You're Dead. So Now What?

         It started out as just another normal day. Leslie Timed woke up at the crack of dawn to her alarm clock. She rolled over and got out of bed, looking forward to her husband returning home from work in twenty minutes. She would only get to see him for a short five minutes, but they managed to make those five minutes last as long as they could. She walked into her kids’ rooms, waking them up and telling them to get dressed. After fixing breakfast for the kids she tended to herself, and prepared pancakes and sausage for her and her husband, just as he walked in the door. “Food is ready,” Leslie said as the door closed.

         He walked into the kitchen, kissed Leslie softly on her forehead, and sat down across from her to eat. “Thanks so much Les. You have no idea how much I look forward to breakfast when I get home!” Leslie thought she had an idea. Although the times were rare, it was lonely when the kids were off at a friend’s house and Simon was off at work.

         “I’m going to be late getting home from work tonight. The office is so busy, so you’ll need to get the babysitter here before you leave for work.”

         “Again, Les?” Simon asked, disappointment obvious in his voice.

         “I’m sorry, but I can’t help it the office needs my help. Enjoy the rest of the day though. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Leslie leaned over to kiss her husband before rushing out of the door, forgetting to actually say good-bye. She hated not seeing him but five minutes in the morning, but it had become the only life she knew. “Kellie, Robbie, let’s go!” Leslie hollered down the hall to her kids.

         It was about five minutes later, after Robbie finished putting his shoes on the right feet, when Leslie pulled out of the driveway in her brand new Porsche Carrera GT. She looked again at her watch, 7:40, she had five minutes to drop the kids off at daycare and 10 to get to work, which was on the other side of town. “Mommy. Can we listen to Kids Jam Live?” Robbie asked his mother as they left the neighborhood.

         “I guess. Just don’t turn it up too loud.” Leslie replied, not really thinking about anything besides the time. Once on the highway she increased her speed to 65mph. At exactly 7:44 Leslie swung into the daycare parking lot and got both kids out of the car and into the lobby of the daycare. “Be good today.” Leslie instructed, giving each child their sack lunch that they had packed for themselves, and their backpack from the back of the car.

         “I love you mommy!” Kellie grinned as she ran off to the classroom, not giving Leslie time to say ‘I love you’ back.

         Worried about the time it took to get to work Les quickly got back into her car and headed to the interstate, where she wasn’t likely to be caught speeding. She had thought that she had control; she knew the limits. The speed limit was 70 miles per hour, and she could easily go 80 without getting caught. Glancing at her speedometer she was currently reaching 95mph. Not bad. She said to herself as she guided the car down the interstate, wind blowing in her hair. Her exit was coming up and she knew she had to slow down to at least 50. She placed her foot on the brake and pressed gently. The speedometer crawled down a few ticks, but she was still going close to 80. Shoot… I can’t make it! She said, taking the exit. She turned the steering wheel, aiming to try and keep slowing down, as she took the exit ramp. She was going too fast. The car sped off the road and turned over, crashing into the cars on the upcoming road. Everything went blank.

         The light shone brightly on her dirty-blonde hair, as she looked around confused. It all happened so fast that she wasn’t entirely sure where she was. One moment she had just dropped her kids off at pre-school and was rushing on her way to work, and the next she was… she wasn’t sure. She defiantly wasn’t in her Porsche Carrera GT anymore, that’s for sure.

         There was no longer the wind blowing in her slick, straight, blond hair; no sound of her music behind the rush of wind. In fact, all was still. The weather was slightly better, although she didn’t think that was possible. It had been a very lovely spring day when she was cruising down the highway, making up for lost time by going a little over the speed limit.

         Now, however, it was slightly warm, but comfortable as well. She was no longer sitting on her leather seats, but was standing by a gate. It was the most magnificent gate she had ever seen. It was made of pearls and had names engraved on it. She recognized a few of the names, such as Benjamin, but not most of them. There was a wonderful smell in the air, like nothing she had ever smelt before. All her senses seemed to be functioning at a higher alertness than usual, and she was conscious of everything, everything minus where she was.

         Suddenly, the silence was broken. “Hello there, Leslie. You’re here a little sooner than you thought, aren’t you? Of course, you are right on-time as far as I’m concerned, but you hoped for more time. Well, regardless, welcome to Heaven. Isn’t it beautiful?” The deep manly voice said, embracing Leslie. “Do come and eat, it has been so long since I had any time with you, Les.” The man spoke with a twinkle in his eye, having waited so long and so patiently to meet with her once more.

         “G- God?” Leslie stuttered, finally stuttered. “I’m… dead?”

         “I suppose you may call it that. But since when did the dead talk?” The Lord spoke with a small chuckle in his voice. “Leslie, come, let’s eat.” God offered again, motioning to the grand table behind him, in front of the great crystal sea.

