about me and Geraldine.  Don’t really know what you are driving at, sweetie.  But me and Geraldine are not hiding any secrets from you.’  And as an afterthought he added, ‘Oh, and no.  We don’t have any surprise birthdays planned or anything like that.  At least nothing that I am aware of anyway.  Now, why do you ask?’

 

She turned to him, looked into his eyes, almost into his soul, but said nothing.  She just stared at him, right into him, then turned away, back to her magazine.’

‘No reason,’ she finally said, and that was that.  Nothing more on the issue eventuated.

 

 

Chapter Six

 

‘What about LMFAO?  Are you shuffling every day?’

‘Am I what?’ responded Daniel, a big smile on his face.

‘Are you shuffling?’

‘I guess fucking so,’ he said, still smiling.  ‘Yeh, I know the band.  I bought a CD once.  Ages ago.  Actually, no.  The same CD, but a lot of times.  They have others, but I only listened to them early on.  There is just their early CD with ‘Shufflin’ that I listen to on a regular basis.

‘Do you like them?’ persisted Geraldine.

‘I thought they were quite original, yes.  Yeh, I like them.  Not completely my type of stuff, but some of the rare dance music I would bother with.  They are ok.’

 

She reached into her bag, pulled out a CD single of LMFAO, and as they sang along and did a little dance, Melanie, who had been finishing the removing of her makeup in the corner, just stared at the two of them, but said nothing.  After all, in Daniel’s own words, there was nothing to say.  Was there?

 

‘We really should try this live.  I would love to, you know, but the band won’t sell us the rights to perform live.  It is there exclusive domain.’

‘A lot of bands are like that, I’ve heard.  But you can’t blame them, can you.  It is there living, in the end.  They have to look out for their welfare.’

‘I am sure they can afford it.  It will only help them in the end.’

‘But that is not how everyone sees it.  Some think you are stealing someone elses audience, in a funny kind of way.  Even if it is your own you are singing to.’

‘All I can say is thank God for the Public Domain song database.’

Daniel nodded at that.  The Public Domain song database of heaven was, primarily, a host of song material which God himself had organized, communicated to through a number of angels, and had put into the form of an online database accessible by everyone.  There were well over 10 Billion original songs available for everyone to utilize in their own live performances and for the release of any particular CD they may want to release for their own performing ambitions.  The database was part of God’s plan for every soul who wanted it to be able to eventually make something of an impact into performance, and even a career if they needed it, in the field of music.  With the reality of copyright, unless you had been amongst the first numbers to have gotten the best tunes from the data range capable over a standard 80 minute CD, which was a practically infinite variety of sounds, language and other strange communications, some quite evil, but that also included, necessarily, music, then you were ultimately left without original material to make a career from.  The early birds caught the worm in that sense, and now, millions of years later, all the stuff which was cool and hip had basically been utilized in the full data range available from the full code of a CD, in all interesting enough variations.  Funny that – how the entirety of the human language and history of speech – everything you could ever hope to say and ever would – already theoretically existed in the capable data range of an 80 minute CD which, really, only needed to be computed in a run, printed off, and ultimately listened to.  God, supposedly, knew it all though anyway.  Knew the entirety of the knowledge from such an idea, and thus knew the entirety of knowledge.  It was all happily at peace in the soul, mind and heart of the creator, so the theologians constantly maintained.

 

Later on, back in the hotel room, ready to leave in the morning, Melanie hadn’t spoken for a while.  Daniel knew something was up – something wasn’t right.  Melanie had an issue with him, possibly something to do with Geri, but he wasn’t sure.  It might be something else entirely, and maybe Geri had just set it off.  He wasn’t sure, but presumed he would find out soon enough.

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

‘Do you like me, Danny?’

‘Yeh, you are sweet, Geri.  Really, if it wasn’t for Mel, you would be the kind of girl I would go for.’

