© Anna-Karin 2002
Author's note: This story is a sequel to Journey To Rome. You should
read that story before reading this one.
I do not own Gabriel, Dimension Films and Miramax do, and I am not making any
money. No copyright infringement intended.
A lovely day in may:
Gabriel flies over the little town of Borĺs, where his two probation officers lives. He is observed by several sober and upstanding citizens. They call the police.
Citizen (on telephone): I saw a man fly past my window!
Policeman#1 (on telephone): Really?
Citizen (on telephone): Yes! He was wearing a black coat and black trousers!
Policeman#1 (on telephone): Are you certain that this flying man did not wear a red and blue costume with a big "S" on the chest?
Citizen (on telephone): Are you implying that I might be drunk?
Policeman#1 (on telephone): Now when you are mentioning it...
The citizen hangs up the phone, seriously offended.
Policeman#1: We better start planning a raid on those moonshiners. Their brew seem to make people hallucinate. This one saw a flying man!
Policeman #2: Maybe it's some new drug.
The telephone rings again. Another citizen have seen a flying man.
Policeman#1: That's the second one today.
Policeman#2: Maybe it's a mass hallucination?
Policeman#1: We better do something about the drug situation in this town.
The telephone rings again. Yet another citizen have seen a flying man.
Gabriel flies past the huge brick building where the University College of Borĺs is housed. A teacher holding a lecture on hallucinogenics for a class of second-year nurses looks out. He sees Gabriel fly by. Gabriel winks at him. The teacher stares at him, then looks into his coffee mug, then at the class, then back into his mug, then at his class again.
Teacher: All right you smartasses, who of you put hallucinogenics into my coffee?
The nurses stare at him.
Gabriel lands in front of the building and enters. He is observed by a lot of students, who decides on the spot to give up drinking and/or party drugs.
The lunch-room where one can buy coffee from very nice ladies is to the right.
Anna-Karin sits at the huge windows, through which one can see the street. She is not alone. She is discussing their master paper with a lady. This lady is a blonde woman with long hair and a bow in the hair to keep the fringe out of her face. Her style is a lot tidier and neater than Anna-Karin's.
Anna-Karin: So we better start looking in the big book, the one where every single book- printer in Sweden between 1483 and 1883 is listed.
Unknown lady: Okay. You can take care of that while I try and find some on the history part.
Anna-Karin: We need someone we can focus on though.
Unknown lady: I think I've found one. She lived in the 18th century. Elsa Fougt.
Anna-Karin: Shall you or I check up on her?
Unknown lady: You. You're going to dive into that big book anyway.
Gabriel walks up to them.
Gabriel: Hello!
Anna-Karin: Oh! Hi! I didn't see you. You're a bit early.
Gabriel: I know. Thought I'd relax for a while. But I see you're busy.
Unknown lady: Anna-Karin! Aren't you going to introduce us?
Anna-Karin: Oh yeah.. Michaela, this is Gabriel. Gabriel, this is Michaela.
Michaela: Nice to meet you.
Gabriel: Nice to meet you.
They shake hands.
Gabriel: I see you're busy. I'll go see Kenneth.
Anna-Karin: Remember! The Palladium at 17.45!
Gabriel: Okay.
Gabriel enters the little burger bar where Kenneth works.
Kenneth is wiping the tables.
Gabriel: Hello Kenneth.
Kenneth: Hello.
Gabriel sits down at at a table and picks up a newspaper someone has left behind.
Gabriel: A cup of coffee, please.
Kenneth: Okay.
Kenneth makes the coffee while Gabriel reads the news.
Kenneth: Here you are.
Gabriel: Thanks.
Kenneth: My shift ends in half an hour. That means 17.00. Will you stay around till then?
Gabriel: Got nothing better to do.
When Kenneth's shift ends, he takes a shower to get the smell of grease and food out of his hair. Then he changes from his work-clothes to a clean and ironed shirt and trousers. Then he leaves the joint together with Gabriel. They take a walk around town.
Kenneth: Great to have some fresh air after all that grease.
Gabriel: You like it there?
Kenneth: I've only been working there for a week, so I don't know yet. But it beats being unemployed, that's for sure. Bit different from being a stock broker, and definitely a step down on the career ladder. But a paycheck is a paycheck.
Gabriel: You gonna move out of Anna-Karin's place soon?
Kenneth: Yes, oh yes. She's nice and I'm nice but we get on each others' nerves. I'm looking for an apartment now. Got my eyes on one in the hills south of town. Nice wiew.
Gabriel: Is that so?
Kenneth: Yeah. When I've moved in, I'm gonna have a party. Small since I don't know many people here in town, yet, but I'll invite Anna-Karin and my boss and my co-workers.
Gabriel: Gonna invite me?
Kenneth: If you got the time to go to my party.
Gabriel don't answer that. Then it's time to go to the Palladium to meet Anna-Karin.
author's note:The movie theater called the Palladium is purely fictious.
After Gabriel left to see Kenneth, Anna-karin and Michaela sits at the table.
Michaela: Who was that guy?
Anna-karin: Gabriel.
Michaela: Gabriel?
Anna-Karin: Yes.
Michaela: Gabriel. As in the fellow who dragged you and what's-his-name..
Anna-Karin: ..Kenneth..
Michaela: ..To Rome, to find a book?
Anna-Karin: Yup.
