The Many Afterlives of John Robert Thompson

by Valerie Lioudis

  It went the same way every time. The phone would ring and as the person began to speak his father would slip into the electronics. This would cause the call to be impossible to hear through the interference. When the mail came, John would ruin any letters begging for cash. They were dropped in puddles or shredded inside the mailbox. She couldn’t figure out how it was happening, but she wasn’t the kind of woman who asked too many questions. She just figured that whatever was meant to happen would happen.

  When the beggars started to come to her house looking for her, they knew they needed to move on to the next phase in their plan. While his mother slept, the two of them would take turns whispering travel destinations in her ears. As a young woman, she had planned to travel the world, writing a novel as she immersed herself in new destinations. The character existed in her head, but she didn’t have the life experiences to put her on paper in a realistic way.

  John knew his mother always dreamed of becoming the next great American writer and he was determined to give her the push she needed to be on her way. During the day, they kept dropping pens and pencils in her path, and occasionally booted up her computer and opened her word processor. She began to believe that she was going crazy. That was what tipped the scale. Her friends had suggested a vacation to get away from the stress of it all.

  John was amazed at his mother’s bravery. She didn’t go and book a safe vacation to a single destination. She spoke to a travel agent about an open-ended vacation with the option to continue extending it forever. With her bags tucked firmly in the trunk of the taxi she had sent for, his mother approached his old apartment. There were still hints of grief in her eyes, but now there was also determination, a fire he had never seen in her while he was alive.

  “I’m heading out now Johnny. I don’t think I am going to come back. I miss you too much when I am here. It’s weird,” she exhaled. “sometimes, late at night, I think I can hear you. It’s a dream I don’t want to wake from when you’re near, but you’re not really near and I’m alone. Maybe you want me to go. Maybe this is for both of us. I wanted you to go and see the world, live your life to the fullest, make me some grandbabies, but that never happened. It’s just so hard Johnny. This last year has been the hardest time in my whole life. I need to go,” she said as she looked at the clock on her phone.

  “I love you Johnny. I’ll be there where you are soon enough, but I’ve still got a bit of living to do. Save me a spot wherever you’re at, and I promise I’ll have a bunch of stories to tell.”

  She turned and headed out to the car, shut the door and was driven away. Now it was just his father and himself. “So,” John paused.

  “Yeah,” his father answered.

  They sat in silence for a while each hoping that the pearly gates would send down a signal that they were allowed to come home now, each growing more nervous as time went on. “Maybe we did it wrong,” John said first.

  “I don’t think so,” his father said. “I haven’t felt this good in a long time. Like a weight has been lifted, or an invisible rope has been cut. Either way, I feel free.”

  “Maybe there is more,” John thought out loud.

  “Your guess is as good as mine. I was really banking on this working out. It’s a bummer, but I guess it is what it is.”

  More silence.

  “What did you do in that year we were apart?” John asked his father.

  “In the beginning, I sulked. I cursed you eight ways to Sunday. I was just so pissed off that I waited forty something years and you wanted me to wait more. Seemed like bull. After a month or two I started to see your point. I also started to see the world around me, probably for the first time ever. After that I just wandered around looking at stuff, checking out what the world had become in the last forty years. Can you believe what has happened with technology?”

  John smirked, “Yeah, it’s some crazy stuff. There’s something new every day. You can watch a movie in your hand now, clear as day, pretty much anywhere.”

  “And movies!” his father said excitedly. “What’s with all the remakes?”

  “No kidding! They haven’t got any creative types left? Nonsense!” John quipped.

  Neither of them had noticed the world was fading around them. For the first time, father and son were involved in a real interaction. There were no expectations or payoff for either one of them. This was the last of their unfinished business. They headed off to the next phase together, happily chatting about the wonders of the world they were leaving behind, smiling and laughing like old friends.

  Guardian Angels

  After his 5th sick day, John knew something was different about this flu. By the time he figured out that he would probably die draped across his toilet on his bathroom floor, it was too late. There was no one in his life who cared enough to check in on him and he was far too weak to pull himself up to call for help. Rent wasn’t due for a week, and with the weekend here no one expected him to be anywhere until Monday. But Monday would be far too late. His luck ran out on Saturday night around 11 pm. On Sunday morning, Faax came to pick him up.

  “Behold, human. Your life on earth has ended but your creator has a wondrous opportunity for you to serve in his army of guardian angels. You will protect the small and empower those on the brink of greatness. You will be a wind of God’s love blowing through the world, shouting his existence for all to hear.”

  “Sounds exhausting,” John sighed.

  Faax was taken aback by this human. God had always sent him to be the herald, then mentor, to the truly faithful. Guardians were a special breed of soul that shined brighter, loved harder, and believed more faithfully than any of the others around them. This human seemed weak and pathetic. But the creator of all Heaven and Earth had sent him to mold this man into a guardian, and since the creator was infallible, he would be remiss to not do as instructed.

