How Like an Angel Read Free

place like the Tower.
    She sat down on the bench opposite him and watched him eat. “Who told you about us, Mr. Quinn?”
    â€œA man I hitched a ride with, he’s a hand on a ranch near here.”
    â€œThat sounds plausible.”
    â€œIt should. It’s true.”
    â€œWhere do you come from?”
    â€œFirst or last?” Quinn said.
    â€œEither, perhaps both.”
    â€œI was born in Detroit and the last place I lived was Reno.”
    â€œA wicked place, Reno.”
    â€œAt the moment I’m inclined to agree with you.”
    Sister Blessing gave a little grunt of disapproval. “I assume that you were, as they say in the vernacular, taken to the cleaners?”
    â€œThoroughly.”
    â€œDid you have a job in Reno?”
    â€œI was a security officer at one of the clubs. Or a casino cop, however you want to put it. I still have a detective’s license in Nevada but it probably won’t be renewed.”
    â€œYou were fired from your job?”
    â€œLet’s just say I was warned not to mix business with pleas­ure and I didn’t get the message in time.” Quinn started on the second sandwich. The bread was homemade and quite stale, but the cheese and ham were good and the butter sweet.
    â€œHow old are you, Mr. Quinn?”
    â€œThirty-five, thirty-six. Thirty-six, I guess.”
    â€œMost men your age are at home with their wives and families, not skittering about the mountainside looking for a hand­out ... So you’re thirty-six. Now what? Are you going to start your life all over again, on a higher plane?”
    Quinn stared at her across the table. “Look, Sister, I appre­ciate the food and hospitality, but I may as well make it clear that I’m not a candidate for conversion.”
    â€œDear me, I wasn’t thinking of that at all, Mr. Quinn. We don’t go out seeking converts. No, they come to us. When they weary of the world they come to us.”
    â€œThen what happens?”
    â€œWe prepare them for their ascension of the Tower. There are five levels. The bottom one, where we all begin, is the earth level. The second is the level of the trees, the third mountains, the fourth sky, and fifth is the Tower of Heaven where the Master lives. I’ve never gotten beyond the third level myself. In fact”—she leaned confidentially toward Quinn, frowning— “I have some difficulty staying there, even.”
    â€œNow why is that?”
    â€œIt’s because of the spiritual vibrations. I don’t feel them properly. Or when I do feel them it turns out there’s a jet plane overhead, or something’s exploded, and the vibrations aren’t spiritual at all. Once a tree fell, and I thought I was having the best vibrations ever. I was bitterly disappointed.”
    Quinn attempted to look sympathetic. “That’s too bad.”
    â€œOh, you don’t really think so.”
    â€œBut I do.”
    â€œNo. I can tell. Skeptics always get a certain twist to their mouths.”
    â€œI have a piece of ham caught in my front tooth.”
    Before she covered her mouth with her hand, a little giggle escaped. She seemed flustered by the sound of it, as if it were a frivolous memento of the past she thought she’d left behind.
    She got up and walked over to the icebox. “Shall I pour you some goat’s milk? It’s very nourishing.”
    â€œNo, thank you. A cup of coffee would be—”
    â€œWe never use stimulants.”
    â€œMaybe you should try. Your vibrations might improve.”
    â€œI must ask you to be more respectful, Mr. Quinn.”
    â€œSorry. The good food has made me a little light-headed.”
    â€œOh, it wasn’t that good.”
    â€œI insist it was.”
    â€œWell, I admit the cheese isn’t so bad. Brother Behold the Vision makes it from a secret recipe.”
    â€œPlease congratulate him for me.” Quinn rose, stretched, and