1
Jack Casey was ready to meet Fred Stoner. He’d kill him again if he had to. If there were a Hell, he figured he was already condemned to it anyway, so what was the harm in killing again? If Jack didn’t stop him, Fred Stoner would torment him throughout eternity. He was set and ready for the battle.....
Then he was being swept up into the blinding light with incredible force. His first thought was that Fred had come after him with something. But as the light engulfed Jack, he knew it was not the work of Fred Stoner. He was afraid for an instant that he knew whose work it was! He prepared himself for the confrontation with the ultimate evil. The sensation was like being caught in a tornado. He felt himself spin out of control and then start tumbling down into a blinding white pit. All he saw was white. And then everything stopped. It was so sudden that Jack almost thought he heard a crash the moment things stopped. There was no motion, and the intensity of the light diminished to a point where it was no longer blinding. Shapes started to materialize around him, and he held perfectly still waiting for the shapes to become recognizable.
It was just like a round booth in a diner, but there was no table. He was sitting by himself on the circular seat. Jack estimated it was about six or seven feet in diameter, using his own body size as a reference. Then he noticed that the booth formed a continuous circle with no place to get in or out. Suddenly he realized that the reason he knew he was sitting was because he felt his own weight. There was gravity. And his feet were touching the floor. He could feel it. He looked down and saw only white. He could feel the floor when he tapped his feet on it, but it was essentially invisible because there were no shadows anywhere to give it dimension or perspective. He tried to stand up, but found he could not muster enough strength.
He looked up to see what lay beyond the booth. It was almost beyond his belief. In every direction, stretching without bounds, were booths just like the one he was sitting in. Scattered randomly inside the booths were eerie, glowing figures just like his own. Somehow, the sight of all these booths was strangely familiar to him. Then it came to him. It was like a honeycomb. Each booth had six booths surrounding it. The booth just to Jack’s left was only a foot or so from his booth. He noticed that it was empty and he reached back toward it. His hand stopped against an unseen barrier. As he felt around, it was as if he were in a glass cylinder, but the glass gave off no reflections. It was totally invisible. It was more like a force field than glass. Then he was aware that it wasn’t cold or hot. There was no sense of temperature or texture. He felt the seat beside him. It was the same as the “glass”.
He slowly scanned the infinite expanse of booths. As he did so, he noticed little flashes of light within his peripheral vision. It was like flashbulbs going off in a crowd. But every time he looked at a spot he thought a flash had come from, he saw nothing. By pure coincidence, he was looking at some distant empty booth when a flash occurred inside that very booth. To his amazement, the instant after the flash, a glowing figure like his own was inside that booth. Then he suddenly understood how he had gotten into his booth. The intense, blinding white light had dropped him here.
He turned his attention back to his own booth. The “glass” boundary piqued his curiosity, and he began to experiment. He found that he could not slide in his seat. He could press his hands down on the seat beside him, but he couldn’t manage to push off laterally. Then he went to rest his hand on his lap, and it passed straight through his body and was stopped only by the seat. He had not found time to discover the true nature of his new body just after he died. Fred Stoner had distracted him too quickly. Now he found himself unable to comprehend what he was seeing. He began to study himself in the booth. He experimented in every way he could think of. By the time he was through, he had reached some interesting conclusions.
He was not solid, yet he had a body-like form that seemed somehow to glow. Maybe he was made of some sort of glowing gas. He had absolutely no sense of touch. In fact, he had no senses at all other than vision. He could not find a way to gauge time. He had no bodily urges or reflexes. He didn’t breathe, blink, sweat, get hungry or get sleepy. He couldn’t speak or make any other sounds. He couldn’t close his eyes, so he saw constantly. He found that he was able to stare without focusing, and that seemed to enable him to “rest” somehow, whatever that meant. He had a natural sense of wellbeing. He felt no real emotions to speak of, but he found that he could still muster feelings of fear, but only mild ones. And lastly, he still knew who he was, and he had a keen memory.
But there were still a few things he absolutely could not figure out. Where was he? Why was he there? What was going to happen to him?
