IN A KARMA ASSESSMENT CHAMBER

A Story by Willys Watson

1. Elena

As instructed, six souls in transition sat in arm chairs in a dimly lit Karma Assessment Chamber while waiting for a Moderator named Elena. And because they were in transition the souls retained the physical bodies they lived in at the time of their Earthly demise and wore the same clothes they had on when their recent lives expired.

The Chamber itself was symbolically physical to accommodate the assessment process and provide the souls with a grounding identification to their past. Besides the chairs having physical properties the three doors in the wall behind their chairs and the singular entry door to their left were functional and as a translucent glow slowly illuminated the chamber in a brighter hue the female image of Elena, a soul of undetectable age, entered the Chamber through the left door.

"Are you our Guiding Angel?" asked Jeanne, sitting in the first chair, the one assigned to her, and her thin, pale body was at the chronological age of seventeen at the time of her passing and the worn, faded dress she wore was likely bought from a thrift shop.

"If you had read the scriptures like you should have, you silly child, you would know there are no women angels working in God’s name," called out Ruth, who was perhaps forty when she died and she wore a droll, off-the-rack cotton dress.

"Ruth, when you agreed to go through the process it meant accepting the guidelines," Elena softly reminded her. When Ruth, who was sitting in the fifth chair, meekly nodded, the Moderator addressed them all, "In case there are any misconceptions about the process, all of you, when called by your given name, will be allowed to provide your case as you comfortably see fit and during that time questions to clarify can be asked and comments can be added from each of you when I offer the cue to do so. Also, because you’re still in transition, just try to be your natural selves and if you feel you need to stand or move around, even while talking, do so. Is this understood?"

"Not exactly because I don’t understand why I’m even here when I don’t believe in all this karma whatever stuff anyway. So why am I here and not standing before the Pearly Gates?" Ruth wanted to know.

"Do you believe a person might be punished if they do bad and rewarded if they do good?" Elena inquired.

"Of course!"

"And one of the definitions of that belief system just happens to be called karma."

"Maybe so but that has nothing to do with all this silly reincarnation stuff."

"Are you so sure being born again only means one thing?"

"I believe what I believe. And still want to know why I’m here with you and all these other strangers?"

"Because you were chosen to be here and here is neither your concept of heaven or hell and are you so sure there are no female angels?"

"The only ones mentioned in my scriptures were men."

"I realize that and only a few were mentioned by name. Still that does not mean ... "

"To me it does."

"So are you saying after you enter your Pearly Gates you won’t be an angel? What would you be? A housekeeper or servant? A second class citizen?" Elena pondered. When Ruth did not answer, the Moderator added, addressing all of the souls in transition, "None of you are required to provide any back story from your recent life, of course, but doing so aids in the evaluation process."

As they nodded in unison, Elena focused on Jeanne, "Sweetheart, you were selected to go first. Are you ready?"

2. Jeanne

"I guess, but I don’t think it will do much good, Miss Elena, because I know I’m going to hell anyway," Jeanne answered in a painful tone of self-defeat.

"Not true at all, My Dear. Allowances are always made for circumstances."

"I ... uh ... I guess ... I mean I hope ... but ... but ... I won’t have the guts ... guts unless I just talk quickly and get it all over with quickly."

"Honey, just be yourself and you’ll be fine," Elena assured her.

"Okay. I guess. It’s just that ... it all started to get bad when my friend Jodie ... no. I mean it was sorta always bad for me. I mean, my Dad who never seemed to keep a job left when I was little and my poor Momma did her best but could only get jobs waiting on tables and ... and we lost our house and had to move to that trailer park. I mean, I always tried to be a good girl but it still sucked, you know, but it really got more bad when my best friend Jodie, my only friend, came to me and told me ... " Jeanne’s voice faded into a whimper as she lowered her face.

"Take all the time you need, Sweetheart. Or you can just wait until later," the Moderator said as she approached and lovingly patted her on the shoulder. When Jeanne looked up at Elena and saw her knowing and encouraging smile she returned the smile.

