Conversation

      By Ed Baranosky

      I was in line behind an older man. A woman who appeared to be in her 30s was in   front of him.

There were about 30 of us lined up waiting our turn to speak to a bearded old man in an immaculate

white robe standing behind a lectern that held a large tome.

       I was startled when the man in front of me turned said “this is my third time.”

        I replied “I’m sorry I don’t understand.”

       The old man asked “what’s the last thing you remember?”

       “I was in my car it was raining I approached a stop sign at an intersection as   I applied the brakes.

My foot slipped and got wedged under the gas pedal and that’s the last thing I remember.”

      “The thing you don’t understand young man is you are dead like the rest of the people here.”

      “What did you mean when you said this is your third time?” I asked.

      “The man at the lectern is like an expediter. He reviews what you did when you were   alive. If you

screwed up your life he sends you back until you get it right. What did you do when you were alive?”

       I explained that all I was ever good at was electronics. After I got out of the army I opened repair

shop. My dad gave me a green tackle box I used for my small tools. RCA had a promotional deal

where if you bought a certain number of vacuum tubes got you a red caddy the size of a suitcase to hold

them.

       I was in a bar with a friend. He told me of a man who wanted a sensitive high-quality Hallicrafter radio

installed with a rotating directional antenna and instructions on how to   use it. My friend gave me the

man’s phone number. I called him and we struck a deal.

       After the job was complete he told me he was a bookie and the radio and antenna were used to pick

up racing broadcasts from the Narragansett and Sarasota race tracks for results before they were posted.

Somehow my name had been passed around to some shady characters who were told I could keep my

mouth shut.

       One of the jobs involved the family that controlled the area numbers racket. They owned two duplex

 houses side by side. I had to call before I made service calls. And it had to be after 2 p.m.

      The father would meet me in the driveway. He would take me to the second floor of the one of the

houses to work on the radios.

      A few weeks later I was called for another problem. I said I had to come early because I had to catch

a plane later in the day. He said I could come at one.

      When I got   upstairs I saw the reason why I had to come after 2 p.m. On the living room table

   were stacks of money. Two women were sorting and counting it.

      A local drug dealer bought a big screen projection TV for his mother and shipped it to her

   in Puerto Rico. When it needed repair my wife and I spent a week at a posh seaside hotel with

   all expenses paid so I could repair the TV.

     The man in the white robe called the name of the old man I had been talking to. He spent a

   few minutes at the lectern. He turned, waved to me and was gone.

     I heard my name called. The robed man opened the tome and with his finger went down the page.

   He bent down to take something from under the lectern. He came up with my green toolbox and

   my red caddy. I screamed “Oh No!”

     My wife bolted upright in bed and said “Go back to sleep. You’re just having a bad dream.”

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