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Michael Black had a busy morning, and he really didn't want to be a taxi service, but he smiled at Katie Strong, nevertheless, as he walked past the reception area at the Med center. The nurses station was empty, so he walked into Manny's room uninvited, his fingers tapping on the door.
Manny looked at him apprehensively, as Marshal Black offered him the bag containing his belongings. "Mr. Veracruz, I brought you your clothes. When you get changed, I'll be outside waiting for you. The background check I've run shows that you're not wanted, so I'm dropping all of the charges against you, that is, if you agree to leave Buchanan County."
This was no revelation. Manny dressed silently, trying to figure out what he would do now. He had never felt so alone. The apparition (if that's what it was) was gone again, this time disappearing as the marshal walked into the room. Also, Harold had not spoken to him. If he’s a ghost, why can I touch him and feel him? Weren't ghosts just spirits without physical being? Manny also wondered what he would tell the priest, if he got to speak to one. How do you walk into a priest's office, and tell him that you are seeing a ghost who claims he's Christ? 'Yes, my child, I see, well, I'll tell you what, why don't we step outside for a second', and as soon as you step out, he'd lock the door to St. Whomever before you can say excommunication! Manny knew he had to do something, but what?
*******
Manny didn't get much restaurant food. Once in a great while, he was able to get work washing dishes for a few hours in exchange for a meal, but very seldom was he able to go in and sit down with the regular patrons. Marshall Black sat across from him in the booth, waiting along with him for their meals to be served. Manny saw the compassion behind his eyes. It wasn't readily present, the man was certainly not a bleeding-heart of any sort, yet it was there. Manny wondered what terrible event had happened in this man's life recently, to make him so sad.
"Manny, what happened in that cell… care to tell me? I talked to the doc, and I know that you're not a drunk with the dt's."
"Marshal, I don't really know myself. For the past several days, I've been having visions, I guess you'd say. They started when I was contacted by another drifter like myself. He called himself the Prince of Peace. I'm not a fool, marshal, and I know that there are lots of people on the road that are not normal. For many, that is the reason they’re out there in the first place, but this guy wasn't like the ones I've seen before."
"Did he threaten you?"
"Oh, no, in fact, he told me that I was in danger. He just seemed like he.....knew things....do you know what I mean? I left the campsite and walked the tracks until it brought me here. When you put me in jail, he was there, too." Manny's eyes dropped. The marshal was staring at him again.
Millie, the perky waitress, delivered their meals. "Here you go, fellas, hot beef sandwich for you, sir, and, Michael, tuna salad on whole wheat, your usual. Need some more coffee, guys?" When the marshal gave her the high sign, she flitted away to get the next order sitting on the shelf.
"Has anything of a supernatural nature ever happened to you before?" Michael asked.
"Do you believe that I saw a ghost, marshal?"
"I believe you think you saw a ghost, yes, or something else."
Manny's coal-black eyes pierced right into Michael Black. "Something else?"
"Well, I've heard folks talk about spiritual contact with angels and such, the record is full of unexplained phenomena. I heard of a man who lost his family who claimed he was anointed by God to be a guardian angel." Now the marshal was not looking at Manny, he was staring at his coffee intently, stirring it, even though there was no cream or sugar in it.
"Do you think he's a guardian angel?"
"It doesn't really matters what I think, Manny, you're the one who has to go down whatever road you choose. You don't know me from Adam. What makes you think you could trust my judgment?"
The marshal picked at his sandwich as Manny stared at him, then looked away. The two men finished their meal in silence, unable to make eye contact.
Finally, Manny said to him, "Could we go find that priest, now?"
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