by Stan Mason
I didn’t have the opportunity to reply to his comment for, within an instant, I was transported back to the desert area where I had met the Molloys. Only, on this occasion, the seat was empty... they weren’t there any more. It was a case of ‘for seeing is believing and anything you believe in you can see’. I paused to consider my predicament. What was really going on here? I was being moved about like a small pawn on a giant chessboard, pushed one way at the whim of an angel and then the other by someone else.
‘Please tell me what’s happening here?’ I yelled as hard as I could hoping to receive a quick reply but nothing happened. I stood in the vast desert area staring up and down for a while, with not a soul in sight, before sitting down on one of the bench seats. It wasn’t nearly as bad as being caged in a prison but, on the other hand, my plight seemed to be hanging by a thread like the sword of Damocles over the dome of the Old Bailey. I had shown as much remorse as possible for the evil deed I had committed against my fellow teacher when I falsely reported him having stolen money from the school’s petty cash box. However, it seemed to have done me no good because I was still sitting on a bench in a vast desert area and nothing seemed to be in the offing. I was ostensibly in Heaven and yet somehow not allowed to be a part of it.
‘Is anybody there to help me?’ I called out eventually, tiring of the waiting game. It was clear that the angelic hierarchy knew of my plight but they weren’t in any hurry to do anything about it. I continued to sit on the bench seat thinking about the conversation with the Molloys. From what they had told me, the angels were very fickle about their rules. They even had spirits studying the minor ones right down to the last details. Such studies were not for me. I was far too resilient to bother about following a set of rules. Then there were the spirits from other galaxies. Now that was an interesting feature to which I could become involved. I was an aficionado of sci-fi films and books. Seeing actual spirits of aliens from far distant galaxies would satisfy my curiosity to no end. Perhaps that was the reason why I had been placed in the room with the hundreds of scrolls about the universe... to whet my appetite for different species from other planets.
I dwelt on the subject for a short while and my thoughts considered the origin of the universe. How did it actually begin? If the universe was created, was it born out of something or nothing? If it came out of something, one asks what was that something from which it was created. If it was born out of nothing, then the process becomes unimaginable to the human mind. And then I considered that if the physical properties of the universe continued onwards into infinity perhaps it was always there without any beginning at all. Mankind could never truly imagine anything of that nature going on to infinity; nor could it conceive that it had no beginning because people were unable to imagine anything genuinely without a preceding cause. Perhaps I had given too short shrift to the period I had spent in studying the scrolls of the universe. There was now evidence of an understanding to which my mind had been obscure so as to be blind to the facts.
The Molloys had continued our discussion with a brief mention of prayer. Well my religious views were well known about that subject to all and sundry. My adverse reaction was probably the reason for the punishment meted out to me... even the bullying... by the higher ranking angels. After all my years on Earth, being an ardent atheist, it was now impossible for me to change my views. Then, as the saying goes, there’s no fool like an old fool! Well maybe it was true. I was simply an old fool who adhered very strongly to my belief of atheism. I did not believe in God or a Supreme Power and nothing I had witnessed so far proved that he actually existed. Now that I was in Heaven or Purgatory... or even Hell... it was a no-man’s land as far as I was concerned but I would still resist anyone who tried to change my views... unless of course if I happened to come face to face with the Almighty himself.
The Molloys had mentioned the study of promotion to a higher order of angels. Huh, I thought to myself, chance would be a fine thing! What did a spirit have to do to rise from the rank of a mere Seraph to a lowly Cherub. I had no idea how it could be achieved but I recognised it would be something exceptionally strong... enough indeed to move Heaven and Earth... and that was only a single promotion in the order of the angelic hierarchy. I shook my head slowly at the notion of what one would have to do to reach the highest rank of Archangel?
