The Observers

Two friends who were involved in a fatal car accident are looking down from heaven and are having a philosophical discussion

“Just look at that! Its not even a month since I left, and my wife's boyfriend has already moved into my house.”

 I was talking to my lifelong buddy who was with me when we crashed.

“Well, what do you expect? We're gone for ever, we're dead. She's no longer your wife and it's not your house anymore” he said.

“I want to pass a message to those below  telling them that I can see everything they are doing," I said. "If only they knew that someone is watching, they wouldn’t dare do some of the things they get up to."

“Yes, if only we could warn them; we can see everything from up here, but there's nothing we can do. The other day, when I tried to warn my youngster not to go too close to the edge of the cliff, he went right over, and if it weren’t for a small tree branch that he grabbed as he fell, he would have been right here with us now," Jerry said.

"I suppose that we can take part by watching what goes on down below as a form of entertainment even though we cannot intervene," I said.

“Your idea of entertainment is bizzare. Just watching and not participating! There is a way of intervening though, a way of passing a message. You can appear in their dreams," said Jerry. "it’s when they sleep that they can also travel through space and time just as we do."

“Here, in our world, everything is provided.” I said. “No need for food or money, no conflicts or intrigue. No experience of anxiety, pain, misery as well as the pleasurable sensations, so as to know what is good and what is bad. Sometimes though, I wish that I could also take part in the excitement they experience down below, but without a body to get into, there’s no chance of joining them,” I said.

“You know, there is a way." Jerry said. "You can always volunteer for re-entry. Then you can again get a cleansed body and go through the whole process till you come back here again. It’s a sort of theatre really. You get a script at the start, but success or failure will depend on your effort to play the role successfully," said Jerry. So the role you play is decided for you but you can make a contribution.

“But if the script is written for you, you have little responsibility” I said.

“That’s just it. You are not responsible, you only try to play the role be it easy or difficult. If you make a mess of it and misinterpret your role no real harm done because in the process of dying, you'll be cleansed out  of all your earthly deviations. Here, we on the other hand have no role to play, we are a wave that floats across all time and across all space. We can be everywhere at anytime.  We have simply merged into the ultimate Goodness, cleared of all the evil accumulated in the previous body."

"Doesn't seem like much fun not having a role to play and drifting all over space and time without much purpose."

“Being part of the ultimate Goodness means that we cannot communicate directly with mortals because of the risk of contamination. They are not pure. Bodily sentiments, that are built on possession and power  do not exist here,” he answered.

“All you have said so far, simply goes to show that any existence without sentiment and effort, is not worth having. I think I am going to volunteer for reincarnation, and go through it all again. Maybe I’ll see you in my dreams, and meanwhile, since you have no notion of time, I'll be back in a jiffy."

The Image in the Mirror

The Image in the Mirror

It was an imposing mirror, with gilded framing and shaped like a large emerald stone, which fitted well into the front room. It was this that made my mother buy it at the auction. 

On that afternoon, Steve happened to glance at the mirror, and from the corner of his eye he saw something that shook him up. He could make out a girl’s face. He stood there wide mouthed for a few seconds and for a moment his mind went blank. Was he having some kind of hallucination? He wondered. He looked again but the girl has disappeared.  Had he imagined it? He didn’t believe in ghosts, and this would be difficult to explain to anyone, so he kept it to himself. There was something special about  this mirror that had come to their house. Was there  some sort of message? He took it down and examined it carefully. There was an address at the back. Maybe the previous owner could shed some light on what he’d seen. Was the girl in the mirror a real person and what had this to do with him? No one else had seen anything strange.

It didn’t prove difficult in finding the address.  What was difficult though, was to make any sense of the person who answered the door when he went there. The lady was foreign, and not too keen to answer my questions. He didn’t bother pressing her. He went home and got to thinking. This time though something stirred inside him. The girl’s face was not much older than himself. Who was this person and what connection could she have with him? He thought about it, and he decided to seek advice from a medium. He’d seen an ad in the local paper about a Madame Zion who offered her services concerning unexplained appearances. He phoned and made an appointment. He’d nothing to lose - he still thought that there must be some logical explanation to this but he had an open mind. This thing had got to him; it had become an obsession.

 

Madame Zion lived in a nice part of town. She had a small bungalow, with a trim garden in a tree lined street. It was obvious that she ran a profitable business. He rang the bell and a woman came to the door.  A little portly lady, with a pleasant inquisitive round face, she was wearing a gown and had her hair in a bun. She had a broach around her neck, and rings on her finger. Steve thought that she had an oriental air about her, which added to her credibility.

“Good morning, I am Steve Edwards. I called you yesterday, and made an appointment for 2 o’clock,” he said looking at his watch.

“Oh, Yes, you are the young gentleman with the face in the mirror, please come in dear.” She led him into a room that was heavily draped with cherry red curtains and a table and chairs in the middle but little other furniture. There were pictures of star constellations and artefacts of astrology on the walls which presumably were there to help the customers acclimatise to their surroundings. She offered him a chair. “Please make yourself  comfortable,” she said as she unwrapped some small instruments from a blue velvet cloth. “Now tell me exactly what you saw and we’ll take it from there. I need to hold your hands while you explain what you have seen. As you talk, the energy waves from your body will flow out to me and that will make it easier to visualise the Omni-sphere surrounding you.”