Michaela: Wow. My. My word.
Anna-Karin looks at Michaela. She thinks that they are supposed to plan the work on the paper, not talk about guys. Not even if the guy in question do tend to have that effect on people.
Michaela: Have you seen 'Brainstorm'?
Anna-Karin: No.
Michaela: There's this guy in the movie. He's the hero. The actor playing him was a fellow named Christopher Walken.
Anna-Karin: Never heard of him.
Michaela: That's not surprising since he died during the shooting of that movie. He was out on a boat, together with his co-star; Nathalie Wood, and her husband, Robert Wagner. Somehow he fell off the boat and drowned. There had been a fight, and the tabloids didn't accept that it had been an accident, which was what the police had said.
Anna-Karin: And Gabriel looks like him? Like this Christopher Walken?
Michaela: Yeah.
Anna-Karin: Wow. I gotta ask him about that.
Michaela: Right! Back to the paper.
Anna-Karin: Okay!
As they work on the planning, deciding to go to Stockholm the following fall, to visit the Royal Library and
the National Archive, a hush falls over the coffee-room.
Two persons, which Anna-Karin quickly identify as angels, makes their way across the room.
They are walking towards her. The angels are tall, blonde and dressed in white. The
only way to tell them apart is by their hairstyles. One has curly hair ,like a halo round the
head, and the other one have long wavy hair falling over the shoulders. They draw stares
from everyone present with their beauty.
Anna-Karin thinks that they are show-offs.
Angel#1: Anna-Karin.
Anna-Karin: That's me.
Angel#2: You come with us.
Anna-Karin: No.
The angels are not used to hear that little word from a human.
Angel#1: What?
Michaela looks from the angels to Anna-Karin and back again. Anna-Karin has told her about those people. For some reason she looks for traces of plastic surgery on the angels' faces. Meanwhile Anna-Karin seem to search in her bag for something.
Anna-Karin: Oh! I don't believe it! I've forgotten my umbrella! Again!
Angel#2: Umbrella? But the weather is perfect outside.
Anna-Karin: It rained earlier to-day. I'll have to go up to the computer lab on floor 4. I must have left it there. Would you mind waiting for me?
Angel#1: Well, actually..
Anna-Karin: I was talking to Michaela!
Anna-karin picks up her coat and bag and start to walk towards the door. The angels are momentarily stunned at her boldness, but comes out of it. At that time Anna-karin has already left the coffee-room and is running towards the exit.
They start to run after her, but Michaela trips one of the angels. The other one do notice this but do not stop to help his twin. Instead he runs after Anna-Karin.
Anna-Karin runs down the street, and then in through a gate leading to a back-yard. She runs across the back-yard through another gate out on a small parallel street. Down that small street and into an office with exits on both sides of the house, and out on another street.
The angel is lost and do not know where Anna-Karin has run. He fetches his twin and prepares for the task of telling the Boss that they has failed.
Anna-Karin enters the Palladium Movie Theater and looks at the huge clock on one wall. It's 17.15 o'clock. She decides to hide in the ladies' room and wait for Gabriel and Kenneth there.
At precisely 17.30 Anna-Karin leaves the ladies' room. At the ticket-box she sees Gabriel and Kenneth.
Anna-Karin: Hi!
Kenneth: What has happened? You don't look too well.
Anna-Karin: Two of the Boss' angels visited me at school to-day, just after you've left, Gabriel, and tried to take me to their leader. I ran away from them. Lucky this town is so full of cars that the smell of the exhausts stun their noses. And throw them of my scent.
Gabriel: I told them to leave you two alone. That was part of the peace treaty. I'll have to get you bodyguards, both of you.
Anna-Karin: I don't need bodyguards.
Gabriel: Don't argue with me on this one.
Anna-Karin opens her mouth to argue that, but reconsiders and closes it.
Kenneth: Well..Let's decide on a movie now, shall we.
Gabriel: That comedy seems worth the ticket price. And I think we all need to laugh.
Anna-Karin and Kenneth: Okay. Agreed.
A week later:
This is a room somewhere in the lower heavens. The room appears to be made entirely out of clouds. The furniture, two chairs and a table, in this room seems to have been made out of sunrays and stars. They sparkle a lot. At the table sits two angels. One of them is Gabriel, and the other one is Michael. They discuss something very animatedly.
Gabriel: Why are you breaking the peace treaty?
Michael: What?
Gabriel: A couple of your angels came a week ago to fetch an associate of mine; Anna-Karin. This was against the peace treaty. According to the peace treaty two humans are protected property of mine. Those two are Kenneth and Anna-Karin. By approaching them without my permission you have violated the terms of the peace treaty.
Michael: I have not done such a thing. No one in *my* troops have done something like that.
Gabriel: Well...somebody did.
Michael: Were there anyone who did not sign the treaty?
Gabriel: The Boss. But you signed the treaty on behalf of the Boss...
There is a long silence.
Gabriel: Didn't you?
Michael shakes his head.
Michael: I signed the peace treaty as the head of the loyal army, but the Boss himself never signed anything.
Gabriel: And the Boss still has a few troops that answer to Him and Him only, right?
Michael: Right.
Gabriel: Damn!
There is another long silence.
Gabriel: So what game is the Boss playing at?
Michael: Maybe He wants the treaty broken and the war to start again.
Gabriel: Hmpf! And everybody says I'm arrogant. At least I stick to the deals I've made.
