Toe Prophet

TOE PROPHET

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2: 8-11

In the year of 1863, in Aurora, Texas a small boy was tending his father's sheep.

The boy was named Amos Nathaniel Gileson. He was alone in the fields and heard a

great noise like the heavens tearing apart. It did not sound like lightening or

dynamite, which the youth was accustomed to, this was a noise he had not before heard.

The sound scattered the sheep and the boy overcame his fear in order to chase his

flock. Amos herded all of the sheep into their pen except for one. The final animal

was grazing on the Gileson's neighbor's land. Robert Linden had just completed the

construction of a new barn. He had taken the land as payment for his service in the

war for independence about thirty years earlier. It had come complete with a working

windmill.

Amos had roped the stray sheep, and was pulling it lazily back toward his father's

farm. Then from the sky came a great ball of fire like nothing Amos had ever seen.

He had heard of such things, the boy actually thought of God's destruction of Soddom

and Gohommorah, and so he was very afraid. He thought that this was surely a sign

that the town was going to be destroyed.

Immediately after catching sight of the ball, it thunders over Amos, and smashes

the windmill. Unfazed, the ball continues it's downward descent until it crashes

straight into the barn.

Amos prepared himself for the rain of fire, and the sheep ran away. Amos, on his

knees praying to our Lord for forgiveness and safety, was surprised to find that after

two "Our Father's and a "Hail Mary" nothing more had yet to happen. So Amos opened

his eyes and looked around himself.

The windmill was smashed to pieces. The foundation was still intact, but the

wooden timbers ended abruptly in splintered ends. The rest was in little pieces all

over the place. Just in front of the barn, a gash in the dirt started. It was about

fifteen feet wide and about five feet deep in the deepest part. What was left of the

barn, as it had been broad-sided, was on fire. Against the bright blue, cloudless sky

the plume of smoke became a monolithic landmark. Since the land was flat and one

could see for miles, Amos knew soon his father and Mr. Linden would soon show up on

horseback to investigate.

This was about what Amos had expected a giant fireball to do, smash things, but it

left something he hadn't expected. Amos began walking around the ruins of the barn,

and came upon a object for which he had no comparison. The closest thing he knew of

which it resembled was a steam engine. It was about fifteen feet wide and twenty feet

long. Along one side a large puncture could be seen, and Amos thought it resembled a

steam engine that had blown it's boiler. It also seemed to be made of stamped and

riveted steel like a steam engine. But unlike the engines Amos was used to, which

usually were a cylindrical shape, this one seemed to Amos to have been made to

resemble a hawk.

The side facing Amos was the damaged side, and he could clearly see into the

mechanical workings. Amos thought maybe it was a large farm tractor. Even though the

railroad did pass through the town, and accidents weren't unheard of Amos did not

think that this machine was meant for the tracks. Then he realized that the nearby

mine used giant steam powered cranes. Amos imagined that this must be one of them,

and maybe a mine exploded and this was thrown form the mine. This explanation

satisfied Amos enough that he finally was able to relax. He decided it was safer to

wait for his father to appear before exploring it more though.

In the distance Amos could see his father, Mr. Gileson, swiftly riding a horse to

where Amos was standing. Still he would take a few minutes to reach Amos. So Amos

sat down to wait, but as soon as hit did he heard a great noise.

At first Amos thought it must be some animal, but he had never heard this sound in

his life. Looking around he could see no beasts. Then he heard it again. It was

coming from the machine. Amos got up and peered into the hole in the machine's side.

The bright sun made the interior only seem darker. The noise once more issued forth.

This time the boy became immediately convinced that it was a voice. Amos thought

maybe an injured worker was inside. It was probably a cry for help. That would

explain why it sounded so strange and unfamiliar. But as Amos entered the hole he did

not see any human form.

Before Amos stood a creature whose skin glowed a pale golden color. It was about

two heads taller then his father, and it's body seemed to flow like water. As the boy

looked up to catch a glance of the face, he found that the head was surrounded by

light and he could not make out any features. Then the boy heard the roar again and

was astonished to realize that it came from this impressive, but fragile looking

creature.

