A sudden sweep of headlights.

Barcelona/one month ago

I need to know what happened with the offer.

Eh?

The offer! You know – Patrick.

What?

Patrick, the garage, the offer – you know – the angel.

Oh, the angel – why didn’t you say so?

I did.

No you didn’t, you said ‘offer’ and ‘Patrick’ and ‘garage’.

Ok, ok, so what happened?

Well….Patrick was wise enough to recognise a golden opportunity when it arrived but astute enough to know that it was only fools that rushed in. In his experience golden opportunities arrived either never, or once in a lifetime.

True that. So, what did he say?

“Do you mean go back to when I was 36, just before Jack was born, or a year earlier before he was conceived…. or further back, before we were thinking about him?”

Hmmm, interesting - the mind prickles at the possibilities. What did the Angel say?

The angel said nothing.

I bet Patrick said more!

He did – “Or do you mean go back to when I was in my twenties, single and unattached?”

I bet the angel said something then!

Yep.

What?

“Your choice”.

Wow!

The angel was little more than a hovering wave of energy and light at this point.

Cool, but hard choice for Patrick I bet.

There were a lot of things to consider – what would happen to those around him as a result of his choice for one.

Good point, so…?

The conversation continued – “If I can choose, I need time to think about it, five minutes ago I was thinking more about NOT going forward, going back was far from my thoughts.”

“That’s reasonable”, the vision started to fade, “take a week, consider carefully and I’ll check mid-week to see how it’s going”

A week’s not a long time for a big decision like this.

You don’t want to waste time though if you get a chance to live things again.

Fair point.

Besides something else happened.

Really, what?

Well, the angel vanished.

Patrick was alone.

Yep; and naked.

Under the willow tree and the glorious night sky.

Yep, and for the first time in over a year he had the first real feeling of hope.

Yeah, but I bet that was when the neighbour drove up and his car headlights swung over Patrick’s naked torso!