Not in The Book

1

         It’s a curious but well-known fact that people have a tendency to think of policemen as machine-like individuals who are completely immune from anxiety, frustrations and fear.

         In fairness to these men and women (no person, regardless of the line of work they pursue, can live up to a “Superman” billing. Expectations are too high.) who hold the line against crime , let it be stated that nothing could be further from the truth. Such thoughts are a contradiction…perfectly normal assumptions, yet totally wrong and misleading.

         Though highly-trained, law-enforcement officers are victimized by the same whims that you and I as private citizens are prone to.

                  The duties of these “Blue Knights” lead them into many difficult and trying situations where “human weakness” might be displayed. One needs only to consider the nature of their work and the unsavory clientele they must deal with on a daily basis to realize the role of a peace-officer is hardly a “glamour position.

         A policeman must stay constantly alert, for he never knows what the next terse message blaring from a radio will send him to confront. A call crackles out over police airwaves and patrolling officers are dispatched to face a myriad of ordeals. Most are trivial and routine, requiring only the presence of badge and uniform to restore law and order.

         But some calls for help will send him into the midst of violence         and danger; split-second timing and quick decisions are needed to calm such tension-filled scenes.

         And then there are those calls for assistance which don’t fit into any of the above categories, situations “not covered by the book”…weren’t mentioned by police-academy instructors.

         Uniformed men will occasionally find themselves in bizarre surroundings, facing  “the unusual, the unknown.” Cases that are rife with “high strangeness” factors.

         A short while back I had a most interesting talk with a local police officer ( no useful purpose would be served by revealing his identity, so we’ll call him Tom Smith ).

         Our conversation centered around his recent involvement in one such “incident.” A troubled expression was evident on his creased and weather-beaten face as he recalled that case which, by the way, occurred just two short months ago.

         This officer became increasingly edgy as our chat progressed…beads of sweat rolled from a wrinkled brow. Such demeanor fell far short of his “public image.”

         But it soon became clear that his behavior was justifiable, surely understandable. This policeman thinks he contacted a superior intelligence, a highly-advanced “Being”  not from this earth.

         You see, Officer Smith is thoroughly convinced  he met with, and talked to…an ANGEL…

2

         Officer Tom Smith and his crime-bustin’ partner, a policewoman we’ll call Sally Smith, were patrolling the eastern sector of Giles County when a call blasted forth from their far-reaching radio.

         A frantic note of urgency was clearly detected in the dispatcher’s voice, prompting the uniformed duo to listen with special attention. This wasn’t idle chit-chat that’s too often heard on official channels, but serious police business.

         Instructions from headquarters were precise and straight to the point: “Unit 34, we have a call for assistance that must be answered immediately. A lady has just phoned in from 115 Brockway Lane, saying an oddly-dressed man who’s acting very strange is pacing back and forth in the road out there. She advises this subject seems to be some sort of preacher. Get right over there and determine the situation.”

         Smith responded quickly: “Roger, we’re proceeding to the 10-20 and will check it out. This is unit 34…over and out.”

         The address of the reported disturbance was only 2 miles distant. In as many minutes , thanks to the silky performance of their powerful cruiser, Officers Smith and Brown careened around a sharp curve to arrive at the residence where the “activity” was supposedly happening.

         The narrow twisting road straightened at this point. To their right a steep hillside arose, and at an elevation considerably above the road was a neat ranchstyle house, the sole sign of man’s intrusion into a picturesque and heavily-wooded landscape.

         Smith and Brown had worked as a team for several years. Too many times this pair had witnessed grisly carnage at highway crash scenes.

         They’d investigated untold numbers of thefts and burglaries, had snapped cuffs on the wrists of more belligerent revelers than they cared to remember. A mutual feeling had long existed between them: “We’ve seen everything.”

         Fickle thinking! Nothing on earth , including the manual, could’ve prepared anyone for the scene which greeted their eyes on that isolated country road.

         A tall “man” wearing a flowing white robe of dazzling white stood astride the center marker in the highway. Arms extended outward, his fierce hawk-like gaze was directed upward to a woman standing on the front porch of her home.

         Officer Sally Brown, looking at the tall figure in the road, spoke in a subdued , almost inaudible voice the words her partner was surely thinking.

