Angels

WHEN WE FIRST found out that my wife had cancer, we were told that she had between three and eight months to live. Needless to say, we were agitated, worried and extremely sad. Then we switched to Jefferson and right away, started to feel better. They made us feel that there was hope and good things ahead. That was two years ago! They didn't even know us, but we were treated like family! Their good cheer and caring nature really did more good than any medicine or needles. Although we don't expect miracles, at least we feel hope, cheerfulness and we're able to smile.

Let's see . . . when last heard from, the hypocritical, gay-bashing attorney Roy Cohn had been hauled off to the hospital with AIDS, although he continued to insist he had liver cancer. Prior Walter, the sweet young man who once was lover to the vacillating clerk Louis Ironson, had been visited by an angel who proclaimed him a prophet. Louis had taken up with Cohn's protege Joe Pitt, a mixed-up Mormon lawyer who had left his wife, Harper, wandering among her Antarctic visions. And Joe's mother, Hannah, had sold her house in Salt Lake City and come to New York to join her son in his hour of need.

The title of Mary Gordon's Men and Angels (Ballantine, $4.50) doesn't quite prime you for the novel within. For one thing, it's mostly about women and the relationships between mothers and their children. Angels? Well, the book begins on an airplane, as Laura Post flies from London to New York. But Laura is no angel, in spite of the fact that she goes nowhere without her Bible. Laura attaches herself to Anne Foster and her two children as a live-in baby sitter, while Anne researches the life and career of deceased painter Caroline Watson.

"Angel Installation" at More Gallery is another of Cynthia Carlson's decorative pieces in which cast bronze elements are arranged over a painted wall that functions as an integral part of the composition. The arrangement isn't confined to a regular pattern, as in her earlier work; it's made in five painted sections on which Carlson has placed strings of small "angel wings. " Each section is painted a different color. The cast bronze wings likewise vary in form: Some resemble commas, while others are more wing-like.

The Orange County district attorney will not file sexual assault charges against Anaheim lefthander Jarrod Washburn. "We have thoroughly reviewed the case and we are rejecting the case based on lack of sufficient evidence at this time," Deputy District Attorney Randy Payne said yesterday in Santa Ana, Calif. Washburn, 28, expressed relief at an impromptu news conference at nearby Edison Field 2 1/2 hours before the Angels played the Oakland Athletics. "I'm just happy that I've been cleared and that this is all over with," he said.

The Guardian Angels long ago got into volunteerism when lives actually depended upon it. So their help is just what Kensington needs right now. With a confirmed serial killer on the loose, the New York-based Angels - founded 32 years ago by Curtis Sliwa - launched safety patrols in the shadow of the Frankford El tracks. The move was in response to the three young women found strangled in the area in recent weeks. If more eyes on the street help Philadelphia police catch the killer, then the Angels' arrival will have helped ease the heightened fear on these mean streets.

The California Angels have all the respect in the world for Cleveland's powerful lineup. "But everybody in this clubhouse believes we're just as good as them," J.T. Snow said last night after he homered, doubled, singled twice and drove in four runs, leading the Angels past the visiting Indians, 8-3, in a matchup of division leaders. The Angels, who lead the AL West, extended their winning streak to five games. Cleveland, atop the AL Central, saw its winning streak end at four.

Hold on to your halos! There are angels in The Prophecy, a genuinely screwy and frequently sacrilegious chiller about the visceral effects of spiritual struggle. But they don't fly around with golden auras circling their heads. And the only wings revealed during the course of the movie are charred, on impaled seraphs resembling cherub-kabobs. According to this movie that wants to be The Omen but settles for the merely ominous, angels are thuggish creatures in musty topcoats, more full of gangsterism than grace, if you get my drift.

Tired of all those stories about the misdeeds of baseball players? Well, here's one to show there are still some good guys around. Ten-year-old Candace Pittman of Southern California plays Little League ball. That's no mean feat for the girl, who was born without a right hand or forearm. But Candace figures if Jim Abbott can do it, so can she. On Saturday, she finally met the man who inspires her. Abbott, who made it to the majors despite being born with a partially developed right hand, met with the girl before the start of the Angels' home game with the Indians.

ANAHEIM - When you get to this stage of a series, nearly anything is possible. You try to detect patterns before realizing the whole deal could change on one pitch. As the teams headed back to New York for tonight's scheduled (rain is in the forecast) Game 6 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees lead, 3-2. New York won Game 1 after the Angels could not catch the ball. The Yankees won Game 4 decisively. The teams split extra-innings wins in Games 2 and 3. And then Los Angeles won Game 5 on Thursday, 7-6, as the Yankees left the bases loaded in the top of the ninth.