The First Person John Meets in Heaven

The First Person John Meets in Heaven

"Don't be afraid…" the old man said, rising slowly from the bench. He leaned lightly on an old walking stick. "Don't be afraid…"

His voice is soothing, but John can only stare. He doesn't know this man. Why was he seeing him now?

"Your body feels like a child's, right?" John nodded, dumbfounded.

"You were a child when you knew me, that's why. You start with the same feelings you had."

"Start what? John thought.

The old man lifted his chin, and began walking slowly down the pier. John followed because he could think of nothing better. The pier was totally empty, almost spookily so. The beach was empty. Was the whole planet empty too?

"Tell me something," the old guy said. "Is the Whipper still 'the fastest ride on earth'?"

The Whipper had been an old, rickety roller coaster when John was a child. He'd never rode it, he was too small and then, when he was just about tall enough they pulled it down. It was replaced by a larger, faster and louder coaster, 'The speeding bullet'.

John shook his head no.

"Ah well," the old guy said. "I thought as much, they were always replacing rides with newer, faster ones. Things don't change here. And there's none of that peering down from the clouds lark, I'm afraid."

Here? John thought.

The old guy smiled as if he'd heard John's unspoken question. He touched John's shoulder and he felt a surge of warmth filter through his body. His thoughts came spilling out like sentences.

How did I die?

"An accident," old man said.

How long have I been dead?

"Who knows? A minute. An hour. A thousand years."

Where am I?

The old man pursed his lips, then repeated John's question thoughtfully. "Where are you?"

He turned and extended an arm. All at once the rides at the ancient Ruby pier sprang to life. The Ferris wheel spun, the Dodgem's smacked into each other, the old Whipper clanked uphill and the carousel horses bobbed up and down to the Wurlitzer organ.

"Where do you think?" he asked, "Heaven."

XXX

No way! John shakes his head violently, his dark brown hair, waving with the action. NO! The old man seems amused.

"No? It can't be heaven?" he said. "Why? Because this is where you grew up?"

John mouthed the word Yes.

"Ah." The old man nodded. "Well, people often belittle the place where they were born. But heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners. Heaven itself has many steps. This, for me, is the second. For you it's the first."

He led John through the park, passing cigar shops and concession stands.

Heaven? John thought, Ridiculous. He'd not been to Ruby pier for years, it was an amusement park, that's all, a place to scream and get wet. The thought that this was some kind of blessed resting place was absurd. He tried to speak again and this time heard a small grunt from his chest. The old man turned.

"Your voice will come. We all go through the same thing. You cannot talk when you first arrive." He smiled, "it helps you to listen."

XXX

"There are five people you meet in heaven," he said, "each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not know the reason at the time and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life."

John looked confused.

"People think heaven is a paradise garden, a place where you can float on clouds and laze in rivers and mountains. But scenery without solace is meaningless.

"This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It's the peace you have been searching for."

John coughed, he was sick of being silent.

"I am your first person, John. When I died, my life was illuminated by five others, and then I came here to wait for you, to stand in your line, to tell you my story, which becomes part of yours. There will be others for you, too. Some you knew, others, like me that you didn't. But they all crossed your path before they died. And more importantly, they altered it forever."

John managed to push a sound up from his chest.

"What…?" he finally croaked.

"What… killed… you?" his voice broke through like a baby chick breaking the egg.

The old man looked a little surprised but he smiled at John.

"You did," he said.

XXX

He is seven years old.

It is a Sunday afternoon at Ruby pier. Picnic tables are set along the boardwalk which overlooks the long meandering white beach. John enjoys collecting shells from this beach and riding the Ferris wheel to take in the view of the small, lazy town. There is chocolate cake with blue wax candles and cups of fizzy orange. The pier workers are milling about. By the time John is a teenager he will know most of them as friends. During the summer between school and college he will work on the Ferris wheel, helping children get aboard and helping old Joe with maintenance.

John's father sits to one side, watching his sons playing games; the perpetual look of disappointment which adorned his face for most of John's adult life is not yet present. For now he is happy and contented at his son's birthday party.

John is wearing his birthday present, a red cowboy hat and toy holster. He runs around the pier, pulling his gun on friends and family, shouting, "Bang, bang!"

"C'mere boy," Pete Hewitt beckons from a bench.

"Bang, bang," goes John, but he walks towards Pete with a grin on his little face. Pete is a mystery to John, he's a friend of John's dad, he comes to the house sometimes for drinks and dinner. To John, he smells funny, like cough medicine.

"Come here! Let me do your birthday bumps!" he says.