"Okay, so anyways Jodie came to me and told me she was knocked up and her step-daddy did it to her ... forced her ... and did it a bunch more times to her ... and when she finally got the guts and told her Momma her Momma didn’t believe her and took his side and then called Jodie a just a little s**t and ... and kicked her out of the apartment so I ... I let her come live in my bedroom then ... it got ... it got even more bad for me and Jodie."

When Henry, an older gentleman sitting in the second chair, a man dressed as if he were a professor, raised his hand Elena nodded to imply he could ask Jeanne some questions.

"Sweety, wasn’t there some kind of clinic she could go to that would help her have the child and perhaps put it up for adoption so Jodie could go back and finish school?"

"I asked some people at first, Mister, but both of us don’t have insurance and ... and where we live no hospital would take her that way and ... there aren’t no orphanages around here."

"There are free clinics, aren’t there?"

"Not where we lived, Sir, and they’re too far away and we don’t have the money for a bus and the only one of those places I heard of was that one maybe a hundred miles away in the next state and it got blown up by a bomb."

"Oh, dear child. Perhaps your family or mother could have helped, couldn’t they? There must have been someone?"

"No one close by but my Momma and she’s the religious type and ... and woulda kicked Jodie out too if she found out because Jodie’s Mom woulda told mind she’s a little s**t," Jeanne explained with tears running down her cheeks. "So it was really bad and got more bad."

"Could you at least have gone to the police or told your minister?"

"That b*****d step-daddy is a deacon and works at city hall and they woulda believed him."

"But there’s DNA tests," Henry suggested.

"Don’t all that stuff costs lots of money, Sir? And we don’t have money and we were scared and didn’t know what to do or who would help. Don’t you see? I don’t wanna talk any more now," Jeanne exclaimed as she pleadingly turned to Elena.

"So, Henry, because you’re next anyway, can you begin while Jeanne needs more time?"

3. Henry

"My childhood life was certainly not as bad as Jeanne’s has been because I was blessed with honest, hard working and loving parents. Though we were poor our family never went hungry and they made sure we kids had a good education, even though it took extra effort considering we were raised in the still segregated south. And it certainly wasn’t easy because of the area where we were raised, being raised on a small farm near a small town, the type of community where a black man risked his life if he was still in town after sunset."

Ruth raised her hand and Elena nodded.

‘It couldn’t have been all that bad for you because of the way you express yourself and ... "

"Like a white man, you mean?" Henry interjected.

"Not what I mean, but you do speak well and you look like you might be some kind of teacher or something like that," Ruth responded with thinly veiled sarcasm.

"You were born a black boy in the Jim Crow south, I suppose?"

"I wasn’t trying to offend," she protested.

"Yes, you were. You’re just not very efficient at disguising your contempt," Henry told her.

A young man who called himself Ricco raised his hand and Elena nodded to him.

Ricco, who was likely around thirty when his life on Earth ended and sitting in the third chair, dressed in the colors of a gang member, stared at Ruth.

"Lady, you mouth like a pendejo," he mocked her. "And leave the teacher and the little white chica be. They had hard lives like me. So just callate la boca!’

After the rest of the souls heard Jeanne gently laugh Elena nodded to Henry again.

"Yes, it was tough but, with my folk’s tireless encouragement, I did well in school, earned a scholarship to an out of state university and, no, it wasn’t as a ball player, but an academic scholarship. I earned my degree with honors, got my Masters, then my PhD and, yes, I am some kind of teacher, the kind who was a tenured professor of Contemporary History and I have every right to be proud of my achievements. And I suppose I said what I wanted to say until we come to the regrets stage of the assessment process."

"Thank you, Henry," Elena told him as she noticed Ruth shaking her head and smirking, them Elena focused her attention of Ricco, telling him, "I believe you’re next, Ricco. If you’re ready?"

4. Ricco

"No cops or judges or videos around? I’ll take it like that," Ricco began, only to be interrupted by Ruth.

"The Lord is the judge we can never hide from," Ruth lectured him.

"And I’m going to speak nice and slow in my best English so we don’t confuse Miss Ruthie. But my story? Forget that mierda mamadas! I’m going right to the regrets stuff. I regret growing up in the hood, regret thinking my only way out was to join the gang like I had no choice, you know? I regret my Crippin’ ways. I regret not thinking I had other choices."