Amos then remembered the scriptures and how God called to Abraham and Moses. Then

he knew he was in the presence of our Lord, and he was hearing His voice. So the

boy fell to one knee and said, "Here I am Lord", like Isaiah in the night. But the

boy could not understand the voice of God, so the creature, which was a messenger of

the Lord, touched the boy on the toe.

Amos felt a great pain in his foot, as if a spike had gone into the front of his

big toe all the way into the joint where it meets the foot. In his ears he could

still hear the roar, but the touch had changed him. Where the creature had touched

him, he could hear the words of God through the messenger. So in his ears he heard a

squealing like a wounded animal, but in his toe he heard, "Do not be afraid. I will

not harm you." The boy could not understand everything being told to him because the

roar was so loud, but the creature went on, "I was in a hit and run. I think I am

bleeding internally. I think I'll be okay. My father will come for me." Amos had

been bowing his head, and when he looked up he could see that the glow was beginning

to wane. The creature began to waver and fall. The boy sprang up and caught it's

body, but it no longer was alive.

The long grey body of the creature fell so that the head had draped itself over

the shoulder of Amos. In his ear he could hear the roar, which now sounded like a

light breeze, as the long grey body gave it's last mutterings. Amos, unfortunately,

could only hear these words with his toe, but they were not loud enough to reach that

extremity. With great reverence Amos put the body down and prayed.

Mr. Gileson had seen his son enter the mechanical wreckage. So he followed Amos

as soon as he got off of his horse. Not too far behind was Mr. Linden on his horse.

Both men were terrified when they heard the roar. So Mr. Gileson was quite relieved

to find his son unharmed. He was understandably perplexed by all of these things that

had happened, but Amos was able to explain the appearance of the angel. Together they

talked with Mr. Linden, and upon seeing the evidence, he could only believe as well.

Mr. Gileson and Mr. Linden decided that the creature's body must be taken to the

church and shown to the priest, Father Unsereo.

The three of them moved the body from the machine to the outside. In the

light they all got their first sight of what it looked like. Compared to when Amos

had seen it in life the creature was very different now. When alive the skin had

shone with some inner luminance, and when Amos had tried to look at the face he found

that the head was too bright. Now the body was easy to see. No longer was it

luminescent, in fact it was a dull grey, and Amos thought it looked like a long clay

figure. There were no wrinkles or scratches, or hairs. The entire body was perfectly

smooth. If the creature had still been standing it would have been much taller then

Amos's twelve year old frame. His father was a head shorter then Mr. Linden, yet Mr.

Linden would still have been a head shorten then the creature. Mr. Gileson and Mr.

Linden both questioned Amos throughly about what it had looked like when it was alive.

They were all interested especially in the face.

When Amos had first looked upon the face of the angel he could not tell if the

creature had a face, or if the brightness of the skin made it impossible for

Amos to see the features. But now all three of them could clearly see the face of the

angel. It was a simple perfectly round grey head with two equally perfect round black

eyes. There were no openings of any kind or anything that could be a mouth or nose.

They all saw this, and took it as a sign that it was indeed a messenger of God because

it could only speak when He willed it to do so. They built a crude stretcher out of

timber from the barn, and carried the body back to town. It would take until

nightfall to reach the church.

By the time the three had reached the town rumors about the explosion had already

begun to spread. Still no one in the town except Amos, his father, and Mr. Linden

knew what happened. Since many had seen the plume of smoke rising above Mr. Linden's

land, when they saw him approaching, they knew to question him. So a crowd began to

grow around the three and the creature. Mr. Gileson had instructed Amos not to

tell anyone a word of what had happened until they saw the priest. Mr. Linden also

agreed that this was for the best. So when the crowd asked about the body, all three

answered, "I do not know. We are taking it to the priest." Soon Sheriff Penuckle

arrived to help clear a path.

