Clouds hold a special attraction for me, especially when I’m flying above and can enjoy them from this unique perspective. They seem so angelic, so pure, so easily shaped into sculptures of the imagination wherein one can read all sorts of strangetales. I watched the Volkswagen beetle cloud as it began shifting its form into wispy little alphabet letters. At first, vapory patches seemed to break away and almost disappear before my eyes. This strange cloud seemed to have a will of its own, changing shape again. How amusing! It may have been the angle or a trick of the light. Parts seemed to be forming the letters . . . G…D … N. Then they vanished, changing forms like some animated caricatures in the process.

It is fascinating how the analytical computer of the mind connects random thoughts and pictures to other thoughts and experiences of the past. The letters GDN following the Volkswagen cloud brought to mind a half-forgotten incident of long ago where I had seen the name GIDEON on the license plate of a Volkswagen.

Mind accessed memory banks and connected the dots as I recalled the adventures a mysterious friend of mine named Gideon shared. His friend Marla was no less mystical than he was and under their tutoring and guidance,I had learned much about the higher perspectives of the confusing experience we call life. So strange and mysterious were their appearance and behavior that at times, I didn’t even believe that they really existed! Yet, I have with me, to this day, the books1 in which our earlier adventures were chronicled.

As we moved through time into evening and through space toward the east coast of North America,I recalled how I first met them and what remarkable personalities they were. Through the tough times of the past, from the loss of all my material possessions through the death of my wife, Mardai, and from a condition of utter despair to a situation full of promise, Gideon and Marla would appear in an almost magical fashion to administer a sorely needed dose of hope and spiritual vision, then, just as magically, disappear. They were truly angelic beings come to earth.