She nodded.  They were alone in the girl’s dressing room, after the show, the other girls having left.  Melanie had been there, looking at Geri who innocently was doing her makeup, and Daniel said he had to pee, and went to the toilet in the dressing room, Melanie telling him she would find her own way back to the hotel in a taxi on her own for some quiet breathing space just before he closed the toilet door.  He had come out of the toilet, found Geraldine still there, and had said ‘Well I’ll see you later,’ before she had asked him to sit down.  And now, so he felt, she was chatting him up.

‘So you like me,’ she said, and put her hand on to his leg, and slowly moved it up a little towards his crotch.

‘Oh, fuck Geri.’

‘Exactly,’ she responded.

‘But I can’t.  I can’t.  I’m married – happily.’

‘We’ve done it before,’ she reminded him.

‘I know,’ he said.

And before he could say anything she had whipped of her top and undid her bra, and sat there with her tits showing.

‘They look good, don’t they Danny?  I have been working out properly.’

He dared, and put his hand forward and grabbed one.  Just then the door opened and Melanie walked back in saying ‘I just forgot something,’ and caught them.  There was fire in her eyes.  ‘You fucking bastard!’ she exclaimed.

‘Uh, it’s not what you think, Mel.’  Geri quickly put her bra and top back on, grabbed her purse, and walked past Mel, not before Mel hissed ‘Bitch’ at her, leaving a very difficult Daniel feeling guilty as hell.

 

She just stood there, staring at him, and Daniel looked down, feeling like a piece of shit.  Eventually Melanie softened.  ‘Well, do you like her then?  Is that just it?  You like Geri?’

‘It’s nothing like that.  But I think I know what you were saying at the airport.  From how Geri has been acting towards me recently.  But, really, there has nothing been going on.  Just then was it.  She just whipped off her top and I couldn’t help feel her tits.  They looked so good.’

‘Oh,’ she said, and came to sit down next to him.

 

There was a part of Melanie C which had mercy.  Which was soft, and forgiving for such things.  She knew Daniel was only a guy in the end, only human, and so she forgave him for it.  She noticed, though, he had a strong erection.  ‘Do you want me to take care of that, Danny?’ she said, indicating his crotch.

‘Uh, fuck.’  And so they did.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel slept well that night, his dreams alive of all five of the Spice Girls, there hands and arms wrapped all over him, his crotch being paid particular attention and, the second time he orgasmed in his dreams, it was in the most blissful of positions, all 5 girls around him, his night being made.  Besides him Melanie was restless.  She couldn’t sleep.  She was worried.  Would he leave her?  Geri and him had dated a long time ago, before they had been married.  Presumably they had slept together, but Geri never said anything about it.  Never mentioned anything since Mel and Dan had got together.  But did Geri really still have feelings for Daniel?  And did Daniel feel the same?  Would she lose her man?  She didn’t even want to contemplate such a reality.  Losing him now, after all this time together – she couldn’t even hope to think about starting again with another man.  That much would be impossible to her – literally impossible.

 

She stared at the ceiling, noticed him thrusting a little next to her in his sleep and that he had come again.  Was he in the arms of Geraldine in his obviously happy dream?  Was he getting lucky?

 

They had been together for so long now.  Almost as if her life had been Daniel’s life in a funny way – like they were one flesh in truth, as scripture also decreed between a husband and a wife.  She felt she knew him so very well, all his strange ways, all his strange thoughts.  He was a gentle man, in most ways.  Quite humble.  And faithful.  Usually, very, very faithful.  Had they done this before, he and Geraldine?  Had they been together behind her back?  Was Daniel hiding a hidden relationship which had never really ended?  She hated to think so but she was suspicious.

 

Eventually, she found sleep, and, in her dreams, giant heads of Geri and Daniel seemed to float around, laughing at her, before changing into giant slugs.  ‘Ah, justice,’ she thought to herself, as she laughed and dreamed on.

 

 

Chapter Eight

 

It was the next city, in the airport, Daniel had just mastered side four, and exclaimed as such.  Melanie was generally over her concerns with him and Geri.  He had claimed, the following morning, that no shenanigans had been going on whatsoever and that throughout there whole marriage he had remained faithful.  ‘Yes, I have looked at women.  That is unavoidable.  But I have never cheated,’ and she believed him.  He was telling the truth as well.

