A stitch in time - 1

Scouting along the streets of Bellevue, Morpheous realized that the next thing he had to do was get some money to buy clothes. Although an angel, he didn't possess the power to make things appear from thin air. He could have if he focussed on harnessing powers as his brothers did. But he possessed no such powers.

So he had to put his skills into use to get some money.

And the only place on earth where people would pay for getting healed was a hospital. And by healing people, he would be able to pave his way back to heaven. 

That's it. Working at a hospital was the only solution that he could think of.

Sitting on a bench, he was thinking of a way to get a job when he heard someone calling his name and turned. 

"Benjamin?"

"What are you doing here, son? You haven't gone home?"

"Home!" He chuckled. "My father has banished me. I am not welcome there anymore."

"You look old enough to stay with your father!"

Morpheous's brows furrow for a moment. "He wasn't doing so great. Healthwise."

"So you have no place to live now? Any friends, brothers, or sisters?"  Benjamin asked, his tone laced with pity and concern.

Morpheous didn't want the old man to worry about him, but at the same time, he didn't want to lie to him either. So building up a smile on his face, he replied, "I am new here, and there is no one here that I know. But I will find a place soon. Do not worry about me."

"Do you have any money? I don't see any belongings with you. Do you want my help to call any of your friends or family?"

"My brothers have turned their back on me," he said and looked down. That smile had faded away from his face. With his toes, he unknowingly started to scribble the sin count on the ground, and seeing him barefoot in such a pathetic condition, Benjamin's heart couldn't bear his misery any further.

"Follow me!" His voice was more like an order.

"No no ... I will manage."

"I know you can. But will you please let me help you? Think of it this way; you will be putting my heart to ease by letting me help you."

Although a bit reluctant, Morpheous decided to follow him, and they walked to his house.

"Here! These clothes will fit you, I guess." He grabbed a few shirts and trousers from a closet and handed them  to him.

Looking at the way the clothes had been ironed and from the fabric itself, Morpheus knew that those were expensive. So he didn't have the heart to take them all. From that stack that he had been offered, he picked a plain-looking cotton white shirt and a khaki trouser, and the rest he placed on the side table.

"One pair is enough for me. I cannot take all your clothes."

Benjamin gave out a painful smile and said, "Please! I insist. Anyway, they are not going to be used anymore. I was about to give them to charity someday." And saying that, he placed a number 9 loafer in front of him.

"I guess this will fit you too."

Morpheous ran his fingers over the clothes reluctantly, and his eyes suddenly traversed to his left, where he found a family portrait on the wall and instantly understood that those clothes were not Benjamin's.

"Did you have anything to eat?" Benjamin asked while trying to find something from the closet.

"Erm… yeah, I had," Morpheous lied but tried his best to sound convincing.

"I assume you don't have money or any job here!"

Morpheous shook his head in silence and scanned the room as Benjamin kept him engaged in a small talk.

"Do you have any skills? What have you studied?" And turning back towards him, he paused for a moment and then asked, "Did you get to attend college, Morpheous?"

Hearing his barrage of questions, Morpheous couldn't decide how big of a frame of lie he had to build for a moment. Benjamin turned to take out some more clothes for him and said, "One of my friends is in the employment registry. Maybe he can help you out."

A through crept in Morpheous's head instantly, and he said, "Erm… I have decent knowledge in the field of medicine and health care. I had practiced under the master Imparter.."

"Master Imparter?"  Benjamin interrupted, and it was then that Morpheous realized he had to spin a white lie.

"Well, I studied under the guidance of Chinese Monks in Dengfeng County."

"The Shaolin Temple? I thought that was just a martial arts movie thing."

Morpheous could feel a lump in his throat. 'Did he catch his lie?'

"No wonder you asked me to infuse rosemary in the soup yesterday. It worked like a charm for my pumpkin," and Benjamin's words made him sigh in relief as he sounded convinced. He had successfully framed his lie at the expense of his sin counter.

Shrugging his shoulders lightly, Morpheous looked at the picture on the wall again. His attention this time was on that innocent-looking teenager, holding her pretty rainbow-tasseled bicycle, grinning from ear to ear. Caroline was a carbon copy of her mother. What he was not able to understand was why he was drawn to her. Naturally and circumstantially.

pausing his train of thoughts, he turned towards Benjamin and asked, "Are you being nice to me because you are missing certain someone ... "

"Because I am a good human being. Humans help each other as you did, and no, that man in the picture isn't my son. The powder room is to the first left. You can change your clothes in there."

"Thank you," he said and walked ahead, the old man's words still echoing in his ears.

While he was changing, he could hear the car's sound, getting into the garage, and he knew that Caroline had returned. His first instinct was to run away, but given that he needed a job at the hospital, he decided to stay, thinking of a way to convince her to help.

He heard her walking in, and from her voice, she sounded ecstatic,

"Gramps! Gramps!"

"You won't believe what happened at the seminar Gramps!"

"Spill it all!" asked Benjamin, and probably turning up the stove as Morpheous could hear the clank of utensils.

"We are getting more staff in the department and guess what, I get to have an assistant at my beck and call."

"Really! How did that happen?"

"All because of my amazing presentation. Last night I thought I won't make it because of the fever, but…" Her words stopped in her mouth and her eyes opened wide, as if she had seen a ghost.

"You! Why are you here again?" Caroline yelled and turned towards her grandfather, "Why is he wearing my father's clothes? Why Gramps?"

In an instant, her cheery voice turned into a melancholic one, and he could see her eyes starting to glisten.

"I am sorry. I just…" but before he could explain himself, Benjamin interrupted.

"I gave him the clothes Carol. Anyway we were going next week to give all the stuff to charity, and he was badly in need of some."

"Badly in need?" she questioned, wiping down that stray tear from the corner of her eyes.

"He doesn't have a place of his own, nor does he have a job. His family has betrayed him and left him all alone. He seems like a good man Carol, and he has studied ancient Chinese medicine too. You know what, he can be your assistant and help you out with mundane chores."

"Grandpa! I cannot have a shrink as my assistant and second of all, why are you so much inclined towards him. We don't even know who he is."

"Or what he is!" she mumbled a second later, eyeing him top to bottom.