The Lovely Bones... continued

A Second Chance at LIFE

God snapped his fingers and all of a sudden, George was standing in that fateful spot he lured Susie to and suddenly, there she was, walking home from school!

"Hello, you're the older Salmon girl... right?" She nodded, "What's your name?"
"Susie, what's yours?"
"I'm Mr. Harvey, but you can call me George if you want to," he said with a smile, he was determined not to mess up again, because if he did, not only would he be letting God down, but he'd be letting himself down too, "would you like me to walk you home? It's after dark and I know how dangerous it can be at this time of night, especially at this time of year!"
Susie nodded and he walked over to her and after making sure she was wrapped up warm, he accompanied her home, she invited him in, but he declined saying he wouldn't want to intrude, but Susie insisted, he seemed like a nice man!

When they entered the house, Susie called she was home and walked into the dining room, her parents, sister and brother looked up.
"Hello," said Mr Salmon, "who are you?"
"Mom, Dad, Lindsey and Buckley, this is Mr Harvey, it's dark out and he's just walked me the rest of the way home!"
"Thank you, Mr Harvey," Mrs Salmon said, "that was very kind of you! Buckley, go and get a plate and cutlery and set a place at the table for Mr Harvey please!"

Buckley did as he was told and soon, they were all eating, talking and laughing at George's jokes, Susie asked him if he'd ever considered writing a joke book, he said he had but he wasn't very good at putting pen to paper and he rather doubted it would get published!
"It will if I help you," Susie said with finality in her voice, "we can make it a joint effort if you like! I have a few jokes of my own we could put in!"
"That sounds like a plan, Susie," Mr Harvey said gratefully, "this could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship!"
Suddenly, Mr Salmon asked George what he had planned for Christmas, he told them that because he was widowed and had no family or friends to speak of, that he didn't really bother with Christmas!
"Well, all that can change, George," Mr Salmon said kindly, "why not spend Christmas with US?"
George thought about it and noticed that the three children seemed eager and said yes! Finally he had what he'd always wanted, a second chance at life and the first of many friends to come!