After his explorations and experiments were completed, he occupied himself watching the little flashes in the vast expanse of booths. He tried to figure out how often they happened, but without a time reference he found it impossible. Then he began to wonder if the booths ever filled up. He carefully scanned the booths within his field of vision, but the most bodies he counted in any of those booths was three. However, he did notice that in the booth with three, as well as in every other occupied booth, each body was positioned in a similar fashion. Each sat on an imaginary line that passed through the center of its own booth and the center of an adjacent booth. If that rule held, that meant that a full booth would contain six bodies. He was very pleased with himself for making that observation.
He decided that he would watch the booths until one filled up. He was curious why none at all were filled. He’d particularly keep an eye on the one that already had three in it. He thought there was a better than even chance that it would fill first. The flashes kept happening in what appeared to be a random nature. He wondered if randomness really existed here. Something deep inside him doubted that what was happening was random. He had plenty of time on his hands, and he felt patient and alert, so he set his mind to the task of looking for patterns.
The bodies were of various shapes and sizes. Some appeared to be male in nature, others female. There were some that were obviously children. Dead children! He hadn’t thought about that until he spied the first one. Seeing a small child here somewhat comforted him, because he didn’t think a small child could have done anything to warrant going to Hell. Did that mean they were going to Heaven? And without knowing exactly why, Jack felt pretty sure that everyone here was headed for the same place. He tried to picture Heaven, but he couldn’t conjure up an image. How in the world was he entitled to go to Heaven, anyway? If he got to go there after committing murder, he wondered how badly someone would have to piss off God to be taken off the list. Did that thought come from him? Did he refer to God like he was a true believer? He wasn’t sure any more how he really did feel about God. As a child he knew he had believed. But that was a very long time ago. He couldn’t remember a time in his adult life when he really believed in God. Did he believe in God now? He just didn’t know. It was just impossible for him to take a position. It wasn’t that he was trying to keep his options open, but more like he was in a total state of confusion since he died.
He tried to be philosophical about it. Just the fact that he was here at this moment proved that his earthly ideas about death were inaccurate. In fact, what he was experiencing was also inconsistent with everything he had ever heard anyone else talk about. After all, where was it written that people were destined to occupy booths in God’s hundred-acre diner?
The distraction was only brief as far as he knew, but as he looked around, he saw that there were now four people in the booth he had been watching. And then he found two more booths with three in them. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out what prize you got when your booth got filled. He equated it to Bingo, and he almost felt like smiling. Maybe the Gods were playing Bingo. Fill up your card, take your prize, clean off your card, and start again. Clean off your card? It made him feel a bit unsettled when he thought of himself as a Bingo marker. He remembered the old ladies sitting around at the church picnics playing Bingo with dried lima beans. He wondered if the lima beans could glow in the dark.
He reverted back to his philosophical side. Whatever was here was certainly orderly. There was intelligence behind it. Randomness might play a part in filling the booths, but the booths themselves were put here by someone. If not God, could it be aliens from some advanced civilization? Now, there was an unsettling thought. Maybe we’re just some three-headed monster’s pet hamsters in a cage. Maybe they’re out there watching us through the glass. Maybe they’ll bury us in their back yard when we die, or flush us down some Martian toilet.....
It happened almost too fast for him to see. He caught it out of the corner of his eye. Off to his left was an enormously bright white flash, and then he saw a red flash afterward. It was the color red. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen color. He scanned the area quickly. It was way off to his left. And then he saw it. It brought those earlier feelings of fear back instantly. The booth of four was empty. He stared in disbelief. When it was speculation, it was one thing, but the empty booth provoked another feeling. They really do go someplace. It was unsettling to him. Then he felt a flash back over to his right, and he turned....
God, no! He was in the booth! Fred Stoner was right there in the booth with him and he was reaching with those ghastly hands.....But right before his eyes, Fred Stoner disappeared and turned into another glowing, nondescript body just like Jack’s. He was a big man, this one, and he was seated directly to Jack’s right.
Jack’s mind backtracked to the image of the red flash and the emptying of the booth. He was afraid again. Where were they going next? He looked directly at the new booth occupant and their eyes met.
.....And now there were two.
2
“Hallelujah” was the last word formed by Raymond Williams’ lips as he felt himself being swept forward into the light. For him, it was the most religious moment of his existence. His faith had been blind, and he never doubted for a moment that God would be here to welcome him to his afterlife in Heaven. He was rejoicing in the blinding, soothing light of the Lord, and he was ready to meet his maker. Glorious visions of plush green fields and babbling brooks raced through his mind. He thought of his mother and father, and he wondered if he would recognize them in Heaven.