"Are you comfortable telling them about the drive by?" Elena sincerely inquired.

"You know about that? Yeah, guess you do, huh? You guys must know or there won’t be this whole process mierda! Yeah, I regret that most of all. I wasn’t holding the gun but was still guilty as the driver. That poor little chica that got shot by accident in the shootout? Yeah, I didn’t pull no maldito gatillo but I felt guilty as hell and wanted to quit the gang. But, you know, nobody can quit and one day some hoodie popped me from behind and that’s it. Nothing more to say but a world of regrets, you know?’

"I ... can’t ... I have to say ... say it now? I killed ... killed her!" Jeanne suddenly blurted out.

‘Not just your only friend but that poor baby," Ruth screamed as all the souls stared at Jeanne.

"Senora, solo callate la boca!" Ricco shouted back at her.

"No, no, no, no! I didn’t kill Jodie. Not like that. I tried to ... to help ... but ... I was too late and all because ... " Jeanne started to say, then stopped to rub her tear swollen eyes, finally speaking again, "She ... uh ... she had some crazy old lady in the trailer park tell ... tell her ... about the clothes hanger thing, you know? I tried to ... uh ... talk her ... begged her to ... wait ... then she said okay, you know? I said I was going to get help ... was going to get the cops ... you know? She didn’t say nothing so I ... I ... figured she meant okay. So I ran ... and ran and ran ... all the way into town ... ran I don’t know how long ... I just ran ... just ran all the way to the police station."

"Bless you, Jeanne," Henry replied to comfort her.

"But ... but, you see? When me and the only guy I could find at ... that damn lazy a*s deputy ... that shithead who ... I don’t know if he believed me ... or just had to finish eating ... anyway, when we got there Jodie was damn near ... near already ... dead, you know? Not from that ... that coat hanger thing but ... but from Momma’s kitchen butcher knife. And it’s ... it’s my ... fault because ... because I ... I shoulda ... I didn’t get back in time ... I tried, but just ... just couldn’t ..."

"No, Sweety, it wasn’t your fault. You tried your best. We know that," Elena informed her as Henry rose from his chair to try to comfort her.

"It wasn’t your fault, Honey," Henry heartedly told her. "The fault? In that b*****d step father who’s bound for hell and Jodie’s mother for not believing her. Their fault, not your’s."

"Can I ... I ... get up and ... and walk around to ... you know ... be alone for ... for awhile," Jeanne pleadingly hoped.

"Of course, Honey," Elena reassured her as she helped Joanne to her feet and silently watched as she slowly walked towards the rear of the Chamber and, knowing Jeanne would be temporary in her own world of thoughts, she focused on the older gentleman sitting in the forth chair, a man dressed in a tailor made three piece business suit, a soul in transition who might have been in his seventies when his physical life expired.

"Truman, I believe you’re next, Elena cued him.

5. Truman

"I really don’t need to be here," Truman announced to everyone as he rose from his chair to slowly pace the floor while he stated his case. "I don’t belong around these whinny people who blame their parents and the environment for their flawed lives and poor choices."

When Ricco quickly raised his had Elena smiled at him, but shook her head no to imply he should wait until more details were exposed.

"As I was saying before being rudely interrupted," Truman started again as if addressing the undeserving masses, "I really don’t need to be here. I worked hard for what I had and created an empire I’m proud of and left with no regrets or guilt."

George, the man sitting in the last chain, a man dressed in faded jeans and flannel shirt, a man who was likely around the same age as Truman, raised his hand and Elena nodded yes.

"Welcome to our little get together, George."

"I was just watching and listening because that’s how I learned," he confirmed to Elena with a wink, then aimed the rest of his comments at Truman, "Aren’t you Truman Donaldson, Jr.? The very same Truman who inherited much of his wealth? The same Truman Donaldson who cheated thousands of elderly people out of their life savings?"

"So what? That silly class action lawsuit was dismissed in a court of appeals."

"By a conservative appeals judge who had financial ties to one of your corporations, right?"

"So what? The case was still illegally dismissed and I was cleared and I have no regrets or guilt."

"None?"

