1.

Patti skipped across the grey boulders over Breyer’s steam as she ascended up the blue trail to her favorite resting spot overlooking the valley.    Half way up the steep incline she stopped to catch her breath and smirked at the way the leaves seemed to mock her truss with gravity as they swirled weightlessly in the strong autumn wind.   The midday’s light suddenly turned to dusk, as an overcast of gray clouds settled in front of the fall sun.

A quick chill ran down Patti’s back, not so much from the sudden drop in temperature but more so from her new awareness of her surroundings.   It was if she was in a planetarium as the lights slowly dimmed, suddenly revealing a universe full of stars that were not there a second ago.    With the new change in light from the muted sky, the veil that covered Patti’s world was starting to lift and she once again found a connection to the universe that had been sorely missed for the past few weeks.   Ironically, ever since she found out about Julia, her head was filled with a void of despair that prevented her from establishing the channel to Julia’s world she was mandated to create.   

“Thank god” she muttered out loud, relieved not only that her head was once again clear enough to reconnect, but the long flat boulder she loved to stretch on was now within site.

She hurried on up, found a comfortable spot close enough to enjoy the view yet safe enough not to accidentally fall the thousand or so feet down to the jagged rocks that waited below, and sat yoga style. 

At first she just sat there admiring the landscape with her new pristine spiritual vision, but her mind quickly kept turning back to that how she wished Julia was here to see the miracle John pulled off.   Afraid,  that she was loosing sight of how to actually connect with Julia to tell her in person, or at least in mind, she prompted herself with a little exercise she use to teach her meditation students.

“To free your mind you must first fill your mind.  Not of the anxious clutter but of the miracle of your surroundings.”  She said out loud to herself.   She closed her eyes and then listened.   After a while it was like listening to the most amazing four dimensional surround system ever created, as more and more sounds suddenly came to life inside her head.    The strong wind the whipped from mid rear center off to the distance in mid left.   To the sound of an acorn falling 60 degrees to the right front.  The sound of a crow circling directly above blended seamlessly with a leaf scrapping across the rock she was sitting on.    As each timber echoed in her head, she became more and more entwined with the power of nature than she did with the thought of where she was bound.

Than she heard it, very faint, and way too far in the distance to tell which direction it was coming from.   She concentrated on that sound, and within minutes it gradually became loud enough for her heart to warm with excitement as she realized it was the sound of love.  The sound of angels rejoicing.   The sound of Julia’s beautiful voice, singing her favorite aria.

Off to the left, than to the right, behind her, above her. The voice surrounded her, lifting her spirits to new heights.   Afraid of loosing her by opening her eyes or breaking the connection by speaking she just sat there soaking in the wonderful aura.

“Earth To Patti.  Earth To Patti.  Are you with us?”  A sweet voice resonated softly in her head.

“I’m here sweetie”  Patti said.

“I've been calling for you for days.   Where have you been?"

"Sorry, honey.   Still have mortal emotions, and took me some time to get my head back in to the swing of things." She opened her eyes and her heart seemed to melt on spot, as she stared into a pool of innocence and serenity deep in Julia's beautiful eyes. 

"There's no need to worry about me."  Julia said softly "I have lots of friends here, and Mother and Father have never been happier.   Yeah, you should see my father.  It is like he was carrying a huge boulder on his shoulders for the last several years that he has finally put down.   Seems he suffered from what most people do.  He got caught up in the material aspects of the world you live in  to make life better for his family, instead of trying to connect with us and try to figure out what we were suppose to learn there.   But now that it is all clear in his mind again he is so happy.  No more regrets, no more thoughts of failure and most of all no more fear.  He remembers that this battle we are about to embark on is not one of Good vs. Evil, or even one of those who believe vs. those who do not.   It is about not getting caught up in a cloud of fear that will wipe through the universe.   Those who give in to the fear will be swept away and those who stay calm will have it pass over them.  He remembers now that this was his mission in our life in your world.  He was supposed to teach me not to fear.   And you should see how proud he is every time I sing.  He says you can see fear escape out of people’s bodies like steam coming out of the sewers every time I open my mouth. I just wish I knew how to use this gift when the time comes."

"I think I have an idea."  Patti replied.

2.

Royer continued to walk down the long dark corridor, unsure of where he was.    His first impression was that he was back in the halls of Westview High, only there were no lockers cascading down either side.   Likewise, there were no doors leading to classrooms or even florescent lights above.   In fact the only light seemed to becoming from behind a lone door in the dark hallway, about a hundred feet ahead of him.   As he continued to approach the door, the walls seemed to be literally closing in on him.  With each step closer to the door the walls on both his left and right seemed to be inching closer.  Warning sirens went off in his head begging  him to turn around, as claustrophobia engulfed his mind taking control of his sense of logic and replacing it with the his childhood terror of tight spaces.

It’s just an illusion he told himself.  Follow the light and all will be alright.

He inched closer, wondering if he did in fact die and this was the tunnel of light people, who have had near death experiences, often talk about.   This thought however immediately struck an opposing chord with his sense of logic which helped ease his mind and helped muster his nerves to gallantly move forward.   Like an action hero he quickly rushed the door and kicked it in with one full swoop, landing in a full stance with hands on his hips, and announced in his best deep Super Hero voice:

“There’s no need to Fear, ARBIE is here!”

“Saw right through that, huh?” A voice from behind the light replied.  

“Man its great to see you” Royer answered as he ran up and hugged the man, adding “But then again, I think I could see you from a hundred miles away, L.B.”

“L.B?”

“Yeah, Duh!  Light Beacon.  Light Beam.  Take your choice, John.”

“Very funny.  Go ahead and make fun of my infliction. “John replied.

“Infliction? Is that what you’re calling it? Most people are saying it’s a miracle. That you are the miracle.”

“More like Bad Karma.  In the past I would have said it was God’s Way of punishing me, but we all know now that is was my guilty conscious, using its awful sense of Irony to come back and haunt me.”

“How so?”

“Well, since, I have always felt like a False Prophet, someone who preaches about a god, he did not believe in, it is now my job to be a true false prophet, a miracle of that god, sent to lead those who’s only concept of god is a white bearded man sitting on a throne on a cloud who will simply snap his fingers and save them if they believe in him.   Since these people literally take the parabolas, symbols and metaphors of the wise philosophers of the past as true prophecy and not stories, those in the know felt it was up to me to Act out the book of Revelations and help move them along.”