The images in Ray’s mind were all mortal in nature. He had envisioned the portal into Heaven, pearly gates or not, as the boundary between a mortal world and a heavenly one. He knew it was going to be as dramatic as the scene in the Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy opened the door to Oz and everything changed from black and white to color. Then he had one last thought that struck him as almost crazy. He wondered if he should still pray after he got to Heaven.
It felt almost like a soundless explosion. The light began to subside and he knew he had arrived in Heaven. He tested his sense of smell, remembering when Jasmine and he first stepped off the plane in Honolulu and smelled the wonderful tropical flowers. But he was unable to smell anything. He was unable to inhale. He decided he had to be patient and see what God had in store for him. It went through his mind one last time as the light diminished to a normal level...Hallelujah!
...Where was he? This couldn’t be Heaven. He stared in disbelief as the expanse of circular compartments began to materialize in front of him. He was startled a bit to see the figure sitting directly to his left, and it was looking directly at him. Their eyes met and Ray felt scared for a brief instant. He tried to speak, but no sound came out. He quickly looked around at the vast expanse of circles and figures, and then turned back to the figure with him in this circle. Still the figure stared at him. It was so strange in appearance that Ray actually wanted to run away. He realized quickly that he couldn’t move from the seat he was in. This figure next to him was a man of sorts. It was naked like he was, but its face was so strange looking. It flashed through his mind that he didn’t really know what his own face looked like. There were no mirrors.
The face of the figure next to him had the appearance of a robber with a white stocking pulled over his head. No, not quite! The eyes looked normal, except that they had no coloration at all, and there were no eyelashes. There were no lips or nostrils or eyebrows on the face. There were no wrinkles or dimples. It reminded him of Casper the ghost from the cartoons. But as scary as all this should be to him, he didn’t feel fear. He tried once more to speak to the figure beside him, but there was no sound. He thought he saw the figure’s lips try to move, but the mouth didn’t open. Lips? No, those aren’t lips. They’re just shapes. And those lips were changing shape as if trying to talk. But it was like looking at a stocking-covered face….an opaque stocking. He could make out that its lips were moving below the surface, but it made no sound at all.
Did he look the same? He thought about it for a second. He looked around the other circles and found that every figure he could see looked pretty much like the one sitting next to him. It must be so. He assumed that his appearance was just like that of everyone else.
He studied the vast expanse of circular compartments. They reminded him of the tilt-a-whirl rides at the amusement parks. Except these compartments didn’t have an opening to get in and out. Then he noticed the little flashes happening all around the room. Was this a room? It had no walls that Ray could see. But it didn’t have the feel of the outdoors. He decided that it was a room, but it was just too large for him to see the boundaries. But what were those flashes?
He looked up expecting to find a ceiling or clouds. He found nothing. Then was this a room? A flash occurred to his left, and he knew it was much closer than the rest of the flashes had been. Just over the shoulder of the figure sitting next to Ray was another figure in the adjacent circle. Ray knew that it hadn’t been there a moment before, because he would definitely have noticed it. It came from the flash. Ray was sure of it. He looked straight ahead and slowly scanned the circles trying to catch another flash someplace to confirm his belief. Then he saw a flash about ten or twelve circles in front of him and saw the new figure appear as the flash subsided. It confirmed his belief, but what did it mean?
The circles were filling up. That’s what it meant. Ray took it one step further in his mind. What happens after the circles are full? Now there was a good question.
Ray knew in his heart that this wasn’t Heaven. Then it must just be a waiting area. So, if it’s a waiting area, what happens next? He chewed on that question for a while. He looked around to see if any of the other circles were full, but he saw none. Does that mean they haven’t filled up yet, or does it mean they’ve been emptied?
.....
Jack stared at the new figure next to him. The figure’s lip area started to move, like it was trying to speak. It was so strange looking. He supposed that it was just like the other figures in the booths, but it was certainly much closer, and it could be examined in much finer detail. He saw that it seemed to be going through an examination of its surroundings, quite similar to the way Jack had examined things when he first got here. That somehow pleased Jack. He felt less alone knowing that others were in the same boat as he.
