Little Guardian

All children have a good friend in their guardian angel. Their
parents usually call them imaginary friends, but whatever description
you choose they are still the same little angels that keep you company
until you are old enough to make new friends all by yourself.

Carrie Anne Phillips was very good friends with her guardian angel,
Mario. When she was very small, he would keep away the demons that hunt
at night for children, to give them nightmares. She would smell that
funny scent of mint and flowers accompanied by a strange tingling hum,
and look up to see him crouched at the end of the cot. He would usually
be hunched up, almost into a ball, with a little strawberry red smile
and the bluest of eyes in a china white face, peering at her from under
thick curly black hair.

Sometimes Mario was even smaller than her favourite doll Daisy, and
sometimes he seemed almost as big as her - especially when a really bad
dream came and hovered over the cot, like a black fog that shook the
dolphin mobile. He would stand up from the little blanket-nest he had
made, and spread his arms wide. As Carrie shrank into the warm,
scratchy, folds of her blankets, he would grow tall and shine with a
bright silvery light. If that didn't chase the dream away, he would
sing a gurgling tune in a small voice, that tinkled like a wind chime,
until all the darkness had left the dream, turning it a beautiful
autumn gold colour.

Carrie liked the golden dreams. They were usually about her mother or
father, and she always felt safe, as if someone was holding her gently
but tightly. Sometimes she could feel that Mario was the person that
held her safely and sometimes she couldn't work out who it was.
"Why don't you always hold me in my dreams?" she had asked him one
day. But he just smiled at her, and told her all about other children
he looked after.
"There is a boy in India, who has no father" he answered. "When you
grow up, you will know that India is a very hot place a long way from
here. But even though it burns under a bright sun, sometimes it can
rain and rain for days without stopping."

Carrie looked at him from her end of the cot, resting her head on her
arm. She loved listening to Mario's stories, and she imagined the
little Indian boy all hot and wet at the same time.
"Also, it is very hard for my little Indian boy to get food every day,
so when he is soaking wet and hungry, I tell him stories, and sing his
bad dreams away."
"Tell me about your other children" said Carrie, feeling like part of
a special family.
"Oh I couldn't tell you about them all" he would smile back at her
with his sparkly blue eyes, and red smile, "there are so many, but I
shall tell you about a few of them".

So, as Carrie Anne Philips grew up, and moved from her cot to the
cabin-bed, Mario moved with her and perched on the pine-board at the
end, settling back to tell her about all the children in strange places
that he watched over, and sang to sleep. She especially loved hearing
about the Indian boy, and Mario described how the most beautiful, kind
people lived in India, because it is such a beautiful and kind
country.

But Mario was guardian to many children all over the world. In this
way, Carrie learned about the little girl who lived far off in an icy
cold country where she could see coloured lights dancing between the
stars in the sky through her window at night. Then there was a boy in a
house on top of twenty other houses who watched a big stone lady
standing in the sea, with a bright stone torch in her hand.

A few of the children Mario told stories about made Carrie feel sad.
Some didn't have a mother, or the poor little girl that Mario would
cuddle when her father smacked her too hard. Sometimes, she would ask
him to go and look after them instead of her.
"But what if you have a bad dream my darling Carrie" he would
sigh.
"I'll be brave Mario," she whispered, feeling ever so slightly scared.
"I'll just think of the poor children you are singing to". Then he
would jump down from the end of the bed, kiss her on the forehead and
sing a few words in his tingly voice to comfort her before
vanishing.

Mario stayed with Carrie all through the long warm summers when they
would spend hours digging in the garden, and through cold winters when
he told her ghost stories on Halloween, and they secretly swapped
presents with each other at Christmas. It was Mario that first told her
of the tiny baby that was born long ago on the first Christmas. He said
that this particular baby was very special, even though he had been
poorer than the hungry wet Indian boy, and because he was born in a
cave where animals were kept, he was even colder than the little girl
that watched the lights dancing in the sky far away.

On her fifth birthday they went out into the garden for a special
present. It was a bitter February, but Carrie was too excited to feel
the cold. Mario showed her a clump of pure white snowdrops that had
burst out from under the hedge at the side of the garden. Carrie
clapped her hands with excitement
"Snowdrops," she cried, "I love Snowdrops", and Mario clapped his
hands too, because he had made her so happy.
"Why don't you pick them for your mother" he said gently, "She has
worked very hard to get your birthday party ready". So Carrie picked
the flowers, and her mother put them in the best crystal vase, placing
it carefully on the windowsill.
"Thank you" she had said, smiling "Now we both have a present"

That year, when Carrie was five, was her best summer. It hardly rained
at all, and she spent long hours chasing butterflies with Mario, and
building little temples in the sand patch at the end of the garden,
where red ants sometimes scurried about. Mario told her that they were
just like the big golden temples far away.
"The sun shines down all summer on those enormous buildings with
turrets and towers", he would sing to her, "and the walls glimmer, like
silver satin and jewels. Then, in the evening when the setting sun
turns the satin walls to a peachy pink colour, hundreds of white doves
come out of the trees and fields to roost on the temple towers, and
peacocks cry out loud with their emerald tails thrown upwards". Then he
would talk about the children in those countries that would go though
big wooden doors in the silver walls, and sing songs and prayers with
their mothers and fathers, and all their brothers and sisters as
well.