"Let me explain it this way, you country bumpkin! If people are foolish enough to invest their life savings they deserve their lot in life if they lose everything. Should I be blamed for taking what I can? And I’m certainly not to blame for their misplaced trust in my flawed judgement with my companies that failed and I didn’t write the bankruptcy laws."

"Perhaps not, but you certainly abused them by not paying the already earned salaries of your employees before you filed your bankruptcies, right? And you managed to always profit from the bankruptcies, didn’t you?"

"Money don’t buy s**t in Hell, fool!" Ricco baited Truman.

"I don’t have to put up with this s**t," Truman declared as he stopped pacing and stared at Elena. "I’ve paid my rightful dues and an ready to move forward. So which one of those doors is mine to enter?"

As he pointed to the three doors his sudden gesture startled Jeanne and she meekly pulled back and edged herself towards the opposite side of the Chamber.

"Truman, those three doors open to symbolic pathways souls will take depending on their individual karma assessment," Elena cautioned him, then tried to continue, "And you’ll just have to wait until the assessment process is ... "

"You seem to already know all this stuff, so which door?"

"You win. It’s the third door, the one on the right, that’s calling your name."

When Truman touched the third door, a door without a visible doorknob or hinges, it automatically opened into a long hallway illuminated with a pale light, and automatically closed when he was inside the hallway.

As Jeanne walked back to her chair Elena focused on Ruth.

"Ruth, you’re up next."

6. Ruth

"Not much to say and I don’t need to justify my fate to strangers because I’ve lived a god-fearing life and have nothing to be ashamed of, and I believe what I believe," Ruth declared with a smug expression.

"And about the circumstances that led to you death?" Elena prompted her.

"Hiding your sins from God, lady?" Ricco challenged her.

"Shut up, you unholy w*****k!"

When George quickly raised his hand Elena nodded her okay.

"Ruth and her husband Rusty set explosives to blow up a women’s clinic."

"That’s a lie!"

"And the explosives detonated prematurely and killed both Ruth and Rusty."

"That’s ... that’s not ... not ... how could you know that?" Ruth demanded to know.

"Network news and newspaper coverage. Of course, you wouldn’t know that because you were dead," George stressed.

"I’m just wondering, but is that the same clinic where two young women were killed while waiting for their breast cancer screening results?" Henry quizzed George as if he were an old friend.

"They shouldn’t have been there anyway. Good people shouldn’t be in evil places," Ruth snapped at them as she jumped up from her chair. "We were fighting a holy war and sometimes the ... some innocents have to die in a holy war. I don’t know about you people and your God but my God understands."

"Seems I remember something about none of us having the rights to cast the first stone," George reminded her.

"That doesn’t apply in holy war, so f**k you both, you liberal unitarian a******s!"

"I’m a Methodist. And you, George?" Henry started to fuel the flames.

"Not even a liberal or conservative but just a boring, a plain old know nothing Humanist," George evaluated himself with humor.

"And I read enough from your book to know God didn’t give you the right to pass judgement in His name, Miss Ruthie," Jeanne added quickly.

When Elena stared at Ruth and motioned for her to return to he chair, Ruth turned ghostly pale, but complied.

"If you sweet souls haven’t figured it out yet, this diverse group was brought together as what could be called a soul searching group therapy session with the intent to encourage you to be honest with not just yourselves but with everyone else in this room. Doing so aids us in the assessment process," Elena clarified and smiled as she noticed Jeanne returning to her own chair, then directed her focus on George, the one soul who had not yet offered his defense.

"You ready, Mister liberal, Unitarian, plain old know nothing Humanist?"

7. George

"Okay, but first can I ask you, Elena, about the door Truman entered?"

"Fair enough question, George, and the three doors don’t really have official titles that reflect their purpose but I like to whimsically call the third door The Abyss. It is symbolically Ground Zero in the karma process or Square One or whatever cliche applies. Though I shouldn’t tell you until this assessment process is over, I’m sure Truman would have been assigned that entry anyway."

"Purgatory, huh?" Ricco pondered while not expecting a reply.

"To some, yes," Elena nodded yes, then gestured for to George to continue.