As he examined this new figure, Jack deduced that he himself must be very much like it. He studied the mouth and nose. Then it made sense to Jack why he himself couldn’t speak or breathe! The figure’s ears had no openings. That explained the silence.
Jack found it fascinating to watch this new figure as it tried to orient itself. He wondered what it was thinking, especially when it looked right into Jack’s own eyes. Did it know that the booth would soon be filled? Did it know the booth would hold six? Did it know the booth would be emptied after it filled up? Jack felt smug in the knowledge that he thought he singularly possessed.
For Jack this had become a waiting game. But it was a cautious one at best. Fred Stoner had come after him again. Although Jack thought that the images of Fred were perhaps only from his own imagination, he just wasn’t sure. He couldn’t eradicate from his mind the thought of Fred Stoner tormenting him through eternity.
.....
Ray was aware that the figure beside him was watching him, but that didn’t concern him very much. He was certain that it couldn’t harm him, although he had no idea how he knew this. Ray felt around his own circle and established the boundaries of the floor and the seat. He brought his arms together and watched them pass right through themselves. Then he brought his hands to his chest and pushed them right through until they contacted the back of the seat. He tapped his feet on the floor. He tried to push himself up with his feet. That didn’t work, so he placed his hands on the seat and tried to push with both feet and hands. No luck.
He tried to figure out his next move. He stared out at the vast expanse of circles. Somewhere, way off in the distance, he saw a faint flash of red light. It came as a total surprise to him. Color! He thought immediately of Dorothy opening the door to Oz. He turned to look at the figure beside him. It was still looking at him. Ray wondered how long this figure had been here before him. Did it know more than he about where they were or what was happening? Did it know about the color?
And so the two figures sat staring into each other’s eyes. Each wondered what the other knew.
The flash was so bright that they both recoiled at exactly the same instant. First, both of their heads turned away slightly, and then they both turned their heads toward the flash. Sitting directly across from Jack was a female-like figure.
.....And now there were three.
3
Joan Spencer allowed herself to be swept up by the light. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that she was on a journey that was predestined. She would soon meet with the intelligence that had put order into the universe. Whether it was God, or Gods, or John Doe, it mattered not to her. She leaned toward monotheism, but she was open-minded enough to accept other possibilities. She was anxious to find out the truth about existence. It was an adventure to her. She saw this journey as just another step on the path of existence. She understood that time meant nothing. There was no beginning or end to anything. In the journey through existence, she saw her own role as one in which she would take charge of her own destiny whenever she could, and ride it out whenever she was powerless to do otherwise. Existence was a simple concept to her. It was a game with a set of rules, and the rules could not be changed once the game had begun.
She was aware of the jolt. The light subsided as she anxiously awaited the unveiling of this next leg of her journey. She observed the two figures seated opposite her. She looked down at her own body, and then looked at the seat they were all sharing. It reminded her of the sunken living rooms she had seen in magazines. She looked up again and her eyes went back and forth between the two figures. They were both staring directly at her. That made perfect sense to her. She was obviously the new arrival, and they were responding quite naturally out of curiosity.
She turned and took in the whole panorama. It struck her at once that it was a classical honeycomb arrangement of cells. Even though the openings were circular, she envisioned them as hexagonal. She noticed that the three of them were each positioned centered on sides of her imagined hexagon. She looked around and noticed that all of the figures that she saw were seated in the same pattern. That meant there was room for six in each cell. She looked at the other cells and noticed that there were various numbers of occupants in them, some even empty. She saw the random flashes of light, and she searched for an explanation. Instead of letting her eyes follow successive flashes, she decided to fix her gaze in one limited area of cells and wait for a flash to occur in that area. She didn’t have to wait very long it seemed. She saw a flash and then a figure. That mystery was solved easily enough.
She herself had just arrived, so it followed that there had just been a flash preceding her arrival. But why had she ended up in a cell with two others while some cells were empty. Her initial instinct was that the flashes that placed the figures were random in nature. But she decided it needed more thought. The arrangement and construction of the cells was not random, so it was obviously the creation of some intelligence. Then it didn’t make sense to sort the occupants in a random fashion. That would be much more difficult than just sequentially filling the cells. She concluded, therefore, that there was purpose in the selection process, and that there was some common bond between the three occupants of this cell. She looked at the others and wondered what that common bond might be.