“Judging from your little Rapture performance at the Vatican, things are going well.”

“That was just the start.  Really designed to slap everyone in the head and let them know that if they didn’t think a couple of nukes going off were a blatant sign of end times, The Rapture would strike a tone for anyone who did not believe in the apocalypse.”

“So what’s next “

“For the most part, history is writing itself.   If you follow the seven seals, we have a political leader who is taking script from the bible by creating havoc in the US and blaming it on the Middle East.   The seven years started when he took office, moved forward with the wars he started in the middle east and will cumulated  with the nuclear nightmare his is about to embark on.   This will lead to the other signs.  Economic discourse as oil is no longer traded causing a complete breakdown of all monetary infrastructures leading to famine, pestilence and devastation, as the antichrist takes refuge in his new constructed barricaded embassy in Iraq.  More earth quakes will happen and then I need your help.”

“With what.”

“A little Painting.” John answered.

“Need me to conjure up some horsemen or something?”  Royer asked semi-sarcastically, afraid that John may have been heading that way.

“No they were just symbols of what is happening.  I think this whole thing is about the sixth seal, which is created by Hectors experiment, as the government tries pulling its trump by masking what they control in the Middle East with an invisible shield, while the rest of the world blows each other up with nukes.  Only as we know the experiment causes a rip in the universe sucking everything to total blackness”

“Sorry, not familiar with all the signs or seals as you call them, was this the sixth?”

“Must have been the one true vision of John the evangelist, that the rest of the prophecy is based around, since it is almost a literal translation of what we know ill happen” John answered, quoting “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.  The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”  

A chill went down Royer’s back as he relived the dreams he first had about this happening.  The dreams he must have experienced in a different life, wondering if his friend John ironically might even be a reincarnation of John the apostle.

“So what do you need me to paint?”  He finally asked.

“We have all had the vision, and have shared our thoughts on what we each saw, and I do not recall any body saying anything about the moon turning to blood.” John answered.

“Poetic license.” Royer answered.

“Exactly.  But most people who are familiar with it will be hinging on every word in the prophecy.  We know that things have been expedited so seals one through five will be merged together and not lived out as a script.   However we need to warn as many as we can right before the crack so we can all tune in at the same time and stay together as one soul as we move on.”  John said.

“So, you want me to turn the Moon to Blood sometime before it happens to get everyone to believe.  But the question is how long before.  Too soon and some will tune out, too late and there won’t be enough time.”

“My guess is the Earth Quake will be the indicator:  Judging from the relevance of the number 7 in John’s vision, my guess is it will occur exactly one week from D-Day, which will give everyone not familiar with the prophecy the time to go out and read up, ask or pray for an answer to what will be happening.   All those connected will try to enlighten them on what to do that night and with a little luck we can all meet up with Julia and form a bridge to lead them on or a barrier to prevent this thing.”

3.

Gina pulled her hood over her head and lifted her scarf to cover her mouth as she sat on the empty park bench, trying to keep warm from the incessant November gale. As she patiently waited for Patti to join her, she continued to watch a cyclone of leaves maintain post like a miniature tornado stuck in its track waiting for instructions, as it hovered between the spiral slide and swings. 

She shifted her eyes to the trees towering above her head.   As she watched them bow back and forth in erratic rhythm, it seemed as if they were waving their arms frantically at her shouting:  Over Here!   Look! Look!   Look at me!

She tried to remember what her Grandfather used to say about winds like this, and as if the angels had answered her thoughts she heard a familiar voice say:

“The spirits must be restless.”

            Gina turned her head to the left and saw Patti’s face outlined in the midday’s sun smiling down at her.    She stood up and gave Patti a hug, replying    “Seems more like panic mode to me.”

            “Yes it does.”

            “My grandfather use to say that Wind was the gateway between the here and here after, and that it was just our dead ancestors trying to warn us to pay attention to some event that was about to happen.

            “I agree” Patti replied “when ever I see the wind rustle through the trees, I immediately feel connected.  There is something magical about it.”

            “I am concerned about this wind, though, seems different.  Scarier.”  Gina expressed.

            “Bad Moon Rising.” Patti murmured.

            “More like a blood moon.” Gina answered.

            Patti just looked at her with a concerned yet absent expression as she tuned into the harbinger of earths last days being echoed through the branches.

            “Seems, our Father John, is really John the Baptist or Apostle or something along those lines.   And The Book of Revelations was John’s vision of what is about to happen, foretold thousands of years ago.  Royer is heading out to Jerusalem end of month to paint the moon blood red in hopes of waking up those that need a sign to smack them in the face before they take time to listen to the wind.”

            “And you want me to get started by connecting to all those in the network and paving the way for our final journey.”  Patti answered, more to the wind than Gina.

            “Exactly” Gina answered anyway.

            “So this is really happening.   Happening now.”

            “Unfortunately.” Gina replied as a shiver went down her spine.  “But we have to remember that this was put in place, beyond our control, and the best we can do is move as many souls to a new world before they get sucked away.”

            “How much time do we have” Patti asked.   “I mean are we talking weeks or months.”

            “Not quite sure.   John’s prophecy and those that embellished upon it over the years seems to be skewed off slightly.   Apparently it is all set around some seals that are broken over a period of years, but things are moving rapidly over weeks or months.    What I know is, the World Stock Markets are about the crash as  US dollar becomes valueless which will trigger more nuclear destruction over the next few weeks as the four corners of the world hash it out.   The billion or so that are left after the dust clears will be fighting to survive in a post apocalyptic world for a few weeks.   And then the earthquakes come.   Royer turns the moon red, the Army implements Hectors experiment, the hole rips through our universe, and we lead those we can to salvation.”

            “Well that sums it up in a nice little nutshell.”  Patti said solemnly

            “As per the gospel of John” Gina answered.

            “Well we should get started then.  Will you be around, if I need help” Patti asked.

            “I will be the bouncer” Gina answered, “Since it’s just the three of us here, now, I will help where I can between you and Roy. But I also need to move out with Julia and John and help make way for our arrivals as we the time gets nearer.”

            “You can still skip.  I have been trying to connect to Julia for some time now and my dream skipping seems to only work in perceptional dreams now.”

            “There is a moratorium on physical skips.

            “But then how?” Patti asked again, suddenly realizing the answer “No. Do you have to?”

            “It’s in the script” Gina answered, but don’t worry we will meet again on the other side.

4.