 

She sat on her airport seat, her magazine in her hands, staring off into space, Daniel just having exclaimed his victory in mastering 4 sides of the cube, and all was, generally well.

 

The tour had been going well, so far.  Four centuries of it, touring now the outer limits of the heavenlies, having seen so much new stuff.  But that was life in an ever-expanding world.   Always something new.

 

She thought about that, and the girl’s devotion to tour forever, as heaven expanded, always to a new show, to a new venue.  Always a new fan to sign an autograph for, a new CD cover to sign, a new hand to shake.  Onwards, forever onwards, the might of the Spice attack.  This was her life, now, and she knew it.  She had committed to it.  And for the most part it was satisfying.  Sure, she had plenty to do, and she was never bored.  Daniel was a great companion, and the girls were eternal friends – as a group they just seemed to work.

 

But, deep in the centre of her heart, there was something.  Something which, although, was definitely saying she was fine and happy and had no real problems to address, also shrugged its shoulders and said, in a funny kind of voice, ‘Well I don’t know’, when she asked of it the serious question ‘Is there anything more to my life?’  It was her conscience, embodied in a little miniature version of Melanie, sitting in her heart, telling her what she should and shouldn’t do.  It had always been there and, for a long time now, had not complained much.  But, over the last 5 or 6 thousand years, slowly, she had noticed it.  A malaise – a malaise of the heart – a little bit of it which said ‘There is still something more for Melanie C to find satisfaction on’.  And so she continued to question that little conscience of hers, which was always reluctant to give her a proper answer, but which, now, that a situation between Daniel and Geri had been resolved, seemed to be standing up and saying it was time to deal with something – something which her heart had been putting off for a long time.

 

And so, sitting there, staring off into space, she suddenly stood, looked at Daniel and said ‘You know my mobile number by heart, don’t you?’

He nodded.

‘Ok.  Don’t call me.  Not for a while.  Not for at least a decade.  And tell the girls that the tour will do for now as far as Melanie C is concerned.  They can go on without me if they want to, or end it here.  I will be busy.  And don’t even bother asking, ok Daniel.  Don’t even bother asking.’  She looked around, at the airport, the people, and everything, and turned back to a very confused looking husband.  ‘Well, I’m off.  I’ll see you back at home eventually.’  And she turned, and walked away.

 

Daniel Daly, husband to Melanie Chisholm, singer and Spice Girl extraordinaire, could be a very passive man at times.  And he had an odd way of dealing well with very difficult situations.  But this much was a little bit of a challenge to him.  But, above all else, he trusted God and the choice of heart which God had brought into Daniel’s life to be his wife.  So, with a trillion objections and a trillion questions to ask her, instead he sat there, let her be, let her walk off on her sabbatical of whatever she wanted, and, glancing up at the clock, realizing he had her mobile number if necessary, turned back to his Rubiks cube.  At least the tour was fucking ended for him, he thought sarcastically, and puzzled on his cube.

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

4 years.  4 bloody years, and to keep faith with her he hadn’t even had a bloody wank.  He really needed some attention and the thought of ringing up Geraldine was even on his mind.  But, no.  He wouldn’t cheat.  He couldn’t cheat.

 

He looked at the telephone book in front of him.  Melanie’s mobile, written down in black ink, staring at him.  He had been waiting for her to ring, when she was settled wherever she needed to be settled, doing whatever she needed to be doing.  When she was happy.  When she had found herself.  But she had never rang and as weeks turned to months and as months turned to years, Daniel was starting to wonder if he had lost her.  Wether she was ever coming home.