"I was born and raised on a farm in west Texas in an area that was a lot more conservative than my folks were because they weren’t the prejudice types and based their friendships on character, not color, and didn’t allow racial slurs being spoken around them. I embraced their beliefs and formed friendships based on character and while in the service I fought side by side with ethnic soldier and we covered each other’s back because that what good soldiers do and this was how I lived my life up to my passing. And I think that diversity gave and should always give our country strength."

"It doesn’t worry you that they’re gaining on us?" Ruth aggressively inquired.

"Gaining on us?"

"Pretty soon we’re going to be minorities in our own country. That’s another reason why abortion should be stopped because colored folks and those wet backs don’t get abortions like white girls do! Don’t you understand that?" she pleaded in her defense.

"Ruth, did you and your husband, by chance, adopt any white babies?" Henry asked her sincerely. When Ruth turned away, the late professor emphasized his point. "And most of those white woman who get them are not much more than girls, scared, poor young ladies who’s so-called father of her baby skipped out as soon as she knew she was pregnant. Right?"

"I’d be gone if that thing tried to take me home," Ricco addressed Henry while pointing at Ruth.

Elena gave Ricco a stern look, then nodded to George when he raised his hand.

"Ruth, if more people were willing to adopt and raise those children, or at least support and help fund well staffed and legit orphanages, don’t you think most of those young, poor, scared women would be willing, would want to carry their child to full term, knowing it would be welcomed by loving parents?" George earnestly hypothesized.

"I don’t .. I don’t ... I don’t know. Maybe. I suppose maybe so."

"Maybe so?" Henry wondered.

"More than maybe so, Henry. So, George, would you like to add anything more to aid your assessment," Elena wanted to know.

"My wife Linda and I had a pretty good life so I can’t complain. We couldn’t have kids of our own, that’s true. but we adopted four and they were as much out own as if Linda had given them birth. And, Ruth, in case you’re wondering, three of them are as white as you. The other, a boy we named Lupe, was of Spanish decent and was unadoptable to most folks because he was born blind. And that amazing child grew up to teach Braille to other blind children. If fact, we’re proud of all of our children. And though neither Linda or I went to college we read a lot and stayed informed of current events. So, Elena, I suppose that’s all.

She smiled warmly and nodded to him as Henry and Ricco softly applauded.

"So, unless any of you have anything else to add the assessment assignments will be announced to me when the Council has drawn their conclusions."

"But that won’t ... won’t ... help me because ... because I killed myself," Jeanne cried out.

"Honey, I’ve already assured you circumstances are considered," Elena gently reminded her.

"But ... I ... uh ... I just ... wasn’t strong ... strong enough and ... I ... I killed myself because ... I couldn’t ... take the ... the grief ... the guilt ... my whole life ... anymore. You know?"

"We understand your personal circumstances and, like Henry, Ricco, Ruth and George, you’ll be offered the chance to start life all over again or move on to the next level."

"I don’t need another chance. I did what I believed was right and I don’t have to admit to any of you anything I should be ashamed of," Ruth stated as in half-hearted defense.

"You’re problem, Lady, is you didn’t get laid enough," Ricco laughed.

"You should have been a comic, Ricco," Elena responded to him while suppressing a chuckle, then looked at Ruth, "If that’s your decision, Ruth, you’re welcome to follow Truman down the pathway behind the third door."

"I ... uh ... I ... what are ... are the alternatives?" Ruth stammered.

"To accept the chance for a new beginning offered you," Elena advised her, then addressed them all, "If you’ll be patient for a while longer I’ll ask each of you one more question and how you answer will be the effect determination"

Jeanne, Henry, Ricco and George nodded quickly and silently watched her until Ruth finally agreed.

"But let me ask you this question first, Ruth, before we proceed," Elena quizzed her as a last test. When Ruth nodded, Elena proceeded, "What you would think if a law was passed to require all women, no matter what age, who didn’t want to or couldn’t bare children had to have their vaginas sewed shut and their breast surgically removed so there wouldn’t be any temptation, how would you fell?"