         “Eat… but I can’t… I can’t be dead! I have to get to work! My kids still need me, and my brand new car!” Leslie cried, forgetting that God was standing there before her, and had invited her to diner. I’m not dead. I’m not. I’m too young. This is just a really odd dream, I’ll wake up and my kids, my car, my cell phone, and my job will be waiting for me to start another busy day.

         “Leslie, you’re kids are at daycare, your husband will pick them up and tell them the news in one hour. Your cell phone was in your hand in the car wreck, which speed dialed your husband before you died. Even if I did send you back, you lost your job because the company declared bankruptcy. You are now standing inside the gates of heaven, and I’d love to sit and eat diner with you and talk.”

         “My kids… they’ll never remember me… I need to go back! I didn’t spend enough time with them. Please, God, let me go back. I don’t care if I have a job… well… I do but, I guess I don’t have a choice there, but my kids need me! I wasn’t there for them!” Leslie felt as though she would explode. How could she have been so dumb, how could she have let her kids grow up without a mom there to love them?

         “Les, listen to me. I know you haven’t in a very long time, but try to. I love you, and I know that you love your kids. You made mistakes, mistakes that cannot be fixed. But your time is up. You were given 28 years to live your life; that time is up. Come, enjoy a meal with me.”
         Leslie blinked back several tears, she saw her children swinging on the swing set at daycare, laughing with their friends before she picked them up. She saw her wedding, and the people that had been there, many of which she had not seen since. More scenes from her high school years and her years as a child flashed by her eyes; scenes that showed her greatest accomplishments, her greatest disappointments, and having nothing as a child. I’ve come a long ways. I’ve gotten everything I wanted as a child… but what good is it now? I don’t have my $400,000 car with me anymore. Was it worth not being with my family to have it? A million questions and thoughts of regret flooded Leslie’s mind. “Lord, I messed it up didn’t I?” She said at last.

         “You made some mistakes, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. Please, do join the dinner. You are, after all, the guest of honor.”

         “I am?” Leslie held her forehead in her hands, trying to comprehend it all. She was dead. She understood that much. “But… what did I do to deserve being the guest of honor?”
         “Nothing really. It sure isn’t the amount of money you had sitting in the bank- thank goodness, eh? You don’t get the spot because of how much you owned, cause I own it all anyways.” God stopped for a second.

         “Really? Then it’s all here anyways? I can have my IPOD and cell phone back?” Leslie felt as though it couldn’t get any better. She was about to be re-united with her possessions.

         “If I did allow your cell phone and IPOD to be given to you, it would do no good. I do not recall your cellular plan giving you minutes to use for long-distance calls from heaven. Sides, I don’t think we get any reception whatsoever.” God said. “so will you join us?”

         “I suppose… and you do have a point… my plan said nothing about calling from Heaven.” Leslie concluded, taking a seat in the Chair of Honor. Instantly a buffet covered the entire table with all of Leslie’s favorite, cooked meals. At the far end were things she enjoyed as a child, and as you got nearer to where Leslie was sitting were things she enjoyed now, with pancakes and sausage being the first dish there. The dishes near Leslie had plenty of space around them and most she had not ate in years.

         The pancakes reminded her of Simon. She ate about 3 of those and then went on down the line. She found she was never truly hungry, never truly stuffed. She had a strange desire to eat a lot of each type of food, and it had nothing to do with the taste. A sniff of one serving and she was back at home, on the holidays, with her family; another and she was a teen hanging out with her friends. Each food reminded her of another relationship she had with another person.
“God, this is what mattered. Isn’t it? This is the reason that I was put on the Earth. I was born to help others, to support others, and to know others, wasn’t I? You don’t care about how much money I made or what I owned… and neither did they.”

         “I believe you are beginning to get it.” God said. “This is the task I have for you now. There’s an exponentially growing number of babies that are aborted on Earth, sent here without a chance to live. Your job is to make sure that each child gets a unique name, and watch after them. Love on them. Can you handle that?”

         “I can. Lord, thank you for allowing me into your kingdom.”

         “You did believe. Now, shall I show you the children?”

         Leslie followed the Lord into the nursery where 10 more children, all age 2, had just appeared. God showed Leslie around the area and introduced her to the other caretakers and the kids that she would be in charge of. Then, when He knew she was ready He departed on His way to welcome someone else into the Kingdom.

         Time slipped by and one day, as all the little ones were running around an open field Leslie saw, in the distance, Simon, Kellie, and Robbie all standing at the gate. Her heart immediately stopped, and she looked around her. After a second’s hesitation she rounded up her children, and with them ran to greet the family she had left so long ago on Earth. She hugged both Kellie and Robbie tightly for longer than she had ever hugged them before, then turning to her husband she embraced him in a tight hug, kissed him and whispered, ‘I love you’, before introducing them to the kids that she had grown to love. Robbie and Kellie ran off, playing with the kids and Simon and Leslie sat on top of the grass-covered hill and discussed all that had happened since they’d last seen one another.