It all sounded matter of fact and nothing like I had imagined, so I proceeded with my story. I explained that I had seen the face of a young woman who seemed to smile at me. I wanted to find out who she was and why did she appear to me. Madame Zion closed her eyes and while she was falling into a trance, I could just make out her face because the lights had been switched off and the room was in darkness.  Then I heard her talking quietly, but I could not hear the person she was talking with.  From what I could see though, she was now smiling so I gathered that nothing sinister was happening and waited patiently till she finally came to, and opened her eyes. She switched on the lights and the whole séance was over. She looked up at me; I was anxious to hear what she had to say, but I stayed silent. “Young man, the person that has been haunting you is none other than your mother.”

“It can’t be, I already have a mother,” I protested.

“The girl in the mirror is your biological mother. Thanks to the mirror, she has found you at last, and can now rest in peace. Her little baby that was snatched from her outside her house. She lived in a terraced house opposite the Odeon cinema by the water front. She’d left you in your pram while she went in to get some milk for you. When she came out, you had gone, the pram was empty. She fainted. People came to help but it was too late, her heart gave up on her. Before anyone could call for help she was gone. Her spirit has looked everywhere hoping to find you.  The mirror was hers, and after her death all her belongings were sold off.”

“If I am that child, how did I get to where I am now? My mother is not my mother? Maybe the ghost of that girl has it wrong. Maybe I am not her lost child, how can I be sure?” 

“I can only tell you what I saw and heard from her.” 

“Thank you, I know what I have to do.” Steve now had some doubts but was concerned enough to try and find out as much s he could at home. He went down by the water front and found the house. The thing to do was to ask if anyone still remembered the girl with a baby who’d lived here 20 years before.  Maybe the present owners could shed some light about the young girl and her baby. When he got there, as he expected no one knew much about the past, but they told him to ask the old couple who lived across the street. They would perhaps remember the girl.

He went across and knocked at the door. After a while, an old lady appeared.

“I m sorry to trouble you, but I am looking for someone who lived here a long time ago. I’m trying to trace a young girl who lived here 20 years ago.” 

“Let me see now,” the old Lady said. “I ‘ve lived here for the last thirty years and I do remember. Very sad. Yes there was a girl who lived across the street; she had her baby snatched and she collapsed and died. They never found what happened to the baby.”

“Can you tell me anything about this girl, was she married? Did she have any relatives?”

“No, all I remember is that she was very pleasant and she adored her child. She lived alone but the baby was well looked after."

“Thank you, you have been very helpful,” Steve said as he went off to consider his situation. Taking stock of the circumstances he decided that it wasn’t necessary to search anymore. It was obvious that he was the baby and that he had been adopted. He would raise it with his mother; she would fill the gaps as to how he came to them. His present parents had brought him up as their own child and had given him the love of a mother and father. Never the less, it was time to clear things up.

 

He went home and he approached his mother. “We need to talk,” he said to her. You know how much I love you as my mother and maybe you have things to tell me about my birth.”

His mother looked at him suddenly surprised. “What do you mean by that?” she said. 

“I know now, thanks to the mirror you bought, that you are not my biological mother.”

“Oh dear! What has happened Steve? Yes… it is true that I am not your mother. We adopted you. Someone had left you in a church, and we were offered the chance as I could not have a baby. I never met your real mother.” 

“I can tell you all about her,” I said. She loved me so much, that she collapsed and died when she found that I was snatched from outside her house. That mirror you brought into the house held the  deep secret. I don’t know why the abductor left me in the church but she was the cause of my mother’s heart attack. My mother’s spirit is now calm having found me even after her death, and she’s happy that you found me and brought me up. Nothing need to change, I am a big boy now and I can understand.” 

They embraced and tears flowed between them.

Living in the City

Living in the City

No doubt about it. the city’s the place to be. Freshly baked bread, cafes to pass the time and watch others watch you. No transport problems and no need for a car. Everywhere easy to get to at any hour..

Its good for all age groups too. The very young have their nurseries and schools and the not so young their discos, clubs and colleges. Women have their shops aplenty, and all have the cinemas, theatres and restaurants. Libraries, museums galleries serve practically all groups  The seniors are surrounded by young people which is more socially satisfying in being helped and they in turn looking after the babies while mums go off to do their shopping. But above all there are medical facilities close by too.

Streets empty out in the summer months making it possible to stroll in the parks. In winter  town centres  are buzzing with life and lighting brightens up the short grey days.

You pay your taxes and you get your goods. The roads, the infrastructure all these are paid for out of public funds so the city dweller gets the benefits paid for by every body.

No need to worry about driving and drinking. Don’t get me wrong you country lovers!  The more of you the merrier. That would leave more space for city dwellers. Many is a person who confronted with the daily hustle of the city dreams of a place in the country for total peace. Some even succeed in getting there but when they find themselves bored they can hardly afford the return trip, with prices suddenly gone up for the same place they vacated.

The country is very enticing especially in the summer with nature at its best and people relaxing in the fields walking in the forests or just snoozing under a tree. Unfortunately it does not last. The winter comes and if its not the howling winds that pierce through your clothes as you hurry from barn to drafty cottage, then its the driving rain that forms puddles and soaks your shoes.

Have I missed any thing?

Oh yes. You need money to live in the right places.