Howdy there folks,

Had an idea yesterday while driving on the highway for 6 hours yesterday,
and I spent all day today writing the first chapter of it.  It's set in
the Ah, My Goddess world and may end up being 5 or 6 chapters long when
finished.

Anyroad, give it a go and see what you think.
C&C welcome.
Sincerely,

Mike McAvoy, author of TM!:No Need For Sasami
mmcavoy@acm.vt.edu
www.acm.vt.edu/~mmcavoy/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Credits:
Ah! My Goddess! copyright 1988, 1998 by Kousuke Fujishima.
All characters copyright 1988, 1998 by Kousuke Fujishima.

This is a non-profit work of fan-fiction.  As such, I'm getting no 
compensation for writing this fiction other than my own enjoyment, 
because the thought of getting sued is rather unpleasant.

Disclaimer:  All characters *I* have created are purely a work of 
fiction.  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is pure 
coincidence.  Anyone who thinks otherwise is probably just itching for 
a fight.  Also, please do not try and distribute this story in some lame 
attempt to make a buck;  it would be bad karma to say the least.

C&C appreciated!
Send them to Michael McAvoy (mmcavoy@acm.vt.edu)
http://www.acm.vt.edu/~mmcavoy/



			Ah, My Goddess!
		     "In Search of a Wish"

		A Fan-Fiction by Michael McAvoy



		O light the candle, John
		The daylight has almost gone
		The birds have sung their last
		The bells call all to mass
		Sit here by my side
		For the night is very long
		There is something I must tell
		Before I pass along

			--- Loreena McKennitt



		       -* Chapter One *-

	If one were to gather the collective philosophic genius of 
mankind into a room and ask them the one constant of life, you would 
probably get a lot of answers.  Very well thought out and opinionated, 
some might say Uncertainty, Hope, Chaos, Death, Goodness, or an 
almost infinite host of other possibilities, all of them equally valid.

	If you were to ask Nagle, an apprentice daeva in the ranks of 
the Underworld, he would probably look you straight in the eye and 
tell you those human philosophers were full of it.  As far as the young, 
evil spirit was concerned, there was only one constant in life.

	Bureaucracy.

	Fair skinned and deceptively humanoid in appearance, Nagle 
looked down at the slow scribbles he was making with his pencil as he 
sat at a reception desk.  Pleasantly adorned with a "Thank you for not 
smoking" sign, a rolodex, and an office phone, the desk was located at 
the end of a bright and cheery hall, complete with thick carpeting, 
whitewashed walls, and some tasteful art hanging here and there.  
Several plush chairs, all of which were currently empty, sat around 
Nagle's reception desk, facing him and the door located behind.

	As a receptionist for the most powerful demon in the 
Underworld, as well as Him, Nagle had assumed that he was being 
groomed for a fast track position in the ranks of Hell, perhaps even to 
become mentored to one of the more powerful evil creatures that 
passed his desk now and again.  Unfortunately for Nagle, day after day 
after day, all he ever did was sit at this desk and take appointments for 
those upstairs.

	And he had been doing this for seven hundred and eighty 
nine years.

	Sure, Nagle had asked for another assignment, maybe 
tormenting a few mortals now and again, working in a field office for 
the Department of Demonic Engineering, or even managing a section 
of the various Levels of Hell.  But each time his application had gotten 
lost in the system, his requests had fallen on deaf ears, or he had been 
just plain passed up by some promising new daeva fresh out of training 
school.

	It just was not fair, Nagle thought as a shadow passed over 
the pad he was drawing on.  The glum looking daeva looked up.  
Standing in front of the reception desk, clad in a comfortable looking 
combination of velvet and leather, was a woman with an intense stare 
and long, wildly-flowing, light brown hair.  Running symmetrically 
down her forehead were two long and narrow marks, almost like 
tattoos except for the fact that they seemed to glow incandescently.

	Nagle did not even bother to take his hand from the side of 
his face.  "Name?" he asked despondently.

	The woman raised an eyebrow.  "Mara," she said with some 
annoyance in her voice, "Demon First Class, Unlimited License.  I 
have an appointment."

	"Oh, right," the receptionist daeva replied, "you're the one 
who's been summoned by Him.  Must be your lucky day.  Me? I have 
no lucky days.  I just sit here and watch my career wasting away."

	Nagle looked up to see a pair of bright eyes staring at him 
with vast impatience and disgust.  He hastily cleared his throat and 
motioned to the door.

	"You're expected," he said quickly, "please go in and-"

	"Been there before," Mara snorted, brushing past the desk.

