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Now, here it is, fresh from my keyboard, unedited!

The Path of Souls

It was a day. Spring, but one of those Spring days when the chill of winter blows around to remind us not to forget its place in the world. I sat comfortably, noticing the chill from its effect on others. It didn't bother me.

I sat at my favorite table on the sidewalk of the corner cafe and watched the park. I wanted to sip coffee, but not today, there would be time for that later. I envied those that could. My eyes shielded behind dark lenses, my thoughts never quite reaching my face. I'd perfected that, not broadcasting my mind. Not that anyone paid any attention.

Across from me, a small dog yipped. I shifted my head and dropped my glasses, the animal whined and crawled between its master's legs, spilling hot coffee on itself. I smiled. Beasts hated me.

"What's gotten into you Major?" The fussy woman on the other side of the table from the man holding the leash asked, pausing, realizing she couldn't grope her partner's lap with the napkin she'd snatched up to make sure the coffee didn't stain. It wouldn't be seemly.

The man sighed deeply. "Major" was dragged forward, nearly dangling from the end of his lead. The poor thing's eyes, bugging as his master swung him in my direction. Then he sat, and whined, turning his back on me.

I chuckled silently. Never could understand dogs. What was the attraction?

The couple stood up, the woman nearly sitting in my lap as she bent to collect her things, then they were gone.

I watched them walk away. Envied their journey. They knew where they were going, what was awaiting them, what to expect. I'd been briefed, but this thing, it all felt so final, and even as I accepted its inevitability, I dreaded the permanence of it. A century as me, and now this, passing from what I'd known, into the unknown.

What if it wasn't wonderful? They said it was. What if it wasn't peaceful, but agonizing and torturous? I'd no right to expect any different, had I? Maybe there would just be nothing? That seemed preferable to my darker fantasies, so I clung to an image of a silent nothing.

After all, this day had been ordained since before my beginning. It came to all of us.

I took the bike path toward the meeting place, deep in the center of the park. I'd been here many times before, but this time was different. This day had been coming for nearly a century. It was time.

As I approached, I saw the man, standing near the end of the "Pad Van Siele" the innocent looking shady arbor that stood at the bottom of the path, near the water's edge. the air blowing through it, fresh from the wooded copse just beyond. He was nothing but a shadow.

To me, it felt every bit the "Path of Souls" its name betrayed. Mystical and filled with a frantic, transformative energy.

"Are you the one?" he called.

I felt a tremor in my center. It was starting.

"Yes, I am Behar Behar," I said.

My voice sounded thin out here in the park. Not strong and resilient as it did at home. It felt like a weakness, something I'd not experienced in my 100 trips around the sun, a journey that was about to be over.

I knew this passage was not what it seemed. One Behar Behar would go in, a very different version would walk out. But, it had to be. The shadow that would remain here, forever, wouldn't really be me, just a place holder. Just another old soul, gliding silently through the world.

The arbor was darker than I'd expected. The lenses weren't needed here. I took them off and folded the glasses neatly,into my pocket.

The man looked at me apprehensively, then turned and nodded, a woman walked in, her swollen belly vibrating with new life. The end of this, the beginning of that. She took my hand. We walked through the arbor, slowly.

I watched her face, a smile, slowly growing,as I felt myself fading. And then, a subtle, pop, and I felt my consciousness snipped in two. One, thin slice, remained as it had been and I knew, from my orientation, I'd feel its presence for some time to come, but the rest of me, oh the rest of me!

Nineteen hours later, I could feel myself, struggling for breath, a bright, warm light and the colors! Oh, the colors, I could feel things! The air rushing into my lungs, soft hands, caressed me, my eyes, clouded, but locked onto that face. The woman. I had a body, what a strange feeling! And from somewhere inside it, my body's connection with this woman, rose up, warm, strong, and urgent.

My mouth opened and I screamed. Not the thin, crisp whisper from the park, or the soft, resonant strong tones I'd known my whole existence, but something new! Lungs, and vocal cords, loud, rasping, again, and again, air rushed in, the sound rushed out, my body trembled, and then was then was still against her breast.

Another soul was born into the world. I'd successfully completed my journey into the land of the living. I wondered, when it came time to go home, would I remember the way?