In October of 1976, I remember hearing the news from a younger cousin, Marty, that an older cousin of ours, named Tom, had just had a fatal car accident while out on a dark county road. The collision occurred while Tom was taking his fiancé home from a date and another car full of drunken kids traveling at a very high speed had hit my cousin's car head on. The impact was massive. I was told that his transmission was driven all the way into the back seat - right through the front seat area where my cousin's fiancé was sitting. The collision killed both my cousin and his date instantly. The driver of the other car also died.
Several months had passed, and the memory of my cousin's closed casket funeral had become quite distanced from my daily thoughts. Yet, I must admit that on occasions, as a departure from the tedium of my daily routine and obligations, I had pondered how Tom's afterlife was treating him.
One night, I had a dream where I found myself in an intriguing forest type area. Although the woods were somewhat dim in lighting, through the tree tops, and almost completely obscured by the canopy, I could see what appeared to be a band of broken light that glowed over head. I remember turning my gaze back to the forested area surrounding me when suddenly, a young boy was standing there beside me. It was a pleasant meeting. He seemed eager to show me around. Although I didn't recognize him, I never asked his name. It didn't seem to matter to either one of us, but he did invite me to join him in a foot race. At once, I obliged, and we set off running.
In no time, we were bounding through the rough terrain, hopping over clumps of green, slender grasses that were between knee and chest high. These green patches filled most of the areas not taken by the mature trees of the woods, but we also dodged other trunks that lay down along the woodland floor. As we ran and played, we continued to chase each other to an edge line of trees that followed along the bank of a tiny brook. I remember as we raced, zigzagging between tree trunks, that we were actually taking turns at overcoming and passing each other, then falling back to let the other lead. It felt as if we were flying even though we still pounded the ground with our feet. The sensation was making me giddy with a carefree delight that I hadn't experienced before. It was amazing, how light on my feet I was.
The boy even showed me acrobatics that stunned me. He ran towards a downed tree trunk whose girth must have been fully four feet thick. It lay in his path and was chest high, covered with moss. "This would take some doing," I thought to myself, for him to keep momentum and still get over the log without breaking stride. He leapt and he bounded along while I followed in close pursuit. I only fell back a little as I watched him perform his stunt. The boy flew clean over the trunk without even touching it, and in witnessing this feat, I couldn't help but to believe that I could do it too. I continued to run at the obstacle and at just the last moment, I jumped at the log with my arms splayed out in front of me. When I hit the log with my hands, I discovered that I had no weight, and only mass. My flat open palms slapped the stump and I propelled myself upward and forward, kicking my feet out to the side. With no effort whatsoever, I launched myself clear over the thing, landed on my feet on the other side, and kept running to catch up with my agile friend.
I remember thinking to myself, "I can do better." Our chasing game became an acrobatic game in the next moment. We were both impressed at how easily I caught on to this weightless race. I remember bounding and leaping, much as I thought a gazelle must be able to do when stotting. I also remember never running out of breath or growing tired of this play. We followed along this tiny stream for awhile until we came upon a very small wooden thing that must have been an old boat dock or pier like thing. From its submerged end, it rose out of the water, partially rising out and up the stream bank on which we were running. I remember it was flanked on both sides and at water's edge, with cattails whose pods waved back and forth in an unfelt breeze. My friend ran at it and made several bounces until he finally bounded over it with a diver's pirouette. I took my turn and lunged into the air, launching myself with one hand pushing off from the boards to complete a twist and a spiral with a matching pirouette. On the other side of the planks, my friend caught up with my motion upon landing, and placed his left arm over my shoulder with a congratulatory hug. At this point, we ended up on what seemed to be an old dirt path that must have lead straight into the water beside the raggedly old boat dock we had just jumped over. We laughed and continued to run and bound over things for awhile longer until my friend told me that he wanted to show me something else.
