The Shasta Caper, Chapter Forty-One is now posted on ImagineNatinon.

Chapter Forty-One

Al stood to the right of the group, with Marilyn on his right, admiring the view.

"Imagine, Samuel, all this beauty has existed here since the dawn of time. All beneath your feet, beneath the feet of everyone. No one knowing, or having the slightest idea that Paradise was not in the heavens, but at their feet." Al said gently, his eyes moist.

Samuel smiled. "Being a bit dramatic, are we?"

Al laughed, then spun in a whirl, his hair flying every which direction. "I feel like a child again."

Samuel looked over at Marilyn and she shrugged. "He has these bouts of mania from time to time. 

Probably helps relieve the boredom of always being right."

Al stopped and gave her a stern stare. 

"Just saying, sweetie.  Just because we're angels now, doesn't mean we know everything."

Al sighed and looked at Samuel with the appearance of a sad puppy dog.

"See what I get, Samuel. No respect. Neither from humans, nor from angels."

Marilyn laughed. "If you ask me, you're way over rated."

Al laughed. "I agree!"

He and Marilyn vanished.

Samuel looked back at his friends, who hadn't heard a word of the conversations. Samuel had been speaking with his friends through his mind, not his lips. "I suspect we'll be getting a tour of the place soon."

"By whom?" Jimbo asked. "The local Trolls?"

Nanny puffed up. "Jimmie, it's not Trolls who live underground. It's dwarves."

Samuel stepped to the edge of the balcony landing and looked down.  A stairway wound down from the right side into the valley of flowers below. As he stared he could see teams of humans working through fruit orchards, plucking huge beautiful purple colored fruits and placing them on floating baskets.

"Looks good to me." Jimbo said, his stomach growling. "It'd be nice to eat something that wasn't beans for awhile."

"Or Twinkies." Groaned Nanny.

Samuel nodded and went to the right side of the balcony and placed his right palm about half way up the wall of the exit there. The railing melted back into the wall, revealing the top of the flight of stairs. No railing on its sides. 

Jimbo looked at that and shook his head. "Why. Oh why, never any railings? Do they have wings?"

"Not exactly." Samuel said, then pointed.

Jimbo and Nancy gasped as they saw some of the fruit pickers launch into the air like Supermen and fly off.

"Man." Jimbo sighed. "What I wouldn't give to be able to do that."

"Then what?" Nanny asked.

"What do you mean then what?" He wailed. "I wouldn't have to spend so damned much money on gas for my car!"

Samuel ignored his two friend's squabble and stepped onto the top step of the flight of stairs, and began descending. 

Jimbo nodded to Nanny. "Age before beauty."

"Don't you have that backwards, wise guy?" Nanny shot back.

"Nah. Not really."

Nanny slugged his right shoulder.

Jimbo cried out in pain.

Samuel almost broke into laughter as he was descending. He knew exactly what had just happened. 

Jimbo was lucky she hadn't pushed him off the balcony. He sighed. He liked her a lot, but it was obvious, as usual, that he was not going to get the girl. Maybe he never would, he thought sadly for a moment, then he shook it off. His life was so fully, maybe God was doing him a favor. His woman would probably never see him except on the holidays anyway.

With that thought in mind, he missed a step that just wasn't there.

He flung his arms out to try and recover his balance.

Jimbo and Nancy screamed as he tumbled from the flight of stairs and plunged towards the ground below, which was hundreds of feet down.

Before he could strike the surface two men swooped into the air and caught him by his arms and  retrieved him to safety. They dropped him safely to the ground, then stood next to him, looking him over. They were giants!

Each one stood over eight feet tall. They wore a light cloth that was almost transparent that wrapped around their muscular figures like Indian dhottis. Their hair was pure white, their eyes purple and their skin bronze. They were beautiful like angels. In that very thought of how much he appreciated them, they both smiled.

The taller one, who was almost nine feet tall, dropped to his knees so Samuel didn't have to look up and reached a large hand out. "I am Meegal. I am pleased to finally meet you, Samuel of the Light."

The other one, also dropped own and extended his hand. "And I am his brother Darrel. I am also pleased to meet you." He grinned. "And in this case to stop you from prematurely fertilizing our orchards."

Samuel shook each of the hands, grinning from ear to ear. "I feel like I've known you two forever and better yet..."

"You don't go WHAM when you touch us."

"I know." Darrell said, standing back up. "It's because we have no past. Yet."

Meegal stood also and gave Samuel a grin when he gave Darrel a surprised look. "We're not as young as we seem. Most who live here in Agharta are not."

"But then you didn't come here to find out how old were are, did you, Samuel?" Darrell asked.

They both turned and looked as Jimbo and Nanny came running up.

"Oh thank God you're safe, Sammie!" Jimbo cried out and flung his arms around his friend and hugged him tight. His eyes were brimming with tears. "I thought for sure we had lost you. I had lost you."

Then he realized who Samuel was standing next to. 

Nanny stood between the two giants, doing her best not to scream. Finally, she screamed.

Darrell and Meegal both broke into laughter.

Nanny screamed several more seconds, then her fear turned to anger. "How dare you laugh at a frightened lady?"

"From what we've been hearing on your way down to us." Meegal said. "You don't sound like a lady at all!"

Nanny balled a fist. "I don't care if you are nine feet tall. The taller they are..."

"The harder they fall." Darrell said, then floated off the ground above her. "Give it your best shot. If you can!"

After Nanny calmed down, Jimbo was introduced, and even Nanny eventually allowed herself to shake hands with the giants, but both made sure they were out of range of her knee and feet, a judgment made wiser by the fact that they knew exactly what she had been thinking.