[ WP ] You and your spouse of 30 years are in a fatal car accident . When you get to heaven , you find out that you get to spend eternity with your soulmate . You realize a problem when you wake up next to a total stranger .

'Hi' she said, and waved at me awkwardly.'I'm Sheila' 
 
'I'm dead, are n't I?' I replied. 
 
'Yup.' She got out of bed, and proceeded to make a cup of coffee. 
 
 I looked out the window. 
 
'We are in a city,' I said. 
 
'We are in Sinai, a city just out of Zion. There are many cities in heaven. And there are many countries.' 
 
'This is amazing!' I replied.'I could almost swear that I never died! Just woke up... and am now in a different country!' 
 
'It is a different country. And I can take you out for a walk if you like,' she said, and smiled, and gave me a cup of coffee. 
 
'I'm Brad,' I said, taking the cup and having a sip. 
 
 As we walked down the streets of the city, I was amazed how clean everything was. And cats. There were lots of cats. 
 
'Where's my wife?' I asked Sheila. 
 
'We can go and find her if you like,' she replied.'But let's have some lunch.' 
 
 We sat down at a roadside cafe, and i ordered a turkey and avocado sandwich -my favourite. 
 
'So here in heaven we are all individuals. And we do not have to marry. But we can stay together if you like. I remember you from my childhood,' said Sheila. 
 
'Please refresh my memory,' I said. 
 
'You had a crush on me when we were in grade four,' Sheila told me. 
 
 I tried to remember. Grade four. Was n't that the year my family moved to Tasmania? 
 
'But then you moved away from school, and I never saw you again,' she said. 
 
'Right, right,' I said.'I do remember a girl.' 
 
'That move..' 
 
'It was never meant to happen,' said the angel at the service desk. 
 
 We were at the Sinai Service Center for new citizens.'That was when your fate took a turn, and your history was rewritten,' he said, and he took out a file with my name on it. 
 
 I took the file from him, and looked through it. Glancing briefly through the pages, I could see my entire life written in it. I flipped the pages all the way to the day we moved to Tasmania. 
 
'Look right here,' said the angel. And pointed to a day, just a few months before the move. 
 
 An incident happened on that day. An incident that frightened your Mum so much so that she decided she did n't want to stay in Melbourne anymore. That incident was never meant to happen. But it caused a lot of histories to be rewritten. 
 
'Do you have the account of my life that could have happened, if I had never moved?' I asked the angel. 
 
'Of course I do,' he said.'But we never release those.' 
 
 And that seemed to be the end of the story. I was dissatisfied. 
 
'Can I hang onto this?' I said, motioning to the file. 
 
'Of course,' the angel said and nodded to me politely.'Keep it. We always have an infinite copy.' 
 
 I walked home with Sheila. 
 
'Does this house really belong to us?' I asked her. 
 
'Yes: )' she said and smiled.'Do you like it? You can apply for another one if you do n't like it. We do n't have to live together, you know.' 
 
'You mean just get one, just like that?' I said. 
 
'Yup. It's free, as is everything in heaven,' she replied. 
 
'That's amazing!' I said, but I could n't have expected less. 
 
 I thumbed through the pages of my life that night, living through all my memories, of the day of my marriage to Angela, of the day of the birth of our first son. 
 
'Mark,' I said out loud. 
 
 And as I touched his name on the page, images came to my mind, of Mark's first day of school... of his very first birthday... of him growing up and... wait a minute. An image came to me of a car accident. Not his, but mine. And of Mark going off to live with my parents, and growing up, and going to the United States. 
 
 Sheila came and sat next to me. 
 
'How's it going?' she said. 
 
'This account. It's not just of the past, is it?' I said.'It's of the present and future, too.' 
 
'It's amazing, is n't it?' she replied. 
 
'Why wo n't they let me see what might have been?' I demanded. 
 
'Ah what good would that be?' she said. 
 
'I'd like to have some answers. As in... why did they house me here with you?' I said, a bit irritated. 
 
