Diary of an Angel by Michael M. Farnsworth

children would be glad to provide them.”
    This was too much for Angela, and she didn’t know how to respond to Jack’s cruel sarcasm. She was mad enough to punch him in the nose. With clenched fists and gritted teeth she retreated from the ugly battle, slamming the door a s hard as she could behind her.

VI
    Discovery
     
    A lost job? That was the difficult trial? Honestly, I expected much worse and felt relieved by the news. Anawin, though, warned not to trivialize Jack’s job loss.
    “Do not underestimate the challenge this will be for Angela and her family,” she had counseled. “You saw yourself how Angela reacted to the news.”
    “I know. But he’ll get another job, and then everything will be fine, right?”
    “Maybe, maybe not. We’re not often given to know the future, dear. But I would guess that God doesn’t intend for Jack to simply find a different job, and go on as before. I would be rather surprised if this turns out to be merely a temporary inconvenience.”
    Anawin had been right, of course. Weeks passed by, the children had returned to school from their summer break, but Jack still had not found a job. No one seemed to be hiring someone with Jack’s skills. As the days and weeks passed, Angela became increasingly distressed. I gathered from her muddled thoughts that Jack and Angela’s savings were scantly. She wondered how long they could get by without any source of income. Each time Jack returned from a search unsuccessful, a little cloud of darkness grew in Angela’s life.
    More than their financial plight, I worried about Jack and Angela’s relationship. In the wake of their heated encounter, anger and ill feeling s had surged through Angela like a rampaging tempest. Fear and dismay, however, thoroughly quelled that storm, and by the next day Angela had forgotten the fight. Yet something was not right between them; they were cold and indifferent towards each other, unsupportive, calloused. They had scarcely exchanged words since that calamitous morning. When they did, the words were curt and impersonal. Angela avoided Jack as much as possible, and Jack did likewise. Nothing I did helped bridge the gap. Angela was completely impervious to my efforts.
    I cried nearly every day during those awful weeks, whilst the devils cackled maniacally.
    What was going on? How could they be so cold and indifferent? Had they been like this before Jack lost his job? Clairus offered no insight into this quandary. After one particularly frustrating day, and failing again to get any useful information from Clairus, I resolved to approach Anawin for some additional guidance.
     
    I found Anawin reading a book in the library, and I sat down beside her in a comfortable armchair. I waited quietly, while Anawin continued reading. After some time, Anawin let out a sigh and placed the book in her lap. She turned and smiled at me warmly.
    “I love that part,” she said. “Have you ever read it?”
    She held up the book so that I could read the gold letters on its cover. Jane Eyre .
    “I’ve heard of it,” I said.
    “Well, if you’re ever in the mood for a good love story...Anyway, what can I do for you, my dear?”
    “I think there’s an important piece of Angela’s past that I don’t know about—something that should explain Jack and Angela’s estrangement.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yes...there must be. They couldn’t just get that way overnight. Something must have initiated it. Surely you know something?”
    “I know everything about Jack and Angela’s life together.”
    “Then there’s nothing that could have caused this rift between them?”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    I frowned. Anawin was being about as helpful as Clairus had been.
    “Can you not tell me, then?”
    Anawin placed her hand on mine and looked at me with tenderness.
    “You’ve been given all the information you need to help Angela.”
    “But—”
    “Forenica, you have forgotten something.”
    “Forgotten