“Shrooms, Gina!   This may be the last time we see each other, in this life at least, and you want to get high?”   Roy whined.

“That would be the last thing on my mind, sweetie, this is more a security measure.   A test to make sure we can find each other when the time comes.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking finding a way to connect with each other if one or both of us should happen to leave this world.  Not being able to Dream Skip, I thought maybe we could try the old school method.” Gina said as she bit down on a large cap.

“But using hallucinogenic was just a way of freeing our minds so we could dreamskip.  I think there is something more to this moratorium” Roy replied.

“Exactly, I think that we are past the point of free will and if we want to partake in any trans-world travel we need to simply play the part of the unsuspecting loyal pawns that we are suppose to be.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Roy asked flustered.

“Yin-Yang, the battle of good and evil, you know.”

 “Everyone has a different theory of what is going on in the world right now, Some say it is a battle between God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell, Light and Dark, Positive-Negative, Yin and Yang what ever you want to call it,  it all centers around the same concept a balance between polarized sides. And if that balance is unequaled there will be a cosmic collapse.” Roy concurred as he chewed slowly on some stems.

“Exactly, my grandfather use to say the balance of power lies within each of us individually.  We are but mere pawns in natures force.  On a good day when the majority is cosmically aligned there would be a shift toward the sun causing everyone’s spirits to elevate and glow.  And on a bad day the world would shift to the dark side, gloom and rain.   Now most people are unaware and their moods react to their surrounding causing the overall balance like children playing on a teeter-totter.  One day good the next day bad. But those of us who are enlightened can keep the track one way and those who are emboldened to the darker forces can tip the track the other way, or at least as he put it keep a funnel of energy pouring in from each side. “

“So if there is a God and Devil they can try to lure us over as one of their enlightened pawns, or better yet let’s say Bishops to help them strategically get a better hold on the game.”

“Exactly”  Gina agreed “and for the most part the more that centered on the dark side, more would be gathered on the light side keeping the balance in harmony.”

“So what is happening now to tilt that balance?”

“Religious Deception.”  Gina answered. “Soldiers of the light side are actually unwittingly fighting for the wrong side.”

“Not sure I follow”

“All those Evangelicals that Father John helped transport were actually going to be in for a world of surprise, if John didn’t help the find their way to the light.   Meaning because they were so sure that they only had to have the faith in their god they sat back on their righteousness, loosing their spiritual connections to the world of nature causing a shift to the side they have been fighting for ages.” Gina replied shivering as a whisk of cold air seemed to grab her from behind.

“Meaning that all those who believe their God is the only God and willing to kill and go to war over it to force others to believe the same are actually fighting on the side of evil” Roy said looking over at the screen door behind the couch Gina was sitting on to see if he accidentally left it cracked when he went out for fire wood earlier that evening.

“And what is happening now is a Worldwide Religious War between two sects of fanatical, Jihads and Evangelicals.  You see this cosmic shift every thousand years or so, but it usually works it way out. “

“But the crusades seemed to be a bigger war than what’s going on now.  Pretty much you had everybody fighting for hundreds of years, why wouldn’t the shift happen then” Roy asked, popping another shroom in his mouth.

“Because not everyone was fighting.  The majority of common folk of those times were naturalists, believing in the magical powers of nature.   The church eventually rooted them out with a propaganda campaign to make them look like worshippers of the dark side.  Calling everyone who practiced natural spiritual connections witches and Satanists.”

“So since over hundreds of years most of those who took a holistic spiritual position have been either scared to practiced or burned at the stake, the dark side has once again positioned itself to start a war in the name a of religion and bring everyone over to its side.” Roy asked.

“Precisely.”  

“I still don’t get the shrooms connection.”

“As you said, drugs are a conduit to free you mind to look beyond the barriers of your physical world.    Both sides have their drugs of choice. Pot and other drugs that get you “High” simply elevate your spirit to a higher world so to say, getting you closer to the higher spirits, where as most hallucinogenics bring you closer to the underworld.”

“Like that time we did shrooms at the concert and we swear we were transported to some demon pep rally, where everybody who was tripping seemed to morph into strange sprites.” Roy remembered.

“Exactly.” Gina agreed, biting down on the last shroom in the bag, “I think our physical world is like a tall building with many floors.  Some people live their entire life on one floor.  Others, who enlighten themselves through meditation, prayer or by getting high, seem to take an elevator up a couple floors and mingle with new spirits that may reside on that level but can not see you, while looking back at their own level through brighter, lighter eyes.   Likewise those who delve deeper through depressive methods and other types of drugs take the elevator down, and instead of appearing more angelic, spirits seem to be more impish.  And when you take hallucenegenics I think you can actually see the spirits that reside on that level and not yours.”

“That’s funny, because do you remember I use to always ask you what your cat Misty was freaking out about and swatting at every now and then.   Well one time when we had that mesc and as I watched your cat I noticed there were these weird bugs flying around?”

“I saw them too, thought I was just tripping but must have been from a different spiritual plane.” Gina said feeling that cool draft again.  She turned around to look at the sliding glass doors, to see if they were shut.

“Already checked” Royer said, “But I feel the draft too, seems to becoming through the door.

Gina continued to stare outside, noticing that the trees that outlined the 5 acres of woods beyond their backyard seem a bit different in the night light.   Larger, more pliable, almost alive as they waved back and forth with the wind. 

“Still a bit confused.” Roy continued “Wouldn’t the act of taking an elevator to a different spiritual world be the same as dream skipping? I’m not sure that will be possible with the moratorium.”

“No I think that dream skipping is actually leaving your building and going across the street to a new building which in itself has many floors to explore”   I think that we are free to explore our entire condo so to say, just can’t go to the town houses down the street.” Gina corrected.

Roy was now mesmerized by what was going on in the back yard also, getting up to grab Gina’s big wool sweater and his denim jacket from the coat rack.   Without saying a word, he handed Gina her sweater, opened the sliding door and stepped out into the yard.

He felt as if he stepped into some grave yard scene from a scary Halloween B Movie.   There was actually a two foot wall of fog hovering just below his knees; the sky was completely dark with a slightly lighter dimple off to the west where the full moon tried to shine though the thick clouds.    He grabbed Gina’s hand and escorted her to the path at the back of the yard that led up to the blue diamond trail heading towards Estes Park.

“Where are we going?” Gina asked.