 

He looked at the number, swore at himself for caving in to her, and picked up his phone and dialled.  It rang and rang and rang and rang out.  ‘Fuck.’  But he knew that it was getting through, as the ring tone was working.  Was she using the phone?  Was she near it at the moment?  Was it sitting on a shelf somewere, disused?  He put the phone down, took a sip of Coke, and decided to ring again at 11 that night.  Give her time, if that is what she needed.  Maybe she had heard the call, but was nervous.  Maybe she saw the number, and didn’t want to answer.  Maybe.  He would wait.  See what the night would bring.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Uh, yeh.  Is Melanie there?  This is her phone.’  The lady on the other end of the phone went silent for a while and then said ‘Who is this?’

‘Daniel.  Daniel Daly.  I’m her husband.’

‘HER HUSBAND!’ the woman exclaimed.  ‘But, but.  She’s not married.’

‘Oh, yes she is.  Unless she has divorced me without me knowing it,’ he said with a tone of anger in his voice.  ‘Now is Melanie fucking there?’

‘Oh, ok.  I guess she will talk to you.  Don’t swear, ok.  This is a chapel of God.  We don’t tolerate such language.’

 

Daniel waited and thoughts flashed through his mind.  ‘Were the hell was she?  Was she caught up in some bloody religious cult?  What the heck was going on?’

 

It was about 5 minutes later, and he could hear her in the background saying she didn’t want to talk to him, when she finally picked up the phone.

‘Daniel.’

‘Mel.  Where the hell are you?’

‘I’m at peace, Daniel.  I have finally found peace.  With God.  I am complete, content.  I don’t need anything anymore.  Just me and Jehovah.  That is all I need.  All I want.’

 

Daniel swore under his breath.  ‘It’s a cult, isn’t it?  Don’t tell me, you have got yourself caught up in a fucking cult.’

Melanie said nothing initially.  Eventually she responded.  ‘Peacekeepers of Jehovah are NOT a cult.  They are a mainstream religion, which has separated from the world in the main for purposes of peace and escape from the humdrum of it all.  Sure, people say all sorts of things about us, but we are NOT a cult.  Just an escape.  A place of peace.’

 

Daniel swore again, a little louder this time.  ‘Yes, I have heard of them.  And they are far from bloody mainstream.  Way out in left…no, excuse me.  Way out in RIGHT field.  They are lunatic fundamentalists who hate everything except God and the holy bloody Torah.’

‘And what is wrong with that?  Isn’t that your own faith after all?’

‘I don’t approach it the same way.  No, no it isn’t my faith in that sense.  I may be a Karaite Noahide, but the Karaite Noahide community actually IS very mainstream and accepting of ALL of God’s children.  We care about everyone in heaven, work in all the major charity organisations for helping disadvantaged people and people recovering from illnesses.  We support the lonely people’s brigade, and bring dinners to people to chat with them when they just need a friend and someone to talk to.  We are there for everyone.  But the last thing we bloody do is go off to a cult and separate from the community believing we are the special bloody holy ones.  WE DON’T FUCKING DO THAT, MELANIE BLOODY CHISHOLM.’

‘Well we DO!’ she shouted, and hung up.

 

Daniel sat there, stunned and, eventually, swearing again, put down the phone.   The Peacekeepers of Jehovah.  The bloody peacekeepers of Jehovah.  For heavens fucking sake, he swore again, and got off to get some fresh air and swear some more.

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

It was the following night, around 11.  Daniel had calmed down and, having done some research on the Peacekeepers of Jehovah and realizing, whatever else, they would take Torah seriously and work to be calm about everything, he called the number again.  This time Melanie answered.

 

‘It’s Daniel.’

‘Hello Daniel.’

He waited for a few moments.  ‘I lost my temper last night.  I apologize.’

‘You are forgiven.’

‘Well, I would like to come and visit you, but I also respect your privacy and your desire for peace, as you put it.  I do need to know this, though.  Will you be staying with them forever, or will you eventually come home.’

There was silence for quite a while.  Eventually she spoke.  ‘I will one day come home.  I won’t ever divorce you, now.  Never.  You and I are one flesh.  That is meant to last forever.’

He nodded.  This sort of talking didn’t surprise him.  It was what cults could often be like.