In addition, the Molloys discussed very briefly the formation of new worlds. That was a scientific venture and, although no one had mentioned it to me before, it was one that interested me greatly. I had seen the wonderful birth of a nova many times in films on television with its brilliant flash of light in creation to be born in space and spin with millions of other stars in the firmament. My mind reverted back to the time when I had been a teacher at Pinkerton School. Digby Harris had been the physics master whose main interest was astronomy. He was absolutely fascinated by the stars using a telescope from the attic of his house every night when there was a clear sky. He often bored the pants off me by talking about the sky at every opportunity and this continued one day when we were devouring sandwiches and coffee at lunchtime in the common room. At that particular time, my eyes were firmly fixed on the gorgeous body of Jeannette Dubois who was placing books on one of the shelves.
‘Stars using up most of their hydrogen are nearing the end of their lives, explained Harris sagely, ‘and they shrink very rapidly. This is because there is insufficient radiation inside the star to give outward pressure equal to the inward pull of gravity. As such, it begins to collapse inwards on itself. If for some reason an abundance of hydrogen reaches the central parts, the star’s radiation undergoes a terrific increase causing it to blow off very hot bright gas. It explodes suddenly increasing immensely in brightness. If it reaches ten magnitudes... that’s ten thousand times... it’s called a nova or new star.’
I nodded, tucking the information at the back of my mind unwitting as I still concentrated on the beautiful figure of the French teacher, Jeannette Dubois. There was only one thing that seemed important to me at the time... to seduce that lovely woman as early as possible irrespective of the fact that my wife was waiting for me at home. But that affair was over long ago and I had paid the ultimate penalty when my wife discovered my infidelity.
It’s strange how various information learned in the past suddenly comes to the fore. I suddenly recalled the information given to me by Digby Harris realising how important it was to me in my present position. After discontinuing the study of the universe when I first came to Heaven... or wherever I happened to be... I now had a change of heart. If I composed myself and took a serious interest in the subject, there was so much to learn. My mind aimed at a telepathic thought with a senior angel on the matter. It was my sincere intention to start from the beginning again and go to that room where the multitude of scrolls lay on the shelves for everyone to study. I heard a flutter of wings in the distance and looked to my left to notice an angel flying towards me. She landed close to me and closed her great white wings before facing me directly. My heart sank for I had never seen this angel before and somehow i doubted that she would not assist me in my journey to Heaven.
‘I am the Angel of Intent,’ she advised me coolly.
‘Intent,’ I repeated. ‘What do you intend to do?’
‘That depends entirely on you,’ she replied easily.
‘I thought I might be allowed to return to the place with all the scrolls outlining the details of the universe,’ I suggested hopeful. However the reaction i received was not very positive.
‘You have already failed in that area,’ she responded sadly. ‘I would love to return you there but once you have failed it isn’t possible.’
‘Why not?’ I enquired innocuously. ‘I was new to Heaven when I was sent there. Surely you can allow me one mistake!’
She shook her head slowly which dismayed me greatly. ‘I’m afraid we have so many spirits in Heaven that unless a spirit is brilliant,
and the angelic hierarchy believes they could be useful, anyone who fails is relegated.’
‘Relegated to where?’ I asked impertinently.
‘That doesn’t concern you,’ she snapped sharply, putting me in my place.
I paused to think the situation for a moment and then an inspired idea came to mind. ‘Heaven is shared with Hell, isn’t it!’ I burst out suddenly. ‘There was a story on Earth that Satan fell out with God and created his own empire... and that’s exactly the way it is. That tall black wall I once came to was the end of Heaven and the beginning of Hell. And you lose the dimmest unrequited spirits to the Soul Gatherer who comes to Heaven at the request of the angelic hierarchy.’
The Angel of Intent was flabbergasted at my diatribe. She stared at me in awe unable to speak for a while and I knew that I had put my finger on the pulse of the matter. I had no idea of the role of the Cosmic Joker but I did know about the Soul Gatherer. Without hesitation, she opened her wings and flew off into the distance leaving me alone in the desert area.
So that was why I hadn’t seen the millions of spirits I expected to meet in Heaven. When they failed a test in one subject or another, they were snapped up by the Soul Gatherer to become dead souls in Hell.