Next, she decided to make a fresh physical assessment of her body and surroundings, just to see if anything had changed. She determined that the only change was that she now sensed weight and gravity. She was no longer floating. She discovered the cylindrical boundaries outside of the cell, the floor, and the seat. This being done, she turned her attention back to the other cell occupants.
These two were the first individuals she had seen since her death. She attempted communication with them. First she tried to speak, even though she did not really expect results. Nothing. Next she tried to signal them. She waved at them, and they both waved back. Okay, that meant that they could in fact communicate. She realized then that it would have been nice to know sign language, but the odds were that the other two wouldn’t know it anyway. Might telepathy work? She looked at the figure directly opposite her. She concentrated on the phrase, “My name is Joan.” She repeated it scores of times while looking directly into the figure’s eyes. Nothing. She tried to telepathically listen. Nothing. She turned her attention to the other figure and went through the same routine. Still nothing.
Then she wondered if it were possible that these two spoke a different language....
.....
Jack watched this female-like figure as it went through its assessment of the surroundings. He was amused at how similarly each figure seemed to approach things. First the other male-like figure seated next to him, and then this new female one. He looked the female over carefully. He decided that she was as neuter as anything could possibly be while still being recognizably female. It was just the shape of the torso and the breasts that made him know she was a she. He wondered if he would be able to tell the sex of a child in this environment. Then he wondered why gender made any difference at all. But he’d just have to wait and see.
She stared at him and he saw her mouth area move slightly. Then the female did something different. She waved to him, and automatically he waved back, and he saw from the corner of his eye that the figure to his right also waved. She was trying to communicate. Why hadn’t he thought of that? But now she was staring at him intensely. What the hell did she want?
She turned her head and faced the other figure. He watched her go through the same ritual she had just gone through with him.
.....
Ray knew she was trying to communicate with him. That was exciting, and he tried to do the same. Her stare was so intense that he knew she was trying to communicate with thoughts. He tried his hardest to concentrate and receive her thoughts, but it was just no use. Then he tried to convey thoughts to her. Nothing happened. Maybe there was some other way to communicate. He’d have to think more about that.
.....
Joan wasn’t getting anywhere with her communication attempts, so she turned back to the panorama of cells. She began to wonder about the cells filling up. She started searching for a cell with six in it. Then there was a red flash off to her left. She jerked her head in that direction, but it was gone. She wondered what it had been. It was red. That in itself made it unique. She hadn’t been certain until then that she actually had the capability to see color. Until now, everything was black and white. Then she continued her scan for a full cell. She spotted one with five in it, and continued past it to look for a full one. She had no luck, so she turned back to the five-person cell. She fixed her gaze on that one cell, knowing that it would probably only be a matter of time before a sixth figure appeared.
She watched the cell while her mind planned the next things she would try to do. Communication was still her number one priority, and she should probably try to.....
There was a bright white flash in the cell she was watching. Then she saw it. The sixth figure appeared. But before she could even focus on it, there was an explosion of bright red light that blinded her for an instant. Then it was empty. She looked on in amazement. The cell was empty! That meant that they were headed on another journey. But where would that take them, and how long before.....
There was an intense flash just to her right. She noticed the other two in the cell turn their heads away for an instant and then fix their gazes directly to her right. She turned her head to look.....
.....And now there were four.
4
The Rabbi felt a sense of relief once he knew he was passing through the gateway to God’s Kingdom. But the light wasn’t what he thought it was. Instead of a portal, it turned out to be a vortex. He felt himself suddenly spiraling out of control. There was nothing but light all around him. It was the exact opposite of his situation only a moment ago, when he felt enveloped in blackness. The vortex increased in its intensity, and he almost felt dizziness. He drew himself into a fetal position and continued reciting his prayers. He thanked God for awakening his soul from dormancy after these eleven months, and he prayed for God to be merciful.
