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"Why?"

"It’s somewhat complicated," Albert said "Why don’t ait until you’ve rested first?"

Odd, I thought How could he know that I was starting to feel weary? I’d only become aware of it that veryhe would understand the question

"You’ve been through a traumatic experience," he told me "And rest between periods of activity is nature’s way; here as on earth"

"You get tired too?" I asked in surprise

"Well, perhaps not tired," Albert said "You’ll soon find that there’s little actual fatigue here To refresh oneself, however, there are periods of estured toward the sofa "Why don’t you lie down?" he told , then, after several moments, at my hands I made a soft, incredulous sound "They look so real," I said

"They are," he replied "Your body may not have fiber but it isn’t vapor either It’s sirained than the body you left behind It still has a heart and lungs to breathe air with and purify your blood Hair still grows on your head, you still have teeth and finger- and toenails"

I felt ht length like the grass?’’ I asked

Albert laughed "I’ll have to check that out," he said

"What about my clothes?" I asked My eyes closed ain

"They’re as real as your body," Albert told me "Everybody--except certain natives, of course--has, in their mind, the conviction that clothes are indispensable The conviction garbs theain "It’s hard to comprehend it all," I said

"You still think it’s a dream?" he asked

I opened my eyes and looked at him "You know- about that too?"

He smiled

I looked around the room "No, I can hardly believe that," I said I looked at hih?"

"There are ways," he said "Close your eyes while we talk" He sain And Katie will stay with you, won’t you Kate?"

I looked at her She wagged her tail, then lay doith a sigh beside the sofa Albert rose to put a pillow underneath my head "There," he said "Close your eyes now"

I did I actually yawned "What ways?’’ I ht ask you to recall soht bring, to your recollection, the details of what happened just before your passing In an extreht take you back to earth and show you your environiness I felt, I reopened o back," I said "You couldn’t, alone" "Then--"

"We could only go as observers, Chris," he said "Which would only plunge you back into that terrible frustration You couldn’t help your wife, only watch her distress again"

I sighed unhappily "Will she be all right, Albert?" I asked "I’m so worried about her"

"I know you are," he said, "but it’s out of your hands now, you can see that Close your eyes"

I closed theht I saw her lovely face in front of me: those childlike features, her dark brown eyes

"When I ht aloud "They seemed enormous to me" "You met her on a beach, didn’t you?" he asked "In Santa Monica, 1949," I said "I’d colas Aircraft fro, I went to the beach for an hour or two

"I can still see the bathing suit she wore that day It was pale blue, one piece I watched her but didn’t kno to speak to her; I’d never done that sort of thing before Finally, I resorted to the age-old ’Have you got the ti her reaction "She fooledin Santa Monica with a clock on it So I had to think of so else"

I stirred restlessly "Albert, is there nothing I can do to help her?" I asked

"Send her loving thoughts," he told me "That’s all?"

"That’s quite a lot, Chris," he said "Thoughts are very real"