“You know up until recently I always thought all this all this heaven and hell, light side dark side stuff was a metaphor.  That words like Enlightenment were just words to stress that you are freeing yourself from the burdens of the world, becoming lighter so to speak and closer to the spirits, but ever since John became a literal beacon or should I say Deacon of Light, I’m thinking that there is more to it than a simple metaphor.”

“So where are we going?” Gina asked again.

“If heaven is up above and Hell is below. And getting high means getting literally higher and doing downers means actually getting closer to hell, I vote for climbing up towards Longs Peak and getting as close to heaven as we can.”

“Sounds good to me, but aren’t we suppose to be exploring the dark side and figure a way out of here.”

“Thought that’s what I was doing” Royer replied.

“O.k. dokey, just keep an eye out to see if there is something that we need to pay attention to while we are down here.”

Roy just nodded as he prepared for the ascent.

5.

“Yeah, John seems to think that only difference is there is no Fire in Hell.   That people made that up to bring some slim semblance to warmth and light and try to cope with or even try to conceptually picture a world of nothingness, like we witnessed in those visions.”  Royer stated concluding his hour long dissertation on what he thought might be the difference between philosophical realities and ideological similes.

“There’s that growling again” Gina stammered. “It sounds closer, I know its following us.”  

“Raise yourself.   Feel the light.  Don’t give in to the dark side of your fears.” Royer said soothingly.  But as he said it Gina let out a screech, as a wolf the size of a small grizzly jumped out on the trail in front of them.  Roy could swear he saw blood dripping from its long sharp fangs.

The fierce animal held its ground staring them down.   Roy could sense Gina was shaking badly and about to bolt.  “Honey, you need to calm down and release your fear”

“Easier said than done.  I know it can sense my fear and knows I am weaker because of it, but what do you want me to do pretend we are not about to be mauled to death.”  Gina whispered out of the side of her mouth as she stood still as a statue staring straight ahead.

“No but you have to realize this is just an illusion to not only keep those who are filled with fear down on the dark side, but also prevent anyone who is not pure of heart from elevating to a higher level. Don’t think of this animal as a fierce killing machine but more as a sentinel guarding a sacred place.  In fact, I bet you that it’s ready to guide us forward as soon as you release your fears.  Just relax and concentrate on it as being friendly and I’m sure you will see things in a different light.”  Royer said like a smooth hypnotist laying the foundation for her to take control of her fears.

“I’ll try?” Gina murmured as she watched the beast start to inch forward.  She could see it hot breath billow from its nostrils like a bull as it took each step.   Amazing this beast seems to be a combination of all powerful animals, Bear, Wolf, Bull, she thought  Would be easier if it looked more like a fluffy rabbit .

She closed her eyes and immediately pictures Jessie the Angora rabbit she had when she was in Kindergarten, and how she always felt love when she was around that bunny.  When she opened her eyes, the beast was gone and a little white rabbit was hopping up the trail away from them.

“N- I- C-E!” Roy cheered in excitement. “Now let’s hurry so we don’t loose her”

As Gina started in a small light jog after the little bunny, she felt light as air as if she was running on a cloud.   It also seemed that somebody was shining a dim flash light from behind her as the dark path seemed to brighten with each step she took. 

“You feeing this” Royer panted through jogger’s breath.

“It is amazing” Gina exclaimed “I feel like I’m floating.”

“In a sense you are, you released a heavy burden of fear off your back.   It’s that fear that weighs you down to the lower level.   We have now passed through the next level and are much lighter, propelled more by our inners selves and less by the burden of our bodies.”

“And the moonlight.  It’s almost like day now.”

“With each step closer to the top and each step we take to..,. No pun intended, enlighten ourselves, we draw more and more majestic power.”

“Kind of like plugging into a socket and having the energy flow through us.” Gina said giddily.

“Exactly.”

Gina watched the bunny dart off the path into a crevice between two huge boulders, she sprinted giddily after it, bending down on all fours to stare between the two masses.  She could see the bunny, wedged deep inside, start to burrow its way into the soft ground.  Gina reached in with a friendly limp hand in hopes that the bunny would come sniff her out. but the rabbit continued its burrowing.  As she tried to reach in further her head wedged up to the first boulder with her ear upon it.  She could hear rumblings from inside, as if the rock was a big hollow steel shell casing for some large electrical motor.  Propping herself up on her knees she placed both of her hands flat on the boulder and her ear up against it squarely.

“Roy you got to come here and check this out.”

“What is it” Royer asked as he kneeled down next to her.”

“Put your hands on this rock. It’s amazing.”

Roy followed suit, smiling as he felt the strong vibration from within.

“What is it” he asked.

“I’m not sure, I’d say it some sort of motor within, but it seems much different, more alive then mechanical if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s more like a cat purr than a motor hum.”

“Exactly.”

“I think it might be some sort of energy source.”

“How can you tell?”  Gina asked.

“Look at your hands.”

Gina looked down at her hands, and was shocked to see they were almost completely transparent except for bluish veins running from where her fingers once were down through her arm.  “What’s happening” She asked both amazed and a little worried.

“We seem to be absorbing some sort of transparency power from the rock.”

“Look at the rock now, ROY!” Gina exclaimed excitedly.  “It’s turning to Crystal”

Royer was going to respond that it looked something like the rocks in Superman’s cave, but was fixated not only on his slow disappearing arms but the super lightheaded rush he was experiencing like never before.   He felt like he simply floated out of his body and was just a wisp of air hovering over his body.

What’s happening to us Gina’s voice echoed in Royer’s mind as he stared from above the tree tops down as a huge burst of light exploded from where their bodies were kneeling below.

In an instant he was blinded by an intense pure white light.

6.

They’re here!  Royer heard a woman’s voice exclaim excitedly, albeit in his head. He opened his eyes, and thought maybe he had gone blind from the burst of white light.   But as his eyes or mind adjusted to his surrounding he realized he was somehow still engulfed in the ball of light.  It was unlike anything he had ever seen or experienced in his life.   Intense brightness that did not scorch his eyes, - so clean, so pure, so innocent.   He also felt a relief he had never else experienced, as if all the burdens of the world were lifted from his tired shoulders.   This had stirred a feeling of euphoria beyond description that seemed to engulf his entire body with pure joy.  He felt like laughing, singing and dancing all at once.  

Without an ounce of fear, he scanned his empty surrounding for Gina, who he knew without a doubt she was somewhere near as if he  could feel her presences, like he could feel his left foot.  Only he couldn’t feel his left foot, which made him giggle again as he looked down and realized he was still translucent, only an outline of his body seemed to glow as he moved about.

