Chapter 10:

It was all Dan could do to keep from blacking out. He felt his head spinning and his vision became fuzzy as if he had been clobbered by a baseball bat. He nearly fainted as he made his way to the couch where Ronnie was sitting. She immediately looked away from the TV to see if he was alright. “Babe! Are you OK?” she said empathetically. “Yeah, I’ll be just fine. I think.” he said apologetically. “I’m just a little tired and kind of dizzy.” he added. “Can I get you some aspirin or something to drink maybe?” she asked in earnest. “No thanks. Just give me a couple of minutes.” he replied.

She kept staring at him for a moment and then grabbed his hand and held it tightly on her lap. “Don’t you dare die on me! I’ll kill you if you die first.” she said compassionately. His head immediately started swimming in confusion and bewilderment. But he tried to keep a smile on his face so she wouldn’t worry. That was the same exact phrase she had used so often back when things weren’t so completely and ridiculously out of whack.

This was total madness but there was nothing he could do to make more sense of things. He kept trying to put all the ‘facts’, if that’s what they were, into perspective. But, there were just too many inconsistencies. How could this world he was now in be so out of balance with the one he used to know? And yet, he wouldn’t trade it for anything. Because this world contained the embodiment of all that he had ever loved, honored, or cared about ... his one and only true love and soul mate.

But still Dan tried to put things in order and search for the answers he knew he must find. Being analytical in nature he pulled his hand slowly from Ronnie’s grasp as he reached out and grabbed his notebook. He thought that if he could write everything down then maybe .... maybe it might look more rational somehow.

Lets me see now. Let’s just jot all the things down whether they make sense or not. First, Ronnie his 'reincarnated' wife died. Second, She was cremated. Third, he took her ashes to the sea. Now that one he had just proven because her remains were definitely missing. Hmm. Fourth, her memorial was still up on the website. That made Dan think a bit. After coming in contact with several people that knew them from before, maybe he should take the website down. No, that wouldn’t work either. He guessed his parents still believed she was dead. Ronnie looked quizzically over at what he was recording in his notebook. Before she could say anything he said “These are just ideas for a book that I might write someday.” And with that she returned her gaze back to the picture tube. Ok now, fifth, he could not find the pictures that were at the memorial service. In fact, now he couldn’t find anything left over from the memorial...not even copies of the Pinnacle newspaper that had carried her story. Was there part of this scenario that was dream and part reality? Now, to the most unbelievable points. Sixth, here was Ronnie his 'once-upon-a-time' wife sitting right next to him as solid and whole as any other object he could lay his eyes on. Seventh, what about the conflicting phone calls from the Neptune Society? Could one of them somehow be explained away as a dream? Finally, eighth, and this was the real kicker, she seemed to dematerialize at certain times.

Now some of those times could be lack of faith in her reality. But, what about those other times. What was it that allowed her to become a see-through person when Dan was sure that at those times he wasn’t thinking negatively. In fact, he was barely thinking at all when it happened. Just what was the missing puzzle piece.