The Hereafter.

[Kitosdad]

The Hereafter.

I rose from the bed on which I was lying, walked across the spacious room and peered out of the window.
Outside was a magnificent garden with numerous flowering bushes and finely-trimmed lawns.
How vibrant the colours are! That was the first thought that entered my mind upon viewing this vista before me.
Of course there were also drab colours, but even they seemed more vibrant than ever before.
Where was I, and how had I gotten here?
These were the questions uppermost in my mind as I'd no recall whatsoever as to how I had arrived here.
Maybe I was a millionaire who had lost his memory.
No, that couldn't be right, otherwise I wouldn't be capable of thinking so rationally.

I sat back down on the bed and idly opened the drawer of a small bedside cabinet. Inside were a packet of my favourite cigarettes and a lighter. I hungrily lit one and inhaled the welcome nicotine.
"That's really not good for you," came a voice from the now-open doorway.
I turned to see a man lounging against the door-frame, smiling at me.
Again, I'd no idea as to who he was.

Feeling a little embarrassed I quickly stubbed out the cigarette in the ash-tray.
The man laughed out loud. "I didn't mean to say that you couldn't smoke, only that it wasn't good for you."
This situation was proving to be a little too much for my peace of mind.
"What is this place, and where are we?," I asked.
"This is your home, and we are Here", he replied.
This wasn't making any sense to me at all, and I could feel my anger beginning to surface.

"Look, would you just mind telling me how I got here and who you are."
"OK, just calm down and I will answer all of your questions," he replied.
"You are Here and I am whoever you wish me to be, although I would have to transform myself somewhat if you decided I was to be your Father. Thank the Lord that no sex changes are allowed here."
Again he laughed at his own humour.

This wasn't making anything any clearer to me, so again I asked, "How did I get here? I have absolutely no recall regarding travelling or arriving here. I simply woke up in that bed."
For a moment he didn't answer, and then he said, "Follow me and we can walk in the garden while I try to explain to you.
Bring your cigarettes if you wish. You can smoke as we walk."
Grabbing the packet and the lighter I followed him from the room and along a wide hall that led into the sun-filled garden.

We walked for a while in silence until we arrived at a small stone-clad bridge which spanned a river. We sat on the stone walling and he began once again to speak.
"Please, don't be alarmed, but you died some hours ago, and now you are Here."
I almost fell into the water in surprise at this statement.
"Died?, I don't feel dead. Sure,I can't remember anything, but I certainly don't feel dead!"
"And so you shouldn't my friend, because Here is a new beginning for you and all should feel normal."
"Look, I feel great. Perhaps a little light-headed but nothing that a cup of coffee won't cure."

He smiled, "How strange that you should ask to drink, for that is something that we have no need of Here."
"Have no need of?. What the Hell do you mean by that?"
"Just as I say, your bodily needs have all been catered for.
You are self-sustaining, with no need of either food or water."
I was unable to comprehend this, and taking advantage of my silence he continued,
"You can "think" about eating or drinking whatever you wish, and you will feel as though this is what you have eaten or drank.
Rather a novel idea isn't it, yet I assure you that it is really an effective way in which to satisfy your needs."

Seeing my continuing silence he continued; "Look my friend, it is all very simple.
Having cast off your mortal shroud you are now an absolutely new entity.
You are now able to appear as anyone you wish, but, then you would not be recognised by someone else who wished to see you, therefore most people find themselves more comfortable being just who they were before they came to Here."
"And where exactly is Here?," I asked.
"Here is Here.
We have no need to name things or places.
Everyone is called friend, and everyone here is a friend."
This was all too much for me, and I felt like going back to bed again, but I knew I wouldn't sleep a wink.
There was far too much whizzing around in my head.

"Well, my wife is still on Earth. What if I wished to go back there to be with her once again?"
"Well, you could do that, but, if you were to do so, then you would never again be allowed to return to Here, and you would wander the Earth for eternity, alone without your wife, for she too will eventually arrive Here."
"But she is young and I love her so very much. I might have to wait for years before she dies," I wailed.
"Don't worry, time is irrelevant here, and in no time at all she will join you, and you will be together for eternity," was his reply to my outburst.
At last he had said something to placate me and calm my obvious distress.
I would be with my wife for eternity! What a wondrous thought.

"If this is such a wondrous place, where is everyone," I asked.
"Everyone is here, except you cannot see or hear them until your introduction to Here is fully clarified, otherwise you might do untold damage if you were allowed to just do whatever you liked in your first moments.
You first need to be instructed as to the properly accepted code of behaviour.
Lord knows what you would get up to were you not fully acquainted with the proper disciplines of your time here. That is why we are having this little discussion."

"OK", I answered in exasperation."Just how long do I have to wait to meet someone else?"
"You can meet whoever you want, whenever you wish, I only have to explain a couple of more points to you. Please be patient."
"First of all; You can be anywhere in the World, simply by thinking about it.
You can be with any person that you wish, providing they wish to be with you.
Your wishes are required to be agreeable to both parties. Simply by ignoring your wish, the other party can cut the communication between you both, or indeed, not allow it. Having told you this, you must tell me that you fully understand and accept these conditions"
"Yes, I do," I eagerly replied.
"You are absolutely certain? You have no questions that you would like to ask me?"
"No, not one. Please just let me meet my Mother."
"All right, just close your eyes and connect with her. Good-bye, and good luck."

