THE ANGEL PLUMMETED TO THE EARTH exactly like the Russian satellite that while spying on the movements of the American Tenth Fleet lost height when it should have been thrust into a strong nine hundred and fifty kilometer orbit. It fell exactly like the American satellite that while spying on the movements of the Russian fleet in the North Sea also fell to earth after a wrong move. But while both of these incidents brought about innumerable catastrophes – part of Canada turned into desert, several types of fish became extinct, local people’s teeth crumbled, and neighboring lands became polluted – the angel’s fall didn’t cause any ecological disturbance. Because it was weightless (a theological mystery that cannot be doubted upon pain of heresy), it didn’t destroy anything in its wake, not the trees on the road nor the electric wires; it didn’t cause interference in TV programs nor in radio stations; it didn’t open up a crater in the face of the earth, nor did it poison the waters. No, it just settled down on the sidewalk and stayed there without moving, confused and with a terrible case of motion sickness.
