CHAPTER 14 No one dies... When we "die" we wake up from the dream called life and live forever?   A clock rang and I jumped up in bed. I just sat there blinking in the morning light. Jill sighed beside me and nudged me with her elbow. "Honey, turn the alarm off, already." "Huh?" Absently I flicked it off. Then I started to giggle. "I'm alive, I'm alive!" "What's that honey?" Jill sighed. I jumped out of bed and stretched like I'd never stretched before. It felt so good to be alive. I headed for the bathroom to take a shower, but Bo was sitting on the can, and the smile disappeared from my face. "Does this mean I'm still dreaming?" I gasped. It had felt so real. Better than real, in fact. It was wonderful, it was... "Sorry, Jack," Bo sighed. "It's just another Scenario." "Yeah, so what happens in this one?" I barked as we walked through the walls and out of the house. Everything looked so bright and alive. "Well, you woke up, and now you're alive forever." "But it looks just like my real life," I protested. "Well, sort of. Except no one ever dies." "Well, that's good, isn't it? Or is it going to get all twisted around like another Twilight Zone episode?" We passed some people while we walked along. They beamed and smiled at each other. "People seem happy enough. Now don't tell me. There's no death so the world becomes overcrowded. And plants and animals don't die, so there's no decay, and that means nothing can grow, and everything will choke out everything else. Oh, and people get bitter and bored from living so long that they develop ways to torture and hurt each other we never could have imagined before in our wildest nightmares." "No, no, it's a perfect life. The universe is big enough for everyone. People and other organisms settle on the millions of habitable planets out there. And they work on making every world habitable. No one has to eat, or kill anything to survive. Each organism just experiences life to the fullest. Forever." "So what's wrong with it?" "What's wrong is it doesn't exist, Jack. It's just another silly, wishful-thinking Scenario!" "How do you mean. Maybe it does exist. We die and we go to a perfect world. I like it!" "Jack, you're not thinking right. We already went through this in one of the Heaven Scenarios, remember? It just isn't going to happen. Why would there be a perfect world after we die? If there is anything after death, then there must be a spiritual realm, and if there is a spiritual realm, there must be a creator, and why, pray tell, would whoever created it all, create a miserable life, and then a good one afterwards?" "So we can appreciate the perfect one more!" "Eeeeehhhhh .... wrong answer ... No way, Jack!" "Well, I'm staying here. I'm not leaving!" I protested as I headed back for Jill and home. But it was all gone. We were floating in the empty void once again. I started to cry, but then I saw another Chapter approaching. No, it was a whole section. I wiped away the tears and read the heading: "WHAT'S THE MEANING OF LIFE?" "Look Bo," I laughed, pointing wildly, but Bo wasn't impressed. "Oh, boy, we get a bonus adventure. Why am I not surprised?" Bo yawned. "We can't pass this up, Bo. This is the REAL Question. Come on," I urged, tugging on his sleeve. "Look Jack. I can sum up the whole thing for you in one big yawn. You don't need to check it out. A) There is no meaning to life. B) Life stinks. C) Well, C is the peach. You know the Frank Capra, warm, fuzzy, "It's A Wonderful Life," angle. The idea that the key to happiness is to be thankful for what you have in life and make the best of the little things, and make sure you have someone special to share it all with and plenty of loving friends...you know that same angle Thornton Wilder won a Pulitzer Prize for in "Our Town" -- take the time to really live your life while you have it because it's precious and it's over much too fast...the old Christmas-time magical It's A Wonderful World feeling that makes you so sure there's a wonderful plan for everyone, and you're so happy you're alive, and...oh gosh, I'm starting to gag..." "But Bo, that's IT! We're alive to LIVE!" "Yeah, and then the warm glow starts to fade, reality hits you in the face, and it's back to trying to make a buck so you can pay your bills. It's all a bunch of hooey..." "Just keep your stinking opinion to yourself Mr. Bodisatva. I'm going to check this Chapter out. It's...Hey, where's that Chapter going. Hey come back. Come back here. You scared it away, Bo!" We were all alone again in the empty void of Death. The tears were streaming now. I cried for quite a while. So long in fact, that a river of tears was swirling around my feet. I rubbed hazy droplets from my eyes and saw I was wading in my sadness. And above my head a raincloud was rhythmically pelting me with sorrow. Rain, beats upon my windowpane. Pain, pouring down like rain... "Cute, cute," Bo was muttering, as he floated on a raft in front of me, comfortably sipping an umbrellaed-drink. There wasn't any rain falling on him, by the way. I shrugged, preoccupied with my task of trying get out from under the raincloud. I sloshed in the river of sadness, lunging this way and that way to no avail. And then I thought I saw an island in the distance, whispering sweet promises of hope. But the rain fell harder, and the world became darker, and I was drowning in my sadness, and my heart was crying out through the night of my soul. Thought I saw an island of hope in the distant haze. Thought I'd make my way back home at last. But now I'm sinking in my sadness, drowning in a sea of sorrow. Sea of sorrow. Throw me a life line. Take me away. I'm tired of crying. I want to go home today. And then I heard someone calling me. I stared through the storm, listening. It was the voice of Love that I heard before, in different chapter. Love was the lifeline I needed. Love would rescue me. Love was the Home I was struggling to reach. Love is a refuge from the storm. Love is the light that keeps us warm. Love is the Truth that sets us free. Love waits here for you and me. Love, sweet love, please don't ever leave my side. Love, my love, you and I will make it right. Love is more than a state of mind, Love is a Heaven we can find. Love is someone to share your life. Love gives you strength to face the Night. Love, sweet love, please don't ever leave my side. Love, my love, you and I will make it right. Flashback images rippled across my brain, fighting to reach me through the rain that was still pouring on my world. Beyond the cloak of sadness that was suffocating my soul, I saw myself with my True Love, laughing, without a care in the world, and another song was rumbling in me. I don't know maybe it was just 'cause I was in love, But all I saw was you baby, and that was just enough. I'm lost and all alone now. Time is going by. The rain is falling hard now. Baby as I cry. I was crying again, but She was still whispering my name, and I tried to follow Her voice through the pouring pain and the drenching darkness. And there was a soft light in the distance, and I walked towards it, and stepped out of the rain, and there She was. That hazy, elusive vision of Love that dances in the back of the mind. The One we project onto people that we meet, hoping they will be Her -- the One who makes us whole. And she was standing in front of another Chapter. "Love is the Answer?" it declared, and I started to weep tears of joy, and a ladder lowered down towards me, and the rest of the song was roaring in my soul. One day I came out from the rain. Saw you standing there. You called out my name. There went my pain. Left me laughing with no cares. Baby take me home again. Baby can you stop the rain, Oh, baby take me home again. One day I'll awaken, it will all have been a dream. I'll be standing in a Garden so wide the end can't be seen. All around me people will be smiling, All standing hand in hand. Bells of love will be ringing. We'll be in the Promised Land. Table of Contents | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter