Dan was tired. Only a month shy of 71, his health was good. In fact, his doctor said so that very afternoon after his annual physical. He celebrated the news, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, drinking three martinis made with Gordon’s Gin, his favorite brand.

 Sitting in his recliner, feet up, he appeared to be staring into his dark fireplace as if a flame was flickering, He was in one of those states, neither sleeping soundly nor fully awake. He felt a presence though. He opened his eyes slightly expecting to see someone. The angel of death coming to claim him? He heard a familiar voice “It’s not your time, Dan.”

 It was Walter, his good friend of 50 years who himself had died only a few weeks ago. Trusting his visitor instinctively, he asked, “Soon, Walter?”

 “Would it please you if I said yes?”

 “No. I’m not ready.” He closed his eyes tight before opening them wide, sweeping the room. No sign of anyone, but Walter was there. Of that, he had no doubt. 

 “I know that Dan. It was a rhetorical question. In any case I don’t know the answer. It might be soon, or it might be many years from now.” Walter’s voice was clear. The voice wasn’t in Dan’s mind, a thought of his own making. No, it was a physical thing the same as if a door slammed, a window broke or a woman screamed.

 “Why are you here?” Dan asked. “Are you having trouble crossing over?”

 “You use human words to describe something so mysterious that even once you experience it, you will find it impossible to express it in words,” Walter said. “I am here with you and I am nowhere near you.”

 “Why me? I mean are you here to redeem me, sort of a Marley’s Ghost situation?”

 Walter laughed, which briefly brought tears to Dan’s eyes. He’d always loved his friend’s laugh. “I’m here because you sent for me. You’ve been thinking about your own passing. Your grief is as much about your own end as it is about mine.”

 “How do you know that?”

 “Am I wrong?” Walter asked.

 Dan didn’t respond immediately. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d been thinking about his own mortality while he mourned Walter’s passing. He’d been selfish perhaps. “Yes, Walter, I see your point. I’m sorry.”

 Again, Walter laughed. “No need to apologize, my dear friend. You want to know what, if anything, comes next.”

 Dan started nodding his head in agreement, abruptly stopping when it occurred to him that Walter might not be able to see him. “I want to know, yes. Can you tell me?”

 “When we were children the nuns told us about heaven for those who are good.”

 “And it’s true, Walter? There is a heaven?”

 “I came to tell you that you know everything you need to know. Give rather than take, lift rather than lean. Travel lightly, to be ready when your time comes.”

 “And if I do those things I’ll go to heaven?’

 “If you do these things, you’ll be ready for whatever comes.”

 “Walter?” He waited, but he knew his friend was gone. He wouldn’t hear his voice again. He accepted that. Very tired now, he slept in his recliner that night. The next morning, he began to travel lighter. Ready for whatever might come.