He saw Gina’s beautiful aura floating gleefully toward a group of three or four other translucents, so he promptly followed suit to see what he could learn.

“Congratulations you two.  Well done.” A familiar voice said as they approached.

“Poppy! “ Gina squealed.

“In spirit he replied, wryly.”

“I’m here too, Honey.” A feminine presence said.

“Momma!”  Gina cried and floated closer to her like a puppy dog whose master has returned from a long day away from the house.

Royer just watched, ecstatic for Gina’s fortune of being reunited with her lost loved ones.  “You going to say hello to your old man, or are you just going to stand there?” Royer heard from behind

“DAD? “

“It’s me.   There are more of us here too, I will introduce you to shortly, but your time is short here and we want to make sure everything is covered.”

“What’s going on DAD, where are we.”

“Where do you think you are?” his father asked.

“Seems like Heaven.”

“Yes. Heaven, Nirvana, Bohdi, whatever you want to call it.  This is the final resting place we all spend an eternity trying to get to.”  Poppy answered.

“So what are we doing here,” Royer asked, “I thought we had more time to help more souls.”

“You do, Roy.  Considered yourself Gina’s chauffer for this trip.   I wish you could stay here with us, but you will need to get back and continue with your plan. “

“Let’s take it from the top Jay, so there is no confusion.”  Poppy said.

“Sound good to me, ‘cause I am a little perplex by what is going on.” Gina said.

            “You found your way through Dear.  You can stay here with Poppy and me and help greet as many as we can help pull through” Gina’s mother said.  “Royer will need to return and continue with your plan.”

            “What do you mean I found my way through, Mom?  I thought you had to die to go to heaven and how can Roy go back.”

            “The traditional way is that when you learn everything that you need to learn in your training worlds you automatically gain admittance to this final resting world. Since you have already learned what you need learn from the other worlds there is no reason to return.   You my dear have taken a short cut.” Poppy replied.

            “Short cut?” Royer asked.

            “Each world has some hidden keys that enable those who find them to open the door and gain entrance.”   Jay answered.

            “Keys? “ Gina asked.

            “Technically they are energy sources that are linked to this world, sort of like a trap door.  These energy sources are a Crystal like element that are disguised as everyday natural resources, such as mountainsides, boulders or sometimes even petrified trees.   There are only a few of them located in your world and most of them have gone unnoticed for millions of year.   If someone should happen to come upon one, on a search for enlightenment and places both palms on it to receive the energy flow, well you know the rest.”   Poppy added.

            “So if there are only a few of these things around, it is very ironic that one of them resides practically in my back yard.”  Gina stated.

            “Everyone who leads an enlighten path subconsciously seeks these stones out and will usually settle with in a close proximity of one when they buy a house.  Only a few seekers have been enlighten enough though to actually track them down and find there way in.  And two have happed across and randomly stopped and prayed at one by chance and found there way through, similar to the way you and Roy got here.”

            “So are you saying that we just happened upon this place?”  Gina asked

            “With a little help.”  Jay responded.  “You followed your instincts up here, and Roy saw through the fear blockade. We just added our little furry friend to the opening to lead you over.”

            “What is the fear Blockade?”  Gina asked.

            “Fear is the Gate that holds all those who are not ready to move on in their present world. It basically boils down to a fear of letting go of what you are comfortable with and know for that of the unknown.  It may take on many forms such as the beast that stepped in your way to try to prevent you from finding your way here.”  Poppy said.

            “So you are saying that fear is the devil’s way of keeping people out of heaven” Gina said.

            “Maybe metaphorically.”  Poppy answered, “But there is no devil so to say,  Fear is just an emo-intuitive state that was set up basically protect people from exploring where they were not ready to explore.  For example pretend you are a five year old who was accidentally dropped off in the middle of Time Square on New Years Eve, with millions of people, loud noises and nobody you knew to take care of you.   Do you think you would be scared?”

“Of course.” Gina answered

“Well what if you were an adult who lived in Manhattan and happened to love to come to time square every new year’s eve.”

“Suppose I would not be scared. Because I would know my way around.” Gina replied.

“Same goes for dream skipping”  Poppy said.  “Could be pretty frightful and dangerous for someone who does not know how to do it properly, so those of the know have placed fear barriers to prevent people form accidentally skipping out of their world.”

“Kind of like training wheels for a child learning to ride a bike.” Royer added.

“That was the intention. But because of its restraints nobody ever knew they could learn to ride that bike let alone ever try” Jay responded.

“So if the only way here is to let go of fear, what happens to people that never do but die anyway.” Gina asked.

“They usually just happen upon another world to try over again and hopefully learn this important lesson.”

            “But what if they don’t, Mom.”

            “Then they are lost souls.”

            “Meaning?” Roy asked.

            “Meaning they  are so consumed in fear and negative emotions that they lost their path to enlightenment and have not found there way back to a training world to further their learning.” Poppy replied.

            “Is this where everyone will go when they worlds disappear.” Royer asked.

            “We believe so, son..”

            “Momma, where’s Julia.” Gina asked suddenly noticing she had not made it to the final destination after her death.

            “Julia has elected to help those lost souls connect emotionally so they can find there way here.”

            “Elected or was elected.” Gina asked.

            “Well dear, she is one of the horsemen, John wrote about.  It has always been her destiny.”

            “Horsemen?” Royer asked “As in the one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

            “Of course, son, each one of you represent one of the Horsemen, but more metaphorically than described in the writings through out the years.” Jay replied.

            “How so?” Royer asked.   “I don’t follow the relation.”

            “Well through out the years the horseman has been described to represent Conquest, War, Famine and Death, or Four Kingdoms or White, Red, Black and Pale.  But what they were originally meant to represent were four segments of being that are being split apart and need to be mended together.” Poppy said.

            “Still not sure how we fit into the descriptions correlate to us.” Royer said.

            “Think about what is happening right now, Roy.” Gina said “The White Horseman, represents the false prophet.  Who out among us is deemed a prophet and just happens to be enshrouded in a white light.”

            “Well, John of course.   That one makes sense, he always complained about being false prophet, but what about the rest of us.  I mean War, Famine, and Death.  What is that all about?”

            “What did John, tell you, you had to do, Roy.”

            “Paint the Moon Red.” Royer replied, suddenly putting the pieces together.  “So I am the Red Horseman. So who are the other two?”