We went on in an unknown direction, still surrounded by trees and moving through clumps of grass, when suddenly, my friend went running up ahead of me and disappeared off to the left in a thicker area of trees. After pausing where I was for a moment, pondering how far and wide this woodland must reach, I decided to go on and catch up to where my friend must have gone off to.
When I came around a bend, the woods opened up into a clearing. In the center of this open area, surrounded by trees, I walked in on what seemed to be a construction area because I had walked by a little red wheel barrow parked along a path. When I went a little bit further, I ventured upon a building. It was a house, single story, round as a cylinder, and I could tell that it had a flat roof. I came upon the building and found that it had large glass windows that must be there for the view, and open air doorways that invited one inside. The texture was that of stucco, and I guess that I was a little intrigued that it was a pale pinkish sort of color. It had a porch with a roof supported by equally spaced posts. The roof of this porch matched the roundness of its floor and both seemed to curve all the way around the house, but I didn't walk around it to see if this were true.
Instead, I went inside the house, looking for my friend, and I found the "open air" theme continued throughout the place. All the rooms were open to one another with waist high dividers that marked out its areas or rooms. As I moved deeper within, I remember walking past what seemed to be an island counter top. At that moment, a voice called out for me to come join him. It took me a moment longer to figure out where the voice came from, but then I saw a curving stairway that went upward along a far wall of the interior. I went up the stairs and walked out onto the obviously round shape of the flat roof, stepping out onto a beautifully inlaid mosaic floor sporting what seemed to be a gigantic world map. When I looked up from the floor, I found my friend kicked back in a lawn chair chaise, taking it easy with his hands behind his head. From his suddenly familiar, broadly grinning face showing teeth, he asked, "Do you recognize me now?"
It was my cousin Tom! He was beaming with pride as he showed me his permanent abode, and fairly amused that I hadn't recognized him until this moment. With all of his joy, and the fun we had leaping and jumping through the woodland to arrive at this place, I knew, then and there, that cousin Tom was quite settled in and comfy with this little piece of heaven.
Now that we had formally been acquainted, Tom directed my attention back to the floor mosaic. It was as large as the entire roof, and inlaid with a darker, brownish yellow stone that signified the land, and a lighter tan stone that indicated bodies of water surrounding the continental lands. I was fascinated that the yellow-brown areas gave off a greenish sort of glow and that the lighter tan areas gave off a bluish glow. "What kind of stone could do that?" I wondered. The whole mosaic was beautiful. It had sharp outlines made of gold banding about an inch wide that separated all of its features, but there was one peculiar swath of an even lighter inlaid material that seemed to be like burnished silver. This stripe was perhaps ten to twelve inches wide and it cut across the entire map from one roof edge to the other in a gentle arc. The band held my attention, and I studied it for awhile. As I looked down at the floor just beyond where I felt I was standing, I cocked my head from one side to the other as if I could get a better idea of what the band was supposed to mean. I noticed that the silver had a flaky texture, as if it were made of thousands of crystalline facets that weren't really in any pattern or typical shape but were joined "shoulder to shoulder" at various angles and heights to compose the ribbon that banded this art work. As I stared at it, I could see it's silverness glimmer and glitter when the light caught different flecks of the material, and this was happening beneath the almost imperceptible green and blue sheen that the rest of the highly polished floor gave off.
I could tell that I was amusing Tom once again and I looked up to his face with what I knew was an expression of puzzlement on mine. He looked at me with his almost ecstatic smile and then he rolled his eyes and tilted his head to look up above us. My eyes followed his gaze, and once again, I was surprised at something else. Over head, in this clearing of Tom's heavenly homestead, was the most beautiful band of light that stretched clean across the sky line from horizon to horizon, but dissolving into the canopy of trees surrounding us. It glimmered and glittered with its own sparkling matter, and it dawned on me that I was upon another planet - one with a gorgeous, and intensely bright ring around it, much as the planet Saturn has, only I knew that this wasn't Saturn.