 She looked a bit stung, but she shook it off. 
 
'They will usually house you with your next of kin. But your grandparents are currently on holiday in Bethlehem, so I volunteered to orient you.' 
 
'I see,' I said.'And Bethlehem is another country in heaven?' 
 
'It's a town in another country in heaven, yes, that's right,' she replied. 
 
 I stayed with her a few more days and got to know Sinai quite well. It was n't a bad place at all. There was n't any crime, you could feel safe walking the streets at all hours. There was n't really any night. Just a sort of gloaming twilight where the sky grew a breathtaking shade of pink and purple. And there were stars. So many stars. 
 
'Where are those places,' I asked Sheila one day. 
 
'They are new worlds,' she told me.'I'm sure we'll get to visit them when they become available.' 
 
'Available?' I remarked, but then decided not to pursue it. 
 
 We traced Angela to a small country town in the neighbouring continent. The flight there took no time at all, and we decided to meet at a small cafe by a lake. 
 
'How do you like it here?' I asked Angela. 
 
'I miss our son. I hope he's doing okay,' Angela said. 
 
'He is. I just saw a whole account of his life in my file, and he will be alright. He's not due to join us until at least 38 years,' I assured her. 
 
'38? That's not very long, is it? Mark is only 16,' she said. 
 
 I did the math. 54 years old. 
 
'How does he die?' she ventured. 
 
 I was n't quite sure. I took the file out of my bag, but Angela stopped me,'No, do n't,' she said.'Let it be.' 
 
'What do we do now?' I said. 
 
 Angela looked towards the lake,'I got a job just last week. The job of my dreams.' 
 
'You're an artist?!' I said. 
 
 Her face lit up.'Yes, they want me to paint a mural in the middle of town.' 
 
'That's amazing!' I said.'What sort of mural?' 
 
'Anything I want!' she said. 
 
'But... you can paint?' I said. 
 
'I seem to be able to, yes!' she said, and took out a number of drawings from her bag. I looked at them, and I was amazed. 
 
'These are far better than all the stick figures you used to do back home,' I said, wide eyed, as I looked at a detailed painting of a portrait of myself and my son.'Yes are n't they?' she said, looking at her own hands.'And my minds eye. I seem to be able to see more vividly with my eyes closed. And I can remember, too. Memories. All of it. Just try it. Close your eyes and remember back to your very first memory. The very first.' 
 
 I closed my eyes. And there was water, and there was warmth, and there was light. And voices. 
 
'Amazing, is n't it?' she said. 
 
'The womb, I remember,' I replied. 
 
 We spent the rest of the day going back through memories of each of the best days of our lives... each moment of each amazing day. I could even remember the times that I woke up on that day... what I had for breakfast... what clothes I wore that day. Every little detail. I was euphoric. 
 
'I'll just leave you two be for now. I'm going back to my hotel', said Sheila. 
 
 Angela and I nodded and smiled at her, and waited patiently for her to leave the table. 
 
'What's your dream job?' she asked me. 
 
'I wanted to be...' 
 
 And Angela smiled. That's right. 
 
'A parkour master,' she said. 
 
'You do n't say,' I replied. I could n't even play football, much less climb walls. 
 
'Go on, then,' she urged me. 
 
'What? What do you want me to do?' 
 
'Climb that wall or something, I do n't know.' 
 
'I ca n't,' I replied.'I'd look stupid.' 
 
'People do n't care, trust me. Well, actually they do. Everyone is just so encouraging here.' 
 
'No way! What if I fall?' 
 
 But I was already on my feet and facing the wall next to me. I walked up it briefly, and then back flipped off it easily, and landed back on my feet. 
 
 The whole room clapped. Angela beamed at me. 
 
'And what will they pay me for being a parkour master?' I asked her. 
 
'Have you noticed? Everything here is free. And you will be a parkour master for free,' she said. 
 
 That does n't sound too bad at all, I thought. 
 
 Not too bad at all.
