Devil Mail (10 page)

             
“Will you be back on Monday?”

             
“Not sure, depends on how fast progress is made. Give you time to miss me, huh?”

             
“I dunno, you told me last night that you were in love. How do I know that you’re not going to visit your love interest? An old girlfriend, perhaps.” Angela’s japery was met with a chilly retort.

             
“Trust me, I won’t be having any fun; and I actually said I
think
I’m in love.”

             
“Back-tracking now are you?”

             
“I should, since I was baring my heart to someone who didn’t respond in like manner.”

             
Reluctant to profess her love before the time, and expose her vulnerability, Angela had only sighed when Aiden ‘bared his heart’ to her on the previous evening. How could he possibly work true love into a relationship that had existed for such a diminutive length of time?

             
It was late when the couple released each other to get some sleep.  

             
With the exception of achy thighs, symptoms of the flu had passed by Sunday morning. Angela wanted to go to church, not least because missing two Sundays in a row would raise eyebrows and set the rumor mill in motion.             

             
Of the junior minister’s forty-minute sermon on ‘Knowing God’s Voice’, Angela was tuned in for approximately six minutes of it. The rest of the time her mind was immersed in thoughts about her life, love, and work. One of the things that she liked about the junior minister was that he always summarized at the end of each sermon. She was among many in the congregation who regarded him more as a good teacher rather than a preacher.

             
Usually, when he ran through the summary, she would scroll through the copious notes she had taken on her phone, and check for accuracy. Today, she needed the summary to be able to take a few notes. The minister concluded, “So in summary, as I close, meditate on these points:

             
Number one: Is the voice that you are hearing in line with biblical principles?

             
Number two: Does it point you towards something constructive or towards something destructive?

             
Number three: Does it give you an internal feeling of peace or a feeling of unrest?

             
Remember, God is always speaking to His people, but are we really listening?”

             
Angela managed to get the gist of the sermon down with notes that were a little deficient at best.

             
Julia nudged her and leaned in whispering, “A very timely sermon for anyone who has decisions to make, don’t you think?”

             
“I suppose; although I’d much prefer God just give me a name in the middle of a thunderclap or place a halo of light above one of them, so that I can’t go wrong.”

             
“Where’s the fun in that?” Julia could hardly bear the thought of such a thing which would dispel the suspense and drama that she reveled in.

             
“I’ll take the right decision over
fun
any day of the ….” The sisters were silenced by the contemptuous, over-the-spectacles look hurled at them by Mrs. Clancy, who was sitting in front of them. It was difficult for them to comprehend how a woman who never missed a church service could remain so brusque in her everyday dealings with people. No matter how moving the sermon, she’d invariably be one of the first to hit the parking lot so that she could be first in line at the local Bahama Breeze restaurant. She’d not think twice about running over anyone who stood in her way either. “Sorry,” Angela whispered.

             
“Pff,” Julia muttered, quite prepared to take on Mrs. Clancy if she had to.

              As the Craddock family sat around the dinner table, Mrs. Craddock commented on Angela’s apparent full recovery. “Thanks again for the soup, Mom.” Angela reached across the table and squeezed her mother’s hand.

             
“So you’ll be back at work tomorrow?” Mrs. Craddock asked.

             
“Yes… oh drat! I need to call Sharon.” Angela leapt up from the table and hurried to the living room to place the call. Sharon advised that she very nearly gave the assignment to someone else, since she hadn’t heard from Angela. She gave her brief details of the case in which she was to travel to Tampa to take depositions. She would be in the office later in the evening if Angela wanted to stop by to pick up the paperwork and equipment. Angela confirmed that she would do so in order to get an early start for the two and a half hour drive in the morning.

             
“I have to take depositions in Tampa tomorrow,” she said, returning to the table, while Mrs. Craddock went to retrieve a spoon from the kitchen. “I only wish he could be there with me,” she beamed, looking at Julia.

             
“Who? Matt? Aiden? Or the other guy that winked at you?” Julia asked. “Which one would you
most
like to be with in Tampa tomorrow?”

             
Upon her return, Mrs. Craddock’s puzzled look, with furrowed brows indicated that she had overheard the excited conversation between the sisters. “What am I missing?” She stared at Julia and then intently at Angela. Julia remained silent, suppressing the chuckle that was trying to vent itself as she remembered something Judith had once said to Angela. At a workshop facilitated by their church the previous year, they were supposed to be demonstrating trust as an essential quality to develop. Participants were required to face their allocated, blindfolded partners and verbally direct them to a specific goal, as the blindfolded partner walked backwards towards the goal.  Angela’s allocated partner turned out to be Mr. Fonda who was far too touchy-feely for the comfort of most people, hence his nickname, Mr. Fondler. Besides that, he was a chronic halitosis sufferer. Upon learning that Mr. Fonda was to be Angela’s trust partner, Judith turned to Angela and susurrated, “Girl, even if Jesus himself guaranteed me first dibs on all the golden mansions in heaven, it still wouldn’t be enough to persuade me to be in your shoes right now!” Julia found the sentiment fitting for the present circumstances that Angela found herself in. She did not want to be in her sister’s shoes at that moment either.

