Installment number 7

Janet asked for the bill. We sat in silence, mopping up the last remnants of jalfrezi and dopiaza with the crusts of the naan bread. I was trying not to think about what she'd told me, but the more it made sense.

"Ok, so you're my guardian angel, and Elena is my... what? Daemon?"
"It's not quite like that."
"So, what is it like?"
She sighed, "Have you read Freud?"
"No."
"Right... I haven't either, but it's something like this. There's 3 parts to your psyche - the id, the ego and the super-ego. The ego is kind of your view of the world, the super-ego is all your morals and the id is your willingness to give into temptation. If you think of me as your super-ego and Elena as your id, maybe that will help."
"I'm really not sure it will. I think maybe more beer would help. Shall we head back to the hotel bar?"
"Ok, if you like."

Janet left money for the food after a brief "oh no, let me get this" semi-argument that I remember hearing so many times as a child and vowing that, when I grew up, I'd just damn well let other people pay for everything if they were so keen to do so. I realised I must be an adult the first time I found myself doing it. I let this one slide after amusing thought that if Janet were telling the truth, she probably had a celestial credit card that could be charged back to the "company".

Back at the bar, we both ordered drinks and Janet waited for me to say something, or at least, that's how I read the silence. I decided to see how long she'd wait before she got impatient and just asked me something. We finished our first drinks in silence and I went to the bar and ordered more. When I brought them over, she said a quiet "thanks" but nothing more. After the third silent drink, I decided that clearly the best way to deal with this situation was to take the piss.

"So, Janet, what's heaven like?"
"What?"
"Well, you're an angel, yeah? So you live in heaven, don't you?"
"No. Not most of the time."
"But you've been there. What's it like?"
"It's like..." she pause, "a really, really good dream."
"Hmmmm?"
"In some ways, it doesn't feel quite real, and time passes strangely. Sometimes, it feels like you've been there for an age and you wake up and it was only 5 minutes and sometimes it feels like no time at all and you wake up and 100 years have passed."
"Wait... 100 years? How old are you?"
She shrugged, "I have the body of someone in their late 20s, but it's looked this way for many centuries. I don't recall if I had a body before this, but I'm fairly sure my spirit existed before this body did."
"Woah... and you live on earth? Like... among us?"
"Yes, most of the time."
"That's so cool. What about hell? Is that like a really bad nightmare?"
Janet looked down, "I suppose so. I... I don't like to think about it."
I was suddenly very aware that I had started to believe everything she was telling me, which threw me for a moment, but the world didn't make much sense at the moment and I wanted someone to guide me, so guardian angel or not, I let her lead me up to the hotel room. We slept side by side, never touching, but her presence made me feel safe. Her presence made me forget about Kelly for a short while.