AN ANGEL IN TRAINING

"Are we going into Heaven, Lloyd?" I asked, now getting a little impatient. "No, my boy, you are to accompany me for a while. There is no Heaven for you for some time." "I didn't qualify? I imagined so much. I tried, I really did, Lloyd. I wasn't overly religious. I didn't go to church regularly. I did, though, pray a lot. But I used to ask too much of God. I know we are not supposed to ask God for many things or favors for ourselves, but it always came down to requesting God to do this or do that for me or someone I know." "No need to apologize to me, son. I can't help you get into Heaven." "I knew it. Banned for life. I should have been better, done more for our fellow man…" "It is not like that, my friend. Heaven is not in the picture for you, and I don't know about the future because you are still alive." "Wait, what did you say? That accent is throwing me a little." "It does that to very many, if you will. I am saying, my boy, you are not dead. You are very much alive." "But the accident, Lloyd…" "Oh, yes, the accident. You did kiss an oncoming yellow cab. Nearly gave the driver heart failure, you did. But you did not perish. You are unresponsive in a ward of a hospital there in your hometown. You are in a prolonged state of a coma. You may not come out of it for a very long time. Or you may ultimately pass on. We are not at liberty to know. You see, these things play out as they will. Someone much higher will decide the ultimate outcome. Understand?" "But, Lloyd, I don't understand any of this. I am alive, not dead, but in the hereafter?" "Yes, quite so, my friend. Welcome, by the way, to the great unknown. You know, humans are so complicated. I know. I was once human myself, but today's humans are a rare breed." "But I don't want to die!" "Don't you, now, laddie? Do you really want to live in the world you have recently found yourself floundering in? Be honest, now, with your hereafter guide, Lloyd."