	The door slid open automatically and the female demon 
passed through it, entering what looked like an elevator.  It was 
tastefully decorated, just like the lobby, and some soothing music was 
being played overhead from a little speaker.  There were only two 
buttons inside the elevator, one marked "Lobby" and one marked 
"Executive Office".  Mara leaned over and pushed the office button.

	"Have a nice day," Nagle said in a half-hearted tone as the 
door shut, "I know I won't."

	Mara waited for the door to close before she leaned up against 
the cool metal interior of the elevator and sighed.  Closing her eyes, 
she felt a rising sensation as the elevator began to climb rapidly.  The 
Executive Office was located in the tallest building in the Underworld 
as it was rumored He liked to have a good view of His domain.  Mara 
opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling unhappily.

	"Looks like this is the end," she muttered morosely.

	It had to have come to this eventually, she thought.  After all, 
three years of one successive failure after another could not go 
unnoticed, especially in the cutthroat atmosphere that was Hell.  And 
that her assignment she had failed to complete after three years was 
just to Damn one lousy and unremarkable human made her a laughing 
stock.

	"What do they expect of me?" grumbled Mara out loud, "It's 
not *my* fault that Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes got to him first.  It's not 
*my* fault she got her drunkard and mecha freak sisters to help guard 
the little weakling.  And on top of that, *I'm* supposed to fight the 
Ultimate Force single-handedly?!"

	Mara closed her eyes again and sighed, waiting for the 
elevator to finish it's assent.

	"It's just not fair," she muttered.  "I'd like to see some of 
those pompous executive morons do any better."

	Though she was certain her devilish existence was about to 
come to an end, and not necessarily an abrupt one (`I could linger in 
pain for at least a few thousand years,' Mara thought wearily), Mara 
did take satisfaction that she had been summoned by Him, and not by 
that geriatric excuse for an executive officer, Lucifer.  It was a well 
known fact that Hell's number one demon had not had his hands 
directly in anything evil for almost a thousand years, instead becoming 
a bureaucratic administrator.  In fact, Lucifer had made the 
Underworld even more dog-eat-dog and back stabbing during his reign, 
worried that if he did not do so some enterprising demon would challenge 
him.

	Mara snorted.  Feeling the elevator begin to slow down, she 
put on her game face.  Even if she was about to be annihilated from 
existence, she was not going to let that bastard, Lucifer, get any 
satisfaction from it.  The elevator then stopped and the door opened.

	"Have a nice day," an automated female's voice came from 
the speaker as Mara stepped out.

	Mara always hated this office.  Draped in colors of red that 
ranged from gaudy to garish, it was obvious to anyone that the top 
floor of the building had either been designed by a failed interior 
decorator or a madman.  All the furniture was opulent and covered 
with red crushed velvet of varying blood shades.  Everything in the 
room seemed to clash with everything else.  Mara rolled her eyes and 
made her way across the room.

	"Maaaara," a sleazy voice drawled from off to the left.

	She paused and turned her head with a bland expression of 
disinterest on her face.  "Lucifer," she acknowledged the devil 
lounging on a sofa.

	Also humanoid in appearance, Lucifer certainly was not the 
oldest of demons in hell, but he had weaseled his way to the top 
successfully, knocking aside his Babylonian predecessor in the 
process.  An emaciated figure with slicked, wiry hair, Mara always got 
a distasteful sensation in her mouth when she saw him, not unlike that 
humans got when talking to used car salesmen.  He was dressed in long 
and tacky silk robes that made most who saw him want to call the fashion 
police.

	"I can't tell you how much I am enjoying seeing you today," 
he smirked, "I've been trying to get your license pulled for over two 
years now, but He's always denied my request."

	"And I see you're still balding," replied Mara casually, 
"humans say that sorta thing runs in the mother's side of the family, 
except no one would ever admit to being *your* mother, so I'll guess 
we'll never know."

	"WORM!" Lucifer snarled, springing up from his sofa and 
drawing a hand back, crackling with energy.

	"I'm sure He'll be thrilled that you're delaying my 
appointment," commented Mara calmly, as Lucifer's fist stopped 
inches from her faces.

	Mara smiled wickedly.  "Yes, until He's done, you don't get 
to play with me," she grinned, "Maybe if you're a good dog, Lucy-
honey, you'll get a few leftover scraps of me to chew on later."

	Lucifer slowly dropped his hand, his face enraged.  With 
considerable effort, he calmed himself and stared down at the 
attractive demon.

	"It doesn't matter," he smirked, "I'm sure you'll enjoy the 
next few centuries in gut wrenching pain for your failures.  Just 
remember from time to time, when you look up from whatever hell He 
has created for you, that I'm laughing at your downfall!"

