The Door To Forever

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Book excerpt

Chapter 1

Hi! My name is John. Just John will do. I am an old man now. I should’ve sat down decades ago and started writing this story, but I didn’t. You know how life gets in the way of plans sometimes, right? Well, I am finally doing it even though this story never really ends because I am living it every time I wake up in the morning. If you are reading this, then you know I finished as much of the story as I could before I packed my bags for my final journey to Heaven.

It all began a long, long, long time ago. I think I was probably around four, maybe five. I had not started school yet. In my day, we did not have kindergarten, so we started school at age six.

My bedroom was also my playroom. Mom did not want my toys all over the house, so I spent a whole truckload of time in my bedroom, alone, or so I thought, anyway. One day this kid, a boy, showed up in my bedroom. Mom did not bring him in, I know that. At least I did not see her bring him in, and the way she acted later on when she found out about him pretty much confirmed that assertion. Of course, I cannot remember exact conversations from way back then, so I will simply create conversations based on the memories I have of those times. Some but not all of the names I do reveal are real, though.

“Hi, I’m Jason,” he said.

“Hi.”

“I came to play with you today. Is that okay?”

“Sure.” I did not have a lot of friends when I was young. We lived out in the country where neighbors were pretty scarce, so I sure as heck was not going to say no to this welcome visitor, wherever he came from. He was a little taller than me but seemed to be around my age. “What would you like to play?”

“This is your house. What would you like to play?”

“I like to play war. I have lots of toy soldiers and army trucks. We can have lots of battles.”

“Okay, let’s play war, then.”

We played war for a while and then I think we moved on to play farm. I also had lots of animals in my farm set, and I loved to put up fences to keep them from getting away. Jason and I enjoyed a great time playing together. It was wonderful to finally have a friend my age who liked the same toys that I did.

My mom startled me when she opened the bedroom door. “Lunchtime, John.”

“Okay, Mom. Is Jason staying for lunch?”

“Who is Jason?” my mother asked with a strange look on her face.

“Jason, here,” I replied and looked over to where I had last seen him, but he was gone. I looked all around the room to see where he was hiding.

“What are you doing now?” Mom asked, somewhat perturbed.

“Looking for Jason. He was right here.”

“Come on, John. The soup is getting cold. Let’s go. If Jason comes back, he can stay for lunch.”

“Good. I like him.”

Jason did not come back for lunch.

After lunch, I was eager to get back to my bedroom to see if Jason was hiding there somewhere. I did not see him at first and was disappointed, but then he reappeared behind me. “Where did you go?” I asked.

“I was here.”

“Why didn’t you come for lunch?”

“Your mom doesn’t know me.”

I found that a bit confusing, I think, but at the age of four or five, I did not really give it much thought. I was just thrilled that my new playmate was back or had not left. We had another great time playing for a couple of hours, and then Mom came into my room once again.

“Are you going to have an afternoon nap?”

“I am not tired, Mommy. I want to keep playing with Jason.”

Mom carefully looked around my room for Jason, who, unfortunately for me, disappeared again. She glared at me for a few seconds then walked over and picked me up. She plunked me unceremoniously down on my bed and sat beside me. “It is not nice when you make up stories. Mommy does not like that.”

“I am not making up stories, Mommy.”

“Oh! Then where is Jason?”

“I don’t know. He goes away when you come in the room.”

“I see.” Mom paused for a few moments as if she was uncertain what her next move should be. “Okay, listen to me carefully. I do not want to hear you talk any more about Jason. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“Good, now close your eyes and have a nap,” she ordered and left the room.

It is difficult for me to remember all of the details from that day many years ago. I know I could not understand why Mommy was so upset about my new playmate, why she could not see him, and why Jason up and disappeared when she entered my room. I was trying to process all of this through my young mind when Jason walked up beside my bed.

“Hi, Johnny.”

“Hi, Jason. Why do you go away when my mom comes into the room?”

“As you can see, she does not understand that I am really here.”

“How come?”

“It’s a bit hard for you to understand, I know. Just think of it as kind of like magic, okay.”

“Okay. Mommy does not want me to play with you anymore.”

“Johnny, she did not say that. She said she did not want you to talk to her about me anymore, right?”

I thought about that for a moment of two. “Yes, that’s right. So, does that mean you will still come to play with me?”

“Yes, if you want me to.”

“I want you to. I had lots of fun today playing with you.”

“I had lots of fun, too. Just try and remember not to tell your mother or father that you were playing with me so you do not get them upset with you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. I am going to go away again and come back another day to play with you. You better take a nap like your mother told you so she is not upset with you again, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes for a little while and then peeked a few minutes later. Jason was gone.

Jason came back to play with me often. Not every day, but often. I had a great time playing with him. A while later, it was probably months later, I can’t be sure, but I know it was not years later, he surprised me.

“Would it be okay if I bring some other friends along to play with us when I come back next time?”

“I guess so,” I replied.

By that time spring had arrived, and since we lived out in the country and our house was a long ways from the road, I was allowed to play outside by myself. Jason had already begun to come and play with me while I was outside, as well as other times while I was up in my room.

The next day, I think, or at least soon after, Jason arrived with another boy and two girls. They appeared to all be around my age. I did not see where they came from; they just were there while I was playing by myself. Jason introduced his friends to me. The boy was called Tommy and the girls were Crystal and Nancy.

Our property had an old barn on it, and we had lots of fun playing hide and seek, climbing around the different levels of the barn and playing in the loose straw. From that day on Tommy, Crystal and Nancy pretty much always came along with Jason when he visited me. It was the best summer of my short life, without a doubt.

Approximately a year later, I think, one day in the fall, Jason called me aside when the five of us were playing in the barn.

“Let’s go outside for a walk, just you and I. I have something I need to tell you.”

The others continued to play in the barn while Jason and I walked along the path that ran away from the barn and house towards the back of the farm property. Jason was quiet for a few minutes, and then he stopped suddenly.

“I need to tell you something,” he said after I stopped and faced him. “Pretty soon, probably in a month or so, I likely will not be able to come and play with you anymore, Johnny.”

I burst into tears. “Why?” I blubbered between sobs. You are my best friend.”

“I know, and I am sorry about this, but there is something else that I most likely will be required to do. If this event takes place, then I simply can’t come and play with you anymore. The others will still come to play with you, but I likely will not be able to come much longer. Please don’t cry.”

About a month later, my mother delivered a healthy baby boy. She called him Jason.

Baby Jason was a hoot! I adored him the first time I set eyes on him. Of course, he did not look at all like my playmate Jason, except when we looked into each other’s eyes. I was only six when he was born, but something in my heart told me that my two Jasons were really one. Baby Jason and I became best buddies immediately. Every time he saw me, his eyes lit up, and every time I saw him, my heart skipped a beat. Seventy-plus years later we are still good buddies, but unfortunately, after he grew up, he found his ideal job a couple hundred miles away from home, so we do not see each other often enough. The experiences I had in my later years, which you will hear about down the road, have left no doubt in my mind that my two Jasons are in fact one.