In A Silver Room

Chapter 1
Russell Treacher opened his eyes.  He was staring directly into the face of a scorpion.  He quickly pulled his head up and the insect scurried away.  He looked around and saw that he was lying out in the open with the sun beginning to torment his brow with white-hot heat.  How did he get here?  He felt weak, like he had run a hundred miles.  It took everything he had to take a breath.  Just when he knew he had gasped his last breath, he noticed a piece of paper lying on the burning sand.  He stared down at it and began to read;
“While visiting the desert it is recommended that you drink plenty of fluids.”  He let out the breath.  The back of his head ached all the way down into his spine.  Then he closed his eyes.

When Russell opened his eyes, he was standing looking down at his shoelace which needed tying.  Before him was a shining metal door.  Behind him was a long hallway.  He felt a vague familiarity with where he was standing, but he could not remember how he got here.  He thought about leaving, but instead felt compelled to try the doorknob.  He looked down at its bright ornate design.  Grasping it, he turned his wrist and the door opened.  As it swung back he peered in at a large room with high ceilings.  It resembled a ballroom in size.  He noticed right away that the furniture, picture frames, walls and trim were highly polished silver.  Even though there were no windows, the walls and floor shimmered in silvery white light.
Russell was gazing in awe at the beautiful grand piano, the large potted fern, and a bubbling fountain.  All appeared to be fashioned out of sterling silver.
The ceiling was made of twelve great silver arches, which spanned the room below. 

He entered the room and closed the door. 

Next to him he noticed a red number dispenser and above that the words: 
TAKE A NUMBER.
He looked around and noticed twenty to thirty chairs circling the room with backs against the wall.  He counted about twenty-two people sitting in the chairs, each holding a numbered tag.
Russell took a number, and then he sat down next to an older man.  After a couple of minutes the senior gentleman, whose hair was completely white spoke.
“Name’s Bill, Bill Wick what’s yours?”
“Russell.”  He answered slowly.
The oldster was wearing a denim jacket and a brown feed store cap.    Russell surveyed the room.  In one corner was a young woman nursing an infant.  Next to her was a dark-skinned woman in a sari.  Across from them was a middle-aged man in a business suit, and next to him sat a soldier in battle fatigues.
“Where are we?”  Russell asked.
Bill sat up straight and rolled a number around in his hands.
“Near as I can tell, it’s a waiting room.”
Russell shook his head.  He felt fuzzy like he just awoke from a dream.
“A waiting room for what?”
Bill chuckled, “Heh!  That’s the million dollar question.”
He continued to face the center of the room as he asked; “What do you remember before you came here Russell?”
Russell looked up at the ceiling for a moment and noticed bright lights that made the whole room glow white.
“Well, I was having an argument with my wife.  I was leaving the house to go to work.”
Bill looked down.  “An argument about what?”
Russell sighed.  I had a bet with Leanne.  She told me she was expecting to get a raise at her job, and I made a bet that she wouldn’t.”
Wick frowned. “What did you wager?”
Russell held his breath for an instant and looked at the oldster.
“The loser cleans the toilets for a year.” 
Wick sighed.
“Let me tell you something son.  Bet against Wall Street, bet against the house at Caesars’ Palace, you can even bet the farm, but never ever bet against your wife.  Because, if you lose you lose…”
“ and if you win, you lose.” 
Both men grinned for a minute.
“What do you believe in Russell?”  Bill continued.
“I…believe…in…truth, justice, and the American way!”
his face beamed.
Bill nodded, looked up at the ceiling, and then at Russell.  “OK.”
Russell lost the smile.
“What about you, what do you believe in?”
Bill took out gum and offered Russell a piece.  Then he unwrapped a piece and put it in his mouth.
“I believe in anniversaries, I believe in beginnings and endings, and I believe that you and I last forever.”
Russell cocked his head and looked down for a minute considering this new information.
“Got any goals Russell?”
“Huh?  Oh yeah, pay off the house, retire, move to the tropics, fish everyday, sample exotic foods for the rest of my life.  How about you man?”
Bill chewed awhile then he spoke.
“My goal is to be a Great-Grandfather.”
“Ha!”  Russell answered.  “Well you would be good at that.”
Bill motioned to a woman two seats away from Russell.
“Ask her Russell.  Ask her what her goal is.”
Russell looked over at a woman with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a simple print dress below her knees.  She glanced at Russell with a wrinkled brow, then looked away.
“Huh?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Excuse me mam.  Russell began.  “We were just talking about goals, while we wait.”
He hesitated and looked at Bill.
“You know, what you would like in life, like …”
“Just ask her Russell.”  Bill interrupted.
Russell looked at him.  “Uh, so do you have a goal in life?”
He blinked, not believing he had asked this question from a stranger.  She faced Russell with a sober face and spoke softly.
“I just want all the sorrow to go away.”
Russell took a deep breath and nodded.
“Uh what sorrow mam?”
She sat up in her chair and looked around the room.
“The man who was my husband was cruel.  He hurt me in many ways.  Ways you can’t even understand.  Then I killed him one night with a pick ax while he was passed out drunk.  One blow to the heart.”  She moved both hands with an invisible pick in them, and then she straightened up.
“Then I felt proud.  Proud to be alive, proud that he was dead, and I killed him, proud that I was free.  I made that judgment, and I knew I was right.  But then the sorrow returned.  I was still living with all the things he had done, and now with the thing I had done.  I was no better!”
Russell could see lines in the woman’s face that accented what she had been through. 