"That law won’t happen and even if it did it’s my body, not the law’s, and they have no right to tell me what ... "

"Exactly. The choice should be between the woman, her physician and her religious beliefs and, as Jeanne mentioned, their decision should not be judged by the rest of us. Women own the rights to their own body, not men. And the choices made are often based on either a specific circumstance or a combination of circumstances and unless you’ve faced those personal dilemmas. It’s like that song ‘Walk A Mile In My Shoes’ I suppose," Elena, her point made, said to the waiting souls, "I’ll be back in who knows? But not long in our flexible time. Until I return please talk to each other. But do so honestly and respectfully because none of us have lived perfect lives."

"Score one for our boss lady!" Ricco whimsically proclaimed.

Elena smiled at his reply then seemed to vaporize before their eyes.

8. The Assessment Destinations

Jeanne and Ruth were having a conversation while standing behind the roll of chairs and Henry, Ricco and George, who was sitting in the chair originally assigned to Truman, shared a laugh when Elena suddenly reappeared in the Chamber. Without being instructed or expected to do so, Jeanne and Ruth respectfully returned to their chairs to give their full attention to the Moderator.

"Before I ask each of you your question there is a process concept I believe I should mention now," Elena acknowledged to the waiting souls. "And I’ll try to explain it in a way even I can understand. So, wish me luck! Anyway, whether you wish to move up to the next level or return with a clearer perspective, none of you will consciencely remember you past life, though I’m sure you already know this. But what you will all retain is a cautionary tool, a sixth sense some might say, an intuitive aspect that will hopefully aid you in not repeating the same mistakes. And last, we’ll discuss earned karma points as we proceed."

"Explained quite eloquently for us know nothings," Henry complimented her.

"Thank you, Sir! And I suppose I should be thankful that none of you can tell I’m blushing," she chuckled, then tenderly looked at Jeanne, "Are you ready, Sweetheart?"

"Thanks to the help I’m ready," Jeanne spoke with a heightened air of self esteem.

"We know you never hurt anyone on purpose or stole anything and you tried your best to help your best friend, so you really don’t have much bad karma to atone for. While it’s true that we’re not mind readers and there is no predestination we base everything on a life lived and you’ve earned enough credit through intention. So your question is, Jeanne, if it were your choice would you rather move onward or start again? In case you’re wondering it’s like being born again."

"Oh ... oh ... oh ... wow! I don’t know about stuff like levels and ... and concepts and that stuff but ... but if I had the chance ... I want to be born to ... or adopted if they’re good people ... parents like Henry had who would make me ... no, no, no ... I mean encourage me ... to study real hard and go to college. I’d wanna be a lawyer and fight to ... to help girls like Jody who ... who didn’t ... uh. you know?"

"You’ll be given the tools to do just that, Honey," Elena replied as if being proud of her own daughter. "But you’ll have to study hard and pass the state bar yourself, and try not to get distracted from your new quest. And after I’ve talked to the others your new life path is welcoming you as you enter the first door."

After Jeanne nodded enthusiastically and the other souls applauded her Elena focused on Henry.

"You’re next if you’re ready, but you’ve really gained enough points that I’ll just go right to the asking what your choice would be if it were up to you.

"I already know I want to go back, to start over, but not to become a teacher, even a professor, again. Hopefully, if fate and opportunity presents themselves, I would become an attorney."

"Admirable, because I have the feeling it will be for social causes."

"So extra cool! Maybe we can end up classmates!" Jeanne beamed.

"I would love to see that happen, Dear Jeanne," Elena agreed, then proposed her one question to Henry, "Would this decision have anything to do with the regrets you mentioned?"

"Everything," Henry confessed. "I was so proud of my achievements and so guarded of my status in the academic world that I became too timid to speak out against social injustice in fear that I could jeopardize my position, tenured or not, at the university. And, yes, karma allowing, I would become an attorney and take cases like the ones where nonthreatening, unarmed young men are being shot."

"And hold those profiling, biased perpetrators accountable!" George surmised.

"If fate allows, of course."

"You’ll have the cautionary tools. The rest would be up to your intuitive leanings, and like Jeanne the first door leads to that pathway," Elena confirmed, then looked at Ricco.

"I want to go back to the same hood, be born there again," Ricco declared. "I want to try to show the young bros they have choices, like going to tech school to become mechanics, so they can make good, honest money. That’s all I ask."

"You do know, of course, that some of your homies won’t like you depleting their potential base, right?"

