The Black Angel

1984

One foggy midnight, two friends and I drove along Church Street toward the east.  We were going to take a view of a statue of an angel, the black angel, in the cemetery.
   There was a loving couple who lived in Iowa City about one hundred years ago.  The husband had to work outside to make the family's living and often came back home very late.  He was a good husband; at least, his wife thought so.  He was so kind and considerate to her that he never even told her any trouble he encountered outside.  Once he got sick.  Although he was treated by many doctors for several weeks, his sickness became more and more serious.  Finally he died with worrisome eyes.
   Surely the wife was very sad about his death.  She loved her husband so much that she decided to find an angel to take care of the soul of him who had been such a good husband.  Thus, she had a white statue of a beautiful angel molded over his grave.  AFter that, she often stood in front of the grave and prayed for the angel to bless his soul.
   One day, when she was arranging the bookcase that her husband left behind, she found a terrible secret in his diary.  Her deeply loving husband had had a woman outside.  He kept his trust with that woman even at the beginning of his sickness, and she did not know at all.  She was almost going to be mad.  She could not believe her eyes, but it was true.  She was as hateful as she had been sad.  From that day on, she never went to his grave.  Her swearing replaced her blessing; she cursed her dead husband every day.  It was said that that was the reason the color of that white statue of the angel turned into black.

USA