The crowd arranged themselves so that Mr. Gileson and Mr. Linden were carrying the

body, followed by Amos, who was followed by the sheriff, who was followed by almost

everyone in town. At the steps to the church the sheriff stopped the crowd to allow

the others to go in alone. Amos was about to follow when his mother grabbed him. She

did not think that a child had any place in these affairs. So Amos joined the rest of

the town in their wait to see what the priest had to say.

As he waited Amos head many whisperings in the crowd. Everyone was interested in

what was going on, and what exactly had been carried into the church. The body had

not been covered and many had looked at the creature, but the shock of the event made

it hard for them to process the information. The townspeople had not seen the crash

and did not know the origins of the creature. Amos could no longer hold silent and he

began to inform the crowd of it's heavenly origins. His mother quickly grabbed him

and scolded him. Amos would have to resign himself to waiting for his father to

return from within the church. During all of this Father Unsereo had sent Sheriff

Penuckle to fetch the town doctor. Doctor Protus was the oldest person in the town,

save for two older gentlemen who were twins and only one year older then him. Upon

viewing the body and hearing Mr. Gileson and Mr. Linden's recounting of the explosion,

Dr. Protus could not decide if he wanted to inspect the body. If it were an angel he

and they all agreed such a thing would be disrespectful. Since neither Mr. Gileson

nor Mr. Linden seemed completely sure what it was they decided to call Amos into the

church.

The sheriff came and lead Amos and Mrs. Gileson to the back of the church. There

in the rectory dining room the body had been laid out on the table. The leaf had to

be put in for the table to be long enough for the body, and still it's feet hung off

the end. Mrs. Gileson was shocked by what she saw. No one had ever seen or even

heard of anything like this.

Father Unsereo had arranged the chairs along one wall, except for two. These two

were by the creature's head. The rest ran along the length of it's body. Amos and

his mother sat in these seats. Then Father Unsereo questioned Amos about the

explosion. Amos told him about watching the fire in the sky, and about the metal

machine. Then he asked about the creature, and Amos told him about how it glowed, and

how it spoke to him through his toe. Then they spoke amongst themselves until Sheriff

Penuckle asked, "If this is an angel, where are the wings? Doesn't angels have

wings?" The father informed him that angels are often depicted with wings, but that

doesn't necessarily mean anything. But then he asked the more obvious question, "Why

does an angel need a flying machine? And why's it broke?" This had been in Amos'

mind for some time. It seemed that the machine was indeed a flying one, and it was

most certainly damaged before it landed. Mr. Linden had sat at the chair at the end

of the table. He had kept silent as he often did, during the whole conversation. In

the silence he put forth the obvious answer, "It was knocked outta the sky. Someone

wanted it to fall." Father Unsereo stopped the conversation here. He said that they

did not know enough to answer any of these questions. All they did know was that more

of these creatures were supposed to come. The town would meet the next day in the

church to decide what was to be done. Dr. Protus decided it unwise to examine the

body.

The creature was too tall to fit in a regular coffin, so the end of one was cut

off and it's feet just stuck out. The creature and the custom coffin were put on

display before the altar of the church, and as people arrived for the meeting they

could take a look. Many were taken by surprise by it's height and appearance, but the

long thin body and lack of features made it appear innocent and frail.

Mr. and Mrs. Gileson were very proud of their son Amos. During the meeting Mr.

Gileson, Mr. Linden, Father Unsereo, Sheriff Penuckle, Doctor Protus, and Amos would

have to stand before the entire town and give a recount of what they saw and their

opinion on the matter. When Mr. Gileson went up he confidently told of his arrival at

the crash, and how he heard a terrible noise. He proudly retold watching his son's

toe bitten by the creature and how his son hadn't even flinched.

Doctor Protus nervously stood before the crowd. The old man looked tiny in front

of the giant in the coffin. The doctor began by uncovering the body of the creature.

