The Next Person You Meet in Heaven(38)

“You lose something every day you live, Annie. Sometimes it’s as tiny as the breath you just expelled, sometimes it’s so big you think you won’t survive it.”

He took her left hand. “But you do, right?”

Annie felt an arterial burst of love. Her husband was here. At least she could be with him. And yet …

“I wanted to save you,” she whispered.

“You gave me a lung.”

“But you still died.”

“That doesn’t change what you did.”

“How are you so at peace with this? All I feel is …”

“What?”

Annie searched for the word. “Heartbroken.”

Paulo thought for a moment. “I want to show you something.”

He reached inside his jacket pocket and removed a pipe cleaner rabbit.

“You gave me that already,” Annie said.

“Watch.”

Suddenly, the rabbit untwisted magically into five straightened pipe cleaners. Paulo took one and made a simple double-humped shape.

“This is the heart we’re born with, Annie. It’s small and empty because it’s been through nothing.”

He put it in her hand.

“And this …”

He took the four other pipe cleaners and twisted them to create a larger, complicated version, with lines crisscrossing the insides.

“This is the heart we die with. After the people we love. After all our losses. It’s bigger, you see?”

“But it’s broken,” Annie said.

“Yes.”

“That’s what ruins it.”

Paulo pushed the heart to Annie’s chest.

“No. That’s what makes it whole.”

Suddenly, the pipe cleaners glowed brilliantly and Annie felt a small thumping growing inside her.

“Paulo, what’s happening?”

“Thank you, Annie. For a minute, I got to breathe as you. It was amazing.”

“No, wait—”

“You have to go now.”

“I want to be with you—”

“I’ll be right here. But for now, you have to live.”

“Live?”

“You were saved from dying once, Annie. You owe the world some saving in return. It’s why you became a nurse. And why you need to go back. To save someone else.”

“No, Paulo. Please!”

He let go of her hand. Annie saw pieces of herself disappearing, first her feet and arms, then her knees, thighs, belly, chest, decomposing all that she had reconstructed during the afterlife. The surface beneath her seemed to flatten and melt, and she heard two levels of sounds, as if multiple tapes were playing at once. Paulo was fading into the brilliant glow of the northern lights. Only his face was visible now, close enough to touch. He kissed her, softly, and she tried desperately to hold on to him, to lock him in her gaze, but her lids drooped like heavy curtains and everything went dark. Then Annie felt his two hands on her shoulders, pushing her from heaven to earth.

She knew those hands had been there before.

“See you in a little bit,” Paulo whispered.

When her eyes opened, Annie was staring into a fluorescent ceiling light. She heard a soft mechanical humming and a woman’s voice say, “Doctor, look!”





Epilogue




News of the balloon crash spread quickly through the state and in time reached even the farthest corners of the world. People shared photos and made comments on the frailty of life.

The story told was of a newlywed couple, an inexperienced pilot, and a lucky ending for two of the three passengers. The pilot, who flew the balloon into an electrical line, escaped death by tumbling out of the basket. The bride was thrown to safety by her brave husband, who then jumped to earth and, despite massive injuries, survived for hours, including several minutes after receiving a lung from his wife. He expired in the operating room at the same moment she slipped into a coma due to complications from the transplant.

What few people knew was that the doctors, briefly, lost Annie as well. She flatlined in her comatose state before being revived by a team that included her Uncle Dennis, who burst into tears when her heart began to beat again.

“You’re OK now, Annie. You’re gonna be OK.”

He forced a smile. “You gave us a scare.”

Annie blinked.

For the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel scared at all.



Time passed. Like flakes shaken in a snow globe, the lives of those involved in the tragedy settled slowly to the ground, not in the same spots but in new pockets of peace.

Teddy moved to another state, joined a church, and spent much of his time leading discussions about second chances. Tolbert closed his business and sold the property. He spent five months summoning the courage to write the widowed bride. A week later, he got a letter back.

At her request, Tolbert drove to Annie’s home and was stunned to see her answer the door, visibly pregnant. She was kinder than he expected and seemed remarkably calm in light of all that had happened. Tolbert told Annie repeatedly how sorry he was, how much he liked Paulo from their brief encounter in the rain. Before he left, he asked if Annie could ever forgive him for the events that led to her husband’s death, but she insisted that wasn’t necessary.