Michael: The Boss can't stand being on the loosing side.
Gabriel: That's because He's used to be right, or at least used to hear everybody tell Him that He's right. He simply can't believe that he actually might be wrong or arrogant.
Michael: I've never heard you talk like that before.
Gabriel: Kenneth's rubbed off on me. He talks like that all the time. Got very firm political opinions. Thinks that the strong nations should be more humble, and not assume that because they are strong they are automatically right. about everything. And some of these nations have a tendency to bomb other nations that make the mistake to express a different opinion. And some of those call themselves the defenders of democracy and freedom.
Michael: Doesn't sound very democratic to me. The Boss is a bit like that now when I come to think of it.
Gabriel: I knew you would start to see things my way.
Michael: I'm not. I've started to think for myself. I see things *my* way.
Gabriel: So what are we to do about the Boss?
Michael: I think I have an idea...
Gabriel: Tell me.
They start to whisper in a conspirational way. Occasionally Gabriel chuckles.
Gabriel: Do you think this will work?
Michael: Even if only a tenth of what my troops told me is true, it should work.
Gabriel: So now we'll wait for the perfect opportunity.
Michael: Yes. And we'll have to keep our eyes, ears and noses open. Can't afford to miss it.
Two weeks after the conference in Heaven, Kenneth is moving into his new home.
He has no furniture, nor any kitchen utensils, nor anything else, so he has to buy it all.
Since his pay is low he has to buy everything in second-hand stores.
At the Salvation Army:
Kenneth is looking at a kitchen table with four chairs. Anna-Karin is checking the dining ware and the kitchenware shelves. Gabriel is sitting in an old armchair.
Kenneth: D'you think this table is steady enough?
Anna-Karin: I don't know. Have you checked the chairs yet? Their legs better not fall off.
Kenneth checks all the chairs and thinks they are steady enough. He tells Anna-karin this.
Gabriel: You better not take *this* armchair. It smells funny.
Anna-Karin: A bed, kitchen table and chairs. That's basically all you need. And a book-shelf. Maybe a wardrobe, if you haven't got a clothes closet in your place.
Kenneth: Got clothes closet. Anyone checked the beds yet?
Anna-Karin: No, you do that. Look at that set of china. Almost complete. And dirt cheap. ...And dirty. Needs lots of washing-up liquids.
Gabriel: Let's check the beds.
Gabriel and Kenneth checks out the beds. Kenneth takes an instant liking to one of the beds. It's a high old-fashioned thing with high gables at both ends. Kenneth loves it. Anna-Karin walks over to them.
Anna-Karin: You can camouflage that one as a sofa. All you need is a lot of cushions, and a blanket.
Kenneth: What do you think, Gabriel?
Gabriel: Those high ends looks nice, to sit on.
Kenneth: Yeah but...
Anna-Karin cuts in.
Anna-Karin: Would you like to sleep in it?
Kenneth blushes.
Kenneth: Shut up!
Anna-Karin shrugs and walks back to the pots and pans.
Gabriel: Was that what you was going to ask?
Kenneth nods.
Gabriel: It looks comfy, so...yeah. I'd like to sleep in it.
Kenneth looks relieved. But he bites back his next question. It will have to wait until later.
In the end Kenneth buys the bed, the kitchen table and the the chairs that go with it, one set of china and three pots of different sizes, and a frying pan. The three of them carry the load onto a bus going their way. The bed and the kitchen table and chairs are going to be delivered to Kenneth's home though.
Kenneth: Okay. The most important things are taken care of. Towels next. And bed linen.
Anna-Karin: Buy it now and then go home to yours?
Kenneth: Yes.
Kenneth's apartment is small. One room and a kitchen, a clothes closet, and a bathroom. There is also a broom cupboard.
Kenneth: It's the smallest bathroom I've seen. But it's mine!
The evening is passed eating take-out pizza, putting everything in their places and Anna-Karin telling Kenneth to get a vacuum cleaner and some paper to line the shelves with in the kitchen.
That night, Kenneth sleeps in his own bed in his own home. He sleeps alone. He wishes that Gabriel was lying next to him in the bed. But Gabriel has to escort Anna-Karin to her home since the Boss' agents might make another attempt at kidnapping her. But Kenneth is not without protection. A couple of magpie angels are building a nest in a tree outside his window. They'll guard him. Just like the magpie angels in the tree outside Anna-Karin's window.
One week later Kenneth invites everyone he knows to his moving-in party.
Kenneth: Hello! Welcome!
He steps aside to let Anna-Karin and Michaela in to the party. There's already a lot of people present.
Anna-Karin: I didn't think you knew that many people.
Kenneth: Well... I asked those *I* invited to bring some friends of theirs. And you *did* bring Michaela.
Anna-Karin: Only because she wanted to take a closer look at Gabriel.
Kenneth freezes.
Kenneth: Oh... Is that so?
Anna-Karin: Not like that! She thinks Gabriel looks like an actor who died back in the eighties, and wanted to ask him about it. You have nothing to be jealous about.
Kenneth relaxes.
Kenneth: Sorry...
He smiles.
Kenneth: ...I just keep thinking of Gabriel as my boyfriend.
Anna-Karin: Have you and he done *it* yet?
Kenneth: Anna-Karin!
Anna-Karin: I take that as a 'no' then.