Suddenly Pete's large hands are under John's armpits and he is hoisted up, then flipped over and dangled by his feet. John's hat falls of.

"Careful Pete!" John's mother yells. John's father looks up, smirks, then returns to watching his other son playing.

"Ho, ho. I got him," Pete says. "Now, one birthday bump for each year."

Pete lowers John gently, until his head brushes the floor

"One!"

Pete lifts John back up. The others join in, laughing. They yell, "Two! … Three!"

Upside down John is not sure who is who. His head is getting heavy as blood rushes downward.

"Four! … Five! … Six!… seven!" John is flipped right-side up and put down. Everybody claps. John reaches for his hat, then stumbles over. He gets up, wobbles to Pete and punches him in the arm.

"What's that for little man?" Pete says. Everyone laughs some more. John turns and runs away as fast as his little legs can carry him.

He never saw the car. But he remembers the blood. He stood transfixed as his mother ran to him, scooped him up, trying to conceal the mess that was once a brave old man. He remembers hands around his waist, strong arms, pushing him away.

The old man. It took a few moments for John's shocked mind to understand what had happened. It took people screaming and running for help. It took the wail of the ambulance to hammer it home to him.

The old man had saved him. Pushed him out of the way and in doing so, given up his life. Years later when John applies for the air force, the images of that day will flash through his mind.

XXX

Realisation dawns on John. The old man who saved his life. He knows nothing about the old man, not even his name. The nameless, kind old man who had saved his life on his seventh birthday stood before him, a sly grin on his ruddy face. "You remember then do you?" he asked.

He lowers himself into a bench and motions for John to sit with him. John obediently sits, his leg shaking up and down nervously. "I didn't mean to…" he begins. He feels like he did that day, guilty for running in front of the car. Frightened by the look on his father's face, the worry and fear on his mother's; she knows she nearly lost her son.

"Let me begin at the start. My name is Eddie. I worked on this pier for over fifty years, I was the maintenance guy. Before me, the job was my fathers. I didn't have a very good relationship with my dad; he could be mean and set in his ways. I basically grew up on Ruby pier. As a child I played and helped my father. Do you know why it's called Ruby pier?"

John shook his head.

"It was named after Ruby; she was the original owner's wife. Nice lady too." He smiled wistfully.

"Anyway, we were poor when I was young, not that we ever became rich. I had a brother and went to school like any other kid. I was a bit of a tough-nut, you know?"

John nodded. He couldn't really see the point of this, but found Eddie's voice soothing nonetheless.

"In the war I was captured in the Philippines, my leg was shot up, when we escaped, I never was the same." He looked at John expectantly.

John whispers in accord, "Yeah, wars are like that."

"During the war, I killed a girl. I didn't mean to, you understand. We'd just escaped and we were consumed with rage and adrenaline. A thirst for revenge for the torture we'd suffered overcame us all. We set fire to every building there." Eddie looked sideways at John, who nodded his understanding. Revenge he understood.

"She was in one of the burning huts, I thought I saw her, tried to save her, but my CO shot me in the leg to save me from myself." He paused thoughtfully.

"A darkness, a kind of shadow followed me around for the rest of my life. Do you understand?" John could only nod. He did understand, more than most. He'd felt the same darkness, the same shadow follow him. Haunt him.

Eddie abruptly changed the subject; he'd said what had needed to be.

"My wife and I, god was she beautiful, we never had kids." he looked away from John to look at the ocean with a sad sort of smile. "I guess it was never meant to be, but I did have many children who were not mine."

John looked confused.

"Ruby Pier. The children there, you, your brother and cousins, you were like my children. I fixed the rides and kept you safe. That was my job. Funny, I had to die before I realised how significant my life had been."

John smiled, he vaguely remembered Eddie Maintenance, he always wore dirty blue overall and carried a cane. He never knew that it was Eddie that had saved him. The entire day and the events that followed had been a blur. By the time he worked maintenance on the pier himself, old Eddie was long forgotten by the other workers.

"I had to come here to understand my life, same as you. I spent years hating this place, would you believe? Man, I really, really resented the way my life turned out. Not any more though. I understand it now you see? That's why you're here. You need to understand your life too."

John looked slightly aghast at the idea of understand his life. He'd spent much of his trying to forget. He wasn't at all sure if he wanted to have it explained to him.

"My whole life I wanted to be someone. I wanted to be important and I never thought that I was. I was wrong. I saved lives you know. I prevented accidents."

"My life was significant but so too was my death." Eddie stared at John meaningfully.

John looked doubtfully back.

"Don't you see? That's why we're here, on this pier."

John glanced around, "This is heaven you said."

"Yes, but this is not your heaven. It's mine."