With that he severed our connection, rather like a telephone conversation.
Left completely alone I began to feel more than nervous. I lit another cigarette and pondered.
Was I going mad, or had all of this really happened, and more importantly, was all that was taking place really real?.
I slowly looked all around. Every thing looked real, and the stone bridge on which I was sitting was certainly real enough.
I walked off the bridge and onto the grass. I leant and allowed the water of the river to cascade over my closed hand.
Everything was real. There was no disputing that fact.
I sat on the grass and smoked another cigarette.

OK, I would take my first tentative step into this new world.
I closed my eyes and thought about my Mother.
I kept my eyes tightly closed for a few moments, and then to my utter astonishment I heard my Mother's cry of joy.
Opening my eyes once more I saw my Mother running toward me over the bridge.
My legs were too weak to allow me to stand, so I kneeled on the grass until she stood before me.
Both of our eyes filled with tears of happiness and I was finally able to rise to my feet and hold my Mother close.
For some moments neither of us were able to speak, and then both of our voices exploded with a myriad of questions.
We laughed at our eagerness to question each other, until finally my Mother pressed her fingers to my lips, and linking her arm through mine she led me back onto the bridge.
"I can't believe it Mam, you haven't changed a bit after all of the years that you have been gone."
"That's because this is how you remember me Son," she laughingly replied.
"But first, there is someone I want you to meet."
She closed her eyes, and in a flash a man appeared, walking toward us both.
He stepped onto the bridge and came directly to me.
Putting his arms around me he held me in a warm loving embrace.
This man was a stranger to me, and I looked questioningly at my beaming Mother.
"This is your Uncle Freddie. Surely you can't have forgotten him."
I looked again into the smiling eyes of this total stranger and felt within me the love that he had for me, and again I started to cry.
This was my Uncle, so long gone these many years that I had completely erased his memory from my mind.
"Come on Billy, he said, let's visit the old places and refresh your memory."
He took my hand and told me to close my eyes. He would now be the connection to an old and long forgotten place.

When I again opened my eyes I was in my old township, in fact in the very street in which he and my Grandmother's family had lived.
"Where's Gran?", I managed to blurt out.
"She is in the house, along with your Grandfather and your Uncle Willie. Come on, let's pay them a visit, close your eyes." I did as he asked, and in seconds we were inside the old house that held so very, very many wonderful memories for me.
My Grandfather, as I remembered him, was sat at the table reading the newspaper and smoking his pipe. My Grandmother was busy in the back-kitchen, but hearing our arrival, she shuffled into the living room.
We all stood looking at each other until finally my Grandfather said in his gruff voice, "Well, aren't you going to give your old Granny a big kiss Billyboy?"
Oh how we kissed amidst tears streaming down all of our faces. This for me was a wonderland, a wonderland from which I never wanted to leave.

After talking for hours I still didn't feel at all tired.
Darkness never fell in this dream-like world. Only sunshine and warmth.
After meeting the wives of my two Uncles it was time to take a look around this new world of mine, and I chose to do this alone in spite of protestations from my family.
We were all together again and that was all that mattered.
I figured that we had the whole of eternity to spend together, so I had lots of time to spend simply sight-seeing, and boy, was there lots to see.

I kept getting disturbed by my Father wanting to connect with me, but I kept him blocked-out.
I had no immediate desire to meet him again. Maybe later, but not just yet.
First I wanted to connect with some of my old friends, and there were certainly plenty of them to meet.
I had no problem in connecting with four of them straight off and we spent hours just reminiscing about our younger days.
It was strange that there was no animosity between us. There had certainly been plenty in the old days, especially when jousting for girl-friends.
As the man had foretold; friends are friends. Not an enemy to be found.

We spent many happy hours doing all manner of things, in all manner of places around the world.
I finally got to visit China, and it was all that I had dreamed it would be. Exotic, vibrant and exciting.
Although the rest of the guys didn't want to join me I did get around to spending some time in a school for young children, but of course they couldn't see me, but I could see and hear them.
It was one of the best experiences that I have ever had.

When we finally arrived back at Here the guys summoned all of their families and then we spent a period of time just all being introduced to one another.
It was at this time that I became aware of Sandra.
She was a cousin of one of the guys and I took an immediate fancy to her, that is until one of the guys told me that it wasn't allowed to have a relationship with another female when one was still married on Earth.
Even though I was dead I wasn't allowed anything other than platonic relations with another female.
So, we became platonic friends Sandra and I. We spent lots of time together, but we always stuck to the rules.

With there being no night-time there was no definite way of keeping track of time, but nobody really wanted to.
However it appeared that several years had passed whilst I had been there, and one day I was told that my wife had arrived.
I was overjoyed to hear of her arrival, but for some reason she was refusing to connect with me.
This created some problems for me, as I couldn't understand just what the problem could be.

I requested a meeting with the Man, and he told me that my wife had died in a car crash.
She had been in the car with another man, and he was in hospital with very little hope of recovery.
He was expected to arrive at Here any day soon and my wife was waiting to greet him.

I wasn't too disappointed at the news, but asked if he would request that my wife connected with me.
He promised to do what he could to arrange this.

Sometime later I finally did connect with my wife, but this time she was with this man.
We were all very friendly toward each other.
I understood that my wife would want to have another man after my demise, and so all was resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

My route to a relationship with Sandra was now clear, so now, here we are, Sandra and I in our own new home in this wonderland, for eternity.
...................................................................................................................

Kitos.
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Keep it simple ... Keep it interesting.