Somewhere In-Between ~ An Adventure in the Afterlife

CHAPTER 6 - TEA PARTY

The last thing Max expected in the afterlife was to be sitting at Dizzy Lizzie's kitchen table, having a tea party with a weird artist lady. Could this day get any more bizarre?

"One lump or two?" She reached across the little table to hand him the sugar bowl.

Max fumbled for words. "Well, um, I'm really not a fan of tea. Not hot tea, anyway." He looked helplessly at the pretty little china teacup and saucer in front of him. Dainty little rosebuds adorned the gently scalloped rim. "You wouldn't have a Coke by any chance, would you?"

The woman chuckled and handed him a can. His eyes nearly popped. The can looked to be straight out of a commercial, dripping wet as if it had just been grabbed from an ice cooler. "Seriously?" He gasped, and grabbed the can from her hands, popped the tab, and chugged it. After a few gulps, he put the can down and let out a highly satisfied, "Aaahhh!!" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Man, I never thought I'd get to taste anything ever again! That was amazing!"

Max stopped, frozen, realizing this didn't make any sense at all. "How is this possible? Are you hypnotizing me or something? Ever since I got here, all I've figured out to do is how to move around without flying into the trees. How is this possible that I can actually hold something in my hand, let alone drink and taste something?"

"I guess in a way I am hypnotizing you, Max." She said. "You're not drinking that pop any more than I'm drinking this tea. I'm letting you have something that feels real... normal. Because the things I have to explain to you will be quite hard to manage, sweetie."

"But how? How can you do this?" Max looked around. It all felt so very real. He felt almost in his real body again. He felt a sense of weight again... a sense of gravity.

"I'm giving you some of my energy," she said. "That's the only way I can explain it. I'm sharing it with you. Don't expect this from anyone else you meet here. Not everyone can give away their energy like this." She smiled. "But I'm not everyone."

That's for sure, Max thought. "Hey," he realized, "I don't even know your name. Who are you, anyway?"

The woman smiled and looked down at her tea. "Took you long enough to ask! And..." She looked slyly back up at him again. "... I kinda hoped you'd never ask. I don't like to broadcast who I am on the first date, if you know what I mean."

Max gave a nervous chuckle and smiled. "Well, why not? What, are you somebody famous or something?" This woman didn't look like anyone recognizable to him. "Come on, you can tell me!"

"Ha!" She barked out a loud laugh, smiling, enjoying the moment. "No, actually I don't think I will, sweetie. It's just not the way I do things. But, hey – I tell you what. You tell me what name you want to give me, and I'll use that one, okay?"

"Oh, come on, that's silly!" Max shook his head.

"No, no!" She leaned forward. "Go ahead, now, I can take it. What's my name, Max?"

Max leaned back in his chair. "Okay, okay..." He took another gulp of his Coke. "How about..." He smiled. "... Bertha?"

The woman laughed so loud, it nearly made him fall off his chair with surprise! "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Ho!... Oh, child, you are testing me, aren't you?" She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes. "Okay, honey." She crossed her arms and nodded. "Bertha it is!"

Max smiled. He couldn't believe how easy-going this lady was. "Okay, Bertha. So what's up, then? You're going to explain things to me, right?"

Bertha held her teacup. "I'll tell you what you need to know, and that's all. You've got some time to figure out a few things on your own, but I can see you need a little help." Her eyes lifted in the direction of Lizzie's room upstairs. "And so does that girl up there." She extended her pinkie finger from around the cup and pointed it at Max. "The two of you can help each other, Max."

"Are you kidding me?" Max's anger returned. "That dumb girl wants nothing to do with me! She won't even listen to me!"

Bertha shook her head. "That's because you're only telling her what everyone else comes to tell her, child. You want her help. I get it. But maybe you can help her first."

"Help her first?" Max scoffed. "Help her first?! Are you kidding me? I need to get to that hospital! I don't know how much time my sister has left before..." He stopped and looked down. "Before..." His voice crumbled and he broke into tears. "My little sister is dying right now!"

Bertha put her tea down, and held Max by the hand. "And there's nothin' you can do to stop that, boy. She's fighting for her own life right now. You can't help her with that. That's someone else's job, you hear? But I'll tell you what you can do." She lifted her arm, pointing to Lizzie's room. "You can still save that girl upstairs. Millions of Earth Angels around the world are losing their light to the darkness, and you have a chance to help one right here, right now."

"Earth Angel? Lizzie?"

"Earth Angel, Lightworker, whatever the terminology. That girl is under spiritual attack, child. She needs a sense of purpose, and you need to give her that purpose. It's up to you to help Lizzie see how important she is. That's how you help her."

"Spiritual attack?" Max's mind went back to the dark figure in Lizzie's room. "That shadow thing in her room... What was that? Did you see it?"

Bertha's face was very serious. "It's always there. I have Warriors trying to protect that girl day and night. Every chance it gets, it whispers darkness in her ear, filling her mind with fears, self doubt and thoughts of worthlessness. Lizzie thinks these thoughts are her own, but she's wrong. It's like a poison these creatures inject, and it spreads like a cancer in the human soul." Bertha looked very sad. "There is nothing worse than to see people so special allow themselves to be destroyed. It's happening to millions, all over this world." She looked at Max with determination and held his hand tighter. "And we need more Warriors, Max."

Max squirmed in his seat. "Okay, well, um... I'll help with Lizzie... But I really want to get back to where I belong, and that's with my sister. Okay?"

She heldhis hand tenderly with both of hers. "Okay, sweetie."