The spinning sensation stopped abruptly, and the light began to fade. He looked straight ahead expecting to behold the image of the Lord. The image he saw was that of two figures like himself. Was that what his face looked like? From the corner of his left eye he detected motion, and turned to see a feminine looking form just to his left. He knew he was not in Heaven. The three other forms were staring at him, and it made him feel uneasy. He tried to ask them where he was, but no sound came from his mouth. He was aware that he was sitting. Yes, he felt it! He tried to stand and found that he could not.
He looked from face to face at the three others, and he wondered if they could see in his own expression that he was puzzled. Their faces appeared emotionless to him. Did he appear the same to them? Then he noticed the other forms all around. They were in different compartments, but all the compartments and all the forms looked similar. As he observed the surroundings, a feeling of fear came over him. He was wrong about Heaven. All of his doubts resurfaced, and at that moment he felt he would never see Heaven. He had displeased God, and salvation would not be his. This place must be Limbo. And for a brief moment he felt an overwhelming sensation of sadness. Then it disappeared as quickly as it came.
He looked again at the other three in his compartment, and then scanned the adjoining compartments. They seemed to stretch as far as his eyes could see, and he tried again to stand for a better look. That’s when he realized that something was different here. He was held in place by some force. It was intended that he not be able to move. But why?
Sitting here like this reminded him of his doctor’s office. When anyone walked in and sat down, everyone else in the room turned to stare at them, wondering what disease they brought with them. He was acutely aware of the other three sets of eyes fixed on him. He looked directly into the eyes of the figure sitting across from him. It stared straight back at him. And the same was true of the figure sitting across to the right. He looked to his left and stared into the eyes of the female figure, and he expected she would look away. But she stared back just like the other two. It made him feel uneasy. Usually people looked away when you caught them staring at you.
There was a bright flash nearby. He looked a few compartments over, where he thought it had originated. He saw nothing. Then he noticed the flashes happening all around the area. He thought of the twinkling of crystal chandeliers swaying in the light. But there was something more significant to these flashes. They made him feel sad somehow. Were they the flashes of souls exploding into nothingness?
He tried to think back to the emptiness he felt before he arrived at this place. He reminded himself that he felt doubt then, too. But, when he prayed to God, things instantly changed. That’s how he got here. Perhaps the journey wasn’t complete. Maybe he should just continue praying and see what happened. In Jewish tradition, he began to rock back and forth as he prayed.
.....
Jack wondered what in all hell this new guy was doing? He looked crazy to him. One minute he was looking the three of them over, and the next minute he was rocking back and forth like some kind of spastic. He shook his head in disbelief. “They let anybody in here,” he thought.
He didn’t know how right he was.
.....
Rabbi Pearlstein prayed, but nothing happened. It had been almost instantaneous before. Why wasn’t it working now? He continued praying for what felt like hours. Then, in mild despair, he stopped and looked up. He watched the little flashes off in the distance. His heart felt heavy. He thought again about souls exploding with each flash. Then something suddenly changed inside him. His reason overcame his emotions. If the souls were just going to explode, then what was the reason for this place? God couldn’t have meant for his children to come all this way just to watch each other explode.
He fixed his gaze in a direction just across from him and to his left. He captured ten or twelve compartments in his view and made a mental picture of the number of occupants in each of them. He would wait until he saw a flash, and then see if a soul disappeared or not. He caught a bright red flash in the corner of his right eye, but he didn’t let it distract him. Then there was another red flash off in the distance. Color? Was that color he had seen? He was just about to look up to investigate when it happened. The bright white flash occurred in a compartment almost dead center of where he was looking. As it subsided, he just knew in his heart that one of the two figures in that compartment would be gone. He was pleasantly surprised. It just hadn’t crossed his mind that the flashes were creating souls instead of destroying them.
.....
Joan felt that there was something different about this fourth cellmate. She knew what he was doing when he was rocking back and forth. She couldn’t remember what it was called, but it was something that she had seen in a film about Jerusalem. This man was praying. She wondered if he knew this was just a rest stop. No, of course he didn’t. How could he? She had been observing him since he arrived. He didn’t seem to take the time to properly observe the environment. But wait! Now he’s staring out with a fixed gaze. He’s looking for clues. He’s locked his eyes on one area. Has he found a cell with five? No, he’s letting his eyes wander ever so slightly. He’s probably looking at a small group of cells. He’s looking for a flash!
