To all of my readers, thanks for patiently waiting for the release of the finale to my "War Angel" trilogy. I've been working diligently on it...I promise. As proof, here are two sample chapters to give you a sense of where the story picks up in "War Angel III: Catalina." Enjoy.
- Keith Kareem Williams
Prologue
All morning, Prince the Housecat had been stealthily stalking his prey
as he crept through the tall, green, grass in the same manner that his much
larger cousin, the lion, would have. Normally, on most days, Prince would have
been content to harass bugs or hunt down field mice but that day, he was after
a victim that was much harder to catch.
Early morning rain had soaked the soil enough to make earthworms
slither to the surface and it was only a matter of time before a bird swooped
down to snatch one of them in its beak so he kept his body close to the ground
and waited. It wasn’t long before a bird showed up to pay attention to one of
the pale treats that writhed and twisted in the mud. Prince’s whiskers twitched
while he waited and watched the bird, perched on a tree limb as it prepared to
fly down to claim one of the pink, meaty earthworms. Prince’s shoulders tensed
and his body prepared to pounce as the bird he had been hunting prepared to
make its move.
In one, amazingly graceful, lightning-quick motion, the little bird
dive-bombed towards the ground on small wings and snatched the worm out of the
damp soil with its stubby beak. However, instead of flying back to the safety
of the tree to enjoy its meal, it began to devour its victim while remaining on
the ground. Before it even knew what was happening, the little bird found
itself trapped in feline jaws, pierced by the cat’s sharp teeth.
“Let it go now!” shouted a little girl as she ran barefoot across the
lawn towards the cat on stumpy, chubby, five-year-old legs.
Every ounce of natural, feline instincts within Prince screamed for him
to run off with his fine-feathered prize locked tightly in his jaws but there
was something even stronger in the little girl’s tiny voice that was powerful
enough to make him reluctantly let the bird fall from his mouth onto the
ground. Dejected and disappointed, he let out a somber meow and sauntered away
to find some other creature to stalk.
Tears streamed down the little girl’s plump, chocolate cheeks as she
fell to her knees in front of the tiny bird’s motionless body. The same summer
breeze that rustled through the blades of lush, green grass also blew through
her thick, bushy hair that was pulled back into a messy, fluffy ponytail. Her
dad didn’t know how to braid and he wasn’t very skilled at keeping her hair
neat either but, he did the best he could. Very gently, she picked up the bird
and put it in her lap, using the folds of her summer dress as a tiny bed.”
“Wake up little bird. Wake up little thing,” she whispered over and
over again but, it was as dead as dead could be.
“What’s wrong? I heard you yelling,” the little girl’s dad asked as he
came running out of the house and across the front yard towards her.
He looked around cautiously and on edge as if he expected killers to
leap out of nowhere to attack them. Once he was sure that they were alone, he
relaxed and walked closer to her. As he stood behind his precious baby girl,
his tall, imposing frame blocked the sunlight and cast a long shadow. He kept
his right hand behind his back so that she wouldn’t see the chrome, cannon of a
revolver that he held in it.
“The bad kitty tried to eat the bird,” the distraught toddler explained
to her father.
“Well, he is a cat and that’s what cats do,” he answered, sounding
slightly amused.
“It’s not moving Daddy!”
He peered over her shoulder to see for himself. “I think it’s dead
little mama.”
“But its eyes are open.”
“Yes, but it’s not moving, or breathing. I’m pretty sure that it’s gone
baby.”
“Gone? Gone where?” she asked, her inquisitive eyes wet with tears.
“Gone to where all things that die go, I suppose. Most people believe
that place is heaven,” he explained, purposely failing to mention the other
place, figuring it best to keep her five year-old mind free of a concept so
morbid and grim.
“Can it ever come back?”
“No baby, I don’t believe it can.”
“But that’s not right. That’s not fair,” she wept.
“No, it isn’t, but that’s how life is lil mama. Everything that lives,
eventually dies, one way or another.”
“But why? Why does it have to be like that?”
“You know, I’m not entirely sure but, I do believe that there’s a
bigger plan that none of us who live, and eventually die, can ever fully
understand. I’d be lying if I said that I have answers but, one thing that I do
know is this…once the time comes when we have to deal with death, whether we
like it or not, we have to learn to let go,” he tried to explain.
“Have you ever let go of my mama?” she asked.
Her question had caught him totally off guard and he fumbled for the
right answer to give her. What she had asked was a simple thing but the truth
was more complicated than even he could properly explain.
“Honestly, I don’t think that I have,” he finally answered after a
long, awkward pause.
“Do you ever think that you will?”
Again, he remained silent for a few moments before he decided on an
answer that he hoped would satisfy his daughter’s inquisitive mind.
“No, I don’ think that I ever will. I don’t think I could ever, even if
I tried.”
“So, love is stronger than death?” she asked.
“it might be,” he answered sadly. “Bury your little bird and meet me
inside the house for breakfast lil mama. I’m making your favorite, strawberry
pancakes,” he said as he turned away and walked back towards their house.
Once her father was gone and she was alone with the dead bird, she
closed her eyes and cried as her heart became overwhelmed by the kind of deep
sorrow that people often drowned in. Then, something very strange happened. A
presence that she couldn’t see or quite describe spoke to her, not with words
but with feelings. She listened and somehow understood what that presence was
saying to her. She even managed to answer it. A tingling sensation coursed
through her body and suddenly, the dead bird in her lap began to twitch. As she
watched in awe of the miracle that was taking place, it came to life, flapped
its wings and flew away. She giggled as she watched it disappear into the
distance. Then she got up off her knees as if nothing unusual had just happened
and skipped merrily towards her house to have strawberry pancakes with her dad.
