All Reach... No Grasp

"Where the hell am I?" said the man suspended in space.

"Where do you think you are?" said the transparent man who came gliding in to meet him.

"I was on the bus!"

"Oh, yes, that bus got T-Boned by a rather large cement truck. Ah, the terrible consequences of sleep deprivation among truckers."

"So am I dead?"

"No, my boy, you are at the boundary between your realm... and the next."

He looked about and acknowledged his floating status.

"Is there no gravity in the boundary?"

"Very well. If it makes you more comfortable."

The wraith-like man waved his hand and the duo slowly eased down to what might be considered "ground" but certainly didn't look like it.

"Why can I see through you?"

"For the same reason I can see through you. You see I was at this boundary years and years ago, having to make the same decision you're about to make."

"I take it you chose to go to the next realm?"

"Yes, but my situation was vastly different from yours. You see my life, at that point, it become constant physical pain. The pain you experience is all of your own making."

"What are you talking about? I'm in no pain."

"Oh, I'm not talking about rheumatoid arthritis or the Big C, but the pain of regret can cause quite a bit of anguish as well."

"Name me a middle-aged man that doesn't have a few regrets?"

"You're 56 years old, unless you plan to live to be 112, you're somewhat passed the middle."

"Oh, great, you're a rub it in wraith."

"I merely point out facts. Facts you must consider in making your decision."

"Does everyone get to make this grand decision as to whether or not they're going to die?"

"Oh, we don't say die here. We say... Move on."

"From this realm to the next?"

"Now you're getting it."

"Yeah, I get the feeling I'm gonna GET IT alright."

"And to answer your question: no. Not everyone gets this opportunity, only those who didn't meet their full potential in the last realm."

"And how did I not meet my full potential?"

"You wanted to change the world. You never even got to change a diaper."

"Is that what this shit is about? Cuz I didn't have kids?!"

"Didn't you want some at one point?"

"Sure, in the abstract. But the kids in my head were never babies that required feeding at inopportune times. They never needed to be transported places or got sick a lot. And God knows they were never teenagers! In my mind they were always eternally cute and 9 years old."

"Oh, yes, the actual having of a REAL family would incur responsibility. Something you've avoided, lo these five and half decades."

"So, if I ascend to the other realm, do I naturally become sardonic?"

"You naturally become enlightened, something you worked hard against in your life."

"I went to college."

"Yes, an Associate Degree. Bravo."

"If I make a decision does this torture end? Or do you become my roomie on the other side?"

"You seem to think I'm here with some malicious purpose. I'm only here to make sure you make the right decision."

"Well, since you seem to be so well versed in the wonderment that is... Was.... My life. You know I'm not very adept at DOING that."

"Exactly why I'm here."

"So the poisonous barbs are a bonus?"

"The WAY I communicate with you is to make sure you listen. isn't your first rule of writing: information should always be entertaining?"

"Actually that was drilled into me by an old writing instructor."

"Then it's amazing you've retained it. You were never much for LEARNING about your craft."

"I was exceedingly GIFTED at writing! You know what kind of hacks they have teaching these classes? So I gleaned what I thought was relevant."

"Perhaps if you would have gleaned a little more, your writing might have been more relevant? That was always important to you, wasn't it?"

"Not as important as what I was always missing... An audience! Writers are nothing without readers. And my work was about as popular as a cactus suppository!"

"Who's to say it just never found the right audience... Yet."

Dead stop, as the man looked at the wraith in astonishment.

"Are you saying if I go back... I might...?"

"Change the world? You never understood the world isn't often changed by sweeping grandiose moments, but by small, tiny increments. And you were already doing that, but didn't realize it."

"How in the hell was I...?"

"In your little ways... The substance of some of your stories... To those few readers... It meant a lot. A writer, popular or not, affects posterity... They never know just where their influence stops. Because the reader of one of those stories may just get that idea... To change the world. You may have already changed it. But, maybe... Just maybe... You can change it more."

"If I go back, you mean?"

"You'll have to make changes. No more blown opportunities. No more self-sabotage. No more rampant distrust of others trying to help you. You sacrificed so much on the altar of your own ego! Don't you think it's time to evolve? To let that gift that was GIVEN you reach it's potential? Be what it's supposed to BE?! Not just for you, but for everyone you can touch with your gift."

"THAT would be quite a challenge. So far my life has been all reach and no grasp."

"But a man's reach should always exceed his grasp. It's your decision, but I say... Reach for more."

The duo began to float again. It was hardly noticed by either.

"But wouldn't moving on, into the next realm also be a step in the process of my evolution?"

"Of course it would."

"Two realms... Yet a myriad of possibilities."

"Time to choose. Each realm beckons. And there is no wrong decision, for it's all about what you feel... In your own heart."

"Then I choose..."

The boundary faded... Beyond this... No more could be seen.