The Magic Roundabout: Part VIII

The statement hit Peter like a bucket of cold water and shook him to the core.  His wife was dead and …. Well nothing else mattered.  Melissa was really dead but how was she here?  What was this place?  Were they in heaven?

“Is this heaven?”

“No, but this is a magical time and place.  It is actually both.  It is its own time and place.  I don’t know how else to explain it to you.  The best way to understand it is that there are other dimensions.  Occasionally, people get access to them.”

Peter thought for a moment, “So is the roundabout a way to get here?”

“I guess.  I don’t know how you got here.  For me, I just know you are here and it seems as if it is normal, like it is supposed to be this way.”

“How long will we be here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then I want to savor every moment with you.”

Melissa smiled and replied, “Works for me.  What do you want to do?”

The day seemed to last longer than normal.  In Peter’s mind, it was the opposite of real life when good times go by quickly.  In this case, time seemed to slow.  When evening arrived, they simply all slept together beneath a tree.  It seemed natural.  It seemed right. 

Slowly, a consciousness came upon Peter.  It was like walking down a long hallway of his mind to a room that had a sign by the door that said, “The Present.”  Peter began to feel his hands on the steering wheel and the G-forces pushing him to one side.  Then he understood he was driving the car but he wasn’t certain if he was going home or to the college.  He felt Marie in the seat next to him.  She asked, “Daddy, what was that?”

Unsure if she had the same experience, Peter countered, “What was what?”

“I saw mom.  She is just like I remember?”

“Honey, there is no way you could remember your mom.  She died giving birth to you.”

“I know but I think she used to visit me when I was a baby.  Something about seeing mom just now made me remember her visits.”

Peter and Marie never fully understood how the roundabout allowed them to visit with Melissa.    Sometimes it worked.  Sometimes it did not.  Still, they were grateful for the opportunity and did visit with her again.