The party progresses from the well-mannered 'getting-to-know-each-other phase to the more
rowdy 'so-where-exactly-is that-tattoo-then' phase.
Gabriel sits in the bed, which has been made into a couch, with two quite drunk men, one on
each side. They are playing a drinking game with him and from the look of things, Gabriel
is winning. But the booze is getting to his head too. He giggles a lot anyways.
On the floor dances five couples to the latest Swedish dance hits. There are also a few
singles.
Michaela has talked to Gabriel and seems pleased with the answer she got to her question.
She has not told Anna-Karin what the question was, nor what the answer was. Now she is
dancing with a guy.
Anna-Karin has found a boy to play a drinking game based on chess with. For each
chessman lost, the one who lost the piece must drink a mouthful of vodka. As a result they
are now both very drunk.
Kenneth has given up on the ordered party he had hoped for, and now sits together with the
guys and Gabriel on the sofa and plays strip poker.
Gabriel: These pants are the last items of clothing that I have not lost yet. And my belt.
Man#1: What about your underwear? If you got any?
Gabriel: No.
Kenneth nearly chokes on his vodka&cola. He coughs a lot while the others continue to talk.
Man#1: Oh. Then you can't wager your pants then.
Man#2: How about you dancing for us? If you loose this round, you dance for us.
Gabriel: Okay.
Kenneth blushes.
Gabriel looses the round. The other gamblers clears an area and tells everybody about the coming entertainment. Man#2 puts on a song by Alice Cooper on Kenneth's CD-player.
Gabriel stands in the circle in his leather trousers only. He taps his feet to the rhythm. He takes off his belt and hands it to Kenneth.
Your cruel device
Your blood, like ice
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
Gabriel begins to rock his hips, making his trousers slide further down his hips. Kenneth feels his mouth go dry. He didn't know Gabriel had such a nice stomach, or that the string of hair going from right below the navel and down inside his trousers was so interesting to watch.
I want to love you but I better not
touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
tells me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
are venomous poison
You're poison runnin' thru my
veins
You're poison, I don't want to
break these chains
Now Gabriel stops rocking his hips and begins to trace intricate steps on the floor. His arms are held out from his body and he waves them to the rhythm. Gabriel's eyes are closed and he seems to be dancing in his own world.
Your mouth, so hot
Your web, I'm caught
Your skin, so wet
Black lace on sweat
Now Gabriel opens his eyes, and putting one hand on his hip, he adopts the mock-seductive trot of a fashion model on a catwalk. And he walks around the circle, flirting with the ones sitting closest, both men and women. Then he go to Kenneth and sits down in his lap for a few seconds.
I hear you calling and it's needles
and pins (And pins)
I want to hurt you just to hear you
screaming my name
Don't want to touch you but
you're under my skin (Deep in)
I want to kiss you but your lips
are venomous poison
You're poison runnin' thru my
veins
You're poison, I don't want to
break these chains
Poison
Everybody cheer and begins to clap their hands to the rhythm. Gabriel begins to do some break dancing.
One look could kill
My pain, your thrill
I want to love you but I better not
touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
tells me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
are venomous poison
You're poison runnin' thru my
veins
You're poison, I don't want to
break these chains
Poison
Suddenly, as Gabriel takes a huge jump, just to touch the roof, everyone are temporarily blinded by a sharp light. Anna-Karin is the first one to regain her eyesight and she sees that Gabriel is showing his wings. The confusion only lasts for a minute, and everyone then sees Gabriel's wings.
I want to love you but I better not
touch (Don't touch)
I want to hold you but my senses
tells me to stop
I want to kiss you but I want it too
much (Too much)
I want to taste you but your lips
are venonumous poison, yeah
I don't want to break these chains
Poison, oh no
Runnin' deep inside my veins,
Burnin' deep inside my veins
It's poison
I don't wanna to break these chains
Poison
Anna-Karin quickly sobers up. Gabriel hides his wings as fast as he can, but there are already murmurs in the crowd.
Anna-Karin: It's just a hallucination. These wings aren't for real.
Gabriel: Just a collective hallucination.
Kenneth: It's getting late..
Anna-Karin: ...Or early in the morning rather...
Kenneth: ...So why don't you go home now.
Half an hour later all the party guests have left, except for Gabriel.
Kenneth: Sorry 'bout that.
Gabriel: Just an accident. No harm done.
Kenneth: Would you like to sleep over tonight?
Gabriel: Okay. In your bed?
Kenneth: Mind sharing it with me?
Gabriel: Not at all.
Author's note: The lyrics to the song Poison, by Alice Cooper, track #1 the CD Trash, was used without permission. No copyright infringement intended, and I'm not making any money from this.
Kenneth closes the door and locks it. He do not want anyone to interrupt this moment, now when he and Gabriel are finally alone. No Anna-karin who probably would like to watch. No stares from strangers. No more keeping oneself back. Great.
Gabriel: We should clean up this mess first.
Kenneth blinks.
Gabriel: I refuse to sleep with you in a pigsty.
Kenneth looks around. Bottles on the low table, on the windowsill and everywhere else. Empty snack bags and quite a lot of crushed popcorns on the floor. Not to mention the peanuts in the bed.
Kenneth: Can't we wait until tomorrow with that?
Gabriel: No.