	Mara kept her face artfully disdainful, but inside she felt 
herself quake a bit.  Just because she was a servant of evil did not 
mean she was enthralled about the idea of being tortured.  She was not 
about to let Lucifer know that, though.

	"I promise you," said Mara quietly, her eyes shining, "if I 
walk out of those doors in one piece, Lucifer, I'll see the day where 
I'm picking my teeth with your shattered bones."

	Spinning from the devil, who was still grinning maliciously, 
Mara turned on her heel and walked through the horrible room 
towards a pair of large and heavy double doors.  They were sealed by 
the power of the Dark Lord, and no one but He could open them.  
Needless to say, you had to have an invitation to get in.

	'Maybe they won't open,' Mara hoped as she came closer to 
the doors.

	Without warning or noise, the two doors swung wide into a 
room that shone with a glaring light.  Mara was blinded momentarily.

	'Damn,' she thought.

	<That's the general idea,> a pleasant sounding voice echoed 
in her mind.  <Enter.>

	With no small amount of hesitation, Mara walked though the 
doors as they closed behind her.  Flopping down on a couch in the 
garish room, Lucifer picked up a remote control from a table and 
began flipping through a number of channels designed to spy on his 
potential rivals.  Thinking about Mara's certain doom, he smiled.

	"Another one down," he chuckled, and continued to flip.

			*	*	*


	Everything was very bright at first.  However, the longer 
Mara squinted, the more she could begin to make out details of where 
she was.  Mara had never been in His suite before, and she had only 
known of a few people who had and returned to talk about it.  As the 
level of light in the room lowered to a more manageable level, Mara 
was surprised to see very comfortable and urban office surroundings.  
There were no sign of evil, no whips and chains on the walls.  In fact, 
the office of the Dark Lord seemed slightly like...

	<Home?> the voice echoed in Mara's head.

	"My Lord," Mara breathed, bowing deeply.  Though she 
could hear His voice inside of her head, looking around the room and 
its furniture, Mara found herself quite alone.  The demon suddenly 
noticed she was shaking.

	<Be seated,> the Dark Lord's pleasant voice commanded.

	Mara began to stammer.  "M-m-y L-l-lord, I'm sorr-"

	<Sit, Mara, Demon First Class, Unlimited License,> the voice 
ordered again, <I have many things to discuss and your failures are but 
one of them.>

	"My Lord!" Mara cried, still more than a bit scared.  
Stumbling around slightly, she managed to take her seat in a plush 
office chair.  She then waited for the Dark Lord to begin.

	<I have been watching you for the past three years,> He 
began, <ever since your assignment to Damn one Keiichi Morisato.>

	'Busted,' sighed Mara to herself, raising a hand to her temple 
and waiting for the punishment to start.

	<It is completely evident to me,> continued the Dark Lord, 
<that you, Mara, have been at a disadvantage the entire time which 
has made fulfillment of that contract impossible for just one demon, 
therefore I am canceling it.>

	Mara's jaw dropped as she leaned forward completely stunned.

	<Normally, I'd allow the executive officer to alter your 
assignment, giving you additional demons to aid in you contract, but it 
is apparent Lucifer has his career survival prioritized over My will.  
That is why he has done nothing but watch as a potential rival struggled 
against the Ultimate Force... and those goddesses.>

	"Obviously, my Lord," Mara interjected in a still shocked 
voice, "satisfying Your will would be the only priority for a successful 
career."

	<Perhaps it is my fault,> conceded the Dark Lord, <I have 
allowed such fierce competition to go on ever since Lucifer struck 
down his predecessor some three thousand years ago, also allowing 
him more autonomy with the demons' assignments in the Underworld.  
It was my hope such responsibility would encourage creativity 
amongst My dominion.  I realize now that was probably a mistake.>

	Mara's jaw dropped again.  The Dark Lord admitting a 
mistake?  Such a thing might never have been heard by a demon since 
time began and probably would not ever be heard again.

	<Lucifer is only concerned with maintaining his position, 
irregardless of the advancement of My plan,> the voice in Mara's head 
said with some annoyance.  <Nevertheless, Mara, it is My will your 
contract to Damn Keiichi Morisato be terminated this instant.  You 
will immediately take a leave of absence from Hell.>

	Mara blinked.  "A leave of absence?"

	<I want you out of Hell, Mara,> the voice commanded, <I 
want you to go into the human world, relax a bit, perhaps Damn a few 
humans in your leisure time.  After the aggravation you have been 
though with my Brother and His minions, you could use some time 
away.>

	"My Lord!" Mara agreed in amazement.