Tom said; "My place is your place," ... and; you know what...?! For almost twenty years after this dream, I didn't fully comprehend what he actually meant when he said that. But now, I do know that I was running and jumping, and playing and doing acrobatics with my cousin Tom - on our shared planet - the fourth one out from the light of the Godhead, which I have come to know by the name of Aurese; the ringed planet of the galaxy Keymo.
Several months had passed, and the memory of my cousin's closed casket funeral had become quite distanced from my daily thoughts. Yet, I must admit that on occasions, as a departure from the tedium of my daily routine and obligations, I had pondered how Tom's afterlife was treating him.
One night, I had a dream where I found myself in an intriguing forest type area. Although the woods were somewhat dim in lighting, through the tree tops, and almost completely obscured by the canopy, I could see what appeared to be a band of broken light that glowed over head. I remember turning my gaze back to the forested area surrounding me when suddenly, a young boy was standing there beside me. It was a pleasant meeting. He seemed eager to show me around. Although I didn't recognize him, I never asked his name. It didn't seem to matter to either one of us, but he did invite me to join him in a foot race. At once, I obliged, and we set off running.
In no time, we were bounding through the rough terrain, hopping over clumps of green, slender grasses that were between knee and chest high. These green patches filled most of the areas not taken by the mature trees of the woods, but we also dodged other trunks that lay down along the woodland floor. As we ran and played, we continued to chase each other to an edge line of trees that followed along the bank of a tiny brook. I remember as we raced, zigzagging between tree trunks, that we were actually taking turns at overcoming and passing each other, then falling back to let the other lead. It felt as if we were flying even though we still pounded the ground with our feet. The sensation was making me giddy with a carefree delight that I hadn't experienced before. It was amazing, how light on my feet I was.
The boy even showed me acrobatics that stunned me. He ran towards a downed tree trunk whose girth must have been fully four feet thick. It lay in his path and was chest high, covered with moss. "This would take some doing," I thought to myself, for him to keep momentum and still get over the log without breaking stride. He leapt and he bounded along while I followed in close pursuit. I only fell back a little as I watched him perform his stunt. The boy flew clean over the trunk without even touching it, and in witnessing this feat, I couldn't help but to believe that I could do it too. I continued to run at the obstacle and at just the last moment, I jumped at the log with my arms splayed out in front of me. When I hit the log with my hands, I discovered that I had no weight, and only mass. My flat open palms slapped the stump and I propelled myself upward and forward, kicking my feet out to the side. With no effort whatsoever, I launched myself clear over the thing, landed on my feet on the other side, and kept running to catch up with my agile friend.
I remember thinking to myself, "I can do better." Our chasing game became an acrobatic game in the next moment. We were both impressed at how easily I caught on to this weightless race. I remember bounding and leaping, much as I thought a gazelle must be able to do when stotting. I also remember never running out of breath or growing tired of this play. We followed along this tiny stream for awhile until we came upon a very small wooden thing that must have been an old boat dock or pier like thing. From its submerged end, it rose out of the water, partially rising out and up the stream bank on which we were running. I remember it was flanked on both sides and at water's edge, with cattails whose pods waved back and forth in an unfelt breeze. My friend ran at it and made several bounces until he finally bounded over it with a diver's pirouette. I took my turn and lunged into the air, launching myself with one hand pushing off from the boards to complete a twist and a spiral with a matching pirouette. On the other side of the planks, my friend caught up with my motion upon landing, and placed his left arm over my shoulder with a congratulatory hug. At this point, we ended up on what seemed to be an old dirt path that must have lead straight into the water beside the raggedly old boat dock we had just jumped over. We laughed and continued to run and bound over things for awhile longer until my friend told me that he wanted to show me something else.
We went on in an unknown direction, still surrounded by trees and moving through clumps of grass, when suddenly, my friend went running up ahead of me and disappeared off to the left in a thicker area of trees. After pausing where I was for a moment, pondering how far and wide this woodland must reach, I decided to go on and catch up to where my friend must have gone off to.