‘I won’t argue with you.  When you are ready, come home.  I won’t go anywhere.  I will remain at home permanently.  I won’t even go out very much, but order the food from Woolworths for home delivery, and order all my other stuff online.  Friends can come and see me.  I will wait here, at home, even if I have to wait a million years, ok.  Even if I have to wait a million years.  I love you, Mel.  I love you.’

There was silence, and he heard faint crying.

‘I will be home one day, Daniel.  One day.’  And she hung up.

 

He put down the phone, looked at the clock, and sighed.  It could be a long wait.  It could be a very long wait.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

About 300 years later, Daniel was really getting used to his own surroundings.  Perhaps his religious duty of his Googling on Fridays kept him going in many ways, but perhaps it was just life, with how he was simply alive from moment to moment, which was all that pushed him onwards.  But, no, there were other things.  Geri came often and they talked about Melanie.  The girls had visited her once, early on, but had been thereupon asked to respect her privacy, and that had been the end of it.  Melanie needed the peace she was seeking, and that was that.  And so Geri would visit Daniel, usually on a Saturday afternoon, and they would sit there, play monopoly or Risk or Scrabble, or some other board game or Jigsaw, and be best friends, but never lovers.  Daniel couldn’t even entertain the thought of such thing with the commitment he had made to Mel.  Geri was his light at this time, and once she kissed him on the cheek and looked in his eyes, but he just had to turn away.  He couldn’t, and she knew it.

 

And then 300 years turned to 3000, and it had become a basic life, sitting there, waiting for his bride to return, sometimes going to the front window, looking for her, hoping, anxious.  But she never came.  She never came.

 

He would cry a lot at nights, very often for the first couple of thousand of years, and then he would do nothing.  He would sit there, numb, look forward to Saturday when Geri came over, and then breathe new life with the presence of Geraldine.

 

And then, one day, Geri gave him a ring.  What was called an ‘Eternity’ ring.  She told him, then, she would be his friend forever.  His confidante forever.  That she would always be there for him, and that she loved him, and that was that.  So he kissed her, and, looking into her eyes, he knew she loved him.  He took her, to his bed then, and they lay there naked for a while.  And then they made love, and he found some peace.  His virginity of over 3000 years was broken.

 

Geri moved in after that, and stayed with him.  For all intents and purposes, she was his mistress, but that was that.  What else could he do?  Melanie wasn’t coming home?  Was she ever coming home?  It could be another 3 million years before she may even talk to him.  But he knew he would wait.  He knew.  But, at nights, when Geri was there, he thanked God for Ms Halliwell, and her company, and the cold part of his heart was warmed somewhat, as he waited, patiently, for the return of his bride.

 

 

Chapter Eleven

 

6 AM.  Time to get up.  Prayer at 6:30 for an hour.  Scripture reading for an hour.  Then breakfast.  Another day in paradise.

 

Melanie, daughter of God, had been with the Peacekeepers, now, for about 200,000 years, or there abouts.  And, in fact, it had now taken up a large percentage of her living history, which was something she had intended for a long time.  In her philosophy, since joining the group, she knew she needed this stability, this divine focus, to enshroud her heart.  And, furthermore, she had committed to an eternal relationship with the Peacekeepers.  Not constantly – not at once.   But every few million years she would take a sabbatical of about 200,000 years with the peacekeepers to give her the spiritual nourishing and food she needed to cope with her life.  To live through all the highs and lows a Spice Girl was faced with.

 

But today was a special day.  Today was Monday, and she had completed her obligations she had imposed on herself the prior Sabbath.  She had spent one more day, Sunday, saying farewells to her group and now, Monday afternoon, having clutched at them just a little bit longer, she was ready to leave.  To get back to the chaos of it all.  She had found her God – Yahweh Jehovah – in the centre of her heart, and that was all that she needed.  God centred living.

 

Now, the trouble.  But she was ready.  Daniel had sworn allegiance, that he would never leave.  She questioned wether, as the spirit and her dreams seemed to be telling her, that Geri was indeed with him now, as a Mistress.  But that was acceptable in the end.  Daniel was only human.  He needed another wife, and Hagar and Keturah were never far from Melanie’s thoughts on the issue.  The concubines of Abraham had demonstrated men’s humanity to her.

