A Pocket Angel

Noele thumbed through the racks at the Goodwill store for a replacement jacket. Her old one was too tight from her sudden weight gain—seasonal depression had hit. She also just had surgery two weeks ago and they found and removed endometriosis, which explained her emotional eating, constant pain, and mood swings. She questioned the last twenty years of her life and how she was labeled as difficult, psycho, and other things. She wished she could take back those years and redo them now that she had an explanation of why medication and therapy never helped her. She thought a bit of retail therapy would help get her out of her funk; it was always her grandmother’s favorite thing to do. As she wandered aimlessly, the sound of Christmas music echoed throughout the store, catching her attention now and then, but it didn’t ease the anger and resentment she felt. 

Noele was thankful that the store wasn’t crowded with Christmas shoppers. Taking a deep breath, she walked down the other side of the rack of winter jackets. Then she saw it, a grey peacoat, one that looked exactly like the one her grandmother had. She reminisced finding the exact one in her grandmother’s closet after she had died. Noele was eighteen and claimed the jacket as her own, and in her grandmother’s pockets, she found an old dove chocolate promise piece of candy and an angel coin. However, she lost that jacket sixteen years by putting it in a friend’s storage locker and she never got it back. She missed that jacket, so without hesitation and because it felt like maybe it was a sign from heaven, she tried on the jacket. 

For a split second, she wanted to believe in small miracles. God, please let this be Grandma Brandon’s jacket, she thought for a split second, and then she chastised herself. Don’t be silly, that would be impossible. However, she took a deep breath to brace herself for inevitable disappointment and placed her hands in both coat pockets. As she went further into the pockets, she gasped as her fingers contacted cold metal and a foil wrapper. She grasped onto them and pulled them out. Her heart beat wildly against her chest, and her knees buckled. Tears burned her vision. 

In her hand was the exact angel coin and the wrapper to the same dove promise chocolate that was in her grandmother’s coat, she claimed as her own twenty years ago. She smoothed the crumpled wrapper gently with her thumb, trying not to tear it. She wiped the burning tears from her eyes, blinked and refocused on the paper in her hand. “You are exactly where you are supposed to be.” She smiled weakly and said aloud, “Really?” then she ran her finger over the angel coin that stated, “Your Guardian angel is always with you.” 

“I sure do hope so,” Noele said aloud to no one. She hugged herself tightly in her jacket, not caring if anybody was looking. It was like a hug from her grandmother. She couldn't believe she found her grandmother’s jacket once again. She’d lost in Maryland and it found its way back to her in Virginia. God thank you so much. What an amazing gift. She’d found what she was looking for and she wanted to leave since she noticed someone was looking at her strangely. 

She didn’t take the jacket off and she went up to the counter to checkout. The cashier who checked her out smiled. “That’s a beautiful jacket. It’s been here for a while though. I was wondering if it would ever find a good home.” 

“Really? I guess it was meant for me—” Noele started. “It’s strange because you’ll never believe it, it was my grandmother’s jacket.” 

The cashier smiled. “Oh, how do you know?”

Noele felt silly and then pulled out the dove wrapper as proof. “Because after she died, I found this same dove wrapper in her pocket.”   

The cashier smiled politely. “That’s strange, we always check the pockets, maybe someone put that in there? You know how some people can be just throwing their trash anywhere.”

Noele let out a frustrated sigh and grew restless. She wanted to end this as soon as possible. She still held the coin in her hand and grasped onto it tighter just in case the cashier wanted to check the pockets. 

The cashier noticed Noele’s annoyance and softened a bit. Noele struggled to take the jacket off and the cashier smiled. “No need to take it off, hon. Keep it on and keep your grandmother close.” The cashier rang Noele up and Noele pulled out her credit card and paid, silently thanking God for avoiding another awkward moment.

Noele smiled, “Have a great day and Happy Holidays.”

“Thank you, you too,” the cashier replied.

Noele released her hand and took a deep breath. She started to return the coin back into her pocket when she heard a clang on the floor. Her face went white in horror and adrenaline rushed throughout her body. She saw the coin on the floor, the cashier was right behind her and picked it up and studied it for a second before handing it back to Noele.

“What a beautiful coin, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” the cashier smiled.

“It was my grandmother’s—” Noele began but shut her mouth. Noele was feeling guilty and didn’t want this woman to think she was stealing it. Her brain went into overdrive, telling her that technically she was stealing, but there was no price tag so she wasn’t.

“Well, be careful and keep it close to you,” the cashier said.

“Thank you so much. This coin means the world to me, it’s like having an angel looking over me.”

“That’s so sweet, we all need an angel looking after us,” the cashier smiled. “I could totally use an angel, this year has been rough for me and my family.”

Noele’s heart began to hurt. She watched as the cashier shifted uncomfortably and Noele thought she saw tears form in the other lady’s eyes. Noele knew without a doubt what to do. She took the angel coin and presented it to the woman. “Take this, I think you need this more than I do.”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly take your grandmother’s coin from you,” the cashier said in shock.

“Please, I insist. I hope it brings you all the comfort and peace of mind that it has for me,” Noele replied. 

The cashier reluctantly took the coin and placed it in her pocket. “Thank you so much,” the cashier said and hugged Noele.

“You’re very welcome, and I hope you have a great day.”

“Thank you, you too,” the cashier smiled and walked away. 

“Thank you,” Noele said and walked out to her car. “I can’t believe that just happened—” she whispered. I did the right thing. The coin came back to me for a reason and someone else needed it more than I did, she thought to herself as she opened her car door. Once inside, she turned the car on and her grandmother’s favorite song was playing— “Holes in the Floor of Heaven,” and rain started to come down and Noele finally broke down and cried. Allowing this moment to heal her fears. She hugged herself tighter in her grandmother’s peacoat as if her grandmother was comforting her.