Seven Angels. Glyn Maxwell

a Prince. They love the Prince so much that they give him

      whatever he desires. They feed him the fruits of the Garden, and

      they are served by a Royal Household.

      Word of the Garden is carried around the world on the wind.

      In time, out of lands ravaged by famine, war, and tyranny, three

      delegates travel towards the Garden seeking plenty, peace, and

      mercy. The King and Queen, wishing to keep the delights of the

      Garden to themselves, close its gates.

      The Household, exhausted by the demands of the spoiled Prince,

      the closure of the Garden, and the failing of the palace stores,

      start quitting, one by one, leaving only an exhausted Waitress.

      The Prince notices the Waitress for the first time, and falls in love

      with her. She persuades him that they must re-open the Garden,

      in order to feed the people beyond the gates of the palace.

      The King chairs a summit meeting, as the three Delegates

      arrive from their desperate homelands, one ruined by industrial

      despoliation, one by war, and one by fanaticism. They plead

      for help from the King and his Garden, as the Waitress serves

      them the last three meals in the world. As the food runs out, the

      Delegates discover that the Garden is itself a wasteland, and the

      Queen’s belief in ‘an infinity of plenty’ a delusion that science

      will save the earth somehow.

      The story collapses along with the hope that the Garden

      represented. The characters dissolve back into angels falling

      through space – but two of them remember their story, believe

      in it, and refuse to abandon the world. The Prince and the

      Waitress leave the palace and head out into the desert, to join the

      nameless, numberless folk beyond the gates.