Eventually, time came when this friend who'd brought me here came over to me again. He says, “I want to show you something." I says, “All right mate.” So I went with him and we went outside and he took me down another street with little houses there, very attractive they was, with little balconies and flowers, oh beautiful flowers, I’ve never seen such flowers. And he took me down the end of this road and we came out to a big square. It was like a sort of square off the street, you see. And there was a big fountain playing in the middle.
And I could hear music. Oh it was smashing, wonderful music, the most beautiful music. And I thought, this is real nice. It reminded me of the old days when I used to sit in the park and listen to the band. This band was better than them all, it was. It was magnificent, playing away, beautiful music. I didn’t know what it was, but it was marvelous music. And I saw all these instrumentalists. They looked marvelous, they did. Funny thing is, they hadn’t got uniforms on. They got this sort of robe business on. And I thought, well, that looks very nice. But, I might look a bit odd in one of them outfits, but I didn’t think anything more about that now. I thought, what am I wearing now? And I looked and I was wearing a suit, and I thought, oh well, yes, that’s all right.
Everything was going along at the same time in my mind, I was sort of bewildered. Anyway, we sat down on a little bench under a beautiful tree, beautiful blossoms on it, and I was listening to this music, and I was sort of really being carried away. And my friend said to me, he said, “We often come and sit here and listen to music. It’s very pleasant here.” I said, “It’s very nice.” He said, “You’ll find it very restful.” He says, “You just sit there. I’ll leave you there for a little while. I’ll come back for you.” I said, “All right.” So I just sat there and listened to this lovely music. And I really enjoyed that. And, anyway, I sat there with my eyes closed, sort of listening to this very nice music.
And then all of a sudden I had this sort of feeling that there was someone sitting next to me. And I opened my eyes and I looked, and there was a very beautiful lady. She was really beautiful. Beautiful blonde hair, she had, fair, very beautiful. She looked about nineteen or twenty. And I was very sort of taken back. She says, uh, she called me by name, that’s right. I thought, “Why, that's funny, she knows my name, but I don’t know her.”
She says, “Are you finding it all very nice here?” So I says, “Very nice, thank you Miss.” So she says, “You don’t have to call me ‘Miss.’ Don’t you know me?” So I says, “No, I don’t know you.” She says, “My name is Lilly.” So I says, “Lilly? I don’t know no Lilly. Sorry," I says, "I don’t want to appear rude, but I don’t know you.” She says, “You don’t know me. That’s not surprising in a way. I’m your sister. I died when I was an infant.”
Uh, bloody, I remember my mother talking about a little girl that died was just a few days old or something, if I remember right. I says, “Well, you can’t be her." I says, "You’re grown up.” So she says, “That’s right. I’m your sister. I died when I was an infant and I’ve grown up over here.”
So I says, “Well, beats me. I’m very pleased to know you, and I feel quite happy knowing you, but it’s still very puzzling to me that you should be my sister.” And, I never knew her. She says, “Well don’t let that worry you. I’m going to look after you now that you’re here. You come with me. I’m going to take you home.” I says, “Home?” She says, “Yes, home.” So I says, "Oh."
Anyway, I went with her and she took me out of the square and down a very broad avenue lined with trees, and we branched off, and then we went down a slope, and it seemed as if we were going outside the town altogether. And we went out into the countryside, down a beautiful country road. And I could see in the distance, some small houses dotted about here and there.
Gradually, we arrived at a small cottage place. I don't know how to describe it. It was the nearest thing I'd ever seen, by the way, well, to cottages I'd seen at home in England. She stopped at this small place. It had a little garden, with a little gate and a little porch and plenty of lovely flowers, again, I noticed. We went in and went into this little place off this little passageway. On the left, I rememer, was this little room, all very cozy and comfortable. Nice chairs, and I noticed there was no fireplace. I thought, “Well, that’s odd.” I said to her, “I see you don’t have fireplaces here.” She says, “No, we don’t need fireplacees, 'cause it’s always warm and always pleasant.” So I says, “That’s nice, isn’t it. Don’t you have any rain then?” So, she says, “No. We don’t have any rain, but we have dew sometimes, strange as it may seem.” So I said, “Well, that must be nice.” She says, “Yes, it is.”
Anyway, we sat there talking and she started talking about my mother and my father and brother that I had still still on Earth. She said she often went to see them, and me when I was on Earth in infancy. And that she had been with me all through the war years. She wasn’t with me when I actually died, she said, but she got everything all ready for me. She knew I’d be coming and that I’d be brought and, anyway, there I was and I was going to live with her and she was going to look after me and I thought, oh, this is nice. And I thought, well, I don’t know, this is all so strange. Anyway, I settled in and I stayed with my sister.
Return to the Chapter 8 resources