And moving on to what will probably be the last of the day:

For All Eternity

Miko

      The old woman knelt before the gravestone.  She lit the incense,
then bowed her head and quietly prayed.  She spoke to her long-
departed love, and, deep inside, she was certain that he could hear her
prayers.

Somewhere in Hell, most likely. :)

      It was a bright, sunny day.  Rays of sunlight warmed the cemetery
grass.  A light breeze rustled the leaves in the trees overhead.  The
buzz of cicadas and chirping of birds seemed to say that life went on.
The seasons changed, the years slid by, and few remembered the
wonderful man she'd married so many years ago.  When she was gone,
would anyone remember, at all?  People, animals, plants -- everything
grew old and fell by the wayside, but life never stopped to notice.  Life
went on.

Yep. The sad truth.

      The old woman walked slowly up the hill.  She saw now that it
was a girl -- a foreigner, it seemed, with milk-white skin and beautiful
brown hair that fell past her waist.  She didn't want to disturb the
stranger, but she felt drawn to her, somehow, for reasons she couldn't
quite explain.

Most likely so the old woman would tell her a tale and so the readers would
be introduced to it.

      The girl wore a flowing white dress, trimmed with green.  She
wore gold bracelets and anklets, and a necklace, and earrings that
dangled and sparkled in the sun.   She had strange markings on her
cheeks and forehead.  She was very beautiful.

      Birds were perched in her hands, and on her arms.

Mostly pigeons and crapping up a storm. She looked like a procelain statue
in the middle of the park with all the bird crap covering her.

      "Oh, I don't mind at all!" the girl replied warmly.  "My name is
Belldandy."

figured as much

      "Oh, no!" Belldandy exclaimed.  "My Keichi lived a very long, full
life!  He was 105 when he died, and right up until the last few months
he had a sound mind and could still work on his old motorcycle.  Even
he said that he could not have expected anything more out of life.  I
could have wished for more than that... but I know it is only
selfishness on my part...."

True.

      "But... 105?  Was this Keichi your grandfather, perhaps?"

      "Oh, my, no!  He was my husband!"

      "But... but..." the woman sputtered.  "But... my dear girl, you

can't

be much older than twenty or twenty-one!"

Bell: Heck, if you think I'm old, you should see my older sister. As Goddess
of the Past, she was there right after the first second died.

      "I am a great deal older than twenty-one," Belldandy said.  "After
all, Keichi and I were married for nearly eighty years."

      "That... my dear girl, that simply isn't possible!"

      "Of course it's possible," Belldandy replied.

Bell: Plastic surgery does quite the miracle nowadays.

      "But... my dear... you can't possibly...."

Belldandy: Want to see a magic trick? Watch me pull an angel out of my back.

      When she saw the confusion in the old woman's eyes, Belldandy
added, "It was his wish, you see.  It was the way he phrased it.  His
actual words were, 'I want a goddess like you to stay with me forever!'

      "And so," Belldandy said, smiling sadly, "here I am... forever."

Heh. Well, that was an amusing concept. One interpetation of forever.
Interesting. No real grammar mistakes I noticed and it flowed well. Nice
work

Moving on to the spin off

A Pleasant Place To Be
Miko

    It was a bad day in Hell.  A cool breeze was blowing, and the

atmosphere

was almost balmy.  Even the flames of eternal damnation looked somehow
pleasant and cheerful.

Ah, this brings back memories. Nothing like confounding enternal damnation
and mocking it. :)

    Lord Diatribe,

Nice name.

     One of his sub demons cowered before his gaze.  It was a twisted imp
with mottled green skin, who went by the name of Mild Annoyance.  "I -- I
believe she's serving iced tea and rice cakes to the damned, your Infernal
Eminence," Mild stuttered.

Heh. Bell just doesn't get it.

    Lord Diatribe gripped the arm of his throne so tightly that it

cracked.

Bits of obsidian showered down.

   "Bring.  Her.  Here," he said through gritted teeth.

    Moments later, Demon First Class Belldandy stood before him.  Lord
Diatribe calmed himself.  Even in Hell, even for a demon whose specialty

was

incoherent screaming,

Another cute tie to his name.

he'd learned long ago that yelling did not always

yield the best results.  He had not reached the level of Vice Demon by

being

a complete idiot.

He had reached because all the other demons WERE complete idiots.

    "I could serve them lukewarm tea," she said, "and biscuits without
butter or jam or anything... Keichi was always disappointed when there
wasn't any butter...."

Diatribe: That might be the best we can do with you. Go ahead and do it.

    "You rang?" a deep, resonate voice boomed out.

Heh

    In short, it was a race car from Hell.

    The car screeched and skidded to a halt in front of his throne.
Belldandy stepped out, along with -- the demon's eyes bulged -- a young

man,

a banished human soul, was climbing from driver's side.

Heh

   "This... it's delicious!" he said, through mouthfulls of food.  In

Hell,

talking with your mouth full was accepted -- even encouraged.

Somewhere Demon of Ill Manners probably approved.

Very amusing.

D.B. Sommer




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