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I was sitting next to adrinking a large iced vanilla coffee when he appeared in the parking lot froe truck The day was hot, but he didn&039;t see In fact, he wasn&039;t even sweating Maybe he was God

Once inside, he ordered a cup of coffee and sat oppositeon his coffee Finally, when appropriately cooled, he took a sip

"So where do you go when you&039;re not here speaking with me?"

"Wherever I want"

"And where ht that be?"

"It&039;s not where you are, Jiet there"

"Wow, that&039;s nice You should put that on a buot it?"

"Great, now God&039;s quoting bumper stickers"

"It&039;s an old truth, Jim"

"The journey and all that," I said

"Yes, it&039;s about the journey," he said, sipping quietly and watching me with his brownish eyes

"And what happens once you get there?" I asked "What happens once the journey is over?"

"That is for you to decide, my son You can stay there, or you can start a new journey"

"A new journey?"

"Of course"

"Are we talking reincarnation here?" I asked

"I don&039;t know," said Jack "Are we?"

"Does reincarnation exist?" I asked

"The soul lives forever," said the bu about "But the soul can choose many for for this shit, Sorry I asked"

"Apology accepted But there&039;s a reason you asked, isn&039;t there?"

There was, but I wasn&039;t sure I wanted the answer I put down my iced coffee and set it aside

"So where&039;s my mother now?" I asked "You know, her spirit, or whatever?"

As I spoke, Jack inhaled the coffee deeply, pausing, taking the scent deep within,it a part of him

"She is wherever she wants to be," he said, exhaling

"And where would that be?"

"For instance, she is with us now since we are talking about her"

"Oh really?"

"Yes"

"And is she sitting next to me?" I asked

He didn&039;t answer at first, although he gave entle smile

"She is in your heart, Jim Be still, and feel her there"

I looked at the old ht, he wasn&039;t really that old On third thought, I was hard pressed to gauge just how old he was, although he was certainly older than ht occurred to me: My one to the beach together in the city bus She let me ditch school and had treated ht in my throat Fuck, I missed her

"She misses you, too," said Jack "But she wants you to know that she is alith you" He paused, and that gentle smiled found his weathered face "And that you will always be her little prince, even though you are a big son-of-bitch"

And all I could do ipe h

Hi, mom

45

"Last tihthorse, my school was turned upside down Please, no more bodies"

Vice Principal Williaic suicide of her football coach was a tad alar, but I let it slide without comment She had come to the door to shake my hand Today she was dressed in a white pant suit and a white blouse that was see-through enough to ignite the inite the ied detective

"Um, nice blouse," I said

"Thank you," she said She looked down at it "Or are you just saying that because you can see the outline of my bra?"

"Which qualifies it as a nice blouse"

She settled into her chair behind her desk I sat before her Her gaze did not waver from mine "I am a married woman"

I pointed to the rock on her hand "Not a hard fact to overlook, even for one as highly trained as I"

"What hly trained?"

"I apprenticed for two years with my father And he is the best"

"You say that ally"

"My father and I have never been close You could say he was unsupportive in ainst him?"

"Yes"

She studied aze for a heartbeat or two She inhaled and her chest inflated and the lacy bra pushed out It was a calculated move

"Currently my husband and I are separated"