After the angel had flown away, I started to become desperate. Would I now face the Soul Gatherer and end up as a dead soul in Hell. Perhaps I was better off being in jail with my fellow spirit no name. I waited on the bench seat for a very long time and then a voice in my head told me to stand up and walk for a while in an easterly direction. I didn’t know which way that might be but I began to stroll across the desert for a short distance and suddenly seemed to walk through an invisible wall into a city which appeared in its immensity before me. One second I was in a rough desert; the next I was in a metropolis with dozens of spirits roaming the streets.
‘Keep walking,’ commanded the voice loudly. ‘You will soon come to a building with a golden dome. Enter through the gates and go inside.’
I followed the instructions carefully, arriving shortly at the golden dome and went inside. The sight before me took my breath away. It was magnificent. The enormous room was unlike any other I had so far seen in Heaven. It had been artistically decorated similar to that of the inside of a Continental church with the greatest of creativity and talent. Gold proliferated everywhere giving off its beautiful sullen hue. It ran down the walls like a cascade enhancing every feature in the room. The ceiling moved upwards to a tremendous height ending in a magnificent dome littered with coloured paintings, although they were far too high for me to recognise any details, while the furniture consisted of beautifully carved pews in shining brown wood set out in a multitude of rows. A rostrum had been erected at the end of the room which sported a lectern in the centre that had been trimmed with delicate scrolled gold across the top and down the centre. I looked around me to note that there were many other spirits sitting in the pews and I found a seat at the end of one of them sitting down to wait for someone to lecture us. In due course, an angel with great white wings appeared and he walked slowly across the rostrum towards the lectern. He paused, rested his hands on the top and stared at his audience.
‘Fellow spirits,’ he greeted calmly. ‘Welcome to this place of retrenchment... for that’s exactly what it is... a place of retrenchment. Subsequently, I’m here to talk to you about your situation and indeed your future in Heaven if you have one. You’re all here as a result of your refusal to obey orders, your reluctance to show remorse, your determination not to expiate your sins, or your insistence not to conform to anything we have asked you to do. Consequently, we have a problem in recruiting your spirits into Heaven.’
I looked at the other spirits most of whom appeared to be quite disinterested in what the speaker had to say. They were clearly the delinquents who were being reproached for their non-conformity and I was one of the culprits sitting with them. I could hardly believe that I was in the same category as any of them but then a visitor to a common jail would hear the same words, ‘I’m innocent!’ from every prisoner incarcerated there.
The speaker ranted on quickly losing the attention of many of the spirits in attendance and, eventually, when the rhetoric had repeated itself for the third time I could stand it no longer. I stood up with my essence bristling and shouted to the angel at the top of my voice.
‘Forgive me for interrupting,’ I yelled, ‘but isn’t it true that there are two realms which are regarded as Heaven and Hell, and one objective satellite which we know as Purgatory?’
My tirade stopped the angel in his tracks. He was unused to anyone interrupting his flow but, worst still, was my perception of the system which existed to absorb the souls of the dead. It was obvious to everyone in the room that he seethed momentarily with anger. ‘How dare you challenge me with a question like that!’ he chided harshly before composing himself and simmering down. ‘Sit down, Jeremiah and listen to what I have to tell you. I warn you... I shall stand for no nonsense here. If you misbehave it’ll be on your own head!’ However his reproach failed to stop me. ‘Isn’t it true,’ I carried on regardlessly, ‘that Heaven and Hell are situated next to each other and that Purgatory is an island close by connected possibly by a bridge across which senior angels can go... or even fly there.’
‘Sit down, Jeremiah!’ he cautioned again with the sound of fury in his voice. It was the first time I had ever seen an angel lose his temper. ‘If you don’t, you’ll be removed, I promise you.’
However, his words failed to stop me and I noticed that the other spirits had become extremely interested in what I had to say. ‘I know for certain that you allow the Soul Gatherer to harness any spirit you don’t think will be of use in Heaven. He takes them with your permission and they become dead spirits which probably end up next door in Hell. It’s an arrangement that suits you very well, doesn’t it?’
