The Rise

When my body hit the pavement I could have sworn I heard laughter. Was it the guy who just ran the stop sign and plowed into me? I couldn’t be sure. It was dark. The streets were deserted. I was drunk.

As I lay flat on my back, looking up at the stars, I felt my body being lifted. But I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t feeling anyone doing the lifting. I raised my head to get a better glimpse. There was no one there.

I knew something was amiss when I found myself hovering outside the window of Charlie’s Pool Hall. Charlie’s Pool Hall was on the second floor of the old municipal building. I waved to Charlie, who was sweeping up butts by the juke box. I also waved to Joe Slater, who was racking up for a game of nine ball at table six. The same table on which, not twenty minutes ago, I tossed five crumbled twenty dollar bills. My loss. Joe’s gain. Neither of them acknowledged my wave. I continued my ascent.

‘Don’t drink and gamble,’ my pop always told me. ‘I guarantee the winner will never be as drunk as the loser.’ My dad always gave me sound advice. But what good is advice if you’re too drunk to adhere to it? I don’t always know better.

My dad also told me to know when to lick my wounds and head on home. That piece of advice stuck. It was what I was doing when that car ran the stop sign.

There’s that laughter again.

As I reached the third story my heart made a little jump when I came to a stop outside of Rebecca Morgan’s window. Rebecca was the day barmaid at Charlie’s. I had a thing for her. She found me repulsive. “That’s because you’ve never seen me sober," I once told her." “And I never will," was her reply.

She was completely naked and dancing alone in the living room. I didn’t recognize the tune, but it sounded soft and sweet. The kind of song we used to call make-out music. Rebecca had her eyes closed, but I waved anyway just as her bedroom door opened and out walked Ben Quivers. My best friend. Ben was naked, as well, and fully aroused. I closed my eyes. Damn. “Get me the fuck out of here,” I heard myself say. Then that laughter again.

I felt myself ascending once again.

When I opened my eyes I had reached the top of the old municipal building. There was a man standing on the roof. I waved. He waved back. It startled me. Then he started laughing.

“Have you been laughing at me all along?" I said.

“It was the way you landed," he said.

“Landed?" I said

“After you were hit by the car," he said. “You tumbled about ten feet in the air and landed on your feet. You stood there for about half a minute and then fell flat on your back. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t get the image out of my head. The whole thing reminded me of a Buster Keaton short.”

“Who are you?” I said.

“I’m the reassurer,” he said.

“Reassurer?” I said. “Is that even a word?”

“It is,” he said. “I’m here to let you know it’s all going to be all right. I want you to close your eyes and say, I’m free of this world. And mean it. If you don’t mean it, you’ll be living this day over and over until you do. Now say it and mean it. Then be on your way.”

I did as I was told. When I opened my eyes the building was nowhere in sight. It was just me and a billion twinkling lights.