             
“I meant to tell you, Mom, but everything happened so quickly, then I got sick, so I didn’t get a chance to.”

             
“I’m listening.” She was listening, but her tone suggested that she had already decided that she wasn’t going to like what she heard.

             
“I’ve met someone.”

             
“Go on.”

             
“That’s it really; we’re just taking it slowly to see where it leads.”

             
“Sounds like there’s more to it than that, from what I heard Julia say.”

             
“Well, I’m talking to a guy called Aiden and to a lesser extent, one called Matt.”

“So, where did you suddenly happen upon these two men?”

“On a Christian internet dating website.” Angela tried to place emphasis on ‘Christian’, yet still, she could feel the involuntary lowering of her body into her chair as she spoke.

             
“The internet, eh?”

             
“It’s perfectly safe, Mom. They have no way of identifying you; you just send mail to each other and if you later decide to, you can exchange telephone numbers and take it from there.”

             
“You have no way of knowing who you’re dealing with. You must know men will pretend to be who they’re not. I’ve seen it on TV. You get roped into some online relationship with a complete stranger and by the time you find out he’s a psychopathic killer, it’s too late!”

             
“It’s just like email, Mom; you don’t have to give out any personal details unless you want to.”

             
“It’s devil mail, if you ask me!”

             
“Oh, Mom, I don’t want to argue…” Angela stated in place of her, ‘
I think you’ll find that no one asked you,’
thought.
 

             
“Who’s arguing? I’m just saying, when God wants to bless you, He sometimes places someone into your life to do it; and when the devil wants to destroy you, he sometimes sends someone into your life to do it. The problem is… not everyone can discern the difference.”

             
“Well, it’s no different from me picking up one of those wolves in sheep’s clothing who sit in church every week, pretending that they’re someone they’re not.” There was a hint of defiance in Angela’s voice that caused Julia to raise her eyebrows, as she continued to struggle against the urge to laugh out loud at her mother’s ‘psychopathic killer’ comment. Had they not been eating dinner, Julia would have been tempted to pop some popcorn, sit back and watch the showdown.

             
Mrs. Craddock frowned at Angela. “Now you’re just being combative. At least if you can see and observe the person, you can discern their spirit. Behind the shelter of a screen, people can transform themselves into almost anything.”

             
Frustrated, Angela sighed and looked towards Julia for help. Julia tried to deliver. “Mom, you’re just going to have to trust that you raised us right…..” Mrs. Craddock’s deadpan look told Julia that she was pairing that comment with a picture of her defiantly going off and getting married. Julia fell silent again.

             
“Have I raised you to have more than one man on the go at a time?”

             
“Well, I need to get to know them before I decide if either is right for me.”

             
“It just doesn’t seem right, Angel. How would you feel if you were among a number of women vying for the attention of just one man? That’s just like the immorality we see on our TV screens every week. One man or woman flirting and kissing, and Lord knows what else with multiple people, then giving roses to some and sending others on their way; it was never meant to be like that. We weren’t designed to live like that. True love doesn’t operate that way.”

             
Angela was wise enough to know that Mrs. Craddock would not be won over, but now that she had voiced her opinion, she would not labor the point, but would allow Angela to make her own decision, or mistake, as the case may be.

             
Mrs. Craddock was wise enough to know that her words would marinate in Angela’s mind, and she hoped they would influence her to make prudent decisions.

             
The frostiness of the atmosphere encouraged Angela to leave soon after dinner, and earlier than usual. She used the need to stop by the office as an excuse.               The confrontation with her mother left a lingering, heaviness in her stomach which was difficult to shake.

             
“Let’s see what ‘devil mail’ I have tonight,” she muttered sarcastically as she sat on her sofa and pulled up the Christian Blend website. KDoyleIII had viewed her profile again, as had navyalex418. She gathered that they were checking to see if she had been online since the time they sent out the winks.

Another message from Matt read:

“Haven’t heard back from you. Hope I haven’t scared you off               by moving too fast. Please only do what’s comfortable for you.               BTW, I know you said you like aerobics. I came across some research that suggests our counterparts on the west coast are outperforming us in participation in aerobic exercise. In Florida we are second from bottom, only just beating the east and west              south central areas. Can you believe that?

             
Talk to me soon…please.

             
Matt”

             
Angela sat back in her sofa. “You just can’t help yourself can you?” She said aloud, shaking her head in disbelief and wondering how he could follow up his earlier, charming message with something like this. Her tortured lower lip took a biting as she reflected on all that had happened during the day.

             
With her mother’s words echoing in her head, and Matt’s message before her weary eyes, she resolutely typed a message to Matt:

             
Matt,

It’s been great getting to know you this week, and I
think that you are a really great guy. I don’t feel that you and I share the same interests or goals though. My prayer is that you’ll find someone who shares your interests, passions and goals. I have met someone with whom I want to pursue a relationship and I don’t think it’s fair to any of us if my loyalties are divided between the two of you. To be fair, I need to be fully committed to that relationship. I hope you can understand.