FROM THE REALMS (Chapter 4) Earthly Meeting

TO BE IN HUMAN SKIN WAS SOMETHING NEW . . . . SHE FOUND HERSELF RATHER LIKING IT AT FIRST . . . .

She liked the way she looked --
and felt!

        Rachel found herself dressed in a bright plaid dress of orange and yellow combined with black high heels and a gold necklace as an accessory.  There were books in her hand and a purse over her shoulder.  She like the way she looked as she made her way up the steps.  She felt all aglow as she entered the old, wooden doors of the high school building.  Her locker was easy to find in a middle hallway, branching off to the left of the main hall.  She marveled at how, instinctively, she knew which one it was and where it was located; she breathed a word of praise to her Father.  So far everything was working out just right.  When she got to the locker – number 431 – she found it looked just like all the others, and fortunately was in the upper row of lockers.  “He thought of everything,” she said to herself, marveling at the soft sound of her voice.  It wasn’t at all like she had sounded to herself when “up there”. 


          The hall was fairly empty of persons just then – except for a handsome young man with bushy brown hair to her left.  He was a mere three lockers away, and was trading some books for the next class with his locker door open.  She put her hand on the combination lock of her locker, and turned it the appropriate set of numbers (which somehow were in her memory already).  But when she reached for the riser handle to lift it, would not open!  How very strange!  She jiggled the handle of the door, and tried to work the combination again, but it was no help.  “Well, this is earth,” she said to herself.  “Earth where things go wrong.  Maybe it’s stuck.”  She jerked hard with her hand to make the latch move up so the door would open.  With her hard straining, she lost the

  Her locker was uncharacteristically stuck shut!

grip on her books, and they crashed to the floor.  Her purse strap slid down her elbow, awkwardly.  “Ooohhh!” she cried out in spite of herself. 

          The young man looked over at her, amused.  He closed his locker door, set his books down on the floor, and wiped his nice, bushy bangs off of his forehead.  “Can I help you with that?” he asked with a smile.  He was looking at a lovely young woman, with incredibly shiny red hair, the likes of which he was sure he’d never seen before.  Rachel blushed in spite of herself.  “Yes, if you can.  I think it might be broken,” she said coyly, hardly daring to look into his face.  He was a good two inches taller than her, even with her heels on.
“What’s your combination, Ma’am?” he asked politely. 
“Er – right to 32, left to 14, right to 28.” 
“Easy,” he said as he worked the dial.  “That all feels normal.”  When he got back to ‘28’ he popped the handle, and the door opened right up.  “There you go,” he nodded and smiled.
“But – but, that’s exactly what I did!  I tried the same thing, and it wouldn’t work,” she said, puzzled.  But as soon as she spoke she was informed that Someone had jammed the door on purpose so that this young man could help her.
“Sometimes, I guess it’s all in the wrist,” he said.  “By the way,” I’m Ted.  Ted Grayson.  And

"You got the best ol' freckles I ever
did see!" he exclaimed.

you are?”
“Rachel.  Rachel McCready,” she smiled, blushing again. 
“I’m pleased to meet you, Rachel McCready.  If you don’t mind,” he said, staring into her eyes, “you got just about the best freckles I ever seen.”

She blushed and smiled at him, chuckling.  “Well, I can truthfully say no one’s ever said that to me before.”
“Oh, well, I do mean it as a compliment.  I like freckles.  I wish I had some.”
“Oh, they’re . . . not so much,” she said, still blushing.  She couldn’t “turn that off!”
“Well, anyway, you’re obviously new around here.  I can walk you to your next class?” he offered.  Ted scooped up her fallen books to suit actions to his words.

Somebody else was watching.  And
that "somebody else" wasn't happy at
what she saw . . . .

“I’m going to Algebra II,” she said.  “Room 210.” 
“What a coincidence!” he said with real surprise.  “That’s my next class too.  Let me walk you there,” he begged.
“Oh, well, sure.  Since you’re going there too, I guess that’s all right.”  They made their way down the hall together.  And in that way, she quickly realized the way they had met each other was none other than the Lord’s doing.”
“I’ll keep my eyes on Him,” she said to herself.  Then she remembered.  “And of course, Lord, also on Ted here.”

But as they walked on down the hall a set of pretty, but hostile eyes, were watching.  They belonged to a girl who thought she had overheard the voice of her boyfriend.  When she saw he was talking to another girl – and a very pretty one at that – her feeling was of strong jealousy.  And her first and immediate words were, “I’m going to kill him!!”

LBC