	<Naturally, when you return, I would hope to see you as a 
strong enough rival to knock down and replace Lucifer.>

	Mara's shock evaporated and her eyes instantly narrowed as 
the implication of the Dark Lord's words struck her.  'I'm being 
groomed to take over Hell,' her mind screamed.

	<Of course, I could send Lucifer to an eternal damnation if I 
wanted too, but I am afraid of the effect that would have on demon 
moral.>

	"No one cares for Lucifer, My Lord," Mara said, shaking her 
head, "they simply fear his power.  Moral would probably rise with 
some changes."

	<Perhaps.>

	Mara's brain, no longer paralyzed, began to work feverishly.  
Scratching the side of her head, she asked, "What if I didn't challenge 
Lucifer?"

	<I would be very disappointed in you, Mara.  *Very* 
disappointed.>

	Mara gulped.

	<Return here again in a year, and we shall talk some more,> 
added the Dark Lord before falling silent.

	Standing up out of her chair, her mind in a whirlwind, Mara 
walked over to the doors and made her way through them as they 
opened.  Not even bothering to waste a glance at the stunned Lucifer, 
who was still on a couch, Mara entered the elevator and pushed for the 
lobby floor.  The furious questions and threats from the devil fell on 
her deaf ears as she grinned wildly to herself.

	"A leave of absence!" she tittered happily as the elevator 
began its descent.

			*	*	*


	Slamming a small set of doors open in a rage, Lucifer, the 
chief executive officer of Hell, descended a dark and narrow flight of 
stairs.  Musty and lined with stone, the cobwebs that crossed the tight 
space withered and fell away before the could make contact with the 
devil's body, as if sensing the rage.

	Lucifer had not been this irate in centuries.  His mirth at 
seeing Mara punished for her failures was shattered the moment he 
saw her walk from His office with a smile plastered on her face.  Even 
worse, after Mara left, was a commandment the Dark Lord had sent to 
Lucifer's desk which effectively said Lucifer could not interfere in any 
fashion with Mara without being destroyed utterly by the Ultimate Force.

	"Damnation!" the devil swore vehemently as he reached the 
bottom of the winding, stone staircase.

	In front of Lucifer was a narrow hallway, also made of dark 
stone, which had a series of doors lining its walls.  Stalking down the 
hallway with his eyes on fire, he passed numerous doors bent on 
reaching the end of the hallway.  Behind each of the heavy, wooden 
doors was a wretched soul, each of which had been spectacularly 
Damned or offended Lucifer.  In these cells, the unfortunate beings, 
human or otherwise, would wait hopelessly in the black darkness for 
the next horror and terror to be brought upon them by whatever curse 
Lucifer had seen fit to bestow.  Sensing the devil's presence through 
the doors, each of the Damned cowered in fear as he walked by.  
Finally, after several minutes of walking in fury, Lucifer came to the 
very last door at the end of the passageway.  Not stopping an instant, 
the devil kicked the old door open with a bang and stalked inside the 
cell.

	"Ah, Eydaimon," he said in a terrible voice, filled with 
malice, "it's been a while since I was last here."

	As the little available light filtered through the open door and 
past the devil, the visage of a lost soul could be seen.  Staring up 
through dirty and matted locks of brown hair, the creature winced and 
shifted hopelessly against the many lengths of chains that shackled 
him to the wall like heavy strands of a spider's web.  Wincing in the 
relative brightness, the creature had the most gut wrenching look of 
lost hope on his face that anyone in history had ever adopted.  Lucifer 
smiled.

	"I've had a terrible disappointment today," the devil 
continued, drawing nearer to the wall where the being was chained, 
"and I can think of no one more deserving of my wrath in all of the 
Underworld than you."

	The being known as Eydaimon's eyes glazed over as he 
turned his head away into a corner of the cell's walls.  He knew what 
was coming; it had happened countless times before.  In a pathetic 
defense, the creature tried to draw up a massive pair of broken and 
blackened wings.  However, these were also chained to the moldy walls.

	"Yes," sneered Lucifer, "no one more deserving than you, 
Fallen Angel."

	Bidden by his command, the door to the cell swung closed as 
the devil began to laugh mercilessly.  All down the passageway, the 
numerous ranks of the imprisoned began to moan and writhe in their 
cells, paralyzed in fear of Lucifer's cackle.

	And then the screaming began.

			*	*	*


	A dimension away, in the highest room of a building so 
delicate, its spandrels seemed to defy logic, Kami-sama opened his 
eyes and stared out a window that overlooked Paradise.  With a 
passionless expression, the He walked from where He had been 
contemplating existence and sighed.