            “Not quite sure. Would have made sense that Hector was represented the Black Horseman, because of the whole world gets swallowed in a black hole deal. But since Julia and Patti are the only two left, must be them.”  Gina surmised.

            “But Julia is dead too.” Royer said.

            “Patti and I think we can track her.   Seems she may be in an outworld helping lost souls.”

            “Heh, Hum…..Gina you are forgetting that you will be staying here.”  Poppy said.

            “But I promised Patti, I would help find Julia.”

            “Honey you are the Gate Keeper, the Fifth Horseman, who will be here to greet all into the next realm.”  Gina’s mother said. “Royer can relay the message to Patti, and I’m sure she is capable of using her abilities to track Julia down.

            “But..but……”

            “No buts, honey, now its time for Roy to go.”

            And before she could even say another word, Royer faded away the same way he faded in to this world and Gina just watched knowing she would see him soon.

7.

Hector floated motionless, as he had for the past three months, void of any physical senses. Three months, or twelve weeks, or ninety days, or 2160 hours or 129,600 seconds sliced any way is an eternity of dull painstakingly slow passing of time when there is no physical stimuli to breakup your dreary thoughts.     He tried to playback his memories as if they were old 8mm home videos, but each time he searched his mind for happy thoughts the only reel he could pull up was the last thought he had as the bullet came whizzing in right above the bridge of his nose.  At first it was enough to break up the monotony of the hell he was living, even the excruciating head splitting pain was better than no sensation at all, but  which each reenactment, came the conclusion and feeling he had when he first landed in this godforsaken  place.   The insatiable fear he felt when he realized he was trapped here and the horror he faced when his mind finally worked out that he was dead and this was his new life for eternity. Finally realizing that if three months felt like an eternity than how could he possibly bear to live an infinite  three months and then live them all over again, and again and again and again.

8.

Frank  Washington opened his front door, not at all surprised to see Patti McKenna standing on his front stoop..

“Ms. McKenna, I was actually thinking about you today.” He said as he took her coat and led her in to his kitchen.

“Same here that’s why I stopped by.”

“Stopped by? Not that I am in anyway not pleased to see you, but last I heard you were out west somewhere, either Colorado or California, what brings you out this way?”

“I know I should have called first, but I left Denver in a hurry and forgot to bring my PDA which has your number in it.  I hope you don’t mind,”

“Not at all.   As I said, I was actually thinking about you most of the day and was actually hoping we could chat.”

“And that’s why I stopped by.” Patti said “Besides, I need you to show me some things.”

Frank just looked at her with a puzzled expression, finally asking, “But if you forgot my phone number how did you figure out where I live..

“I just followed you thoughts.” She said. “And they led me here.”

“Should have known.” Frank replied. “And this thing you want me to show you is here in my house?”

“More so in you mind” she replied.    “I’m looking for Julia, and I’m afraid she may be with Hector, so I need you to take me to Hector so I can see if I can reach out to her from there.”

Frank just looked at her dumfounded.  “But….Hector is dead?   Had a bullet in his head, all’s we found was his body?   Had no contact with him at all.  Then after the nukes lost track of everyone in the Group...  Roy and Gina don’t seem to be returning my calls and of course like most people I the world I saw Father John’s resurrection on TV.   Only thing is I still feel bad about just leaving Hectors body out there, thought we should have given him a proper burial or something like that.   Is that where Julia went to take care of Hector?”

Patti just stared off solemnly, with eyes starting to well again.

“Oh my God.  Julia lived in Cerritos, didn’t she, is she…?”

Patti just nodded.

“But why would she be with Hector, than.  Isn’t he like in Purgatory or something?”

“Yeah.   I think Julia may have followed her Father there also.   If you can take me there I think I can track down Julia from that realm.

“I’ll try” Frank said “But I was more pulled into that world by the Browns.  Wouldn’t know the first thing about how to get back there.”

“You can leave that up to me.  Just take me where you were when you made the skip.”

Frank giggled, took Patti by the hand, and shyly asked “Patti, would you like to join me in my bedroom.” 

She smiled and followed him up to his room.   They sat on his bed and stared at his blank wall for a few moments.  Finally Patti said.   I want you to picture exactly what you were picturing when you made the skip.  

“I don’t quite remember, I was staring at the wall like this and it started to kind of quiver, no more like a ripple.  Just like a still bowl of water when a new water droplet hits it.”

“Then what?”

“Well, I got up to check it out and felt very light headed, as if I left my body sitting on this bed, and floated through the wall.   And then there was a moment of pure whiteness, as if I melted in the wall. And when I tried to pull through and readjust my vision I realized I was standing in the middle of a blizzard some where in what seemed like an artic barren land.

“Let’s go than.”  Patti said as she took Frank by the hand and led him toward the wall.  As they approached Frank noticed the wall start to blur and bend as if he were looking at it through the bottom of a glass jar.   And then it seemed to jump out at him engulfing him in a hazy cloud of fog.

When his eyes finally adjusted to his new surroundings he realized he was where he found himself last time he walked through the wall, only now it was a bit warmer, maybe in the low 50s and the blizzard was more of a steady rain.   It was also night time.   He looked at Patti and then pointed off to his left, where he remembers the house being.  

“That’s where the cabin with Hector’s body is.  We should go up, get out the rain and then I can do something with Hectors remains, while you search for Julia.”

“That will be unnecessary” Patti said “Hectors body is only a resonance of his inner self which must be floating aimlessly on some other plane.   His earth body has been taken care of by the authorities months ago.   Our goal, or at least I should say my goal here is to find Julia and than we can bring Hector to us.”

“At least we can get out of the rain, while we figure out where Julia is” Frank suggested.

“Again not necessary.   Must be a mile walk to the cabin, and I don’t plan on being here more than a few moments to begin with.”  She then waved here arms and the rain disappeared as Hector stared up and watched the clouds slowly dissipate above him.  “I want you to practice an inter-dimensional vision exercise that will help you understand how to navigate yourself through worlds.”

Frank just looked at her, a little confused and a little anxious but excited to learn some new trick. 

“Just look up at the stars and tell me what you see.”

“Millions of little dots of lights.  There are so many of them.

“Let’s imagine they are not planets like we grew up learning they were on earth, but that they are all different worlds we can explore by pulling them down to us one by one or more precisely pulling ourselves into them.”

“How do we do that?”

“You need to be able to train your eyes, or your minds eye so to speak, to see though them individually and not as a 2 dimensional picture.”