Kenneth does a quick calculation: Clean up and get to sleep with Gabriel, or no clean up and
no sleeping with Gabriel. Easy choice. He fetches the vacuum cleaner.
He starts to vacuum the floors while Gabriel picks up the bottles and the empty bags and
cartons. There are also a few small bowls with dip sauce. Gabriel puts them in the kitchen sink,
and pours some water over them. Then there are the glasses. They go the same way. He is
grateful that he spent so much time watching Anna-karin do her household chores.
Kenneth: Oh yuck!
Gabriel: What?
Kenneth: Someone's puked!
Gabriel: Where?
Kenneth: On the mat! In the hall!
Gabriel: Let's drag it into the bathtub. That's something that can wait until tomorrow.
They do so. Then Gabriel decides that Kenneth's place is clean enough. Only the sheets in Kenneth's needs to get shaken free of all the small peanut and chips crumbs.
Kenneth opens one window to let in some fresh air. Then he pulls together the curtains, watching then billow gently in the night breeze. Then, as an afterthought he shakes the sheets and the pillows. Then he makes the bed.
Kenneth: I'm lucky to have tomorrow off. Or today rather.
He glances at the clock.
Kenneth: It's five in the morning.
Gabriel enters the room, having washed his face and hands.
Gabriel: Let's go to bed and *sleep*.
Kenneth does not protest. He is too tired for it.
It's nine o'clock in the morning. Kenneth wakes up, slowly. Then, still in a daze, he sits up in the bed. Gabriel is lying next to him. The angel is obviously sleeping. Or maybe he is faking sleep.
Kenneth then notices that he has a morning stiff. He wonders if it's just lust or if
he needs to take a leak. Kenneth concludes that it is both. So he gets to the loo to
take care of one of the causes. He do not bother to put on clothes, and he's been
sleeping naked.
When he returns, Gabriel is sitting in bed waiting for him. Kenneth is still sporting
a hard-on.
Kenneth: Want to?
Gabriel: I've never done it before.
Kenneth: But do you want to?
Gabriel pulls away the blanket covering the lower part of his body. He is having an erection too.
Kenneth: I take that as a 'yes.'
Gabriel nods in affirmation.
Kenneth: I'll do my best.
Gabriel leans back in the bed, as Kenneth begins to caress his chest and stomach. Slow movements, occasionally caressing Gabriel's nipples, as Gabriel arches up into Kenneth's hands. Then one hand go down to the pubic hair, combs through it a little and then descends down to Gabriel's cock. Kenneth takes a firm but gentle grip. Gabriel sits up to watch what Kenneth is doing to him.
Meeting Gabriel's puzzled gaze with his own calm, Kenneth begins to lick Gabriel's cock. With his hands and his tongue he explores the veins on the underside of the cock. Gabriel closes his eyes and grabs the sheets with both hands. He breathes in fast gasps. Kenneth licks at the hard shaft, as he keeps Gabriel's hips in place with his hands. Then he take the cock in his mouth.
Gabriel: Kenneth..
It sounds like a prayer.
Kenneth puts some pressure on the cock, and begins to stroke himself.
Gabriel: Kenneth!
Gabriel comes in Kenneth's mouth.
A few moments later Kenneth comes too.
It is very quiet in the room. The labored breathing of the man and the angel on the bed is the only sound heard.
The bells of the church a few blocks away announce to the whole town that it is now nine- thirty in the morning.
When the sound of the bells have died away, Gabriel and Kenneth are sleeping.
The Cozy Café is situated near the university college. It is a very cozy place, which serves the best hot chocolate in town, and they also boasts the biggest chocolate chip cookies. It is a very popular place, especially on sunday afternoons.
It is the day after Kenneth's party, and Anna-Karin sits at a table near the window. She is waiting for Kenneth and Gabriel to show up.
Despite what Kenneth thought, she did not want to watch them going at it. She is not a voyeur, and have a tendency to feel embarrassed even when people just kiss in public.
She has got the famous hot chocolate in front of her, together with the equally famous cookie.
Kenneth and Gabriel enters The Cozy Café.
Anna-Karin: Hi. Good afternoon.
Kenneth: Hi. Sorry we're late, but we had to clean up.
Gabriel sits down while Kenneth goes to buy some coffee.
Gabriel: It was an awful mess. Somebody had puked on a mat, and we had to throw it away. Tried to wash it, but it was no use.
Kenneth returns with the coffee.
Kenneth: Next time I feel like celebrating something, I'll have it at a restaurant or something.
Anna-Karin: It was fun though. Amazing dance, Gabriel. Now that's something I wanna remember for the rest of my life.
Gabriel: It comes with this body. Michaela asked me about my looks...
Anna-Karin: Yeah...
Gabriel: ...So I told her the story. The brief version.
Kenneth: Gonna tell us?
Gabriel: Sure. Why not. I'm in a good mood today.
Anna-Karin can imagine why, but does not say a word about that. Kenneth blushes.
Gabriel: There was this dark night, a very classical dark night. I was on a flight, had borrowed the body of a seagull. Saw a boat, heard noises and saw a man walk out of a cabin. Probably on his way to his own cabin. A bit drunk. Not exactly steady on his feet. There was a quarrel going on in the cabin that he'd left. I heard him mutter something about married people and arguments. Something about staying out of such things. Then, almost outside his own cabin, he had to be sick. So he leaned over the rail. And he lost his balance, when the boat made an unexpected roll, and fell into the water. Nobody heard his cries for help, and after a while he sank under the water...