It didn’t take the angelic hierarchy long to remove me from that room. In an instant, I found myself standing in a long, dark, dank tunnel. My body had returned to a solid form so that I was unable to escape by passing through the walls and there was no light to be seen in either direction. I knew that it was a tunnel by the feel of the curved walls and I started to edge my way slowly forward. My sense of smell was enhanced to pick up the evil odour which permeated throughout the tunnel and I stumbled as I went ahead touching the side of one of the walls so as not to fall. This was clearly yet another punishment I was forced to suffer for speaking out against an angel which meant that I had deliberately broken the rules enforced in Heaven once again. However, on this occasion, I did not hear the sound of the bells ringing out to inform everyone of my misconduct.
I mused on the number of punishments meted out in my journey to Heaven after my death. I had stood on a ledge at the Pit of Desolation staring down at the chasm in front of me before travelling through the bitterly cold Desert of Ice. I had been shaken in the Revolving-Twisting machine almost to distraction and also had to defend myself in Angelic Court. My last punishment was incarceration in that awful prison, together with my fellow spirit with no name, and now I was in a long dark tunnel with no light to guide me one way or the other. Although my last years on Earth had been filled with pain and anguish, I was now suffering from a different form of anguish in Heaven. The angelic hierarchy seemed only too willing to put me through all kinds of agony for no particular reason whatsoever. In fact, I dwelt on the possibility that going directly to Hell may have been far more preferable and much less odious. There was a story I once heard about a man who died and went to Heaven. ‘What do I do here?’ he asked. ‘Well,’ said the archangel, ‘on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays you polish clouds. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays you play the harp. On Sundays you clean the archangel’s vestments. ‘Don’t I get any leisure time for myself?’ asked the man. ‘No, none at all,’ he was told, ‘and if you disobey or refuse to do those things, we’ll send you down to that other place.’ A
t that particular moment, that ‘other place’ certainly had some attraction whatever happened to the spirits there. From my own experience, if indeed Satan had split up with God, as the story was told on Earth, he may have had good reason for doing so.
I continued blindly down the tunnel knowing that it probably had no end. I considered it likely that I would be feeling my way forward in the darkness for the rest of eternity. However, in due course, I observed a faint light in the distance and moved towards it as quickly as my feet would carry me. It wasn’t long before I emerged from the tunnel stepping out into a vast barren desert area. It was not unlike the place I had visited when I had discussed some of the features of Heaven with the Molloys. Looking back, I could see that I was on the other side of the high black wall which I had once tried to surmount to satisfy my curiosity. Now I found myself standing vacantly on the other side. At last I would find out what went on beyond it.
At first, on reflecting the issue, I was highly suspicious that I had been afforded that option. What was the angelic hierarchy playing at? Why were they letting me enter Hell to find out what was happening there? It was inconceivable that they had let me off the leash to enter this realm.
As I emerged from the mouth of the tunnel, I could hear the noise of an alarm, its hooter blaring out intermittently into the distance. I assumed it was heralding my entry as an intruder. It stopped after a short while and I stepped forward to move ahead intrepidly. It was quite clear to me that I had entered the province of the Dark Side... namely I was standing firmly with both feet in Hell! Would it be as devastating to spirits as believed by people on Earth who feared that they might end up here? I would surely soon find out. I envisaged scenes of horror with great monsters such as the Minotaur, or the Hydra, in Greek mythology chasing me through the streets of Hell. There were dire drawings and pictures accompanying Dante’s Inferno that were enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. I recalled an amusing anecdote which suddenly came to mind. It referred to a situation whereby hundred of spirits in Hell stood up to their necks in detriment. One spirit became tiresome of having to stand on tiptoe in order to breath properly and he began break down. ‘I’ve got to get out of here!’ he screamed out at the top of his voice. ‘Keep still!’ ordered a spirit nearby. ‘Don’t make waves!’