	In an office of brilliant color and wondrous beauty, Kami-
sama preferred to adopt a physical form in this plain of being.  
However, though any visitors invited to His office could plainly see 
their Lord, all of them would find it impossible to describe His features 
at all, no matter how hard they concentrated or tried to remember.  
Kami-sama, however, had no visitors at the moment, and His thoughts 
were far away from His appearance.

	The echoes of a scream from the depths of Hell had again 
reached his ears.  So had it been for many, many centuries.  There was 
nothing Kami-sama could do, for the voice of those screams was deep 
in the domain of His brother, the Dark Lord.

	With this last painful sensing of a Fallen Angel's anguish, 
though, Kami-sama felt for the first moment that events in Time and 
Space had moved to a point where there might be some hope.  The 
cost might be tremendous, but it was still the first and only possibility 
He had seen since that terrible day.  With a sense of purpose, He 
reached for the simple looking phone on His immaculate desk and 
pushed a rapid-dial button.  There was a moment's pause before a 
voice on the other line picked up.

	"Goddess Relief Office," a voice answered cheerily from the 
speaker phone.

	"It is *I*."

			*	*	*


	As far as the eye could see, eight lanes of highway were 
completely filled with cars that were rapidly going nowhere.  Piercing 
the darkness of a night that had only begun some thirty minutes 
earlier, the bright glow of headlights and taillights did more to 
illuminate the highway than the lightpoles high overhead.  There was not 
an accident causing the traffic snarls that night, rather, it was the 
average evening traffic that Washington, DC experienced every day at 
rush hour on the Capital Beltway.

	Stuck right in the middle of the traffic was one twenty-seven 
year old engineer.  Sitting in her old Blazer, the young woman sat 
despondently in the driver's seat with her chin resting on the steering 
wheel.  Looking down at the digital readout on her stereo confirmed 
that it had taken her more than thirty minutes to go just two miles.  
Shivering slightly in the cold, December air, the engineer cranked up 
the truck's heater and resumed her dull staring at the traffic.  Over the 
radio, a rather bland voiced man from National Public Radio read the 
news.

	Her name was Bonnie MacMaster, and against her better 
judgment she had decided to try to beat the traffic home.  Having spent 
all day in the gray and chill of downtown DC at a field office, Bonnie 
had decided to head straight home after work was done and skip 
heading to the main office until the next morning.  Driving from the 
National Treasury Building, where her firm was doing major masonry 
and stone refurbishment work to the old structure, she had tried to find 
a quick way to make it to her home in Old Town Alexandria, but had 
quickly been swept up in the slow moving traffic.  At this rate, Bonnie 
figured glumly, she would not get home until well after seven.

	Looking out over the city, Bonnie was still suitably awed by 
Washington, DC's impressive view, even after five years of living 
and working around the city.  Despite the low clouds and snow flurries 
that swirled in the air, the lights from all the buildings in the city did 
much to illuminate the area for miles and miles around.  All the stone 
structures, however, looked even more cold in the snowy haze.

	Not that Bonnie was in any particular hurry to get home, 
though.  It was a Friday night, which explained the exceptionally 
heavy traffic, and everyone was out on the roads to find some diversion 
in and around town.  In fact, Bonnie was certain that at least one or 
two messages from her small circle of friends in Falls Church would 
be waiting, inviting her out for dinner and a movie.

	Another sigh escaped Bonnie at that thought.  It was not that 
she did not enjoy going out with her friends, most of which she had 
met in college and had moved with to DC, it was just that over the past 
few years Bonnie had found herself to be the only non-married of the 
bunch.  Bonnie was not the type of woman who found anything wrong 
with not being married, far from it, but more and more over the past 
few years she had seen most of her close and intimate friends leave her 
life to enter that institution called matrimony.  Bonnie still got to see 
her friends, but not on the personal level she used to, and she missed 
that a bit.

	Combining with her feeling of isolation while stuck on the 
beltway, the close proximity of the holiday season, just a couple of 
weeks away, also served to put Bonnie in an anti-social mode that 
evening.  She was acutely aware of the fact that her friends would be 
heading out of town for the Christmas holiday, leaving her pretty much
alone 
in DC for the duration.  Bonnie, herself, did not have any close family.  
No brothers or sisters, she was the only child of parents who had died 
about five years before, struck in their car by a drunk driver whilte on 
their way to her college graduation.  

	Bonnie's friends had worried tremendously about her well-
being after that tragic event, but Bonnie's parents had raised her to be 
strong and self-reliant, and the love in those teachings had done more 
to help Bonnie recover from the loss than any therapy, had she ever 
sought some, ever could.  Still and yet, it was always a little difficult
to 
make it through the holidays, though Bonnie's friends in DC had 
always done much to lift her spirits over the years.

