SALLIE’S TEA PARTY

The rest from death has ended. I am ready. I float in the waiting room, thinking about what awaits me. I left my soul group a bit sad, knowing that I am going into my next life completely alone. Without agreements, predetermined encounters with them. No reason was presented to me. Only a message from the Guide that it was in my best interest, as well as the interest of the others.

The glowing structure of Gralej drifted up to me, warmly greeting me:

“My dear Sanli, I hope you have rested well.”

“I have, and I am ready. Though I am not the happiest that a lonely life awaits me.” – I let out my thoughts.

“Who says you will be lonely? Are you thinking of your soul group? You will have many friends, don’t worry. There is a reason why you should trust the Plan. Everything happens for a reason, you will see soon. Let’s go, it’s time.” – Gralej said, heading towards the waiting room exit.

He led me into a room well known to me, which we called the Potential Developmental Bodyseeker. The room was personalized for each individual soul. On the walls were pictures from all previous lived lives. It wasn’t a large room; there was no need for space. In the center was a video projector showing future potential lives.

I felt warmth when Gralej touched me:

“Before you choose, a few notes. We have decided to grant you complete freedom. In your last few lives, you were great. You made mistakes, but you managed to learn all the necessary lessons. You have progressed, so you deserve to choose your next life now without any restrictions. There won’t be just three options. You can scroll through the images to your heart’s content and decide on whichever one you want. Now it might be clearer to you why you must go alone, without agreements with your soul group. They still have to catch up to you, which will surely happen.”

His words calmed my sadness and made me curious to see what was on offer. The projector turned on, slowly showing picture after picture, giving me enough time to catch all the essential details. Only the image was displayed. I could speed up the playback or slow it down if I really wanted to.

A middle-aged gentleman with a wife and ten children, a girl writing some letter, a little boy standing by the bed of his sick mother. Pictures of animals followed, mostly dogs and cats. A picture of a forest. I let the projector keep spinning the images, finding nothing of great interest. I was already wondering if I would find anything interesting enough to attract me at all when a picture appeared that startled me and made me ask the Guide to stop the projector.

A woman with an enigmatic smile and a relaxed posture, holding two cups of some drink, probably tea, on her chest. I turned to Gralej, who projected his suppressed smile into my thoughts.

“Can you enable me to enter her life for a few moments?” – I asked, not expecting an affirmative answer.

“You know that is not allowed. Only in special situations when souls are truly hesitant.”

“Just for a few seconds, please.”

“Alright. Just for a short while. Don’t expect to learn anything special during that time. You will mostly feel the atmosphere and have a couple of insights. And that’s it.”

I spun around my axis, letting him know I was ready and understood. The Guide attached one end of an astral cable to the projector and the other to me. Consciousness rushed through the cable, entering the projector.

***

The photographer was placing tea cups on my chest, pausing for a moment to check if they were stable.

“Stay still, Sallie this is only one attempt. Three, two, one…”

The noise in the saloon was on the verge of unbearable. Two men in a far corner sat at a table, arguing on the brink of a physical conflict. They had signed up for a game called “Sallie’s Tea Party.” The rules were clear. Two cups of tea and two players. One cup contained poison, the other did not. The Tea Party had taken precedence over gunfights for some time now. Duels this way were much cleaner and seemed fairer. The odds are fifty-fifty, which isn’t the case with shootouts. No street cleaning, no noise, no crowding the streets. The entire interested crowd was gathered in the saloon.

The rest of the tables were filled with an audience, who pointed their eyes of adoration in my direction.

“Sallie, Sallie, Sallie!”

“Smile, Sallie, don’t be so stiff.” – some boy in the crowd said, making my lips twitch and form a faint smile. Just a moment before the camera clicked, marking the moment immortalized into eternity, bringing my consciousness back to the projector room.

***

“Yes.” – I stated decisively.

“What ‘yes’?” – the Guide asked, smiling, giving me a look that knew the answer to the question but was waiting for me to say it.

“Yes, this is the life I want to live.”

-End-