 

She wouldn’t ring.  She would surprise him.  Come home, find him, kiss him, and get back into the routine.  She would see just what would be.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘Hello Geraldine.’

Geri stared at her, and then, catching herself, opened the door to let her in.

Melanie walked inside, came into the living room and, suddenly, Daniel walked in from the kitchen saying ‘Who was that Geri?’ and stopped, staring at Melanie, who was dressed in a long white dress, with a suitcase in white, and white shoes, with an appropriate white hat on.

‘Fuck,’ said Daniel, staring at her.

 Melanie stared at him and, suddenly, there was a torrent of emotion in her heart.  She couldn’t speak, though.  She wouldn’t respond yet.  She sat down, put the suitcase by the lounge seat, and looked towards the TV Set, still not speaking.  Daniel stared at her.  Geri came over, stood next to Daniel and he turned to her.  ‘Come with me into the kitchen,’ and they left to chat.

 

Melanie could hear them, speaking urgently, and Geri’s voice rose a little before Daniel calmed her down.  Shortly they both reappeared.  ‘Right,’ said Geri.  ‘Well, good to finally see you Mel.  You can catch me later at my place, if you wanna come around.  Seeya.’  And she stared at Melanie in her white garb, picked up her handbag, and left through the front door.

 

Daniel stared at Mel for a while, realizing his wife had finally, and quite suddenly, returned.  But, coming to himself, he came over, sat down next to her, and said.  ‘Well, what do you know.’

 

 

Chapter Twelve

 

The following morning, Melanie having slept in the guest room, she rose early, prayed, but only for about 10 minutes, which she had already planned as her routine away from the peacekeepers, and read a chapter of Torah.  And then she had gone into the kitchen, found something suitable to eat and was sitting in the living room, the radio on a classical station, softly playing, sitting there, waiting.

 

Daniel rose around 9, came in, looked at her, and scratched his head.  She was back.  What had happened to her, though.  She was so – so – passive.  Just sitting there, hardly even blinking.  Like a stone, like a rock.  Is this what the place had done to her.

 

He went into the kitchen, grabbed a can of Coke, and came back and sat down in a large chair, opened his can, and looked at her.  She just looked ahead, looked at him from the corner of her eyes briefly, and then continued staring outwards.

 

He took a sip, put down the can, and came over to sit next to her.

 

‘Look.  I can tell you have changed.  I can see that.  Its obvious.  But I…. I haven’t much.  And me and Geri.  Well.  Well, we have been together for a long time now.  A few thousand years after you left she moved in.  And we have been an item in that sense.’

 

‘I won’t divorce you,’ said Melanie, without looking at him.

 

‘Hold on, sweetheart.  Nobody ever said anything about divorce.  Geri understood that when she moved in.  I was devoted to you.  I AM devoted to you.  Ok.  Ok.’

 

‘Good,’ she said, and said nothing more.  Daniel just stared at her, but nothing more was forthcoming.  Eventually he shrugged, sipped on his can and stood, looking at her.  ‘Ok.  You seem not to need me at the moment.  I have not been out of this house for the last 3,000 years straight, apart from the yards.  I have kept my commitment to you, hardly ever leaving.  But I need to get out of here.  You can come with me or you can stay here, but I am going over to Geri’s and we are going to see a movie and get some fries and burgers and do shit until late.  Don’t expect me home till 11.

 

She said nothing, staring into space.

 

Daniel was frustrated.  He wanted to say something.  He wanted to say he loved her, but couldn’t.  Not yet.  The time wasn’t right yet.  Not yet.

