I handed my guardian angel a cup of bitter black coffee. He wanted it hot. I could see the steam rising from it.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “I kind of like having you around.”

He nodded. “Yes. I will only be banished for a ten years. It’s worth it. The afterlife is amazing, but every hundred years, I have to enjoy a cup.”

I laughed. “Yes, I can imagine.”

He pointed to the bench on my porch, indicating that I should sit with him.

As he cradled the cup of coffee between his fingers and sniffed at the pungent aroma, he took a small sip and sighed.

It was hard for me to imagine waiting so many years between cups of coffee. I could almost feel his toes curl with the pleasure of taking sips from the cup.

“Thank you for this. A substitute will be assigned to you while I’m gone. They probably won’t be as diligent as me. So stop climbing trees.”

“Does that mean I’ll definitely still be here in ten years?” I grinned. My guardian angel enjoyed it when I probed for clues about my life or the afterlife.

“Since I won’t get dinged for two violations, yeah, you’ll still be here. But not much longer than that.” He looked over the rim of the cup at me as he said it.

My grin grew.

“Hold on there. That doesn’t mean you’re invincible. I’ll be back before it’s time for you. Maybe we’ll have another cup of coffee?”

“I’m looking forward to it,” I told him. “I’ll be careful. And no one would believe me anyway.”

“I know. That’s the only reason I broke the rules and started talking to you. Well, and the fact that you have fantastic coffee.”

We both laughed.

“It’s time for me to go,” he said. He placed the coffee cup on the bench between us. His right hand reached out and touched my arm. When his fingers made contact, I felt a small jolt of electricity. He started to shimmer, small waves of almost imperceptible motion at first. In a few seconds, he was gone.

I took a few seconds to think about the next ten years. I picked up his cup and went back inside to start my day. The most valuable lesson my guardian angel taught me was that time was both imaginary and the only thing. And that knowing the secrets of the universe evidently might not compare to the beauty and majesty of a great cup of coffee. Take note, Folgers.

I’ll share a picture of him. It’s so vague that it could be a picture of anything. It’s enough for me to know.