I am posting the first three chapters of the book for anyone who has the time to review. The formatting is not what I would like but I didn't have a lot of time to fix it. Please comment here, on Facebook or e-mail me.
1 - Trista
Trista woke, again, to check on Jack. He’d been up all night coughing and crying, which meant she was exhausted. She looked at the clock, 5:35am.
She poked her head into Jack’s room. He was snuggled in his blanket, sound asleep. She closed the door hoping to have time to shower and get ready for work.
She turned on the shower praying for warm water. Her apartment was her oasis despite the unpredictable water and awful landlord. She only paid $2500 a month for a 900 square foot studio. The price was reasonable for her Upper Eastside neighborhood but now, with Jack, she struggled to make ends meet.
Before Jack was born her life was easy. She had a great job as a lab technician and had finally met her soul mate, Bob. But a baby – or was it Trista? – wasn’t part of his plan so, when the pregnancy test came back positive, he flipped out and they hadn’t spoken in months.
She reluctantly turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. She had to get Jack up now or she’d be late for work. Tip-toeing into Jack’s room, she lifted his alphabet-animal blanket and rubbed his back.
“Jack-y poo, time to wakey-poo,” she cooed. “Jack in the beanstalk, we’ve got to get up, now. No fair crying all night and sleeping all day.”
She rubbed him a little harder and realized something wasn’t right. He felt stiff. She yanked the blanket off him and screamed. she started shaking uncontrollably. Her baby, her child, lay there blue as the sky and as far away as the clouds.
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2 - Marsha
Marsha rolled on to her side and luxuriated in the feel of cool silk. Unmistakable warmth rained down on her eyelids. She wrestled herself awake finding she was surrounded by billowing curtains and the salty tang of ocean air.
She sat straight up and looked around. The scenery was beautiful, a beach cottage with windows onto a white sand beach, but she had no idea how she had gotten there. Birds chirped and trees swayed as she racked her brain for a memory of yesterday. She raced to the window and looked at the trees. Palm trees and oak trees together on a beach?
Bits and pieces of the day before started to come back to her.
Her hand fluttered to her mouth. “Oh no,” she whispered. “Am I really dead?”
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3 - Jack
Jack woke in a majestic log cabin made of knotty pine. He sat in a leather club chair to the side of a huge living room under an arched ceiling that rose twenty-five feet into the air. Three ceiling fans spun silently blowing clean air from six small windows around the upper perimeter of the room. Three people sat at a nearby table chatting. They didn’t seem surprised he was there.
He looked at his body. Long, hairy legs jutted out of khaki shorts. He had never been to this cabin before but a felling of belonging overwhelmed him.
At the far end of the room a mesmerizing sculpture hung over a door. In the center of the sculpture a flat blue circle glowed like a moonlit pond on an winter’s night. Surrounding the circle were four overlapping metal rings. The smallest was platinum, the next gold, followed by silver and, finally, onyx. The larger rings encircled the smaller rings in an overlapping random pattern. Jack studied the sculpture wondering what it meant.
Four other doors led from the main room. One stood open. Jack felt certain it was his bedroom. He went through the doorway stunned by the breathtaking view from the open windows. The stunning blue lake seemed to envelop the cabin as though the building was floating. To the side, a small white-wooden bed was covered with a homespun patchwork quilt of dancing animals, toy cars and oversized letters. He reached out to touch it and was oddly comforted by the soft fabric. A magazine sat on a nightstand next to the bed and a small throw rug covered the floor.
Curious about the rest of the cabin he went back out to the living room. The door beneath the sculpture led to an enclosed porch. Jack’s mouth dropped as he realized the room was made entirely of glass. Floor, ceiling, even the furniture was glass. A glass block table stood in the corner with four matching glass chairs. Two sliding glass doors opened onto a suspended deck made of intertwined metal piping. The deck looked out over the pristine blue lake.
Jack cautiously placed one foot on the glass floor expecting it to shatter but the glass held and he walked over to the table. He could see straight through the floor to the lake. The water was so clear the only indicator it was actually there were tiny ripples formed by the breeze.
He turned and went back to the living room. The three people he had seen before were still talking.
“Though we’re done here, I’m still concerned she isn’t working up to her ability,” said one of the men.
“I think putting challenges in her path was a good idea,” said the other man.
“She just needs to build some confidence, Tom,” said the lone woman. “Once she finds something she’s good at she’ll be fine.”
Tom listened and nodded. “I guess you’re right. Thank you both. I didn’t think we’d ever do it but we did.”
“Good luck,” said the woman.
“Good luck, Tom,” said the man.
“Thanks guys, I’ll be seeing you,” said Tom as he walked past Jack. “Welcome Jack,” he said.
Jack watched as Tom walked through the glass room and slid open the glass doors. Without breaking stride he stepped onto the deck and jumped into the water.
Shocked, Jack turned to see Tom’s friend’s reactions. They weren’t in the living room. He spun around fearful of what he might find but spotted them on their way into the kitchen.