She watched his eyes very carefully. Right! She knew the very instant it happened. His expression changed. He had seen a new soul arrive. Now he’ll probably wonder what happens when....
.....
David Pearlstein was genuinely surprised. He began to wonder what would happen after a compartment filled up. He looked all around but couldn’t see any compartments that looked filled. He studied his own compartment, and he could easily see that there was only room for two more souls; one to his immediate right, and one across to the left. He looked around again. He found a few compartments with four, and a few empty ones, but most seemed to have only one or two in them. Then he spotted one with five. It was beginning to make a little more sense to him. Then it all seemed so perfectly clear.
David didn’t have to see any more. He knew this was not Limbo. He knew this was not Heaven. He would have to be a bit more patient before he met God. He looked down at the center of the compartment and began to rock back and forth again in prayer.
.....
Joan had watched him through his entire progression of realizations. It was almost like she could read his mind. Could she? She actually felt a small tingle of excitement at the thought. She concentrated as hard as she could while her eyes followed his movement back and forth. “My name is Joan! My name is Joan! My name is Joan!” He wasn’t responding. She tried to reach down and get his attention with her right hand in front of his face. Perhaps she could do it if she looked right into his eyes.....
.....
David saw the small hand appear right in front of his face. He stopped his prayer, and then turned toward her as he sat upright. Their eyes met and he noticed how intense her stare was. She had gestured to him deliberately. She wanted to tell him something. What did she want? He studied her eyes and.....
The flash across from him was right inside their compartment. All four of them fixed their gaze on the new figure.
.....And now there were five.
5
Hank Alderfer was whipped around by the blinding light. He had never experienced acceleration like this before. He wondered how his mind could create such a feeling in a dream if it had no basis in consciousness. What was happening? The last thought he remembered was wishing that the little pinpoint of light would come to him. It appeared to him that he had gotten his wish. He remembered an old lessen in life and he mouthed the words to himself, “Be careful what you wish for.” Fear! Even in a dream he should be feeling fear. But there was no fear. He was swept into a white tornado, and he braced himself for an impact. Why didn’t he feel scared?
Orientation was impossible. Floating in blackness only a moment before, he couldn’t seem to find a point of reference. In this blinding light it was even worse. Then, in the middle of all this overwhelming excitement and confusion, a thought crashed into his mind. It was like a time-out had been called in his dream. His whole being seemed consumed by a single memory. He was climbing up on the tractor and he felt sharp pain through his arms and chest. The pain was worse than anything he had ever felt before. Then he remembered falling. His head was about to smash down on the engine compartment, and he anticipated the pain, and.... What happened then? This was the craziest dream he had ever experienced.
He concentrated on the chest pain and the fall. Then, as if a light went on in his brain, he knew. It was a heart attack. He was eighty-one years old. He could hear all of his friends warning him to take it easy. They told him to leave the strenuous stuff for the hired hands. Eighty-one years old! Here he was climbing up on the old John Deere, and then that horrible pain, and then the fall. He could see the green metal of the engine compartment thrusting itself toward his forehead. It was coming so fast that he thought it might kill him. The pain in his chest was so intense. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t reach out to break the fall.....
He knew before the light released him that he was dead. It seemed that the tornado had switched to slow motion as these thoughts captured his mind. He wasn’t dreaming at all. Death! It was actually a comforting thought. It was better than being an eighty-one year old invalid; a burden to everyone around him.
Suddenly he was overwhelmed by the significance of the white tornado. He was going to meet his maker. The light! Something about the light made sense all of a sudden. He remembered the stories of near-death experiences that he saw on television. They all saw the light and were drawn to it. The light was the pathway to Heaven. He felt a surge of peacefulness come over him. It was a feeling that he couldn’t have described in a lifetime of words. And just as he understood the truth of his situation, the tornado returned to full force. He didn’t fight it. Instead, he basked in the powerful force of it. He equated it to the power of God, and he was certain that God was embracing him.
The tornado stopped abruptly. He felt the shock as his body froze in a fixed position. He felt peaceful and hopeful. He thought of his beloved wife, Joan, and their son, Mark. He was finally going to be with them. He could feel a smile begin to form on his face, just as the light began to fade. He stared straight ahead to catch his first view of Heaven.....
