Deployment.

I am afraid of heights.
It is a pretty serious problem i am told.
Given my line of work there are certain things expected of you. Even more importantly, i am not told, are things that are not expected.

Fear of Heights appears to be one of them. It is why i am seated here waiting.
My condition has been referred to the people above me and some form of reckoning or reconciliation is scheduled to take place.
I think it's a lot of fuss over nothing really but everyone assures me that, in my line of work , it isn't.
You see I am an Angel.

There is a soft gasp and he walks in.
Well, he doesn't so much walk as floats.
When one is an Arch Angel like Micheal walking is hardly the means of conveyance.
I play with my fingers nervously as he seats down opposite me. To calm my nerves I wonder why i am fidgeting.

Micheal doesn't notice my fidgeting. If he does he is polite and does not comment on it. He looks through the sheaf of paper in his hands. Some unbiased report--i suppose--on my......preference.
"You're afraid of heights?" Angel Micheal asks with a smile.
I close my eyes in exasperation. Obviously i am wrong.
It is a big deal when an angel is afraid of heights.
Micheal chuckles."What;s your name?" He asks.
He asks me the question in Yiddish. We Angels are Multi Lingual. The simplest of us is versed in over 987 earth languages. Obviously Arch Angels are acquainted with more. It is a common habit for us to converse in different languages.
"Mourinho." I reply.
Okay. Granted that really isn't my name. I don't really say Mourinho in answer to his question but instead give him my actual name. Unfortunately What my real name is is something that--unless ordered otherwise-- i cannot write here. To cover this problem i have picked a susbtitute.
Mourinho is just as good a substitute name as Micheal is.
No. Micheal isn't his real name either.
Micheal smiles."It's okay. You aren't the first Angel afraid of heights."
I look at him with surprise.
"I'm not." I ask him this in German. One of my favorite languages.
"Off course not. It's actually quite common. Something to do with an angel's fear of falling." He chuckles again "Fallen Angels aren't good news you know."
I nod my head not really understanding.
Micheal turns a sheet and writes on the page using a quill dipped in ink."Let see. Before this you were a Seraph. In the Choir it says."
I smile happily. This is something i am proud off.
"Yes i was. I sang the Dotrino Hossana Harmas. 4 times in a row." I look at him hopefully " Do you want to hear it?"
"Er.... NO." Micheal says.
I slouch in my seat a bit let down. I understand his hesitation though. An Angel cannot leave his work until it's done. The Dotrino Hossana Hama takes 1500 earth years to complete.
""4 times in a row. Very Impressive.."mummurs Micheal in Latin.
"WHat's that?"
"Never mind." He says to me with another lovely smile.He shouldn't have bothered.
We angels rarely worry for long.It's on the list of things one expects from angels. A lack of worry. It's an Angel thing.
Across me Micheal tries to write in the scroll that he holds in his hand. The quill appears to be broken. He sighs and looks across at me.
"DO duck your head."
His wings are magnificent.
They unfold slowly from behind him. Blossoming out into the masterpiece of white plumage. A soft breeze sweeps across the room as he fans them softly sending tufts of cloud in difrent direction. Framed by the feathers he appears even more beautiful.I watch as he fiddles with his wings a bit before finally settling on one feather.
He pulls it out.
"Ouch" i say using the Universal language of Ouch.
My wings behind me quiver with the shock of the act.
It must have hurt a lot but Micheal doesn't show it. My respect for Arch Angels grow a notch.He dips the new quill in the bottle of Ink.
"I cant wait for Laszlo Biro to come to heaven. There are changes that i wouldn't mind seeing around here. A Biro wouldn't be bad at all."
"A what?" I ask him. He spoke in English and yet it is a word i am not familiar with.
"Never mind."
I do the angel thing. It is a very easy thing to do .Not worrying.
"Okay Mourinho. You know why you are here. It seems there are more and more souls popping up on earth. 3000 years ago we had barely a million people on the earth. We didn't need to supervise as much. I remember the years after the Flood. Noah and his family were all we had to watch over."He sighs dreamily."Those were Good times. Good times indeed."Micheal leans forward and points to a meter behind him. There is a number on it written in lovely Calligraph.
Six Billion, five hundred and sixty thousand , two hundred and three.
"Now we have Six Billion, five hundred and sixty thousand , two hundred and three souls on earth.
""Two hundred and eight." I correct him.
"What?" Micheal Asks.
I point behind him. The handwritten Meter has changed with an extra five. It now reads.Six Billion, five hundred and sixty thousand , two hundred and Eight.
Micheal nods and throws his wing in the air.
" You see what I'm talking about. They're growing at an alarming rate. Popping up all over the world . Unless..... off course some woman just delivered Quintuplets."
"Quintuplets?" I say with a laugh.
Micheal nods." It means...."
" I know what it means." I interrupt. Somehow we have ended up speaking Greek for the last minute. I change to Spanish. " I see what you mean."
The numbers on the wall have gained an extra one hundred.
" Do you now? Well that's good." Micheal says with a smile. " We've got a lot more souls to watch over now. Most of them require at least 2 angels to watch over them and that's if we're lucky. Some girl asked him for 7 angels to watch over her puppy. There's a lot of demand for us over there. " He looked at me grimly."That's were you come in. We've decided to pull some of our Seraphs to help out with the load. It's been ordered by him. We wanted to send you some where south but this flying thing..."
"The Flying thing." I repeated with a respectful nod.
Micheal smiled at me again. He seemed to love doing that a lot.
"It's okay though. A ready solution comes to mind. We'll just send you over to places that do not require much flying. A place were people stay closer to the ground than most. You shouldn't have a problem blending in there. it's a proven ground for people with your condition."
I cant help it and blush.
"I feel so embarrassed ." I say in Gibberish.
Remarkably enough he hears me." Oh no. Don't be. There are angels that have crazier sides. Why , i know of an angel who liked to float upside down. Scared the hell out of some nuns in Brazil. No no. YOu're fine. It's a phase. You'll slip out of it." Micheal said laughing. " In the mean time here's your deployment papers. You'll like it. We're sending you to the Equatroix Section. ALpha Mani."
I take the papers from him and read it quickly."It's close to the desert." I say with delight.
Micheal nods sagely. " Yes. We took your singing experience into consideration. Just in case you feel like singing. There's space enough..." Micheal says in Russian.
I smile happily. He twirls the quill with a pleased look.
Business all done.
" SO that;s it then." He says with a smile ."Pack your bags and roll out. Someone will attend to you when you get there."
I rise happily while he floats opposite me.
."See?" He says in another language "I tell you say Wahala no dey. No worry."
I smile happily back doing the Angel thing.
Worry Ke? Thunder Fire Satan.