"If that means telling the little ones they got choices and I may get popped again from behind, yeah, I know, Lady Boss. But you know? If I’m gonna die young again I want to be dying for trying to do right." Ricco promised.

Elena smiled and turned to Ruth.

"Ricco’s a smartass but he said something that forced me to really think," Ruth honestly stated. "He made me realize how empty my life really was."

"Gotta be at least smart to be a smartass, I guess," Ricco commented with a shy grim. "But I don’t figure how I help you by being a smartass."

"But you did when you said I didn’t get laid enough," she assured him, then rose to offer her remarks to the other souls face to face. "No, I didn’t get laid enough. I’m not making excuses but should explain my family, the preacher, the congregation, everyone, thought two pious, innocent kids like Russell and I were perfect for each other and God meant us to get married. Ha! Big haha! On our honeymoon when we first had ... did it ... I really thought I was to blame because we were told nothing about all that. I blamed myself because I knew I was doing something wrong and Rusty just ... just. We only did it one more time, that one time when we got back home, and after that he never touched me again. Never was gentle or touching or showed affection except maybe when we went to church sometimes and that was for show, you know? Who knows? Maybe Rusty was a closet ... closet ... you know? Gay man?"

"And, assuming there are other factors, Ruth, and, considering the guidelines offered you, if it were up to your how would you have liked your life to have been different?"

"No doubts. Go back and start again like Henry, Ricco and Jeanne want to do!" Ruth answered.

"And ?"

"All I want ... no ... what I would like is to be born again with a different type of parents. Perhaps away from where I was raised? With parents that wouldn’t try to force me to accept their beliefs, parents who would encourage me to study and learn before deciding which beliefs are right for me. That and hoping I find a boyfriend or husband who likes to touch, cuddle and have good sex with," Ruth finished while looking mildly embarrassed by her last request.

"Can’t help you with the getting properly laid part, so you’ll have to do your part to make everything work. And try to remember what I said about trusting the intuitive factor."

"Ruth, if you’re round my hood I can teach you some ... " Ricco started to suggest, but a stern look from Elena convinced him not to finish.

"Like Jeanne, Henry and Ricco your pathway awaits you behind the first door," Elena said, and as Ruth sat back down Elena turned her attention towards George, fully expecting him to ask one last question before he stated his case.

"I’m just wondering what the second door is reserved for?"

"That, George, is reserved for the souls who express no regrets, no guilt or no remorse. It’s not as bad as the purgatory Truman demanded to go to, a place where self-imposed reflection may take years or decades. Still, the second door means starting from the beginning. No life lessons that have been learned. Nothing to guide your journey. Nothing but the basic of beginnings."

"As cucaraches!" Ricco laughed. "I heard some people believe that stuff."

"You should save your wit when you’re helping the young homies," Elena teased him, then returned her more serious focus to George, "About the choice you would have, considering your past life, you also have earned enough points to have your future life much easier, right?

"Careful now or I’ll start blushing. And, no, I’m hardly sainthood material, Ms. Elena and I, too, want to start over."

"George, why? You had a pretty good life and didn’t seem to regret any of it. Why start over?" the perplexed Henry grilled him respectively.

"It’s all about Linda because I really believe we’re soul mates and she believed this, too. That is why."

"That’s very likely true," Elena agreed, then gently cautioned him, "But even if you two are reborn near the same time, even in the same area, there’s a chance you won’t meet in your new rebirth."

"And a chance we will and that’s my only wish."

"We can’t effect the nature of serendipity or predict the whims of fate, but I’ve got a feeling you may be right. And it fills my soul with joy knowing that Door Two will be so lonely tonight."

"Is it night?" Ricco teased he as he looked his arm where there was no watch.

"Night, evening, tomorrow morning, whatever? Within this realm who knows? But you know what I meant, smartass!" Elena snickered, them lightheartedly commanded the waiting souls while pointing towards the first door," Get up and get out and go live! I’m got another group of lingering souls waiting stage right for their chance."

"Hopefully with inner conflicts more challenging that ours, huh?" Henry whimsically speculated as he rose and offered she a salute.

"Hopefully," Elena responded as she watched the rest of them rise and together amble towards the path to their rebirths.