When I came around a bend, the woods opened up into a clearing. In the center of this open area, surrounded by trees, I walked in on what seemed to be a construction area because I had walked by a little red wheel barrow parked along a path. When I went a little bit further, I ventured upon a building. It was a house, single story, round as a cylinder, and I could tell that it had a flat roof. I came upon the building and found that it had large glass windows that must be there for the view, and open air doorways that invited one inside. The texture was that of stucco, and I guess that I was a little intrigued that it was a pale pinkish sort of color. It had a porch with a roof supported by equally spaced posts. The roof of this porch matched the roundness of its floor and both seemed to curve all the way around the house, but I didn't walk around it to see if this were true.
Instead, I went inside the house, looking for my friend, and I found the "open air" theme continued throughout the place. All the rooms were open to one another with waist high dividers that marked out its areas or rooms. As I moved deeper within, I remember walking past what seemed to be an island counter top. At that moment, a voice called out for me to come join him. It took me a moment longer to figure out where the voice came from, but then I saw a curving stairway that went upward along a far wall of the interior. I went up the stairs and walked out onto the obviously round shape of the flat roof, stepping out onto a beautifully inlaid mosaic floor sporting what seemed to be a gigantic world map. When I looked up from the floor, I found my friend kicked back in a lawn chair chaise, taking it easy with his hands behind his head. From his suddenly familiar, broadly grinning face showing teeth, he asked, "Do you recognize me now?"
It was my cousin Tom! He was beaming with pride as he showed me his permanent abode, and fairly amused that I hadn't recognized him until this moment. With all of his joy, and the fun we had leaping and jumping through the woodland to arrive at this place, I knew, then and there, that cousin Tom was quite settled in and comfy with this little piece of heaven.
Now that we had formally been acquainted, Tom directed my attention back to the floor mosaic. It was as large as the entire roof, and inlaid with a darker, brownish yellow stone that signified the land, and a lighter tan stone that indicated bodies of water surrounding the continental lands. I was fascinated that the yellow-brown areas gave off a greenish sort of glow and that the lighter tan areas gave off a bluish glow. "What kind of stone could do that?" I wondered. The whole mosaic was beautiful. It had sharp outlines made of gold banding about an inch wide that separated all of its features, but there was one peculiar swath of an even lighter inlaid material that seemed to be like burnished silver. This stripe was perhaps ten to twelve inches wide and it cut across the entire map from one roof edge to the other in a gentle arc. The band held my attention, and I studied it for awhile. As I looked down at the floor just beyond where I felt I was standing, I cocked my head from one side to the other as if I could get a better idea of what the band was supposed to mean. I noticed that the silver had a flaky texture, as if it were made of thousands of crystalline facets that weren't really in any pattern or typical shape but were joined "shoulder to shoulder" at various angles and heights to compose the ribbon that banded this art work. As I stared at it, I could see it's silverness glimmer and glitter when the light caught different flecks of the material, and this was happening beneath the almost imperceptible green and blue sheen that the rest of the highly polished floor gave off.
I could tell that I was amusing Tom once again and I looked up to his face with what I knew was an expression of puzzlement on mine. He looked at me with his almost ecstatic smile and then he rolled his eyes and tilted his head to look up above us. My eyes followed his gaze, and once again, I was surprised at something else. Over head, in this clearing of Tom's heavenly homestead, was the most beautiful band of light that stretched clean across the sky line from horizon to horizon, but dissolving into the canopy of trees surrounding us. It glimmered and glittered with its own sparkling matter, and it dawned on me that I was upon another planet - one with a gorgeous, and intensely bright ring around it, much as the planet Saturn has, only I knew that this wasn't Saturn.
Tom said; "My place is your place," ... and; you know what...?! For almost twenty years after this dream, I didn't fully comprehend what he actually meant when he said that. But now, I do know that I was running and jumping, and playing and doing acrobatics with my cousin Tom - on our shared planet - the fourth one out from the light of the Godhead, which I have come to know by the name of Aurese; the ringed planet of the galaxy Keymo.