	Eventually, an hour later, Bonnie managed to pull her Blazer 
up in front of her little home in Alexandria.  All the houses in Old 
Town were of an eighteenth-century colonial period that Bonnie 
adored.  Not more than twenty feet wide at the street, though, the 
house were flush against each other and two or three stories high.  
Stepping down from her truck, Bonnie was careful not to slip on a 
patch of ice that had already managed to form on the sidewalk since 
the sun had gone down.  Taking another two or three steps up to the 
front door of her little home, she used her keys to unlock the door and 
step out of the cold air.

	Her home was simply furnished with the basic necessities.  
Though uncomplicated, the home was furnished and decorated also in 
a colonial style, with replicas of old furniture as well as lots of 
ironwork and pewter laying on old wooden shelves.  Truth be told, 
living in Old Town was nothing short of very expensive, especially on 
the budget of a civil engineer, but at the death of Bonnie's parents, she 
had received a small fortune from them in life long savings and 
investments.  She could have found something less expensive in 
Arlington or Falls Church, but her mother and father had also enjoyed 
aspects of colonial America, and it comforted Bonnie to be in similar 
surroundings.

	Walking into her home, Bonnie noticed two messages on her 
digital answering machine.  Just as she suspected, they were from a pair
of her married couple friends inviting her out for dinner.  Bonnie 
thought about fighting the miles of traffic with a sigh as she shrugged 
off her jacket and undid the laces of her work boots.  The one thing 
Bonnie loved about being a field engineer was not only getting to work 
outdoors directly on the projects, but also the more relaxed dress such 
work demanded.  Three or four days a week, Bonnie was able to wear  
jeans and a nice shirt to the site, which was advantageous since she 
loathed shopping.

	Setting her boots down in the short, dimly lit hallway, Bonnie 
was slightly startled by the sound of her phone ringing in the living 
room.  Entering the room and sitting on her sofa, the young woman 
reached over and snagged her cordless phone.

	"Hello?" she asked in a tired voice, "oh, hiya, Cathy, how was 
your week?  Really?  And how's Bill?  That's good."

	Stretching out from where she was sitting, Bonnie reached 
with her big toe around the side of the sofa, feeling for a power strip.  
Finding it, she switched it on, causing hundreds of lights on her 
modest Christmas tree to spring to life.

	"No," yawned Bonnie, "I wasn't planning on heading out this 
evening.  Traffic's bad and it's late... Yes, I did get those other 
messages from the gang.  Look's like you're all heading out together 
tonight, right?"

	About five-foot-ten with shoulder length brown hair and 
brown eyes, Bonnie had an athletic, but not thin, figure that came from 
getting a lot of exercise on the job.  Sporting olive skin and soft cheek 
bones, she had that typical girl-next-door appeal that was the 
antithesis of the heroin-skinny model look.

	Bonnie listened a bit to the other end of the phone before 
putting a hand to her temple.  "You didn't, did you?" she said, "You 
really invited a single guy along to meet me.  Oh, Cathy... No, I'm not 
upset or anything, it's just I don't want you to feel that you need to set 
me up with somebody... Well, yes, I'm sure he will be disappointed, 
too, but I really don't feel like being out tonight, much less making 
chit-chat with a guy I've never met before."

	Reaching down for the cherry coffee table in front of the sofa, 
Bonnie picked up a remote control and turned on the little Sony 
television on the other side of the small room.  She made sure the 
volume was down low.

	"Oh, I know you guys worry about me, Cathy," she nodded 
wearily, "but I'm fine, really, I am.  I don't mind living alone at all.
I 
mean, if I did I'd be out the door like a shot to meet this guy, right?"

	Standing up slowly from the couch, Bonnie walked from the 
living room with her phone in hand and headed into the kitchen.  
Opening up the refrigerator door, she reached for a Guinness.

	"Sure, Cathy," Bonnie continued, fishing unsuccessfully in a 
drawer for a bottle opener,  "I'll be fine tonight, so please don't worry.  
Hey, I just need a little sleep tonight... Of course."

	Getting fed up, Bonnie used the flat end of a drawer handle to 
pop the bottle cap off.  The agitation of the bottle caused the beer head 
to foam out over the top of the bottle and onto the floor.

