Minnie Goes to Heaven (39)

(a novel continued)

Lydia unwrapped her stick of gum and popped it into her mouth.
"What are you doing?" Minnie asked. "What if there is a direction about this gum?"
"There hasn't been a direction not to chew the gum."
"True." 

The women looked around. “This is a place you might find in the land of Israel,” Lydia said.

Minnie agreed. She reached into her pouch. "What do you think this bottle is about?" She held the tiny bottle up and swished the contents around. "Looks like oil. Lamp oil...like in the parable of the ten virgins." 

"Surely we don't need lamp oil in this place," Lydia said. "There isn't a bit of darkness."
"Anointing oil?"
"Anoint your feet and I will lead you to the Tree of Life," they both heard in their spirits.
"Of course, we should have known," Lydia said.
They poured out the little bottles of oil on each other's bare feet. Minnie admired her clean feet. No matter what she did, her feet were never dirty.

“Follow the path, across the stream and over the knoll,” they heard the Lord say.

Minnie and Lydia got up to look for a path. “There it is,” Lydia pointed to her right. They followed the path among the olive trees until it crossed a stream. “There’s the knoll,” said Minnie. On the other side of the knoll they saw a valley and on the other side of the valley a few hills. “Go to the centre hill,” they heard. 

“I wonder where the others are?” Minnie said. “I mean there were a few thousand of us in the meadow and we haven’t met a soul since we first entered the woods.”

“Strange.”

They crossed the floor of the valley and climbed the centre hill. At the top of the hill, they found three crosses. “The cross, of course,” Lydia and Minnie came to the realization simultaneously. “The tree of life. This is the Tree of Life. Jesus died here to give us life. We’ve found it.” They sat at the foot of the cross.

“Now what Lord?”

“Tie your handkerchiefs to the cross and blow your whistles.”

As soon as they blew their whistles, Hershal and Lydia’s angel, Ramone, appeared. “You did that in record time.” Hershal said. The angels lowered their backs, the women hugged each other good-bye. 

Hershal and Minnie flew back to the cottage where Hershal prepared a tall glass of cool lemonade. “So what will you want to do the rest of the week?” Hershal  asked.

“Do you have suggestions?” 

“Talk to the Lord about it,” Hershal said.

“I will.”