Chapter 2

My first thought was that something had happened to Grace Winthrop until I reread the note. At noon, I called Grace. “Hi Grace, I had a note that someone had passed and Susan had to attend a funeral. It gave me a start.”

“You thought it might be me, didn’t you? Would you come for supper tonight and I’ll explain who it was and why she had to attend.”

“I’ll be there. Don’t bother getting anything, I’ll pick up a bucket of chicken. I know Jake likes KFC.”

“That would be nice.”

I changed the subject, “Say, I was up attic a while back and ran onto some books you might be interested in. Have you ever been interested in Karma or Reincarnation?”

“I used to read about those subjects all the time. Oh please, may I borrow the books? I’d like to read them again. I’ve never had a life reading. Maybe now I will have the courage ask for one.”

“I’ll bring them along. Maybe we can compare thoughts on the subject.” I went home and picked up the chest that held all the books and information and cigar box with the correspondence I had had with the clairvoyant. Then I went to KFC and purchased chicken and the sides. It was nearly six in the evening when I arrived at Gracie’s

It was beginning to rain a bit and Jake was there to hold the door open for me. My hands were full with the chest and the bucket. “Wow, chicken. Can I have a drumstick? I hope it is crispy.”

“You sure can. I’m hungry too and I have a soda for you.”

“Grady, I made you coffee. I don’t know if you drink it in the evening, but I took a chance.”

“I do and that will keep me awake long enough so we can talk.” Nothing was said about Susan or the chest that Gram put in the living room.

Jake was happy to see me and asked me if I could stay long enough to watch some television with him. This was a night when he watched two special shows. I said I would. By the end of the second one, he was nearly asleep and leaning against me.

“Grady would you put me to bed, I have to shower and get into my pajamas. Mommy isn’t coming home tonight and she always does that with me,”

“Sure I will.” The shower had to be the quickest one on record and the toweling off was a hit or miss. The pajamas were cotton and fluffy and Jake squirmed around in them to finish drying.

“Are you going to stay all night?”

“No, but I am going to sit with Gram and talk awhile.”

“Okay. Someday I’d like you to stay all night even if Mom is here. Then I can see you in the morning and have breakfast with you.”

“Maybe, but I don’t see how.”

“Okay, I guess. Goodnight, Grady. I like you a lot.”

“I like you a lot too. Goodnight.”

I came down stairs and Grace had coffee by the stuffed chair on a small table. “Sit there. You’re probably wondering about Susan?’’

“Not really my business, but you’re offering and I’ll hear you out. Who’s funeral did Susan go to?”

“It is Jake’s biological father. He was the donor, anyway. His name is Cary. Susan unknowingly made a poor choice in someone to love. He was a man a few years older than she. I met him a few times and he was very charming and I thought Susan lucky to have him in her life. She was so happy and became pregnant with Jake. When she announced it to him, he was upset. The next day late, in the afternoon he said they had to straighten some things out and took her to his attorney’s office.

“They sat in the lawyer’s office and shortly after the introductions he said he needed the bathroom. He left the room and never returned to face her. The lawyer told her the man was married with a wife and two children.

The man had the attorney tell her that he loved her a lot, but couldn’t leave his wife for her. He said he would pay her expenses when her child was born and thereafter support the child until it was eighteen years old. Susan was very upset and stood, telling the attorney it wasn’t good enough. Asked why, she told him what if Cary died before the child was eighteen she wouldn’t have anyway to raise the child because she would have to work to support it herself.

“Susan engaged herself a lawyer and the two attorneys hammered out a deal where she got a little less support for the child when born, plus a life insurance policy owned by her, but paid by the man who got her pregnant. That happened a little over five years ago. It wasn’t too costly for the man, all things considered the way things have turned out.” Gracie grinned at me and then tacked on, “And the bastard is now dead.”

I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t my place to say anything. Grace went on again, “Susan really did love the person and it took awhile to get over him, but she has finally. She certainly has struggled being a single parent.”

I asked, “What about her mother, didn’t she give Susan some help?”

“No, Shirley told Susan she made her bed and now she had to lie in it. I’m terribly disappointed in my daughter. Shirley jumps from one man to another and Susan’s father was gone when Susan was only a little older than Jake is now. I think there must be a curse on this family. I at least didn’t lose Frank with his leaving that way. He only died a couple years ago.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yes, Frank and I did have a good life together. That’s why I wanted you to bring those books you said you had. Maybe I can make some sense out of why my husband and I got along so well and my daughter and granddaughter are so messed up. You said you sent a letter for someone to give you a life reading. How did that work?”

I explained and told her how I composed the questions I wanted answered. “You will get an answer back asking you to be at a certain place at a certain time.”

“Where do I have to go” I don’t like to drive far?”

“No, you don’t have to leave your house. Ideally, you can be sitting in the living room. You can be reading a book or I suppose watching television. He will find you and tap into your past life down though time and extract answers to the questions you have put to him. If you ask question about your future, the future is somewhat uncertain for this reason. An entity always has free choice and your life may go off course that you yourself have plotted.”

“What do you mean when you say an entity plots their own course?”

“That’s where Karma comes in. Say your soul has done someone wrong. Karma gives you a way to get rid of the bad karma by plotting good karma for your self and following through on it. This brings your soul back into balance. I don’t know as a person would plan to do bad things, but remember it happens when someone else’s soul is working for or against you to better their Karma. You can go with the flow or resist.”

