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to see Jessica crawling the short distance over to the ottoman and grabbing onto the nubby tweed fabric with both hands, awkwardly pulling herself up into a standing position.   Her body wobbled on unsure feet and she immediately plopped to the floor, bonking her head on the front edge of the couch.   The cushion softened the impact and the baby just giggled as her bottom hit the ground, but Michael gasped in terror at the possibility of injury.   How did children ever make it to adulthood if they were constantly at risk of hurting themselves?   Of course, even the adults frequently needed angelic intervention to avoid dangerous situations, he recalled, remembering the clueless way the humans had behaved on his first visit to Earth.   Michael puffed with pride as he realized just how important his kind was to the survival of the human race.
    After that, he stayed by Jessica’s side, keeping a close watch on her and only exploring her surroundings with his eyes as he kept a lookout for danger.   He tried to make conversation with Sarah’s guardian, but Theus wasn’t exactly the talkative type.
    “So is this your first assignment?” Michael asked the stoic angel while Jessica and her mother napped.
    “Not exactly,” Theus chuckled at the ignorance of the young angel.   “I’ve guarded three others to their destinies.   Sarah is my fourth.”
    “You mean you’ve lived through three human lifetimes, already?”   Michael marveled.   “What are you, like 250 years old?”
    “Not all lifetimes are the same length,” Theus explained, “but I do have many, many years of experience behind me.”
    “So does that mean you screwed up and some of your humans lived shorter lives?”
    “A short life is rarely an indication of an angel’s mistake, young Michael.   The Master has different plans for each soul.   You would be wise to accept that.”
    “Well, I think everybody deserves a chance at a full life, and I wasn't about to stand by and let an innocent baby die because her guardian wasn’t paying enough attention,” Michael insisted, refusing to contemplate the great mystery of why the Master allowed some humans to die so early.
    “Many would argue that passing from this plane to the next is a blessing, not a curse,” Theus replied, but he knew Michael was not ready to understand.   Theus never expected to have his current assignment complicated by the addition of an overeager and ill-prepared new angel, but he understood why the Master had chosen him.   His years of experience would prove invaluable towards overseeing the ignorant, young angel who thought he knew better than the Almighty.
    “So tell me about all the lives you’ve lived,” Michael begged.   “Where did you go and what did you see?”   Theus rolled his eyes and sighed, but proceeded to tell Michael a little about his past adventures while Michael listened with rapt attention, peppering the conversation with oohs and aahs and demands for more.

chapter three

    As the months passed, Michael quickly realized how unprepared he was for the job of guarding a human.   There were so many things he didn’t know about, so many ways for humans to get into trouble, especially little ones like Jessica.   He swooped frantically around her as she learned to walk, toddling through the house like a pinball on a collision course with every table and chair and dangerously sharp, open cabinet door.   She was constantly getting into things she shouldn’t, putting poisonous things in her mouth, and sticking her fingers in places likely to pinch, electrocute, or amputate.   Michael lost count of the times he had stopped her from drinking from the bottle of shampoo or guided her wobbly body away from the steep drop of the stairs.   He felt like he could write a book: A Hundred and One Ways for a Toddler to Accidentally Kill Herself .   He loved his job and he never regretted the choice he had made, but he was painfully aware that he was barely