Just then a young boy of about ten entered from the door behind Russell.  He already had a number in his hand and he looked around the room blinking.  Then he walked over, and sat next to Russell.
“Hi kid what brings you here?”  He asked.
The boy looked up with brown eyes.  “I don’t know.  I was helping my Dad work on his car.  Then all of a sudden I’m here.”

Then a woman walked through the door, and glanced around the room.  “May I have everyone’s attention please?
She said as she moved into the center of the room.
“I am Eva, and I have been chosen to lead an activity with you.”  She paused to let everyone look at each other, and then at her.
“But where are we?”  Russell spoke out.
Eva the woman smiled at him, and then addressed the group.
“You have all ended your life on earth.  Now you are in a transition zone.”
Bill spoke next.  “You mean we are all dead?”
Eva nodded.  “Yes Mr. Wick we are all dead, including myself.”
“What activity are you talking about?”  The woman in the ponytail and print dress asked.
“I will get to that Ms. Rhadijahn, but first you must know something about Mr. Treacher.”  She turned to him.
“Most of you died by accident or from disease.
But you died differently from all of us. 
You, Mr. Treacher were murdered.”

Everyone looked around the room and talked with each other.
Eva held up her hands.  “Please let me continue.”
“One of you will be selected to return to the living.  Your mission is to work with the mortals there to find out who killed Mr. Treacher, and bring that person or persons to justice.”

“Danny.”  Eva motioned to the young boy.  “Come over here by me.”
The boy did as she asked.
“In Danny’s hand is a number that was given to him before he arrived.”
Danny quickly looked down at his hand and its contents.
I’m going to ask Danny what the number is now.
He held out his hand and read “Twenty three.”
“Ok.”  Eva said.
“Now each of you has a number that you pulled when you entered.  Does anyone have 23?”
The group looked at their numbers and then at each other.  Then from the circle Russell stepped forward.
“I have it.  I have 23.”
Eva stared at him.  “Good Mr. Treacher.  That means you have been selected to return to the living and find out who murdered you.”
“But what about us?”  Bill asked.
Eva spoke without hesitation.  “Although you won’t be joining Russell, you will be available to his subconscious mind.  Each of you has unique abilities that you will share with him as he uncovers the clues, and brings the criminal to justice.”
“What special abilities?”  Bill asked.  “I’ve been a farmer all my life.”
Eva smiled.  “You may be unaware of them but I assure you that when the time comes you will assist Russell in what he needs to do.
“What about after we apprehend Russell’s killer, assuming we do, what then?”
Eva turned from Bill to the group.
“It’s the one thing that is keeping you in the transition zone.  Then she pointed to the wall and it became a large picture window.  Russell looked down and noticed a silver river was flowing like water under what looked like a platinum bridge.  It appeared that they were somehow suspended about two hundred feet in the air.  Looking off in the distance he noticed a mountain range that reflected bright light as if it were made of crystal. 
Eva continued “When the murder is solved, you will all move from the silver room to the diamond city.  But for now Mr. Treacher must return to Albuquerque, and begin work on solving this crime.”
Russell stood up.  Eva said, “You will reenter the living through that door.”
She pointed across the room. Russell walked over and opened the door.  He paused briefly as warm sunshine bathed his face.  Somewhere there was the sound of a baby crying, and the scent of morning glories drifted to his nostrils.  He gave the group a nod and walked through the door, pulling it closed behind him.