"The boy who can.. er speak to or did speak to this," me pointed to the body, "claims

the uh angel complained of internal bleeding. You can see from this swelling that it

must have been true." He pointed to a large lump on the side of the body. The people

began to mutter under their breath, and Amos knew that the doctor's scientific mind

had clouded the truth. "Also I have inspected the flying machine. And it is that. A

machine. It has levers and dials, and these," he pulled out some gears from his

pockets. "It is a machine like any other. It can be built and understood." The

crowd had been thrown into some discussion over this when Mr. Linden arose and stood

in front of the coffin and Dr. Protus.

Mr. Linden, like Mr. Gileson, started with his description of arriving at the

crash and first seeing Amos and the creature. Then he looked down at the body and

said, "The doctor's right. The angel was injured." Mr. Linden believed the creature

to have been a heavenly warrior, who being engaged in combat was wounded and fell to

earth. The machine was some kind of giant heaven chariot that had been damaged.

The discussion and debate then overflowed into the pews. Heated arguments were

beginning to bring tempers to their breaking point. So Amos walked up to the altar,

which was elevated above the floor, and said, "I heard the words of the angel. He

said, 'I was in a hit and run. I think I am bleeding internally. I think I'll be

okay. My father will come for me.' And so we will wait for his father's arrival."

But the crowd was not yet satisfied. They questioned if he could understand the word,

for Mr. Linden and Mr. Gileson himself had testified that they could only hear a great

roar. The crowd was not moved by Amos' words.

The boy fell to his knees and prayed. In his mind he could hear the roar of the

angel. In his toe he could hear the words of the angel. He began to feel the words

in his toe again, so he repeated what the angel had said. As he repeated the words he

could feel the roar in his toe and when the words left his mouth in english, the roar

left his toe. It deafened the noise of the crowed and they all fell in awe of the

roar, which through Amos' toe they all could hear. It was decided then that this was

indeed an angel and his father would come. It was also decided that the machine would

be turned into a chapel, and the angel would be kept in the funeral home with the rest

of the dead until he was claimed.

They only thing they could not agree on was why the angel had fallen. What "hit

and run" meant was being argued throughout the town, but no one could make sense of

that either. Mr. Linden thought that this was the heavenly war prophesied by

Revelations. The sheriff and Mr. Linden had begun rounding up supporters and they

were preparing to lend their militaristic weight to heaven's armies. They wanted to

travel to the state capital and convince the governor to send troops. So they left

the town to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities. Doctor Protus

thought that turning the machine into a building was a waste of knowledge. He wanted

to try to rebuild the machine. While preparations for constructing the chapel began,

the doctor began to take all the inner workings of the machine, leaving just the metal

riveted hull. This would become the steeple of the chapel.

For two days the people of the town worked on the chapel and prepared the funeral

home for the reception of the angel's father. On the third day one of them asked,

"When will his father come?" By this time many from the surrounding towns had heard

about what happened and had arrived as well. People from all over the majority of

Texas were there. The town was swollen with activity, and it could not house the

influx, much less feed them all. This with the uncertainty that surrounded the angel

made everyone uneasy. The only way for the situation to resolve itself was for the

angels to arrive. Unfortunately, Amos did not know when they would arrive. The angel

had simply said, "My father will come for me."

By the fourth day many who had come from outside had left. They said, "It is not

a real body. It is a side show." They had not been there for the town meeting, but

even those who had began to doubt. Some even said, "Maybe the war is not going so

well for the angels." Amos heard these things and remembered the angel, who in life

had skin that glowed, but even Amos knew that something had knocked it out of the sky.

His mother saw him being troubled and she said to him, "Amos remember even Jesus was

tested by the devil." And even when others began to doubt him Amos still believed as

did Mr. and Mrs. Gileson. So the three of them prayed that night for a resolution and

the return of the angel to it's home.

