You know those stories where a couple lets a wayfarer stay the night and they kill their only goat to feed them, and then the wayfarer turns out to be a wish-granting angel? That happened to us. Only, we didn’t have a goat and anyway, she’s vegetarian and any goat living here would be part of the family. Bunty killed and stuffed a marrow instead.
We had been feeling fraught. I was behind with my studies, Bunty with his work. The house was a tip. The guinea pigs were still living indoors because we hadn’t had time to fix up their summer housing. Everything was getting on top of us and I had a deadline coming up for an assignment which required a familiarity with Excel – a programme I have never used. Then there was a knock on the door.
A smiling girl stood on our doorstep with a rucksack on her back. She asked if she might stay the night. Readers will know that our door is open to every creature needing a bed for the night, so, of course, we said yes. The girl’s name was Seraph. A Christian friend has remarked that you can’t get a bigger clue-by-four than that.
Over the marrow, it transpired that Seraph was familiar with Excel, and so after enthusiastically cleaning out the guinea pigs’ tower for us, she spent the evening walking me through the steps needed to produce graphs from tables. It was a huge relief. The cats showed their approval by standing on her.
A week later, she is still here. She has fixed up the animal housing,
Bathed the guinea pigs and released them into their new homes in the garden,
Dismantled and spray-cleaned the guinea pig tower,
Cleaned the house, told us stories, cheered us up, and gave us enough free time and energy to get out of the house and go sightseeing.
It’s mighty generous of this God fellow to bless us godless atheists like this. Our Doorstep Angel is looking for a job, and when she finds one, she will move on and leave us. We wish her well… and we are thinking of starting an angel sanctuary.
Based in Scotland, my boyfriend Bunty and I open our door to unwanted pets and try to enrich their lives with freedom and wonder. The upshot is that we are greeted every morning by butts in our faces, ripped wallpaper, and an ear-splitting cacophony of demands for breakfast. That means they love us, right?
Wonderful, what a boon to have found. I hope you can be a reference for her in her job hunt.
References already in progress. :)
You guys are super nice. I don’t know a lot of people that would do that.
Maybe that’s because nobody’s asked them to. You never know…
Such house guests are always welcome :-) Wonderful story, it’s hard to believe it’s true, but this time, I can honestly say, my friend has an angel at her house :-D
Makes you cry. I’m mighty glad she came and you were able to help each other. And I mightily approve of your spiritual flexibility on this occasion. ;)
What a great post! I’m hoping your angel gets a great job but I’d find it hard to let her get away. I mean how many guinea pig washers are there out there?
Absolutely! We are really going to miss her.
I think you need to adopt her. She sounds like such an angel and couldn’t have shown up at your doorstep at a better time. Wish her great thanks and hugs from the outside world.
We will. Thanks. :)
Wow…She sounds great. We’re in Belfast, but looking for someone ultra-adaptable to slot into our three business – 5 cat – 2 kid household/office……have started looking for a placement student but are worried that the shock to the system might be too much for them! How does she feel about Northern Ireland? If remotely interested, tell her to e.mail me!
I have passed the message along. Thank you! She has just sent her CV to a variety of places local to us, so I’m guessing you may get an email if she gets no joy from them.
Sorry – that last reply was me. Didn’t realise I was logged out, d’oh!
Great story, and so glad you could get that tutoring in Excel! And that you got to go out for a while. Wish I had someone who would show up like that!
The world is clearly in need of more random itinerants. :)