Anna-Karin: ...And didn't come up again alive.
Gabriel: Right.
A moment of silence, as the humans tries to imagine what it must be like to watch someone drown and not be able to help. And then what it must be like to cry for help in vain.
Gabriel: Then I had a conversation with him, or his ghost. I told him that I needed a body, to use when I was in human shape. He asked me if I didn't have one already. I told him that I had grown tired of it. After a while he said okay. As long as I didn't show up in front of his family or his friends. And then he shook my wing to confirm the deal.
Kenneth: Where did he go? If he went anywhere, that is.
Gabriel: I don't know.
Anna-Karin: But didn't they find his body?
Gabriel: I used his body and looks as an original for shaping my human form. And in the process this form, my human form picked up a few traits from his original. The way I move, the way I talk, even the way I dance. He was a dancer from the beginning, you know.
Anna-karin lifts her chocolate jug.
Anna-Karin: Well, here's to Christopher Walken. Rest in peace.
Kenneth lifts his cup, as does Gabriel. They make a toast as the cups and the jug clinks together. Then the conversation move to other subjects.
Kenneth: How's the hangover?
Anna-Karin: Not awful. I took a headache powder before I left home this morning. How's yours?
Kenneth: Got none. But I've got this bubbly feeling in my head, like I could start singing musical tunes right here and now. I feel reckless. Brave.
Anna-Karin: That's a buzz, not a hangover. How about you, Gabriel?
Gabriel: I've got this faint pounding going on. And it keeps moving from one corner of the head to another.
Kenneth: Not a buzz?
Gabriel: No.
Anna-Karin thinks it is a bit amusing that she is comparing hangovers with the archangel Gabriel and his boyfriend. She does not say it though, but smiles to herself instead.
A year later. In The Cozy Café. The three sits at a table, discussing their plans for the summer. Anna-Karin has told her friends that she will move from from Borĺs back to her hometown.
Anna-Karin: I'll be in my old town from the end of july. Wish Michaela and I were done with the paper, but that won't happen anytime soon. Too many gaps to fill in. And too much left to find out. So this summer will be spent moving things around and writing things down.
She sighs mock-dramatically. Kenneth and Gabriel grins. They have heard her groan over her paper too many times to take her seriously anymore.
Gabriel: Kenneth and I, we'll visit some of those old historical sites here in Västergötland. The table-top hills, the old ruins and such.
Kenneth: We'll be camping, and try to live as cheap as we can.
Anna-Karin: What, sleep in a tent?
Kenneth: Budget vacation.
Anna-Karin smiles. She knows a lot about living on a small budget.
Anna-Karin: The best kind. At least to us poor devils.
Gabriel: Don't talk of the Devil...
Kenneth: ...Or he'll be knocking on the door.
Anna-Karin: Just a figure of speech. But I understand what you mean.
Right then a flash of light temporarily blinds everybody in the café. When they regains their eyesight, they see at least ten angels standing in the café. The newcomers look very artificial. Anna-Karin recognizes two of them as the angels who tried to kidnap her a year ago.
Angel#1: Get them.
The angels attack.
Three angels try to get a hold on Anna-Karin who keeps moving out of their reach. Then one of them get a grip on her shoulder. She retaliates with a technique that makes the angel cry out in pain. Anna-Karin pushes the angel onto the other angels, making them back away a little. Suddenly a fourth angel grabs her from behind, but she sinks down and backs into the angel, who looses some air. She slides out of the hold.
Anna-Karin: Amateurs.
Then someone hits her on the head, and she looses consciousness. An angel toss her over his shoulder.
Angel#1: Keep an eye on that one.
Kenneth fares no better. He wriggles but cant get out of the tight lock that two angels keeps him in. Gabriel has managed to knock out one angel, and fry two others with fire. Four angels, one for each arm and leg, are too many for him, though. Still, he bucks and kicks as viciously as he can.
The other guests at the café stares at the angels as they disappear with their captives. Then they looks around. Tables has been turned over, chairs tossed across the room and on the floor there is a mess of broken china and spilled coffee. The walls looks like someone has thrown big balls of fire at them, or rather at the people standing in front of them. Gabriel's work.
Café guest: What happened?
No one answers.
A big room. A bright room. Kenneth tries to make sense of his surroundings. He feels a bit nauseous. This kind of room puts him in mind of a stadium in some fascist state. Too big, trying too hard to be overwhelming. Kenneth does not like it at all. Gabriel lies next to him on the floor. He seems to be unconscious. Anna-Karin on the other hand is waking up. Both of them are wearing manacles. The manacles are slightly transparent, as if made out of glass. Kenneth do not know whether to relieved or insulted by the fact that he himself is not wearing any.
Anna-Karin: Uuughh ... Yuck.
She shakes her head and winces.
Anna-Karin: Ow ... Once I get that bastard who knocked me down, I'm gonna...
Kenneth: Any idea where we are?
Anna-Karin: Under a microscope?
Gabriel wakes up. Kenneth gives him a reassuring kiss on the cheek. Gabriel looks around.
Gabriel: This is bad.
Kenneth: How?
Gabriel: This is where the Boss keeps his trials, where traitors are judged.
Kenneth: What are these manacles?
Gabriel: They are made out of the Boss' own energy. Another bad thing.