On the fifth day the chapel was completed. The machine stood upright pointing

about twenty feet into the air, and a wooden square building surrounded it on all

sides. Inside there was room for a small altar and four pews. On the night of the

fifth day, to consecrate the chapel a mass was being held. It had just ended and the

Gileson family, along with Father Unsereo and the few who were still waiting for the

angels, were praying inside the chapel.

There was a knock at the door. Someone shouted, "They're coming!" and everyone

ran outside. Most of the town was already out staring up at the night sky. The sky

was normally an expanse of darkness and stars, but tonight it was lit by an unnatural

sun.

The heavens seemed to be tearing open. A giant fire ball, thousands of times

larger then the first one, was drowning out the stars. Everyone began to run and get

dressed in their Sunday best. The Gilesons were no different, and by the time the

town was dressed and ready the fireball had almost reached the earth. Although the

town still had disagreements about some aspects of the angel it was an undeniable fact

that Amos was the only one who could talk to them. So it was decided that when the

angels arrived the welcoming committee would consist of Amos, the Father, Mr. Gileson,

and Sheriff Dupuck, who Sheriff Penuckle had left in his stead.

Amos and many others had expected a machine like the one that had carried the

first angel. This one was much larger. The machine had the shape of a monstrous egg,

and as it passed over the town it completely blocked out the sky, not only in the

town, but also in the surrounding fields. Hovering over the town it could be easily

seen that the spikes were in fact enormous battlements and cannons. Three gigantic

legs slammed into the earth and held the metal monster aloft. In this position it was

still at least two hundred feet above the town. Amos could hear the whisperings in

the crowd. Some said, "Linden was right," and again he heard, "Maybe the war is not

going so well for the angels." There was a general feeling that this machine could

not hold benevolent beings. It was obviously a piece of war.

Then a smaller machine come out of a hole in the larger one. It came down to the

town and landed right next to the chapel. A door at the back opened. Amos, the

father, and Mr. Gileson walked over to the open door to greet the visitors. Mrs.

Gileson told her son that she was proud of him, and pushed him forward. Sheriff

Dupuck had decided he would stay back make sure the crowd stayed calm. Out of the

door first came two monsters of enormous proportion. They were about ten feet tall

and larger then some full grown bison. From head to foot they were plated in metallic

armor and they carried huge weapons. Behind him Amos could feel the crowd begin to

slink away, and he could even feel Father Unsereo start to back up a step and a half.

His father squeezed Amos' shoulder and otherwise did not move.

These who armored behemoths stopped just outside the door. From between then then

came four more creatures. These ones resembled the angel. Their skin was glowing and

they had no face or eyes because of the brightness as well. But unlike the first

angel they were clothed and armed. They were wearing an armor that resembled the

monsters. These four formed ranks in front of the monsters. Then came two very

ornately dressed angels. These two had long flowing clothes with trains behind them,

and one wore and ornate headdress and the other a large plume of feathers on their

back. These two walked up the corridor created by the soldiers, and stopped right in

front of Amos.

For a moment there was silence. Then Amos said, "Are you searching for your son?"

but still there was no answer. Then Amos remembered that they did not understand and

he would have to speak through his toe. So he tried again and the angel with the

headdress said yes. So Amos lead the angels, who were surrounded by the soldier

angels, to the funeral home where the first angel was being shown. Behind them

followed the rest of the town. When the two angels reached the customized coffin with

the grey body in it they began to weep, and it was clear to all that these were the

angel's parents. The one in the headdress was the father, and the other was the

mother.

The townspeople helped carry the coffin back to the machine, and in a large

procession they offered their condolences. The coffin was then loaded into the

machine and the mother and the soldiers returned. The father stood before Amos and

with the now customary roar said to Amos' toe, "Your people have shown great respect

to me, and my people. We are in debt to you." Then he and the giant monsters

returned to the machine, which flew back to the larger machine. With some amount of

noise and the raising of it's giant legs the spiky egg too lifted away from the town.

In this way man, through the care of a son, entered into a covenant with the angels

where the fallen angels would be cared for in return for the angels' protection of

earth.