After School Special
Paula Steinke was enjoying Prospect High School (in Mount Prospect Illinois) immensely. But although she was now a sophomore, her parents were still hesitant about giving her more freedom. “I especially worry when you stay late after school, and walk home alone,” her dad pointed out. “Promise you’ll phone me to come and get you.” Paula promised. But she felt a little guilty. The Steinkes had six children, and her father was busy enough without running a personal taxi service just for her. But she obeyed.
One afternoon, Paula stayed after school to attend a sports match. The game went overtime, and the sun had long set by the time she left the gym. She should phone her dad to come and pick her up, she knew, but instead she decided to walk home alone. It wasn’t that far and she’d save him an extra errand.
However, Paula hadn’t realized how absolutely dark her route was. The streetlights threw little brightness on the sidewalks, enclosed as they were by bushes and overhanging trees—which rustled ominously as she passed. No one was outside, and few cars passed her. Paula became increasingly nervous. Oh, why hadn’t she called her dad as she assured him she would do?
Suddenly Paula heard a sound behind her. She half-turned, preparing to scream and run….and saw a boy about her own age, riding a bike slowly behind her. “Hi, Paula!” he said and smiled. Paula stared at him. Skinny, with short blond hair and a casual air. His long legs were touching the ground, rolling the beat-up bike from side to side. She must know him, she thought. Only…he didn’t seem at all familiar. “Hi. Have we met?” she asked.
“I’ve seen you at Prospect High,” he answered. Oh. Paula still couldn’t remember ever meeting him. But the boy began to ask her about the game she’d just attended, and the two fell into easy conversation. As the blocks passed, Paula relaxed. Her escort had come along at the perfect moment. Just two houses before Paula’s, as if he had known her destination, the boy abruptly pushed down on the pedals. “See ya!” he called over his shoulder and rode away, shirt flapping as he disappeared into the dark. Paula went into the house, feeling oddly contented. She waved to her mother in the kitchen, then went upstairs, still bemused. Her father was right, she knew. She shouldn’t be out in the dark alone, and she wouldn’t do it again. But how lucky she had been, to run into that boy…
She realized now that he had known her name, but she didn’t know his. She reached for her yearbook, to look him up.
But there was no photograph of the blond boy, not in homeroom or activity photos. And although Paula attended high school for two more years, she never saw him again. “But he said he saw me at Prospect High,” she says today, “and I have no doubt that he did. Guardian angels don’t always have wings.”
Copyright 2003 Joan Wester Anderson, www.joanwanderson.com
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This story gave me shivers as it is uncannily very similiar to an experience my daughter Karlie experienced. We live in Oshawa, Ontario Canada. The first year Karlie was in highschool Karlie had met new friends; friends I did not know. One Friday evening in June 2001, Karlie asked me if she could meet with these friends in the park. It was after dark and my motherly instincts kicked in and I told her no.
I explained to Karlie that if she was not at someone’s home where I could reach her by telephone, then she was not going. I told her nothing good ever happens in a park after dark. Before long, Karlie’s childhood friend Leslie phoned. Karlie asked me if she could go over to Leslie’s home, which is 3 homes away from ours. I said yes and off she went. I was in the kitchen making a cake. A short while later, Karlie returned. She came into the kitchen visibly upset and said she needed to tell me something. I turned off the cake blender and listened to Karlie admit to me that she had not been honest with me. Karlie told me she wasn’t really going over to Leslie’s home, but that she was meeting Leslie at the neighbourhood variety store to meet with their friends. To get to this store, Karlie had to walk down a long, dark street surrounded by lots of bushes. As Karlie was walking along this dark street, a teenage boy came up behind her on a bicycle. He spoke to Karlie with such familiarity that Karlie felt very comfortable. Karlie said that without having to say anything, they both turned directions and it was as if the boy guided her back towards her home. As they walked, the teenage boy told Karlie he had a message for her from God. The message was that if Karlie continued to follow the path she was following, something bad would happen. Then just like in Paula Steinke’s story, as Karlie was just a few houses from her home, the boy said goodbye to Karlie and disappeared up the street. Karlie was in tears crying telling me this story and that she believed this boy was an angel.
The following morning, I had to take Karlie to play baseball. Due to rain, the game was delayed and Karlie and I sat in our car with another of Karlie’s teammates and her mother. I asked the question to everyone in the car, “So what should we talk about?” To my dismay, Karlie blurted out to everyone, “I know, I saw an angel last night.” I was astonished that Karlie would actually speak about this incident to people she did not really know so well. Karlie would never want to bring attention to herself in such a way that people might make fun of her, and yet here she was opening up to people about this amazing occurance the night before.
To this day I will never forget that mystical evening and thank that teenage angel from the bottom of my heart for safely bringing home my daughter.