	"Dammit all," swore Bonnie, "Oh, no Cathy, not you.  I just 
spilled my drink on the floor.  Tell you what, I'll call you and Bill up 
tomorrow afternoon or evening, and maybe we can do something 
together then?  Sure, that'd be fine... No, you may not bring that 
single guy along, silly... Why? Because, I don't want the poor fellow 
to try when no guy in the world right now would stand a chance with 
me... Ya, really, Cathy...  So, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?  All 
right, goodnight, you goof."

	With that Bonnie switched the phone off and headed back to 
her living room.  Sitting back down on the sofa in the glow of her 
television and Christmas tree, Bonnie cradled her Guinness and 
looked at the television glumly.  After hanging up the phone, she 
found herself feeling bummed for no reason whatsoever.  Mulling over 
her beer, Bonnie thought perhaps she should have gone out after all, 
but the problem was she really did not want to socialize this evening.  So 
why did she feel depressed about it?  Bonnie did not really know.

	Her stomach growled.  "I'm hungry," she muttered to the 
room out loud.

	A strange flickering coming from her television drew her 
attention away from the twinkling tree.  On the screen, there appeared 
to be an exotic woman staring at her.  Dressed in outlandish, yet 
sensual clothing, the woman had tanned skin and white-blonde hair.  
Bonnie leaned forward as the background in the television caught her 
attention.  It looked almost like the inside of what she imagined a 
Japanese house might look like.

	Bonnie froze instantly as the woman in the television 
shimmered and seemed to be pushing her way through the glass into 
her room.  Her jaw agape, Bonnie looked down at her beer and quickly 
panicked, wondering if she was having some weird reaction to 
Ireland's best.  Turning back to the television set, Bonnie saw that 
now there were a pair of legs sticking out from the screen and more on 
the way.  Stiffening into immobility, the young engineer sat motionless 
until the woman from the television had pulled herself all the way into 
Bonnie's living room.  Just as tall as Bonnie, the outlandishly dressed 
female shook her long mane of blonde hair in annoyance.

	"Just once," she complained in a rich voice, "I'd like to be 
assigned to someone with a wide-screen."

	Looking around the room, the woman quickly spotted Bonnie 
sitting on the sofa with her mouth agape.  Not a second later, she also 
spied Bonnie's beer.

	"Guinness, eh?" the beautiful woman smiled, "A good brew 
not far from my own neck of the woods.  Have you got anymore?  I 
can't *begin* to tell you how tired I am of sake!"

	"K-k-k-itch..." Bonnie tried to stammer out.

	"Kitchen?  Great!" the woman exclaimed, "Be right back!"

	With that, she swept out of the room, her long and revealing 
robes following behind with a flourish.  As Bonnie's head slowly 
swung around towards the hallway, she could hear her refrigerator 
being opened and bottles clinking around.  Getting up quickly, she 
entered the kitchen wide eyed to see what was going on.

	"Don't have a bottle opener, do you?" the exotic woman 
asked.

	Bonnie shook her head, speechless.

	"No matter," she shrugged, taking the bottle and popping the 
top on a drawer handle just as Bonnie had done.

	Taking a long draught that almost emptied the bottle, the 
blonde sighed happily and looked up.

	"Now that's some good beer," she smiled.

	Bonnie finally found her voice.  "Um... uh, who the hell are 
you?"

	"Me?" the woman blinked, "Oh, yeah, I forgot to introduce 
myself.  Here's my card."  She passed over to Bonnie a business card 
with flowing script.

	Bonnie accepted the card with a peculiar look on her face 
before looking down to read it.

	"U-urd," she stammered out loud, "Goddess Second Class, 
Limited License... what the hell is that?  And why the heck are you in 
my house drinking my beer?  And how did you come through my 
television?!"

	Urd rubbed her temple a bit and sighed.  She had forgotten 
how spooked mortals tended to get around immortals.  Looking at her 
bottle for a moment, Urd tipped it back and finished the last of the 
Guinness before tossing it into the trash.

	"Basically, it's what the card says," she explained with a 
shrug, "My name's Urd, and I'm here to grant you a wish.  By the 
way, mind if I have another beer?"

	"A-a wish?  A goddess?" gaped Bonnie, "Get real."

	Urd looked up from the open refrigerator door and smiled, 
"Oh, I am real.  How else do you think I came through your 
television?"

	"W-well, I don't know," floundered Bonnie, "perhaps you... I 
mean, maybe it's... oh damn, I think I'm going to need another beer."

	"That's the spirit!" cheered Urd.

	Gathering Bonnie another beer, Urd closed the door and 
herded the dazed woman back into the living room.  Selecting the sofa 
as a comfortable spot, Urd sprawled out with one leg thrown up over 
an arm, in the process exposing a good deal of leg.  Bonnie did not 
seem to notice or care.