         Her trembling voice came as a muted whisper, filled with awe as the words escaped her lips: “Holy Mother of mankind…a messenger from God!”…

3

         Little wonder the female property owner was scared out of her wits, beside herself with fear. She stood now on her porch, wringing her hands and crying out incoherently. Looking down on a scene straight from a suspense-filled movie, it was surprising (considering her greatly agitated state ) that she’d retained the presence of mind to dial the phone number that had sent a police cruiser to her address.

         The display of terror was understandable. The oddly-clad “stranger” had appeared at her home bearing a grim message. His booming voice echoed thru the countryside as he spoke: “Woman, your remaining days on earth grow few in number. Repent of your worldly ways while ye yet have time!”

         It’s safe to assume that any person hearing those frightening words would be shaken to their very core and foundation. Even if spoken by a known lunatic such a statement would, to say the very least, be rather un-nerving. The possibility that a true Spiritual Being was the “messenger” would serve to multiply one’s uneasiness many times over.

         This wasn’t a fantasy being acted out in front of Hollywood cameras, but real life drama as it unfolded on a remote country road in Giles County, Virginia.

         There was no indication of imminent mayhem or violence…only the sound of a resonant voice rolling across the hills, repeating over and over it’s terrifying monologue: “Woman, you are doomed!”

         Officers Tom Smith and Sally Brown sat for a moment in their cruiser…watching, listening. They decided it was wise to size up this bizarre scene before rushing in.

         Both came from solid religious backgrounds. Each believed in an Almighty Power, yet were aware that some people go overboard in their religious zeal. Both officers were acquainted with a few individuals who teetered on the loony outer-fringe, dooms-dayers who preached fire and brimstone, and who quite often predicted the world would end at 8:17 P.M. tomorrow night!

Tom and Sally readily accepted the notion that a “day of judgement”

will surely come, but didn’t believe any person on earth knew the appointed

time. Yeah, Smith and Brown were very familiar with “religious zealots.”

         A strange instinct told them this figure standing in the road, whoever or WHATEVER he might be, didn’t belong to that group…this tall robed figure didn’t fit any known mold!

         Time to make some inquiries. Exiting from the car, Officer Smith walked cautiously toward the human-shaped figure that seemed a man but, as later events would prove, this figure came to earth from elsewhere!

         Smith felt a tinge of uncertainty, as well he should. Though he didn’t know at that instant, he was about to initiate conversation between a mere mortal born on this planet, and a “representative” of a higher order who hailed from a realm beyond the clouds…

                                                       4                                                                                                                           

         The scene wasn’t a bleak stretch of New England seacoast which,as everyone knows, has been the setting of a thousand stories of the supernatural.

         Nor did it happen on the desolate, windswept moors of Britain, those forbidding  places where more  “high strangeness”  events occur than anyplace else on this third planet from the sun.

         No… the scene was a lonely country road in a remote section of Giles County. The time element wasn’t right either. One usually associates “the unexplained” with the witching hour of  midnight, but not so in this instance.

         It was mid-afternoon on a hot summer day, hardly the time for anticipating an “encounter” such as Smith and Brown found themselves embroiled in. Across many years they’d worked as a team…their investigations numbered into the hundreds. Those cases ran the gamut from A to Z, nothing new could be entered into their logbook. Or so they thought.

         But here was something totally different, far removed from any police matter they’d ever been involved with. Smith and Brown sensedthat man-made trappings such as badges and cloth uniforms wouldn’t serve them well now.

         The tall “man” had blond hair that fell away to broad shoulders. Though not dressed in appropriate clothing for revealing an athletic frame, both officers somehow knew the greatest of pro-footballers would finish a distant second in any competition with this imposing figure who bore a strong resemblance to the ancient Greek Gods.

         The eyes were the most striking features about this newcomer to their police jurisdiction. To the officers it seemed they alternated from twin pools of blue to blazing orbs of fiery red. Searching eyes they were, and through millennia had gazed upon many worlds…stared across the infinite voids of space and knew every sight an endless universe had to offer.

         The officers were getting out of the cruiser as those facts were somehow relayed to them by a strange buzzing inside their heads. They were being “enlightened”, filled with an awareness of the true nature of this eerie confrontation.

         Telepathy was at work here, “thought transference” and there was no doubting it’s source. It was being beamed into their minds by the blond stranger dressed in the unconventional garb.

