The Valkyries

continued. “But overnight, they find that they are demanding more of the Earth than it has to give. So, they abandon everything and move on, without thinking about the fact that they have involved others in their dream—others who, weaker than they, have tostay behind. Like with the ghost towns out there in the desert.”
    Maybe that’s what’s happening to me,
Paulo thought.
I brought myself here, and I’ve abandoned myself.
    He recalled that once an animal trainer had told him how he was able to keep his elephants under control. The animals, as infants, were bound by chains to a log. They would try to escape, but could not. They tried throughout their entire infancy, but the log was stronger than they were.
    So they became accustomed to captivity. And when they were huge and strong, all the trainer had to do was place the chain around one of their legs and anchor it anywhere—even to a twig—and they would not attempt to escape. They were prisoners of their past.
    The long hours of daylight seemed to have no end. The sky caught fire, the Earth baked, and they had to wait, wait, wait—until the color of the desert changed again to softer tones of pink. That was when he could leave the city, try his channeling, and once again await the appearance of his angel.
    “Someone once said that the earth produces enough to satisfy needs, but not enough to satisfy greed,” the old woman continued.
    “Do you believe in angels?” Paulo asked her.
    The woman was astonished at the question. But that was all that Paulo wanted to talk about.
    “When you’re old, and death isn’t too far off, you begin to believe in anything,” she said. “But I don’t know if I believe in angels.”
    “They exist.”
    “Have you ever seen one?” There was a mixture of incredulity and hope in her eyes.
    “I talk with my guardian angel.”
    “Does your angel have wings?”
    It was the question everyone asked. Yet he had forgotten to ask it of Valhalla.
    “I don’t know. I haven’t seen my angel yet.”
    The woman considered whether she should get up and leave. The solitude of the desert made some people strange. But maybe this man was joking with her, just passing the time.
    She wanted to ask where the couple came from, and what they were doing in a place like Ajo. She hadn’t been able to identify their strange accent.
    Maybe they’re from Mexico,
she thought. But they didn’t look like Mexicans. She would ask when the opportunity arose.
    “I don’t know if you two are fooling around with me,” she said, “but, as I said, I’m getting closeto death. I suppose I could last another five or ten years. Maybe even twenty. But at my age, you certainly realize you’re going to die.”
    “I know that I’m going to die, too,” Chris said.
    “No, not like an old person does. For you, it’s a remote idea. It might happen some day. For us, it’s something that could happen tomorrow. That’s why many elderly people spend the time remaining to them looking only in one direction: the past. It’s not that they’re so fond of their memories, but they know that looking in that direction they won’t see anything to be feared.
    “Very few old people look to the future, and I’m one of them. When we look into the future, we see what it holds for us: death.”
    Paulo didn’t say anything. You can’t say anything new about awareness of death to those who practice magic, but he knew the woman would leave the table if she knew that he was a magus.
    That’s why I’d like to believe that you both are serious. That angels really exist.”
    “Death is an angel,” Paulo said. “I have seen it twice in this incarnation, but very briefly. There wasn’t enough time to see its face. But I know people who have seen, and I know others that were oppressed by Death, and later told me about it.They said that Death has a handsome face, and a gentle touch.”
    The old woman stared at Paulo. She wanted to believe him.
    “Does Death have wings?”
    “This angel is made of light,” he answered. “When the moment comes, Death assumes the form that is easiest for you to deal with.”
    The old woman thought about that. Then she stood up.
    “I’m not afraid anymore. I have prayed, and asked that the angel of death have wings when it comes to me. My heart tells me that my wish will be granted.”
    She kissed them both. It was no longer important to her where they came from.
    “It was my angel that sent you both. Thank you so