"Rick, it is the middle of the night; and the fog is thicker than pea soup. Weird for this area, but I'm sitting this out."

I swiped my card on the timeclock. I looked at Josie. "Dude, I have been here for 18 hours, and it's Saturday. I am tired, and I wannna go home."

"All the more reason you should wait. If I lit up now, I probably couldn't see the light at the end of my ciggy if I was outside. You could sleep on the couch in the lady's room. Everybody does it."

"I know. When I have less than eight hours off between shifts on weekends, I do it myself."

"And we have all the comforts of home. Coffee, tea, some decent stuff in the vending machines."

"I'd rather go to the Ginger Jar across the street." I never wanted to see one of those horrid sandwiches from the vending machines again. I didn't know how people could eat those things. Once during the year end rush I ate them for about two weeks straight, and I didn't feel too good by the end of those two weeks. I haven't bought anything from them since.

"So would I, but I can't afford that."

Oh, I'm sure Josie could if she didn't have three kids to support along with a two pack a day habit, wasn't financing a new car, and making a ridiculous half a house payment every month. Yeah, her husband worked, but with the price of day care taking half her salary, I wondered why she worked. Their taxes were probably ridiculous when combined. I know mine were when I was stupid enough to be married. They might have come out ahead net if she didn't work and looked after her kids, being her husband made more than her; and would be able to declare a greater tax deduction. "It's all a matter of priorites," I said.

I never had a new car in my life, always rented the cheapest place in town, and got a vasectomy the month after I turned 18. No, I didn't make the most on the planet; but with my low overhead, zero interest payments, and lots of overtime; money had never been much of a problem for me. With regular living, I couldn't spend all I made. I'd have to go out of my way, and yeah; riiiiiiight. It wasn't gonna happen.

"Yeah, having a family as a priority does cost, but it's worth it."

Suuuuuuuure. That's why you're always bitching about what little sleep you get, and how much in debt you are, and how little time you have, and on and on. "Uh huh. I'm leaving."

I turned, and walked toward the door.

"Richard Jacob, I hope to see you Monday night."

I looked at her. "Probably. I don't think God is through abusing me yet." Or should I have said, 'I don't think Yahweh is through abusing me yet?'

Oh, I don't know. I wasn't the world's best Jew. I'd read the Torah, the Talmud, and I couldn't for the life of me understand how anyone could measure up to being a Talmudic Jew, being the constraints were a bit harsh and unnatural. I knew the alleged biblical history of the Hebrews, but I also knew the fact that some of it looked historically questionable. I knew the rituals, celebrated quite a few of the days, but I didn't really live the life. I was even a holocaust questioner. I think it happened, but I doubt the numbers were as high as was said. I had a pretty secular mind. I thought my free will was more important than the religion I was born into. I also thought Zionism sucked. It made no sense, and a people calling themselves The Chosen People made even less sense. If there was one God, wasn't He, or It the God of everyone?

I walked out of the computer room, down the hall, through the mailroom, through the courier pickup room, and out the building. I wouldn't have been able to find my car if I didn't know where it had been parked.

Maybe I was stupid. I probably would have been wise to go back and wait for a few hours to see if the fog would clear, but wisdom wasn't always one of my attributes. I could be as reckless as hell sometimes, and this was sometimes.

I got into my car, reset my secondary odometer so I could know where I was without having to see the landmarks, turned the high beams on, and backed out slow. I must have hit the streets at three miles an hour.

All I had to do was cross the street to get to the freeway entrance. Then I'd drive a mile, and hit the bridge. After I got over the water, the fog would probably clear so I could see the end of my gorgeous beak of a nose outside of my car. The bridge was six miles long, but I figured it might be a safe drive if I didn't go over forty miles an hour. I'd be able to see tail lights, and I might even be able to follow those lights.

I could barely see the traffic lights, but hey. I said I could barely see them, I didn't say I couldn't see them. When they turned green, I went.

I ended up driving more like thirty miles an hour, and I used the lights of the bridge to guide me. My entire drive home was fifteen miles. On a good day, it took me about eighteen minutes. Tonight, who knows?

When my reset odometer hit about three miles, I caught up with someone. I saw two red lights ahead of me. I slowed to their speed, which was more like twenty miles an hour. Aaaaaaaaargh, but I liked the idea of travelling slower behind the vehicle ahead of me more than the concept of crashing into something that wasn't lit up; and going ten miles an hour faster.