 

‘Well, ok.  Seeya.’  And looking at her, waiting on some sort of response which never came, he disappeared out the front door, found his car and hoped it would run, which it did, and disappeared over to his mistress’s home.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Melanie had looked through the photographs of them together all that day, looking at how good they looked together, at how much in love they had been.  And then, around 11, Daniel came in, a tiny bit intoxicated as she could smell it on his breath, but sober enough to talk with.  ‘Fuck, Melanie,’ he said.  He had obviously forgotten.  ‘Look, sweetie.  We’ll talk properly in the morning,’ and he stumbled into his bed, and fell down on it, soon snoring away.

 

She heard him, and coming in, she put a blanket over him and lay down next to him, searching for sleep.  It would just take time, she knew that.  It would just take time.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

The following morning he seemed better.  As if he had started adjusting to her.  Getting used to her new demeanour.

 

‘So, what was it like?  All that time with one group?  How did it change you?’

 

They were at the breakfast table out on the verandah, with muesli and orange juice.  He seemed in a better mood.  He seemed good with her.

 

‘Oh, it was life changing.  I’m going back you know.’

‘Fuck.  When?’

‘Oh, not for a very long time, ok.  Not for a very long time.  Perhaps 2 or 3 million years.  But it will be a similar sabbatical.  For about the same time period.  It is in my routine now.  I will do it forever.’

‘Oh,’ he said.  ‘Ok.  That’s ok.  That’s fine.’

She nodded.  He had accepted it, then.

 

He sipped on his orange juice, stared at her, and smiled at her warmly.  ‘You know Melanie.  You are still the love of my life.  When all is said and done, it is still just you babe.  It is still just you.  I can accept your peacekeeper ways.  I have gotten used to the idea now, ok.  I can accept it.’

‘Then we will have peace,’ she said, tilting her orange juice to him, and he smiled.

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

Geri was sitting on Daniel’s lounge, looking at the TV, while Melanie was away shopping.  Suddenly Daniel walked in from the kitchen and went to his bookcase and picked up 3 books.  She noticed that one of them was his Tanakh – his Jewish Bible – which he was never without, and the other two books were books on Judaism.  He took them, walked out the front door, and was back within a few moments, the books not to be seen.

 

Out of curiousity she asked him ‘Uh, what did you do with the books?’

He turned to her.  ‘It has been building up.  For a long time, Geraldine Halliwell.  Perhaps for a number of lifetimes.  But what I have seen in Melanie is the end of it.  I will NOT touch that Jewish Bible or religion EVER FUCKING AGAIN.  It is SHIT.’

‘Well, Amen to that,’ responded Geri.  Daniel nodded, went back into the kitchen, leaving a very perplexed looking Geri Halliwell.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

‘So you are no longer a Karaite Noahide?’

‘Not a Karaite one.  No.  Just a Noahide.  That was true historically.’

‘So you reject God, then?’ continued Melanie.

‘No.  Just the Jewish Bible.  I have seen what it has done to you, and I have had so long seeing Jewish people for what they are – pride filled ‘Chosen’ people, who really think they are too good for the rest of us, and that we should kiss their asses.  It is what they have always been like – separatists.  I don’t want to fucking know anymore, Mel.  I don’t want to fucking know about that shit ever fucking again.’

‘Oh,’ she said, and said nothing more.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Later that week Melanie had taken her Jewish Bible and also thrown it in the bin.  Daniel was her husband, and was faithful to him.  If this would put a problem between them, then, in the end, she chose her love.  She chose the man who had been faithful to her.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

It was 40 weeks later.  Melanie had sent a letter to the ‘Peacekeepers of Jehovah’ saying she wouldn’t be back.  That it was over with, and not to bother sending her the yearly annual.  She had let go, now.  She had moved on.

 

And then Daniel, one afternoon, tinkering away at his PC, had written down some dialogue on ‘Universal Faith Assembly’ which had been the name of a religion he had registered a long time ago, but never used.  He showed it to Melanie, she nodded, and that was it.  It was the ‘Book of Universal Faith’, four simple verses, and Melanie agreed that they would follow whatever it brought – for better or for worse.  And it read:

 

 

The Book of Universal Faith

 

By

Daniel

 

Verse One

Unity.  Many coming together as one, linked by an idea, a belief, a purpose.  For we are all one, daughters and sons of Eve and Adam.  And the idea?  Connections, to those within humanity who best meet our hearts needs, wants and desires.  Connections, built with trust, respect and patience.  Connections, which grow into love and appreciation.  For Universal Faith is to appreciate all of God’s children, those who fill this universe, and make connections with them, one by one, to fully satisfy all the desires of knowledge that these connections can impart to us.