  “John Robert Thompson, God has a purpose for you. You will never run out of the energy that you need to fulfill his missions.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he declared as he began to walk away.

  “Where are you going human?”

  “Living room. Now that I can move around, I’m going to head back to see what is on TV.” And with that John stepped over his own lifeless body and marched down the hall to the couch.

  Faax followed behind his new charge, confused and bewildered. Becoming a guardian angel was one of the greatest honors in the entire universe, yet here this man was shrugging off the honor as he seemed more concerned with finding a mindless TV show to immerse himself in. Humans are a strange lot, but Faax was sure this one was the strangest.

  “Don’t you even want to know the perks of the job?”

  “Not really,” John said never looking away from the TV.

  “You are unbelievable. God, the one Almighty Being that formed the Universe and all who inhabit it, has taken a personal interest in you and you don’t care to find out what that means? Your new eternal body is gifted with amazing powers so you can be the hand of God in the world, and you don’t think that is important enough to stop watching that ridiculous time wasting machine?”

  “I’m betting I don’t really have a choice. I have a feeling you are going to tell me anyway. You asked my opinion, though, and my opinion is that I don’t really care. But go ahead and knock yourself out. You can give me the sales pitch. But if you could wait for the commercials, that would be great,” John explained.

  “Unbelievable,” Faax thought to himself. So, there he sat watching the human who was watching the rectangular box across the room waiting for him to give him a signal that he was ready to hear the details of the thrilling afterlife that awaited him. The minutes ticked by and Faax became more and more impatient. “When do these commercials come on?” he asked.

  “Every few minutes or so. You missed a few breaks already. I just assumed you gave up.”

  That was it
. Faax snapped and in a flash John and himself were seated at the edge of the grand canyon. If Faax had to show anyone a real in-front-of-your-eyes vision of God’s power, it would be there. He was amazed by the enormity of it. God’s hand had reached down with his paintbrush of creation and carved out a scene so awesome, in the truest sense of that word, that countless numbers have tried to capture its beauty in paintings and photographs, somehow always coming up short.

  John was less awed. His face actually showed some level of annoyance. It was hard to read much from him. Emotions apparently took a lot of effort. Faax was hoping to shock some sense into the man, but it seemed like that was going to take something a bit more drastic. So he shoved John off the edge. The freefall could end if he willed it.

  Anyone who really knew John knew what was coming next. No screaming, no flailing, and you can be sure there was no willing going on, so John fell like a stone, thousands of feet, until he landed abruptly on his back side. Thud! Faax’s heart sank, but he tried to see the silver lining. At least this man had nerves of steel. It normally took someone a while to come to terms with the fact that they were no longer breakable.

  He dove off the edge himself and circled gracefully down the side of the canyon, breathing in its majesty the entire way down. Eons had not stifled Faax’s appreciation of God’s creations. His feet barely made a sound as he gently landed with the delicateness of a trained dancer. “John, while I am thrilled that you no longer fear your demise, I do wish you would show that you see the majesty of the world around you. You have been given one of God’s ultimate gifts. Tell me, while living, was there somewhere or something that you always wanted to see?”

  “Not really,” John answered. “And just so you know, I didn’t know I couldn’t get hurt. I just figured if I was already falling what did it matter if I fought it?”

  “It matters, John. It all matters! You have the powers of what those in your mortal world would call a superhero and you don’t even seem the slightest bit grateful! You will be able to save lives! You will change hearts. Everyone who ever feels your presence from this moment forward will have their life changed for the better.”

  “Ugh. Why would I want to do any of that?”

  Faax’s face scrunched painfully up as he rubbed his temples. How could the all-knowing creator have assigned him this man? There must have been some kind of mistake. As those thoughts swirled through his head the world around him began to spin. As he fell backwards losing consciousness, Faax spotted John sitting cross legged on the desert floor, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the fact that his companion was in distress.

  Belphegor giggled to himself from the top of the cavern’s edge. He still couldn’t believe that he had convinced that stupid angel to believe that this oaf of a man was his next guardian angel. The mistake would surely be fixed as soon as Faax woke up, but Belphegor hadn’t been this entertained in the last 10,000 years, and had already started planning his next prank on the uptight goody goody.

  Three Apologies

  Being cheap can have serious consequences. Cutting corners instead of doing the job right may leave those around you in an unsafe position. John’s new manager wanted to make a name for herself with corporate by slimming down their budget and bulking up their sales. One of the small cuts that she was so proud of was to fire the landscaping company that dealt with their snow and ice removal. She felt that her workers were more than capable when it came to spreading some salt and clearing the walkways.

  Mitch was a drunk who woke up with a hangover every morning. She put him in charge of this task. What she didn’t realize was the landscaping company would make several passes through the storm to plow and lay salt. This was the best way to do it. Mitch had no interest in coming in on his off time to get ahead of the buildup, not if it meant that he wasn’t going to get the correct amount of buzz going before it was too late to get a few hours of sleep.