         Officers Smith and Brown would realize the power of those eyes, for as they looked into the hypnotic stare of this “visitor” each felt searing holes being drilled into their souls, laying bare all innermost secrets…

5

         True enough police officers were involved, but from the outset there was no doubting who the dominant “authority” was in this unreal scene. That role was quickly seized, and easily so, by the tall man wearing a robe of blinding white.

         In a complete departure from the norm, the two “arms of the law”felt a sense of being naked, overwhelmed with a feeling of utter helplessness. And rightly so.

         They were looking at a ethereal “Being of Light”, an entity whose true nature was pure energy. He was an “agent,” representing a power with authority far exceeding the combined police forces and armies of the world!

         It was obvious that cuffs and service revolvers were useless; any thought of resorting to force would prove futile ( and perhaps dangerous as well ). Certainly no arrest would be forthcoming.

         And yet Tom Smith felt he’d hesitated for as long as he could. A citizen had requested their services…it was time to begin his official duties.

         His voice was shaky and filled with uncertainty as he began: “Good afternoon sir. We’re answering a call from the lady who lives here. Have you some identification, perhaps a drivers-license or social-security card?”

         Telepathy momentarily cast aside, the spirit answered in a more earthly method of communication: “My mode of transportation is somewhat advanced from your primitive method of conveyance, thus a license isn’t necessary. As for the other document, I have no need of monetary retirement benefits.”

         Growing more aware with each passing minute, Policeman Smith knew the exact meaning of that statement.

         Though a veteran interrogator Smith reflects back on his second question ( “where are you from sir?” ) with a nervous chuckle, certainly the most stupid of his career.

         The woman who had called for assistance didn’t hear the answer ( “I came from the Golden Place.” ) She had retreated to the inside of her home, slamming the door shut with a jarring thud. The devastated lady stood now in a tastefully furnished living room, watching the proceedings below thru a slightly parted drapery.

         She watched a full five minutes as the police officers stood in a trance-like state, immobile as two granite statues that might have stared across the same panorama for a century. She had no way of knowing , but Smith and Brown were being told about some upcoming events in our area.

         Then, to the disbelieving officers and the home-owner as well, the human shape of the stranger was enveloped with an undulating motion , wavering and gradually disintegration. As a shimmering mirage in the heat of a desert the entity from a “higher plane of existence” was gone, vanished without a trace. That is, except for a circle of glowing white residue  in the road.

         But he hasn’t really left. He’s still here…

6

         If one believes Tom Smith, and I’ve no reason to doubt him, then it’s fairly obvious that an all-powerful spiritual Being is in our midst.

         He brings a “list,” and Smith says the names of several local people are on the slate. They will soon be hearing from this ambassador who came as a “whirlwind in the clouds.” Needless to say, explanations for misdeeds and wrongdoing will be demanded. Alibis won’t be accepted because such are not recognized.

         It seems that here where we live, as is true around the world, there is considerable work for these entities who descend to Earth on “pillars of fire.

         Earthquakes, famine, floods, pornography, abortion, hydrogen bombs, terrorism, AIDS,  drug epidemic that will prove our undoing. A contemptuous attitude toward preachers (especially if they appear on television ). Malice and hatred everywhere…these problems are caused by sinister forces from “the dark side.”

          Without doubt such a sleazy world is, in a place beyond the clouds, causing agitation and frowns…and a plan for “alterations.”

         This was the information passed along to a pair of local police officers by a stranger who came and disappeared. Both have looked at life in an entirely different perspective over these past few months ( coming face to face with an Angel is guaranteed to bring about such a change ). Smith feels absolutely certain that a new “deputy,” albeit an invisible one, now rides with him in his cruiser. This new “arm of the law,” it can be safely stated, is quite capable of handling any situation that might arise.

         From Smith’s account it would seem our visitor is a Seraph, the very highest of nine different orders of Angels. Perhaps Gabriel, he of trumpet-blowing fame. Or perhaps his name is Michael. One of this pair usually gets the call when terrestrial matters get really messed up.

         There was one bit of information withheld from Tom Smith and Sally Brown. The moral wrongs of the lady involved in this story were never made known, even to police. That matter is being weighed at a “higher headquarters” in a precinct far, far away.

         In most instances these Beings come to Earth as angels of mercy, but the chilling truth is they also come as “avenging angels.”

         My own record is hardly without blemish. Perhaps the next rapping will come at my door.

The End

M. L. Wilkinson

April, 1993