On one particular hot afternoon, he said something very strange to
Carrie. They had been collecting petals all morning to decorate a large
sandy pyramid she had built. Mario assured her that if you went inside
the large wooden doors, you would see that all the best temples were
full of flowers in huge multi-coloured bunches. When they had covered
the walls in daisies and honeysuckle he sat back and gazed up at her
with those bluest of eyes.
"You'll not see me again soon Carrie. I have to leave and find another
little girl to look after". Carrie's eyes filled with tears.
"Why are you leaving me? What's wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong dearest, but you are growing up, and you will soon
make new friends, and they will look after you in the same way that I
have"
"But I don't want any new friends, I want you to be my friend." Mario
skipped over to her and stroked her long brown hair.
"Don't worry dearest, I'm not going just yet, and when I do leave, I
promise you will not be sad."
"Will I see you again?" asked Carrie, trying very hard to be
brave.
"Oh yes, you will see me once more after I have left," replied Mario,
who immediately broke into a tinkling song that chased away the dark
cloud beginning to gather over Carrie's head. This cheered her up, and
she soon forgot about feeling sad.

It was a warm September evening, when her mother told Carrie that she
would be going to school the next week. Mario sang to her about it that
night. He sang about the other children that she would meet, and all
the different lessons that she would learn.
"Will you come with me Mario?" she asked, feeling altogether anxious.
"Will you come with me to school, and tell me a story if I get
scared?"
"I'll come with you as far as the gate" he had answered, but then
added in a whisper "I can only come all the way in to the school if you
especially ask me, when we get there". Carrie promised that she would
ask him into school, and in return he told her an extra story about two
very special twins that he looked after, and how their arms were
joined. The special twins had to go everywhere together which made them
the closest brother and sister in the world.

The journey to school was very new for Carrie. She carefully watched
all the people they drove past, and tried to count the bricks in the
buildings each time the car stopped at traffic lights. Mario sat next
to her stroking her hair, and pointing to people that he knew.
"How do you know them all?" she had asked, wondering at how clever he
was.
"I used to look after them of course," he laughed at her, "just like I
look after you."
The school seemed very big when they arrived, and Carrie had never
seen so many children. There were big children carrying books, and tall
teachers that rang bells, and even some little children that were even
smaller than she was. Mario didn't say anything about her promise.
Carrie was so caught up in the new sounds and the sight of so many
people. He swung himself onto the gate and smiled, recognising a slim
lady with fiery red hair who walked across to Carrie and her
mother.
"Hello Janet" he whispered, knowing that she could not hear him. "Look
after my little girl for me." As Carrie took her new teachers hand, and
walked away without a backward glance, a single shining tear fell from
those bluest of eyes, although Mario still had his strawberry red
smile.
"Goodbye" he called after her, making sure his voice was too quiet to
be heard, "until we see each other again dearest Carrie".

School was a wonderful place for Carrie, full of happy memories and
good friends, and she loved her big school even more when the time came
to move on. But from that first day, when Carrie's teacher took her
hand, she forgot about Mario, and as he had promised, she was not sad.
She made many new friends at school, and they all looked after her. She
grew up to have children of her own, and loved each of them dearly,
singing them to sleep when dark dreams threatened them at night. On her
wedding day, Carrie was married in a local temple that was filled with
flowers.
Whenever there was enough money, she travelled to far away places,
discovering how the people lived there, and even managed to visit the
silver turrets and the peacocks in India with her family.
"I'm sure someone once told me that the walls turn orange in the
evening, and doves come here to roost", she murmured to her husband,
while the children ran up to touch the walls, "But I can't remember
when. It must have been in a book I read"
Sometimes, strange things would happen that she could not explain.
Every year, February snowdrops made her feel happy and sad at the same
time, although she did not know why. One evening she had seen some
Siamese twins on the news, and remarked,
"They must be the closest brother and sister in the world", startled to
hear herself say such an odd thing. On another occasion, whilst on
holiday in Norway, she was watching the Northern Lights in the sky. Her
guide had turned round and told everyone in the group how he used to
watch the lights dancing from his bed as a child, and without thinking
she said,
"So did I", suddenly feeling very silly because of course she hadn't
actually seen them from her bed.

Almost faster than you can imagine Carrie became an old lady. She often
forgot things that happened to her on a particular day, but she could
remember being younger, and back in school, as clearly as if she were
still there. One evening she was lying in her bed, with the light from
the reading lamp turning the skin on her cheeks orange-yellow when she
began to remember farther and farther back. Suddenly, a familiar scent
of mint and flowers, filled the room, accompanied by a strange tingling
hum that echoed around the bed, and she remembered Mario.
"Mario" she called out, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"Mario, I never asked you into school with me after promising that I
would. I forgot all about you. Oh, I am so sorry my precious
angel".
"That's all right" came a voice, and there he was, perched at the end
of her bed, smiling up at her from his blue eyes, the black curly hair
falling down to his shoulders.
"Oh Mario" Carrie sighed, "I have missed you so much, and I never
realised it until now."
"I told you that you would see me again." Mario gazed at her and held
out his hands. "It is important to be welcomed into your new family by
someone that you can trust." Carrie nodded, realising what he
meant.
"Oh my dearest Carrie" he whispered in her ear, as she rose up from
the bed with him, "there are so many children for you to watch
over."