 

Verse Two

Humanity is like one body, with many parts.  All of us are offspring of Adam and Eve, eternally genetically linked.  Yet, as science teaches, in the 700 Trillion unique genetic designs within humanity, there are those designs which connect to us most appropriately and in the most stimulating of manners.  Yet, every design has its purpose in the creators mind, and each design, each and every human gone from us and yet to be has a purpose in our life, bringing those aspects of knowledge, friendship, kindness, blessing and love we so truly desire.

 

Verse Three

Eternal connections.  That is the purpose of our life.  To find and build eternal connections.  Friendships which endure not just for a day, a week, a month, a year – but friendships which endure throughout the endless eternity before us.  Each of these friendships must be valued and treated with respect, for they are eternally our source of joy, love and comfort.  And to begin these connections, seek out those whose focus is on the eternal – those whose belief is in eternal life – for such people have a focus on Yahweh and the gift of eternal life he has promised them, and thus are well endowed to bless you with the connections to bear the fruit you desire with all your heart.  So seek ye the connections with those whose focus is on the eternal.

 

Verse Four

And the completion of things is the moral heart.  Value those things which speak to your heart, and remember the purpose those others which do not so speak to you have in the hearts and minds of others.  For not every gift of knowledge, at first, speaks to every unique human, but we find our way slowly and carefully along our eternal destiny, learning, loving, growing and living in the hands of our eternal and great God and Father, slowly appreciating every aspect of the Infinite and its place and purpose in the eternity of creation.

 

 

 

‘Amen,’ said Melanie, and that was that.

 

 

Chapter Fourteen

 

Over the next few years, having posted the information to the web at http://universalfaithassembly.angelfire.com , Daniel started gaining that rarest of commodities – actual living converts.  Slowly, gradually, the assembly took form and, having started writing a new series of angel books for the assembly called ‘The Chronicles of the Eternal Realm of Glory’, which was set in a new universe, different to his first two sagas, a universe more like their own, Daniel made sure it was known that the series was to serve as the spiritual literature for the Universal Faith Assembly.  Apart from the very basic laws and teachings from the ‘Rainbow Bible’, which was the first 10 chapter and the first 9 verses of the 11th chapter from the Hebrew Bible, which was pertinent to Noahides, and the ‘Book of Universal Faith’ to organise the main idea of the Assembly apart from its religious obligations to God, the ideas and doctrines for members of the Assembly were to be derived from their own life walk and, by way of assistance from the founder of the assembly, whatever teachings they found value and merit with from the ‘Chronicle’s’ which were to serve as the spiritual fiction for the assembly.

 

Would it be a success long term?  Only time would tell.

 

*   *   *   *   *

 

Daniel had concluded that God had done it.  In hindsight, it was God’s way of resolving things for Daniel – for coming to a necessary solution before the problem became insurmountable.

 

Melanie would likely have been eternally dedicated to the ‘Peacekeepers of Jehovah’ and, inevitably, Daniel’s frustration over this, despite his love for Melanie, would have torn their hearts apart.

 

And, in the end, seeing Karaite Judaism, in all its fundamentalism, for what the Peacekeepers followed, taught the heart of a long-term Noahide that, in the end, the Jewish Bible was just for that – Jews.  They were suited to it.  And, unless you were ever going to dig right in and actually convert eternally to this faith, then forget about it.  Don’t even read it in the end.  Let it go.  It was Jewish history – a Jewish family legacy – and while they did indeed promote it to the world, in the end it was only for one definite ulterior motive – the proclamation of their own name and glory and the expansion of their family, religion and nation.