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The Child - Six Everything went into slow motion. In a daze, he watched as his grandmother slipped away, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. Whatever happened after that was a blurry memory. It was a long time before Teddy stopped grieving for his grandmother, and he never forgot those strange words she had whispered at the breakfast table. “Tt was the Devil.” He couldn’t explain the guilt he felt about her death, eith- er. The doctors said Grandy had died from a massive stroke, but Teddy wasn’t sure. He’d heard that evil voice, and if Grandy said it was the Devil, then it surely was. So what did the Devil want, then? Grandy told him not to worry, that she and God would protect him, but from what? Was that why his grandmother died, to protect him? Nothing he learned later in his spiritualist training was able to explain that event, so it remained a distant memory kept tender by his haunting, faceless guilt. Masquerade of Angels 50 Seven Four angels to my bed, Tour angels round my head, One to watch, and one to pray, And two to bear my soul away. Thomas Ady For several years after Grandy’s death, Ted lived a generally normal, happy life, adapted to his time and place. Small-town Alabama in the 1950s was a narrow world in many ways. Its people professed conservative religious and political beliefs, even if they didn’t always practice them, and their expectations in life were modest and provincial. Things seldom changed, and that suited everyone just fine, including Ted. After all, he was popular in school, with plenty of friends, and very involved in extracurricular activities. His high-school years should have sailed along smoothly and predictably. But Ted wasn’t destined for the life of a typical teenager. Someone or something else-whether divine or demented, Ted debated years later-had other plans. In the middle of his fourteenth year, the agents of this unknown force decided to pay him a visit. They came in the night, like thieves, and stole away Ted’s tranquility. He thought they were angels. When he awoke in bed that night, the first thing Ted saw was a soft glow of bluish-green light pervading the room. Then he watched in pure disbelief as two small beings simply appeared through the wall and stood facing him. They looked like immature human forms dressed in flowing robes of blue and green, and their heads were covered by hoods or turbans. Ted tried to see their faces clearly, but it was as if they had no facial features, almost as if