And as if on cue the room fills up with people. They are all angels. Gabriel recognizes them as The ones loyal to the Boss. And then there is a throne, on which sits a ball of blinding light. Anna-Karin nods towards that light, covering her eyes with her hands like everyone else.
Anna-Karin: Is that the Boss?
Gabriel: Yes.
Anna-Karin: I'm not impressed. I've seen better effects at the theater.
And as far as Kenneth and Gabriel can judge, she means what she says.
Gabriel: Wonder where Michael is.
Gabriel then sees Michael being unceremoniously dumped from somewhere below the ceiling to the floor. Michael too are wearing manacles. All the members of both Michael's and Gabriel's armies are also being dropped to the floor, all of them wearing manacles.
The only ones not wearing manacles are the angels that are loyal to the Boss, and to Him only. And of course Kenneth.
The Boss: We are here to judge the traitors who dared defying Our will.
Anna-Karin snorts and spits on the floor. The room goes silent. No one have seen such a offensive act in this sacred room, and in front of the Boss too!
Anna-Karin: What was your will then? And as far as I know I have not betrayed anyone.
The Boss: Our will was complete obedience from all of Creation. And you have betrayed your God.
Anna-Karin: I'm not a Christian. So why should I obey you? And how can I betray something I never claimed to to believe in, and never did believe in?
The Boss: We created you!
Anna-Karin: No, you didn't. Mom and Dad did. So your charges against me falls.
Kenneth: I left the Church long ago, and am not a Christian anymore. So your charges against me falls too.
The angels look back and forth between the humans and their Boss. They have never seen such blatant disobedience from monk... er... Humans before. Gabriel and Michael exchange a glance. Seems like the moment they've been waiting for is right now. Gabriel grasps the opportunity.
Gabriel: Why have you manacled us? Doesn't you trust yourself enough to have us in here without chaining us?
Michael: Are you afraid of loosing control over us? Is that why you tried to restart the war?
The Boss: Who's on trial here?
Gabriel: We are, all of us, all of Heaven, including you.
The Boss: What do you mean, all of us?
Gabriel: How did this war begin, really? It began with us angels feeling ignored by you. And it went downhill from there. We wanted your attention. We wanted you to show that you cared. But instead you joined us in this mess. The Boss and the Loyalists versus the Rebels. Then after two thousand wasted years, there is peace. But you wanted to continue fighting. For what? Because you've gotten so used to war that you get scared at the thought of peace? For fear of getting bored?
Gabriel goes silent. He looks around. Everybody are listening. He continues.
Gabriel: Why did the war begin at all? Why were we angels so dependant on your attention? Because all we knew was that our existence depended on you, and if you didn't care about us, we might die. Or at least we thought so. Have you ever heard of Descartes? He who wrote 'I think, therefore I am'. I hadn't, until I met Kenneth.
Everybody waits for what Gabriel have to say next.
Gabriel: It took me a while to figure this one out. Five thousand years of indoctrination isn't easy to cast off. 'I think, therefore I am' and this means that my existence do not depend on whether you care about me or not. And since I don't depend on you, I'm free. I in a way am creating myself, and answer to myself.
All the angels begin to whisper among themselves.
Gabriel: This means that I can no longer blame my actions on you. I, and only I, am responsible for what I have done, good or bad. This is a terrible freedom, since I can no longer depend on anyone but myself to decide for me what's right and what's wrong. I have to make decisions I can live with, and defend to myself. It's a huge responsibility. I just can't walk around hurting people just because I feel like it.
Kenneth walks over to Gabriel and hugs him while Anna-Karin nods in agreement.
Kenneth: You've actually been listening to what I've said.
Gabriel: Of course. But I had to turn it over and over in my head until I understood what you meant.
Kenneth turns to the audience.
Kenneth: It's a huge thing, really, to think for yourself, and to choose your guiding stars, using only your own sound judgment. One has to know oneself very very well.
Anna-Karin: That's true.
The sound level rises from whispers to screaming discussions. Some thinks Gabriel is right, and others want to kill him for blasphemy.
Gabriel rises one hand to ask for silence.
Slowly the noise sinks down to a soft murmur.
Gabriel: I am on trial for questioning the very fundamentals of my existence. Only, those fundaments are no longer valid to me, since I've changed. You, the Boss, are on trial for not allowing us angels to be our own persons, to be free to think whatever we want to think. And for trying to keep us dissenters under lock and key. All of Heaven are on trial for not wanting to think for themselves, for not daring looking any further than the dictates of the Boss. For not questioning the picture of the world that was given to us. For not taking responsibility for your actions. How many of us have not at one time or other enjoyed hurting somebody, and then said that we only obeyed orders?
Gabriel looks around, daring anybody to meet his eyes. Everyone looks away.
Gabriel: Hm?
There are now heated discussions among all the angels, both those in Gabriel's army and those loyal to the Boss.
The Boss circles over his throne.
The Boss: Do you, all of you, really think that Gabriel's prattling is worth listening to? I am your Boss! I created you! You shall obey me!
Anna-Karin: Why? If that's your only reasons, then I don't think you are worth obeying at all.
Angel: I think Gabriel's right.
Other angels nods in agreement. The Boss looks around to see if he can identify the dissenter.
The Boss: Who said that? Show yourself, or else...
Anna-Karin: Or else what?
