The Annoucement

On a certain day in June I sat at my kitchen table after lunch near the opened window and looked outside. It was a really lovely early summer day with blue sky and some little white fluffy clouds. In the big garden below, I could see the trees already heavy with many apples, pears, cherries and other fruit.
    And a wonderful fragrance filled the summer air from flowers of many kinds. My landlord`s cat napped lazily under a bush and birds flitted aimlessly about filling the day with birdsong and joy. So it must have been that same way in paradise in the beginning!
    I felt the urge to talk with someone. So I prepared the things for another contact with my invisible "relatives" and started a new session. I felt great inner satisfaction, when “they” answered immediately.

Being in a good mood I had just asked a curious, but harmless question to "Uncle Willi" and was waiting for his response, when the small table began to move and I read on the big sheet of  paper In_ten_minutes_Juergen_will_come_here_to_your_flat                                                                                                                                                                             
I was astonished, because I did not expect him at all that day. "Really?" I asked aloud into the room. The small table moved again, Yes!_And_he_will_die_this_very_night!
   You may know what it means to be assaulted by a single sentence as by an arrow ripping into its mark. Suddenly, from deep within, a  big wave of anguish rushed over me and I immediately burst out in tears. I watched my spontaneous reaction with deep wonderment. Only once before in my life it had happened before.
     After ten or twenty seconds, I stopped crying and regained a bit of composure. The small table began to move again
Do_not_be_so_sorry_Heiner_Tomorrow_he_will_be_here
with_us_and_watching_you_Perhaps_then_you_can_play
a_game_of_chess_with_him"                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Immediately, I began to feel consoled and started to settle down. Ok, even though his time on earth will end and he has to die, my contact with him would not be lost, I thought.The small table moved again, So_listen_now_Do_not_talk_with_him_about_his_death_Act _as_normal_as_usual                              
   They gave me some more detailed instructions how to behave this afternoon and then finished with, Hurry_up_He_will_now_come_soon
    I quickly picked up my session things from the kitchen table and put them away in a cupboard in the living room. Just when I came back into the kitchen, the doorbell rang. So, I took a deep breath and slowly went to press the buzzer.
    The door downstairs opened and I heard steps coming up. Just when they stopped in front of my apartment door, I opened it. "Hello, Heiner!" said Juergen and gave me a big smile!                                        

Yes, it was really Juergen, as the "relatives" had announced it. And he was in a good mood and looking as normal as ever. Unbelievable, I thought, that he should die tonight! 
     Nevertheless, there were some legitimate reasons for such a sudden death. Juergen had serious heart problems and his life expectation was not as long as most people, as he had confided in me once about it.
    Now he was age 35 and some years ago he had already become a pensioner carrying a cartiac pace-maker in his breast. Therefore, after the first shock I was not too surprised over the prediction of his early demise!

It was such a beautiful day and so Juergen had come to persuade me to take a walk by the Rhine. We had done this many times before and we usually wound up at a Chinese restaurant. But naturally, this day I wasn’t really in the mood for such pleasure. And the "relatives" had given me other orders. So I suggested we go down into my landlord’s garden.
      He seemed a little bit disappointed, but then shrugged his shoulders and said with a resigned smile, "OK! Let`s go to the garden!" I took a book out of my cupboard and went down with him.
                                              
Sitting under a plum tree, I now read to him out of the book. Its title was A Journey Through the Universe and the passage was a description of what happens to the soul after biological death.
      Reading this had not been my choice but was an order from the "relatives". So, I could see that it perhaps might be good, but Juergen did not understand at all. When I had finished, he broke out in laughter. "Heiner, why on earth did you read that to me!?"
     And after a short pause, he added more calmly, "You know I do not believe in such things. That`s nonsense to me! Nothing comes after death! Finito!"
    I didn’t want to argue with him, but thought resignatively to myself, Soon, you will know better!  But hiding my real emotions I said to him in a harmless manner, "I thought that it would be good to read that to you! That`s all!"

So we stayed in the garden all afternoon, but at 5 o`clock Juergen suddenly said, "I feel tired!  So, if you like, we can go to our Greek place and have a bite or two. Then I think I would like to drive home."
    I thought about his suggestion for a few seconds. The "relatives" had only spoken about the afternoon in the garden and had not mentioned anything about the time after it. "Why not?" I said finally. After all, it would be his last meal on earth!
    Juergen drove his car and I rode my bicycle to the Greek place. We ordered some gyros with pommes, a salad, a drink, and chatted as we had always done before. At least, I tried to be normal, but in truth, it was no more than an act, knowing he would die this night. I felt quite badly, but I could not get out of this story. I had become a part of it.

So after an hour, we left the Greek and very soon after that Juergen left me. He drove off in his car and I watched until he was out of sight. In this world I will not see him again! I thought sadly