“What do you mean?” Frank asked.

“You need to see the layers that are there.   Pretend you are looking at a picture of them.   In that case they would all be on the same plane.  No star behind the others.   Some would look higher up on the picture, but you would not be able to accurately see what is behind them.  Now continue to stare up at them and look at them in 3 dimensions. Now you can see some are closer than others, but more likely they are still all part of one plane that is off in the distance and your true dimensional vision comes from what is close to you and what is in the background.

“Yes, as if I was looking through a camera lens.  I can focus in on an object that is close to me, but then the background behind them blurs together without much clarity.

“Exactly.”. Patti agreed “Now play around with looking at a group of stars.  Let your mind measure a distance between the first star and the second star, front to back, and when you are comfortable doing that, measure the distance between the second star and the third star behind that one.  Now you will see three stars in a line with a real dimensional aspect between them.  Continue doing this with more and more stars, and soon you will grasp the actual space they reside, in a whole new way.”

She looked at him to make sure he was following and saw him concentrating on the sky, with confidence it was starting to sink in she concluded “With this new vision, you will be able to manipulate each star, as if it were a model in front of you. You will be able to rotate, enlarge, and see through, what ever you need to do to explore the worlds.  Feel free to play around, but don’t let yourself get pulled in yet.   I will be looking for Julia’s world while you are doing that and when I find it I will let you bring us there.”

Frank just grunted in acknowledgement as he had his first three stars lined up.  Amazed at the clarity he now saw them in and more amazed at how massively vast the universe must be as he imaged the great distance between these stars. 

As Frank continued to stare at the emptiness between stars, he suddenly realized that if all matter was made of Atoms composed of a nucleus and orbiting electrons than the vast space between those electrons and each other and the nucleus they orbited would be proportionally similar to the space he was staring at.  This in turn would mean that ninety-nine percent of solid matter was nothing but empty space.  That space then must be like an energy force field to present the illusion of solidity.

“More so an energy path to direct conscious thought and intent.”  Patti said as if reading his mind.

“How so?” Frank asked.

“If all matter is space and space is energy than matter is just energy, and if thoughts consciousness are just energy and matter is energy than likewise matter is a subset of your thoughts.”

“Lost me even more with that one.” Frank said.

“Well, I think I’ll  located Julia, so pick one of those stars you want to explore and than think of where you would most want to continue this conversation and we will all meet up there.”

Frank continued to look at the line of stars and suddenly found himself within in them. They were now surrounding him as if he was out in space.   He latched on to one particular star and mentally pulled himself toward it.   It grew larger and larger and brighter as if he were on a rocket heading straight into the sun.    Soon the light became too much to bear and he was immersed in pure light and warmth.    He felt as if he could just bask in the feeling forever.

9.

Basking in the warmth of pure light completely relaxed Frank, to the point he drifted off in a semi hypnotic trance, as he did on the few occasions he tried meditation.   Then he would picture himself surrounded by gorgeous waterfalls lying on a soft blanket of sand.  The sand was part of a small island that lay in the middle of crystal clear pool that the waterfalls fed. The bottom of the pool was composed of thousands of totally smooth clear black pieces of lava, which made it look like he was in a giant wine glass filled with marbles. In his meditation he often longed to get up and dive into the pool, but every time he tried he would snap out of his meditative trance, similar to when he would dream he was falling only to wake right before he hit the ground.

As he stood still reminiscing of these dreams, he realized that he was not standing but infact lying still on a very soft bed of sand.   He could actually hear the water flowing freely as it ran over the edge of the cliffs into the pool around him.  He quickly opened his eyes and realized he was in the exact location he had so often dreamed about, prompting him to pinch himself check and see if he actually was dreaming or hallucinating, only the skin he was pinching tingled and felt alive.

With the enthusiasm of a young school boy on the last day of school, he ripped off his shirt and kicked off his shoes and dove perfectly into the surrounding pool of water.  As if he could only imagine before it was perfect.   Nice and warm like a heated pool, but as clean and clear as a mountain spring.

He dove to the bottom, which actually was a bit deeper than he had often imagined and picked one of the smooth rocks for further examination.  It was beautiful like a giant gem stone.  It looked almost like hardened Maple syrup.   He laughed giddily under water at his great fortune to experience this, thinking the only thing that could make this experience any better was some nice music and one of those tall cool rum drinks in a coconut shell.

When he popped his head above water to catch his breath he was surprised and at the same time not surprised at all to see Patti and Julia sitting on a big blanket on the beach, adorned in proper beach attire and both surprisingly holding coconut shell drinks with big umbrellas in them.  Of course there was a boom box behind them playing island music.

“Ladies.” He said as he propped himself up on to the beach “Hope you are enjoying my little slice of Heaven.”

“We are indeed” Patti replied.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous” Julia agreed.  “Is this a place you’ve actually been to before or of pure thought?”

“Just a place I imagine when I meditate” Frank replied.

“My father chose a similar place for us to reside.  Only a little more trees and up in the mountains, but nearly as serene.”

“So he is at peace now” Patti asked.

“He is enlightened to the nature of his consciousness and the distractions of material thoughts.”

“It’s funny how peeking at the end of the story not only subsides your apprehensions and anxiousness about your path to the end result but also mocks those trepidations you may have had.” Patti said.

“Yes as well as the emotions that were involved.  My fathers old self would have closed off in utter shame at the thoughts of how stern he was because of his fears.  Now he only laughs, knowing that in his next life he will take with him a little more knowledge to help put him on the right path.

“You haven’t told them yet, about what is happening, and the possibility that there may not be any next lives.” Frank asked.

 “Sorry Frank, I keep forgetting that you and Patti are only visiting this world and are not privy to our way of life.  But when you leave your earthly body, you are once again connected to your true consciousness, which in turn is connected to everybody’s true consciousness, since we are all but the same consciousness. Upon that realization, we all knew our past, present and future paths. Only the future path is a little hazy, because of the shift.   So since we can not know the unknown, we can only hope for the best and be prepared to do what we need to do when the time is right.    My parents have chosen to project their nice little serene world to wait it out while the event of the past catch up with the events of the future and the fog that lays over our existence is lifted.”

Franked nodded, pretty sure he was understanding what she was saying but at the same time not sure if he fully grasped the concept.  “So are you just visiting, or will you be joining us on our mission to save the Physicist and Save the Universe.”