The unknown speaker remains unknown, showing that there are limits to the Boss' omniscience.
The Boss: You've turned everyone against me now. You've sowed doubts among my soldiers. Their obedience, if they obey, will never be whole-hearted any more. You've won.
The blinding light moves down from the throne.
The Boss: You may take it now.
The humans and the angels are surprised. It isn't like the Boss to give upp without a fight. Anna-Karin, and many others suspects a trap. There's something called a contra-revolution. They wonder if that is what the Boss is planning.
Gabriel takes a step forward. Kenneth opens his mouth to warn him.
Gabriel: No.
The Boss: No?
Michael: But you did want to take it once!
Gabriel: Not anymore. I think that throne should remain empty.
Kenneth: Or that you, all of Heaven, should elect somebody to sit there, for a limited amount of time. You know, democracy.
The Ex-Boss hovers forlornly near his throne. Only a few moments ago he was in total control. Now it has changed. The combined efforts of both humans and angels have seen to that. He looks at Gabriel, who listens to Kenneth explaining the mysterious human thing called democracy. The Boss knows he did his best to turn the tide, but what good is a commander with troops who refuses to listen to his orders? If he didn't have his pride to think of, he would've gladly thrown himself on the floor, screaming and crying like a spoiled brat, who hasn't gotten precisely what he wanted.
Anna-Karin: What's the matter with you?
The Ex-Boss: I'm beaten. And it's your fault!
The Ex-Boss circles around in a very annoyed way.
The Ex-Boss: You're gloating.
Anna-Karin: Yep.
The Ex-Boss looks around a little and notices something about the manacles he'd put on Gabriel and his allies.
The Ex-Boss: The manacles, they're gone! How did that happen?
Anna-Karin: Don't ask me. Maybe breaking your power had something to do with it.
A long silence.
The Ex-Boss: Now what can I do? I don't want to be in Heaven if I can't rule, and I don't want to go to Hell...
Anna-Karin: I don't care. Figure something out. Grow up!
Then Anna-karin leaves the Ex-Boss and goes to Kenneth and Gabriel.
Kenneth: Well, democracy is also about allowing everybody to voice their opinion, as long as they don't physically hurt anyone.
Michael: Even if it's a shocking opinion?
Kenneth: Yes.
Gabriel: It's going to be very lively here in Heaven.
Anna-Karin: Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I'd like to go home now.
Gabriel: Okay. Close your eyes.
Anna-karin do so. Then she hears a strange whistling sound, like a strong wind trying to get through a keyhole. When she opens her eyes, she is home, and the telephone is ringing. She answers. It's her mother and they talk for a while. Anna-Karin carefully don't mention anything of what happened this day.
A leap forwards in time. It is now june 2002. It is a monday evening, and Kenneth has just come home from work. There is no visit to the cinema planned this day for him and Gabriel. This is because Gabriel is a member of the election committee for the first elections in Heaven.
Kenneth sits at the table, drinking a cup of coffee, when the telephone rings.
Kenneth: Hello?
Anna-Karin (on telephone): Hello!
Kenneth: Hi! How did it go? I mean, with the final seminar.
Anna-Karin (on telephone): It passed! The paper on women printers from 1483 to 1883 in Sweden passed!
Kenneth: Congratulations!
Anna-Karin (on telephone): Thanks. But there's a lot of corrections to do for me and Michaela. But that's easy cake compared with writing the bloody thing.
Kenneth then hears the front door open and shut. He looks to se who it is. It's Gabriel.
Kenneth (into telephone): Gabriel's come home. Do you want to talk to him?
Anna-Karin (on telephone): Okay.
Kenneth hands the receiver to Gabriel.
Gabriel: Hi!
Anna-Karin (on telephone): Hi! My paper passed!
Gabriel: Congratulations!
They talk for a while and then hang up.
Gabriel sits down at the table. Kenneth hands him a cup of coffee.
Kenneth: Rough day?
Gabriel: Awfully. Now we have at least five parties, all with different views of what Heaven should be like. At least we all agree on what the elections should be like. But that took six months to get it through their thick skulls. Now we have moved on to how ballot rigging should be prevented. And everything that goes on on the earth gets discussed in Heaven, even on committee meetings. At length. Even if it's not important. Especially that Florida incident.
Gabriel groans.
Gabriel: My head aches!
Kenneth: Want me to massage it better?
Gabriel: Please do.
Kenneth stands behind Gabriel, who sits down, and begin to comb through Gabriel's hair with his fingers. His fingertips circles gently over Gabriel's temples before going back to the hair. Then he massages Gabriel's neck.
It is very peaceful and quiet.
Kenneth thinks of how much that can happen in a year. In two years. Two years ago he was ready to kill himself, thinking that he had no future. Then this crazy car trip down to Rome. His world had literally been thrown upside-down and then bounced around a few times. Who'd known angels did exist, and that they were nothing like the angels in the sugary TV-shows. And now he has the archangel Gabriel as a boyfriend, he has a job, and he really wants to know what the future has in store for him. Sure, he isn't as wealthy as he used to be, but he has no debts, and his life is much better now. And he has Gabriel.
Kenneth: You know, Gabriel, life is good.
Then he bends down to kiss Gabriel. And Gabriel has to agree with him. Despite the celestial politicks he has to deal with, and his headache, life is still pretty good. Especially if Kenneth is part of it.
THE END