I kept a good following distance, and my eyes were mostly frozen on the lights, with the occasional glance at the odometer.

The lights ahead. They were turning pink. No, they were pink. I just noticed, in my semi-hypnotised state. Did another vehicle. . .no! Rear lights weren't pink. They were red, or red and white.

Weird. I looked at my odometer. Eight miles. I was on land. The fog showed no sign of abating. The freeway would end in three miles. I'd have a traffic light, go down a business district street for two miles, then one mile down a residential spot that was my home stretch.

Not one car had passed me. There were no lights in my rear view mirror. The lights ahead of me were turning colour again. This time I saw it happen. They went from pink to purple. The most beautiful purple I ever saw in my life. They wouldn't change again. I didn't understand it, but what could I do?

I ended up totally mesmorised by those lights. I no longer checked the odometer. . .until it said I'd travelled twenty miles.

Needless to say, I panicked. The fog was still as thick as pea soup, I'd not noticed any traffic lights or storefront lights, and I'd travelled five miles further than where I'd live. I also didn't hit any of the little hills and valleys on the way home. The road had been flat. The bridge had a highrise for boats to go under, but I didn't even remember that; now that think of it.

I stopped my car, and got out.

That's when the fog started to lift. It didn't go away, but I had some visibility.

I didn't know where I was.

I was on a road, and there were tons of trees on both sides. I was in the middle of a forest road, but there were none of those where I was supposed to be. In fact, the road I was on being a straightway from the freeway ended about a mile after my home.

I had enough visibility to turn around and go back.

If only my car would start. It was like the battery was dead. Oh, shit! Big time!

I stepped back outside. It was cold. Just after midnight in November was not comfortable in these parts.

I saw lights ahead again. Red. Close together. Very bright. They were in the wrong direction from where I wanted to go. The lights were in pairs. They were high off the ground, with one pair being a little higher than the other, and very close together. In fact, they looked like two pairs of eyes, but eyes couldn't glow red. The fog was still thick enough to obscure the source of the light, but I could make my way without crashing into something now. Should I follow the lights, or should I go back and hope I could find my way home?

How stupid and reckless was I feeling now? A part of me was more than a little frightened, but there was the curiosity factor of what was behind those lights.

They weren't that far away. I walked forward. Just when I started to see a shape, the lights disappeared, and I heard the clip-clop of a horse.

No! Those couldn't have been the eyes of a horse and rider.

I froze. When I looked down, the street was cobbled. I looked back, and my car was gone. I should still have been able to see it.

I admit it. I was terrified.

The lights came back into view.

I wanted to run back to where I came from. When I looked in that direction, the street was cobbled there too, when just moments before it had been paved.

I wasn't where I used to be. What were those lights? The fog was getting thinner, and I should be able to see. But I lost sight of the lights again, and I heard a horse running away.

The road turned left, and I saw a castle a couple hundred yards before me. It was huge. It went way above the trees, and I couldn't see the ends of it from where I was. I moved foreward, and there was a bridge over a decorative moat with lily ponds, and such. Torches lit up the front and the short tunnel on the other side of the bridge that I assumed would lead to a courtyard. The gates were wide open.

There was no castle like this anywhere near where I lived. This made Versaiiles look like a peasant shack from what I saw. I didn't understand what was happening.

I heard a whisper. "Welcome. It's OK. Come on in. It's cold out, and we have fire and hot tea and cocoa. Bread and soup, too." The whisper was accented. It sounded Celtic, and masculine.

"Where are you?"

"Ahead. Go across the bridge, through the tunnel to the courtyard. Cross the courtyard, and go to the door. It's not locked. Turn right, and go left down the second hall. You'll get to a place more comfortable."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why shouldn't you? If we wanted to hurt you, you'd already be history."

I couldn't argue. "Who's we?"

"Two of us are Donn and Macha. I won't tell you who I am yet, because you know of me and wouldn't believe me."

I'd believe anything by now, but I didn't say that. I just followed the instructions. The names were odd. 'Dun' and 'Maha', though the second syllable of Maha sounded like a cat's hiss preceded it, or something.