“I don’t think there is a choice in the matter, Frank.” Patti said “Julia an important piece to moving forward.  It would be like giving up your Bishop or Rook in a game of chess, for no reason at all, before they were captured. “

“So am I a player in this game” Frank asked.

“Of course, think of yourself as one of a few dozen pawns battling it out on the board.”

“To be sacrificed for the greater good.” Frank asked a little nervous.

“No silly.  The pawns are used to forage though and open the paths. They play just as important a roll as the Queen, King and Royal pieces.   After all it was you who led us down this road to find a free this precious little piece right here.”

“And I am forever indebted for your service” Julia responded.

Frank blushed.   “So how do we find and free Hector”

“Well the thought is, now that we have Julia Free, it is just a matter of reaching out to him and pulling him back.”

10.

“Oh my God, I see it.”   Hector remembered screaming in excitement to his uncle Manny as he focused the lens on his brand new 6” Astrola Model A.  

Manuel Rodriquez had always been Hector’s favorite uncle, but showing up out of the blue that summer in 1971, with the exact scope that Hector had been eyeing since as long as he could remember,  just put the icing on the cake.    It did not matter that he had not seen hide nor hare of his uncle for the past three years and that he missed his 12th birthday two months ago. The mere fact that he show up , was with him now, and on top of it all convincing his father to let Hector camp out with him to view the best Perihelic Opposition of Mars ever was a memory that Hector held dear to him his whole life.   

Staying up way past midnight to get the best glimpse while Mars was brightest and highest in the early early morning August night sky.  Talking about astronomy, physics and even baseball in the crisp night air around the campfire, while toasting marshmallows and eating smores was a dream come true for the for any 12 year old.   But hector had idolized his father’s brother since he first took him cruising in his ’68 ‘vette when Hector was just seven.  Letting him sit up in the front seat with the roof down, radio blasting and needle pushing 120mph as he zoomed down Route 180 out of Silver City.

“You see Hector, you need to follow the speed of the road.  That’s why I only ride on route 180 or 191, route 25 and 10 just take too long to travel. “

“They must have been for the Horse and Buggy crowd of the wild west.”   Hector agreed.

“Yes, mi chavito, I think you are right.”

Thinking back on those wonderful carefree days of his youth, made Hectors heart sink even one notch lower when he realized for the millionth time that they were in fact just memories.   Followed by the haunting realization that he would never again see his uncle or for that fact anybody ever again as he floated aimlessly alone in a world of darkness.   This thought once again opened the flood gates to an ocean built up emotions to come pouring through.

As he cried silently, he wondered if it were better to bear with the sorrow, loneliness and self pity then to face the daunting task of measuring how long an eternity of solitude was.  Or worse yet dealing with boredom of living every minute of that eternity with nothing to do but miss the past and fear the future.

“The key is to stay in the present.” He thought aloud.   Followed by another thought of “Why should I stay in the present, when memories bring a few moments of happiness.”

“Because you will never break free if you live in the past or future,” he answered.

“Stay in the present” he heard in his head again, and that when he realized it was not his own mind talking to him, but some one else in his head.  He focused in and listened closer.

“Hector, stay in the present.  That we can talk you through.

He focused even harder and realized it was a woman’s voice and there were a string of other voices behind her voice chanting “Listen to her.   Listen to her.”

So Hector perked up and listened like a dog at the door listening to his master come home after a long day locked in the house all by himself.

“Hector stay in the present and follow my voice” she heard a little louder.   The voice was familiar.  Some one from his past, or at least his recent past.

He search his mind for who it would be.

“No don’t think back, we are losing you.  Stay in the present.”

“Patti.” He thought.  Patti McKenna.”

“Yes, Hector.  It’s me.  Open your eyes:

Hector opened his eyes to blinding white light:

11.

“Father, how are your friends doing?” Dan Cummings asked, referring to the millions of souls that followed John to Jenny’s world.

“I think that most are now over the initial shock and acclimating well to their new surroundings.” John answered.

“But are any of them showing promise with their skills.”

“Skills?” John asked.

“You know Dream Painting skills.   Isn’t there a few thousand of them that are supposed to be skilled enough to start setting up new worlds like this one, for all the lost souls when this thing goes down.”

“144,000 to be precise” John concurred, “but something has changed since that was first envisioned.   There won’t be any new worlds.  We are too late.   I have them working on getting ready to move to their final destination.”

“What do you mean too late?   Jenny had no problem creating this world.   Surely there are a few from your group who can learn the skills.

“I have complete confidence that with a little time they all can learn the skills to create billions of new worlds.  However, we lost our window of opportunity.   About a week or two ago, the energy pool that enables this to happen has been frozen.   There will be no new worlds created before this happens.

“But if there are no new worlds, where are we going to house the billions and billions of souls that find there way here?  Dan nervously asked.

“That’s why I am preparing the masses to move on, and make room for those who come.   The 144,000 will remain behind to help prepare the newbies  to do the same when they arrive.

“Move on to where” Dan asked.

“Why heaven of course.”

“Now, I am not following.” Dan  said “It is my understanding from what you have taught, that a soul will live hundreds of thousands of lives to learn what life has to offer.   When they can piece together every thing they learned during this time then they can ascend into heaven.  But how can we expect everybody who is coming into this  world to be ready for heaven.”

“We will acclimate them the best we can and then move them on prematurely. “ Father John answered.

“How?”

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet.” John said , smiling down at Jenny who came strolling in  humming.

“How about a Bridge.”  She blurted out.

“Jenny, please Father John and I are having a serious conversation, to try and figure something out.”

“A Bridge? That’s Brilliant.”  John answered.

“What do you mean” Dan asked.

            “Imagine we are both stranded on separate Islands near each other but  don’t know how to swim to get to each other.  So we just sit on our Island until we can figure out a way to swim or get across the water.   Well what if someone decides to build a bridge from one Island to the other.   We wouldn’t have to lean how to swim would we.  We could just walk across.”

            “Yes I suppose so.  But how is somebody going to build a bridge to heaven.”         

“I think that is more a question for your equally incitefull and  talented daughter, Dan.” John said adding “Jenny any ideas.”

            “I always imagined that Rainbows were bridges from heaven. Why don’t we pray that they send one down that we can walk right up.” She answered humbly.

            “I don’t think….” Dan started stopping abruptly with jaw wide open as he watched a beautifully massive and solid rainbow large enough to hold thousands at a time, unravel itself like a red carpet from the clouds above.