	"So," Urd continued taking a sip from her second beer, 
"what's it gonna be?"

	Bonnie looked up from the middle of the room where she was 
standing with a beer in each hand.  "What's what gonna be?" she 
asked in confusion.

	Urd rolled her eyes.  "Your wish!" she said exasperated, 
"Come on, Bonnie, try to keep with me here!"

	"How do you know my name?" Bonnie asked in a shocked 
voice.  "I've never met you before."

	"I actually read you file before coming here," the goddess 
commented offhandedly, "I didn't want to believe my sister, but I 
think it does make the job a little easier if I glance at a candidate's
file 
beforehand."

	Bonnie was still out of it.  "So, I get a wish?" she mumbled, 
"But why me?"

	"Beats me," Urd shrugged, "I just got a summons to show 
here to meet you and grant your wish.  I guess I should warn you that 
you only get one wish, so make it a good one."

	"Just one wish," wondered Bonnie, "but what should I wish 
for?"

	"Why do they all ask that?" muttered Urd, "I don't know, 
hon.  Whatever your heart desires, I guess."

	Still holding both of her beers, Bonnie slowly crouched down 
until she was sitting on her hardwood floor.  A look of puzzlement 
crossed her face.

	"This is *way* too weird," she stated, "I have no idea what to 
wish for.  I don't really *need* anything.  Is there a time limit?"

	The goddess sat up on the sofa and pondered as she tapped 
her forehead with the side of the beer bottle.  "I don't suppose there 
is," Urd conceded, "but I'd appreciate it if you hurried it up.  There's 
this funny show I want to get back home and catch."

	"This has got to be a joke, or else I'm dreaming," stated 
Bonnie matter-of-factly.

	Urd shook her head.  "Nope, hon, it's not a joke and you're 
not dreaming.  Just make a wish and you'll see."

	"B-but I really don't know what to wish for," Bonnie 
admitted, her momentary bravado faltering.  "Please, tell me what 
other people have wished for, so I can get an idea?"

	"Weeell," Urd thought for a moment, "I haven't done this 
sorta thing a lot, myself, but I hear common wishes are for wealth, 
fame, love, things like that.  Of course, a number of times people make 
frivolous wishes in jest and end up getting something really silly.  It 
all depends."

	The goddess looked down at the engineer, who was sitting on 
the floor, with compassion.  "Don't try too hard, Bonnie," Urd said, 
"just think about what is your heart's desire and wish for it."

	Bonnie scrunched her brow up in thought for a moment 
before sighing.  "It's not that easy when you really don't know what it 
is you want," she admitted, "I just wish I could figure out what my 
heart's desire really is."

	Urd sat up straight suddenly and blinked.  Her eyes crossing 
ever so slightly, the half-finished Guinness slipped from her fingers 
and spilt all over the floor.

	"Hey!" exclaimed Bonnie, "you're making a mess!  Watch 
what your - ulp!"

	A loud humming noise began to fill up the living room as 
Urd's eyes glazed over.  Bonnie started to reach out towards the 
goddess, but yanked her hand back as Urd started to pulsate with 
energy and rise up off the sofa.  Crying out in distress, Bonnie also 
saw that a huge wind was kicking through her living room and 
sending various objects flying, including most of her Christmas tree.

	"Whaaaaaah!  Stop it, Urd!" she yelled, "You're destroying 
my house!"

	Bonnie was blinded as a bolt of energy sprang from Urd's 
forehead and lanced through the ceiling.  And then, just a quickly as it 
had begun, the storm was over.  With a plop, Urd landed on the sofa in 
a heap and the objects that had been flying around the room crashed to 
the floor.  Bonnie opened her eyes from where she was sitting and 
found herself covered with lights, ornaments, and bits of tinsel.

	With an audible groan, the goddess pushed herself up from 
the sofa and put her hands to her temple.

	"Wish approved," she said, shaking her head.

	"WHAT?!" demanded Bonnie, her eyes wide. "B-but, look 
what you've done to m-my house!"

	Urd tried to smile a little sheepishly.  "Uh, sorry about that."

	Bonnie's eyes glazed over as she brought her hands to her 
face and took a deep breath.

			*	*	*


  	Neighbors up and down the street in Old Town Alexandria 
were enjoying a quiet and peaceful evening, right up until the point an 
anguished wail erupted from the MacMaster residence.

			*	*	*


Coming up in Chapter 2:

Urd and Bonnie try to figure out the ramifications of the wish, while 
Mara starts her vacation.

Comments and Criticisms welcome.

Mike McAvoy
mmcavoy@acm.vt.edu
www.acm.vt.edu/~mmcavoy/