  He definitely wasn’t showing up early to deal with the sheets of black ice before his coworkers started their day. The room would still be spinning until 5:00, and he would be in bed until 6:00. Despite a major snowstorm that would keep most customers at home, John had a few tasks to get to before they opened for the day, so he was there at 6:30. Mitch hadn’t planned on clearing anything away until 7:00 leaving himself one measly hour to deal with what the storm had left behind. And so it was all still there, ice and snow, waiting for John to misstep. And misstep he did, in just the right spot to catch the curb with his temple.

  The pain hit John like a lightning bolt. He tried to get back up off the frozen ground but his blood made the iced over parking lot even more slippery. He just laid there cold and shaking as he drifted off to sleep for the very last time. Had his new boss just left well enough alone, John would have been able to keeping chugging along like the good little worker bee that he was. Now, she would have a large mess to clean up along with all the snow.

  John didn’t remember walking into a room and sitting in a chair, but there he was. The room around him looked like any generic therapy room. Nondescript art hung on the walls and the two chairs in the room pointed towards each other a bit off center. This gave the vibe that it was a relaxed intimate setting, not an interrogation room. A water cooler bubbled nervously in the corner.

  The door cracked open and John was shocked to see the person walking in to sit in the other chair. “Mr. Anderson? Why did you bring me here?”

  John’s next door neighbor from his childhood sat down and spoke in the same hoarse smoker’s voice that John remembered from so many years ago. His eyes had that same wrinkled judgment that they held whenever Mr. Anderson would catch John sneaking over towards his yard. “John, I didn’t bring you here. You passed away. Now you are in a transition area. Know that everything you say and do from this moment on is being judged. Your next few choices will determine what kind of eternity you are looking at.”

  John gulped. Mr. Anderson had a way of making him nervous without really trying. He wasn’t a friendly man to begin with, and his demeanor towards John was particularly cold. “God gives us one final shot to turn things around or solidify our trip away from his grace. You need to know a few things before we begin. This is the room of three apologies. You are about to be faced with three people from your past. Each one was wronged. Wronged in such a way that it altered the way their entire life went. Apologies need to be made. Recognition of our influence on each other must be acknowledged. Free will has a cost and there are times when others pay for our choices. This leaves a debt, but hopefully you will be able to balance the scale.”

  “You only get three apologies. If you caused more than three life altering events that left you with a negative debt, then you will pay for the three worst and you will still head to Hell. You won’t know until the process is done. The people coming in are not 100 percent them, but they are not 100 someone else either. They are the part of their soul that God holds close. The part he never really lets go of. The most important thing is getting them to forgive you. They have the choice not to, and if that happens you are doomed. Are you ready John?”

  “I guess so,” John squeaked. “It doesn’t feel like I have a choice.”

  “Smart boy,” Mr. Anderson said as he walked out of the room.

  John wondered if that was really Mr. Anderson. He figured it probably wasn’t him though. He had been an authority figure in John’s life. They must have known that seeing him would get John’s attention. At least they didn’t pick his elementary school principal. That guy had always freaked John out. He was a yeller. John never handled yellers well, they made him look for a corner to hide in. He had never been abused, but he sure acted like he had.

  The door opened slowly this time. John felt as though he had been socked in the gut when she walked through the door. She was the most beautiful woman John had ever met. Blythe was his lab partner in his senior year of high school. Her red hair fell perfectly down past her shoulder
s, framing her face in a way that accentuated her big green eyes. Names don’t always fit their owner, but Blythe was a perfect fit. It meant cheerful and he couldn’t remember her without a smile.

  As she sat down John became more confused. Why would Blythe be here? John couldn’t remember doing anything that would have hurt her in a life altering way. He only had good memories of his time with her. They were not the best of friends, but that was because John was afraid to be rejected so he never tried to get close to anyone. He hoped he could ask questions to figure out why she was here, otherwise, he was already doomed.

  “Hello John.” her tone was flat. This wasn’t the Blythe that he held in his memories.

  “Blythe. Nice to see you. At least, I think it is. Can I ask you why you are here?”

  “Not directly, no. That wouldn’t be fair. This is about authentic understanding and repentance. You understand what’s at stake for you, correct?”

  “Yeah. For some reason my neighbor was the one to tell me. This is all a little strange to me, if we’re being honest.”

  “You definitely want to be honest here John. Honest and sincere. The consequences are dire.”

  “Can I ask you questions about why we are here to help me understand what I am apologizing for, or do I just have to work it out on my own?”

  “Ask away John. If I can answer I will, if not we will move on.”

  John thought back to his time with Blythe. They had seen each other every day for a year. Prior to that she was in his school but not in his circle. When she had moved to the area in middle school, he thought he had been kind enough to her. He was still a bit slow in the girls department, something he never really got better at in 45 years of life.