“Oh dear, I’ll never understand any of this.”

“That’s why I brought you several books by different authors to read. One is “There is a River” and another one is “Many Mansions.” I don’t think they are in print, but they might be. Cayce was well known at the time. Always there will be a small bit of doubt if this is true. So read and come to your own conclusion. I have said a lot about this it and it may be something you might come to believe as I have.”

“That cigar box contains questions and answers I asked for ten years ago which didn’t mean much at the time and I thought it was bunk. However, the meanings are clearer in my mind now because the clues I received then indicate that I know the identities of two people whom I recognize in this time on earth.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t ask about you so I have no clue whether our present situation wasn’t at some time in the past very close. You could have been my mother, sister, brother, lover or even a child of mine. You might even not be in the same incarnation with me. Remember also, souls can change gender, mostly for the reason to satisfy the karma you or I have plotted.”

“I do have a lot of reading ahead of me.”

“Grace, on second thought, I think I had better take the box of letters with me tonight. The reading I just had performed three weeks ago should be back in a few days. Rather than throw you off, I think I had better not leave the ten year old ones for you to read now. I promise I’ll share the contents with you not too long from now after you have refreshed your knowledge by reading the books.”

Gracie laughed, “You are correct, I would have opened the box as soon as you left. Go along home and get some sleep. Susan will be back to work on Friday. I suspect Susan was an entity who was in one of your previous lifetimes.”

“She well may have been. Goodnight, Grace.” I paused and then asked. “Grace, may I call you Gram like Susan and Jake do?”

I had a good night’s sleep. Tuesday I arrived early and drank my coffee while going through my email. There was an email that I was to be in a meeting at nine with the operation’s manager. This didn’t bother me as this was an occurrence several times a month. When I entered the manager’s office, one of the corporation’s vice presidents was sitting in a chair off to one side.

The manager spoke, “Grady, have a seat. I called you in this morning because we are making some changes. In essence, you have worked your self out of the job you are in. Your office is the smoothest running one in the corporation. Tom and I have looked at your resume and we think we could improve our design operation with a better leader by moving you into the engineering department. You have the background and we believe the intelligence. Is this something you would be interested in taking on? We feel your talent is wasted where you are.”

I never hesitated, and said “Yes, I’d like that.” This was a plum that I wanted to pick. There were double the number of workers in this office. Jim continued and then busted my bubble.

“Understand you won’t be doing any design as such. Your job will be keeping track of all the design jobs and follow them through to completion. Things are a mess right now. Parts of files on some of the jobs are getting lost and there is need for more efficiency. Where the major screw ups are, we haven’t pinned down as of yet. When that department was set up, the president figured each engineer would be responsible for his own work from start to finish. It has got off track somewhere. We want you in there to get things organized.”

“And how much power do I have to correct what I find wrong?”

“Well, any sabotage you find would call for your firing the person. On efficiency, you can move people around. If you find an engineer who isn’t producing or pulling his or her weight you would take it up with Tom or me.”

“That would be agreeable. What about the office I’m in now? Who takes over from me?”

“I think we will promote from within. ‘Course we might run into some favoritism problems. Women do hang together. Who would you suggest?”

“Callie Waters is the oldest and been here the longest, but I’m not too sure of how she would be as boss. She is pretty tight with four of the others.”

“What about the Jackson woman. She dresses kind of funny and she is not very attractive. You did give her the highest rating on her yearly review.”

“I’d have to talk to her before offering her the job. How long would I have to train the person taking over from me?”

“Probably a month, less if possible. When can we find out who you decide on?”

“I’d like to offer Susan the job. She is out to a funeral somewhere this week and back on Friday. She certainly could fill the job as far as knowledge of the work. I might have to work on her skills some in handling her coworkers. We’ll probably have some training to do of her replacement, but I’m sure that won’t be a problem for her”

“Talk to her and let us know what you decide by next Monday.”

Tom spoke up, “Jim, let’s go down to Human Resources and go over Grady’s upgraded benefit package now. This raises you to a level two. Not bad for being here such a short time.”

There was the standard do’s and don’ts in the HR guide lines I was given. The nice part was that I was going up a pay grade, with yearly increases promised. I asked if who ever filled my job would immediately go on salary and I was told yes. “Who ever takes your place, we hope won’t abuse the privilege.” It was up to me to choose. I was almost sure if I chose Susan, she wouldn’t abuse the privilege. I was uncertain about Callie.

That evening the mailbox offered up letters from the clairvoyant. Now I would have answers to my questions. I didn’t even get supper. I took a shower, got comfortable on the couch and slit the envelope.

A note fell out, Mr. Graden Collins:

Ten years ago you had some life readings. One of those letters had some explicit clues in it. The intent was for you to be aware of entities in the back of your mind if the clues given ten years ago aligned in the same timeline. They have arrived and the entities are in your sphere at present. You covered all and more this time with your questions. That was the last time before all entities entered together the same plane since that time.”

The entities you inquired about are:

Graden (Grady) Collins:

Your name now, and then early before in a previous lifetime, Gerald.

Mrs. Grace Winthrop:

Your wife in that timeline, named, Karen, married to Gerald with a daughter, Jessie.

Susan Jackson:

A factory worker named, Sandra whom Gerald engaged to take care of your daughter, Jessie in same previous lifetime. Jessie dying at age ten.

Jake Jackson:

Son of Susan Jackson now, former daughter (Note gender change) Jessie, of Gerald and Karen in previous lifetime.