A/N: Based on the Riverworld novels by Philip Jose Farmer. Waking up on a new world along with everyone who has ever lived can be a shock; more for some than others. A short look at that world through the eyes of someone other than the main characters of the books.

Begging for a New Start

Jordan Cardin awoke with a start and looked at the sky above him. Blue and cloudless, it was either morning or evening. How long was he asleep?

His body didn't ache like it normally did after sleeping under the eave of a warehouse roof. In fact, as he turned his head he found no warehouse at all; no buildings either. He raised himself on one elbow, sat up and looked around. Many others lay around him on the ground. A few were beginning to stir, while others were still asleep. No one had any hair, or clothes for that matter. Mountains were behind him, and in the other direction lay a river.

Jordan automatically reached beside him for his cane. His hand found nothing; in fact, he scarcely believed it was his own hand. The weathered, scarred skin had been replaced with that of young man. No arthritis curled his fingers, and he was lost for a moment in the dexterity he hadn't known for years until he felt something on his leg like an insect. He slapped at the spot instinctively and almost cried out in shock when he felt the strike. His legs!

Due to a birth condition, his legs hadn't worked for his whole life. Lifeless, they clung to him and might as well have been some other person's for all the use they were. The 18th century doctors wanted to remove them when the condition persisted, but his mother insisted they remain "as God had made them". He often wondered if his mother's drinking had actually led to his condition, but never voiced the idea. God certainly hadn't made her a drunk by his observation; it seemed to be of her own choosing.

As far as choices he had few, and took to a life of begging on the streets of London. A benevolence society had gifted him a low cart that he wheeled himself around in, so at least he was mobile. But it was the last great act of kindness he had been party to, as his life became more miserable as he got older. His last memory was falling asleep against a building out of view of the street; it had been very cold.

Was this heaven? He listened as more people awoke and soon the air was full of hundreds of voices and many different tongues. Jordan heard English the most often, as well as others languages he guessed were based not only in Europe but around the world. Heaven should have everyone speaking the same language, and no one was welcoming him or the others.

Wherever it was, he was going to take advantage of his new body. After moving his legs about while sitting, he rolled to his side and twisted until he was on his knees. He toppled over when he lost his balance, but he tried again and managed to stay up with a slight wobble. From there he progressed rapidly, learning to walk with a great deal of falling; at one point a person who sounded like they spoke Russian helped him up several times with a smile before moving on. There was some type of container strapped to his wrist, as there was one strapped to everyone as well. He ignored it for now and concentrated on his legs.

The first thing that struck him about having legs that worked, or at least were in process of working, was the change in his perspective. All his life he looked up to people; even children had a distinct height advantage over his cart-bound existence. Now, not only could he look people in the eye but there were adults who were actually shorter than he was. It was a tremendous feeling of empowerment; while many probably felt stripped of their self-worth being reborn as equals with everyone else, he had been elevated and felt almost exuberant. He stumbled toward a large mushroom-shaped stone and leaned on it for support as he walked around it's perimeter. He was still smoothing out his stride when a large crack like lightening erupted from the stone and he blacked out in pain.

He awoke in the same position as he had woken previously. He looked around and saw that things had changed. He was closer to the stone, the river looked much wider, and the stone was covered with the containers that had been strapped to people's wrists. As he was contemplating what was going on, someone came up to him.

"Did you just get here or did you wake up yesterday?" the man asked in English; he sounded American.

"Umm, I don't know. I woke up once, and was learning to walk when something happened to the stone I was leaning on. I woke up here afterward" he answered.

"You died then. When you die here you get reborn the next morning somewhere else along the river. You're the third person today. Gavin is the name" he said as he stuck out his hand.

"Jordan" he replied as he returned the gesture.

"You've probably got a lot of questions Jordan, if you got killed soon after you woke up. Let's go over to the grailstone and put your grail on it. We've got a few minutes left before it gets charged, so I can start filling you in on what we've learned."

"Fine, Gavin. I've got to learn to walk before I can run."

The End

A/N: In the first books, most of the characters initial physical impressions were of being young again. It occurred to me that there would be some that would have more substantial changes with their new bodies after awakening on the river. Someone who had been unable to walk his entire life must have made some great adjustment, even more than someone who had perhaps been immobilized due to illness or age but at least had some memory of using their legs.