bluegatereview

I think that when we die we will go to a place that looks like Richmond Park, except that the ponds will have joined together and formed a winding black and murky Styx to keep the park apart and safe from the living. Our death park will be idyllic, full of jumping deer and naked people, who will skip about while raising their arms in the air and chanting joyously. We won’t stand it. But the gates will be bolted so that no one can leave, or enter Death by mistake. Legends will be told about a few who hid in Charon’s boat and sneaked back to Life while dead newcomers were being admitted through the gates, though none of us will know anybody who managed such a feat. There will be a flower plantation where we will go to remember and honor our living. When Charon is not busy collecting newcomers from the other side, he will take us on daytrips on the river. If we are naughty and try to lean over and look for our missing reflection in the water, he will hit us over the ear with his oar. He must guard us closely so that we don’t fall into the river deep and drown. That would be terrible.

1990s