Some say we’ve all been on this planet before.
To convince the doubters the doctor gives his own witness. In this life he’s a therapist, an MBA, a macrobiotic chef. But one day while walking down the street he felt himself called to enter a jewelry store. Then he felt called to browse a case that contained a wooden ring. He bought the ring, put it on his finger, and discovered an ancient existence.
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After the doctor finishes reading her letter the nurse shows us a photo of Pelham. We’re awestruck: she’s the twin sister of the Confederate officer. The lips, the eyes are exactly the same.
In no time at all I begin to experience visions of my past life. I see a ship with many sails…a red cross on one of the topsails…a storm!…a bearded man in a yellow slicker standing behind a ship’s wheel, pelted by spindrift. It’s a terrifying montage, like the freak-out scene from Vertigo. No! I think. I don’t want to know more! I don’t want to relive this! The storm disappears…I’m drawn deeper into my past life…deeper…I’m in Spain…there’s an olive tree . . . someone calls me “Juan”…then I’m flung forward in time…I’ve been shipwrecked…in Ireland. Apparently the storm was severe enough to frighten me away from swimming pools for the rest of my lives.
“On a scale of one to ten, a negative four.”
After the class is over students linger, waiting to have their palms read by the doctor. “Have a nice life,” says the woman next to me, the one who found the angel.