The minute I stepped on that bridge over the moat, I felt all my fear melt away. I felt this incredible peace come over me like I never felt before. The bridge was maybe twenty feet, and the tunnel was perhaps ten. When I saw the courtyard, I was flabbergasted.

There were multi-coloured fires on various standing torches, and fountains, and perfect flowers of all kinds, and shade trees, and two gazebos. I was too cold to fully appreciate it's beauty, but I knew I wanted to come back to it in the day.

I suddenly became aware the fog was completely gone. I also felt like my nose was getting frostbite, or something. I ran to the entrance, up the seven steps to a veranda porch, and opened the front door.

It was ornately carved with a heavy black metal knocker, and it was quite thick; but it opened with ease. I closed it behind me.

It was just about as cold inside, as outside. There were torches on the walls. Many torches, but they didn't do much for heating the place up. Right I went, and it must have been a quarter mile before I came to that second corridor the mysterious voice whispered to me. I turned left, not that there was another way to turn; and damn, could these halls get any longer?

I saw a bright light ahead. I started running. That helped warm me up, and it wasn't long before I came to the lit room.

There were two fireplaces at opposite ends of the room, and tons of torches on the walls. There were two ways to get in. My way, and there was another corridor on the other side of where I came in. There was a fair sized dining table with a candle chandelier hanging over it, and I recognised the two neon eyes I'd seen on the road. They belonged to an amazingly attractive man who was whiter than snow. He had thick, long, alabaster hair and a face that was more beautiful than handsome. I wasn't gay, but one had to give this work of art his due. There was another man who looked almost the same as the white one, but with red hair and a little more colour to his skin. He was also of slighter stature than the white one. The most striking of all was a red haired Amazon that Helen of Troy couldn't have held a candle to.

"One of you invited me here?" I asked.

"Yes, Rick. It was I. Me and my horse Gilgamesh were the two who met you on the road." He had an Irish accent.

"Why did you run away from me?"

"Look at me. What would you have done if you'd seen me like this before the peace of death came over you?"

"I'm dead?" I asked, though I wasn't really that surprised.

"You got broadsided right before you got to the freeway entrance. I led you here."

"And you are?"

"Thanatos. The lady is Macha, and my virtual twin is Donn. Stefan's out on assignment, but you'll meet him soon enough. Have a seat and have some food with us. Corn chowder, creamed black tea with mango flavour or cocoa with whipped cream, and the bread is buttered and warm."

I walked to the table and sat down. "Greek Death god. OK. The dead can eat, huh?"

"There is no death," said Donn. "The transferred can eat. . .or not. You can also choose not to feel temperature. It's all voluntary here."

"And where is here?" I asked.

Donn said, "Tech Duinn. It means House Of Donn. I built this place, and it lies between what you call Life and Death. It's where you go before you get placed where you belong."

I scowled. "Does that mean another life?"

"In your case, I think not," said Thanatos. "You strike me as being too evolved for that. You seem as though you should be in the Elysian Fields, or with Osiris. You'll have to check out both realms later, at your leisure."

I had a bowl waiting for me, and I ladled some soup into it. I took a piece of bread and dunked it into the soup. When I bit into it, I found that I don't think I ever had anything as good. "The Greek or Egyptian afterworld for a Jew?"

"We click better than you and Azrael," said Thanatos. "He would have worked, but this was better."

"Man, I had no idea dying would be so easy," I said.

"It isn't always," said Macha. "Not everyone deserves an easy death, but for those that do, your way was very common. We cast the illusion to quite a few that they simply walk into The House Of Death."

I poured myself some tea. That was damn good as well. I wasn't cold in the slightest, by now. I looked at Thanatos. "If you're Greek, why do you have an Irish accent?"

He chuckled. "That's a long sordid story, and you're quite welcome to read it if you like."

I smiled. "Sordid, huh?"

"Oh, you wouldn't believe what we've been through; or what we've done before we got to where we are," said Donn.

"Oh, I don't know about that. How long can I stay here?"

"As long as you like," said Donn. "A few stay with us forever, but that's not in your nature. You'll want to move on, I'm certain. The timing is completely up to you, though."

I raised a cup of tea to them. "What can I say, but thank you?"

Everyone else raised their cups to me. "No worries," said Thanatos. "Just enjoy your stay and do what you gotta do."