Still cautious about walking on glass, Jack made his way through the room and out on to the deck. He scanned the water but didn’t see Tom anywhere. He lay down on his stomach and slid to the edge of the deck. He could see through the water but couldn’t make out anything floating.
“Welcome Jack,” said a voice behind him.
Jack jumped startled to find a woman standing in the glass room.
“Where am I? What is going on?” Jack asked as he got to his feet.
“You’re in the four circles. You’ve been brought to the cabin on your first day because you were young when you died and you hadn’t had time to envision an afterlife,” the woman said.
“Oh,” he said, not understanding.
“I’m Marsha. I’m going to help you get oriented”, she said.
“I’m Ja…… yeah, right, you already know that,” he said.
“You were just a baby when it was decided you were needed here more than you were needed on the circle, so here you are. Because you were a baby, you’ve been placed in what is known as the ‘first circle’.”
“First circle? What does that mean?” Jack asked. “I don’t remember being a baby. I don’t remember anything. I guess I remember a little of my mother but not much.”
“That’s understandable,” Marsha said gently guiding Jack into the cabin. “The basic idea is there are four circles you can be placed in after you die. People in the first circle can interact with those they have left behind or, as we call it, those that are ‘on the circle’. Didn’t you get a manual or some sort of instruction in your room?”
Jack thought about the magazine he had ignored on his nightstand. Instead of mentioning it he asked, “What circle are you in?”
“The second,” Marsha said.
“What’s the difference?”
“Right now, you just need to understand the first circle. Most likely you’ll never experience the other circles. It’s very rare to move backward, though it has been done,” Marsha said.
“Did you move backward?” Jack probed.
“Oh no,” Marsha laughed. “I earned my spot in the second circle all on my own.”
“How?” Jack asked.
“Originally, I was in the third circle then I worked my way up to the second.” She paused to let that sink in then continued. “You’re going to ask how I ended up in the third circle so I’ll tell you. I didn’t appreciate what I had on the circle and had to pay for it. I started in the third circle.”
Marsha looked into Jack’s young eyes. She could see he was young even though he appeared to be in his early thirties. She had learned from her experience in the four circles that a baby or child who died was assigned the physical age at which they would have reached their intellectual or physical peak. Jack was headed for intellectual pursuits given that the thirties were too old for an athlete to peak. After their 10th birthday those who passed arrived as their chronological age.
One of the best lessons Marsha had learned was everything is not always as it seems. Someone who appears to be fifteen could have the mind of a seventy year old and the physical prowess of an Olympic athlete. She’d slowly been learning the basic principle not to judge.
Jack’s curious nature started to get the better of him. “How is your circle any different than mine? We’re both standing here talking. It seems like we’re the same.”
“It may seem we’re equal,” Marsha said looking away. “But you’ll soon discover the difference between the circles. Let’s not dwell on that right now, let’s talk about the plan for you.
“Each first circler is assigned a guidance group. This group is made up of one person from each of the four circles. The member of the group from the second circle, in this case me, is assigned as the group mentor. I help organize meetings and keep conversations flowing.
“The other two members, from the third and fourth circles, will be coming shortly. The four of us will live in this cabin until we’ve worked through your mission.” She paused anticipating Jack’s questions.
“Where are the others now? How do they get here?” Jack asked.
“I’m not sure where they are,” Marsha answered. “They may be coming directly from their orientation or they may be coming from another group.”
“What’s an orientation?” Jack asked.
“I forgot. You wouldn’t have had one because you were just a baby …” Marsha said.
“How did you know that?” Jack interrupted.
“As the group mentor you get some insight into the mission of the guidance group. I was told you were a baby when you passed. That was it.” Jack’s confusion showed on his face.
“A lot of this is as new to me as it is to you so bear with me,” said Marsha. “Orientation day: it’s the first day for people who have passed from the circle to the four circles. It is sort of your day in paradise. Mine was at a beach cottage. Others might spend the day sailing or flying an airplane. It’s designed to ease you into the four circles. It only lasts one day then you’re placed into one of the circles.” Seeing Marsha’s wistful look Jack wished he had an orientation day.
“Your other question? About the other guidance group members? My best answer is they are somewhere else but will be here shortly. Is there anything else I didn’t answer?” asked Marsha.
“Are you kidding? Of course! What is my mission? I don’t remember anything before I showed up here. What could I possibly need to deal with on the circle?” Jack looked at Marsha hoping for some answers.
“We won’t know your mission until our first guidance group meeting,” said Marsha. “I’d expect there are some people on the circle having a hard time dealing with your death.”
Jack pondered that for a minute. He couldn’t remember anything about his life but he remembered the quilt in his room. It felt familiar; maybe he remembered more than he thought.
“When I first got here, a group of people was talking over there,” he pointed to the table. “One of them got up and walked off the deck of the glass room.”
“Those were members of the previous guidance group. My guess is there were only three because the fourth circler didn’t show,” Marsha rolled her eyes. “Fourth circlers can be tough to keep on schedule. The one that walked out there,” Marsha motioned to the deck, “was the first circler.”
“How do you know?” Jack asked afraid of the answer.
“Well,” Marsha grinned, “if I jumped off the deck all I’d get is wet.
