Page 9 - EarthAngelsMatos

NICHOLAS BOOTHMAN
I turned around and left, wondering why I had
been so abruptly dismissed. Was it the tourist crowds,
the ornate decorations, or something more intangible
that didn't resonate with me? I didn't know, but I
trusted my instincts.
Three blocks further up Fifth Avenue, I spotted
another church. Passing through the door of Saint
Thomas Church, I immediately felt at peace.
"Where shall I sit?” I whispered to myself. ‘I know.
I’m sixty-two. I’ll sit in pew sixty-two’. I walked down
the center aisle and found it. The church was empty. I
went about ten feet in and sat down.
After fifteen minutes of quiet contemplation,
seeking inspiration for my next book, I randomly
grabbed a prayer book from the rack in front of me and
started flipping through the pages. I wasn't looking for
anything in particular, just browsing. And then,
something inside the back cover caught my eye. There,
handwritten in Portuguese, my second language, was
a quote that made my heart skip a beat: "We are each of
us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by
embracing one another.”
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