What he saw confused him. He was in a giant bowl with two people on each side of him. No, these weren’t people. They looked familiar. They were totally naked with the same sort of glowing skin he had seen on himself only moments ago. “Souls,” was what came to his mind. These were other souls! But their faces were so strange, and they were all staring at him. Then he realized that he really didn’t know what his own face looked like. It must look just like them!
He turned his head to his left and scanned the other souls in the bowl with him. A big man just next to him, then another man. Then came a space followed by another man. And just next to him on his right was a slender woman. Those faces! They were so strange looking. There were no real ears, mouths or noses on them. Just eyes! Intense eyes, and all staring right at him!
Where was he? Where was God? He looked around and saw the boundless expanse of bowls. There were souls everywhere. No, this can’t be Heaven! He looked inside his own bowl. It was a bowl with a seat. He was sitting. Sitting? Were they waiting for something? Where were his wife and child? He looked out at the vastness of the place. He felt like he was staring out over thousands of acres of cornfields. He could even see the fireflies twinkling their lights.... No it wasn’t dark out here. The flashes weren’t fireflies. What were they?
.....
Ray was in awe. The circle was filling up faster than he expected. His mind was in a state of confusion. He was trying to figure out what was happening. He had seen the last three flashes in his circle. He felt a slight touch of claustrophobia. He looked out at the circles all around them. He couldn’t find one as full as theirs. Then he started noticing more and more of the red flashes off in the distance. Again he pictured Oz. What was going on? Then it became more apparent to him than before. They were waiting! But, for what? Intuitively he knew he wouldn’t have to wait much longer for an answer.
.....
Jack Casey mentally braced himself. He wondered where they would be going, but he had absolutely no doubt they would be going soon. Five in the booth. Room for one more! The image of the red flash filled his mind. Then, as he looked at the other four, he wondered how many of them had any clue at all. He turned and looked down at the empty seat to his left. He knew that there would be one more white flash, and then he would find out the significance of the red flashes. Red! Was it the red of hellfire?
.....
Joan Spencer felt a tingle of excitement. She looked at the figure sitting opposite her, and she saw its gaze turn to the empty seat beside it. She suspected that it knew what was next. She turned her own eyes to that unoccupied space. She would soon see what the next phase of this game was all about. She wondered whether she should look away from the spot. Just how bright would the flashes be from this close?
.....
Hank saw a white flash only three bowls over. Then he understood part of the mystery. He knew how the souls arrived. Along with this understanding came a stronger curiosity. He knew that there was room for one more in his bowl. That would make six souls altogether. He tried to locate a bowl with six. The most he could find was four. What did it mean?
6
Ann Willis felt the glory of God as the white light encompassed her whole form. She rejoiced in the knowledge that God was granting her salvation. She was spun into the whirlpool of the light. She basked in its brilliance, and sang praises unto the Lord. She prepared herself emotionally for the magnificence that she would soon be a part of. Rainbow colors and sweet floral scents filled her imagination. She would dwell in the house of the Lord forever...
Almost as quickly as it began, it stopped. The glorious blinding light of God faded around her and she prepared herself for her first look at Heaven. Images began to materialize in front of her, and she braced herself for the joy...
This isn’t Heaven! It can’t be! She was sitting in a tub of sorts, and surrounding her were five other Barbie-like figures. They stared at her as if she were a freak. She could feel the intensity of their stares boring straight through her soul. She felt violated and betrayed. She looked around at the others. What were they looking at?
She felt scared for a moment. She suddenly felt doubt. She told herself that everything would be all right. Have faith! Have faith! She tried to determine exactly where it was that she had landed. She looked around and saw nothing but an endless expanse of tubs and figures. Oh, God! Help me, God!
Then she felt the rumble in the seat beneath her. It started as a subtle disturbance, and then it increased exponentially in its intensity. Was it possible? It felt like she was caught in the middle of an earthquake. From the corner of her eye she caught the others looking around wildly. What was going on?
A crimson glow began to surround them.....
.....
As soon as Jack and Joan saw the white flash, they looked at one another. Somehow each of them knew that the other also knew. Their eyes locked in horror as they both prepared themselves for whatever was coming. They expected a bright red flash, but nothing more. When the rumbling began, it caught them both off guard. And when it came, it was not a flash at all...
