Am I ready?

[She smiles.] That is for you to decide. [His fingers brush a few wispy hairs from my forehead.]

I am.

Yes, you are. [They glance at each other, then at me. A wave rolls through the air and passes through my chest.]

Tell me again about the World.

What would you like to know?

Why must it be?

[His eyes are soft now.] We will not be far away.

Will I know?

[A pause.]

And what about Love?

Yes, that too. [God speaks together and they each place a hand on my shoulders. Her hand is light, His gentle.]

How will it be?

The same as here. Cloudspeak.

The world looks so cold from here. Will it carry?

It is cold. [She grows warmer.] Yes, it is cold. But it will carry. [His face tells me the story of Jesus.]

All will be renewed?

It is. [We are holding hands now, and always were.]

Will I know?

No. [Even then those words rhymed.]

They won’t understand me, you know.

No! [We laugh together.]

I can’t wait to touch the stones.

Yes, of course. [She smiles now, thinking about the stones.] I made those.

I can’t wait for the stones, [name redacted].

And the water.

How strange it must be to see only with eyes and hear only with ears. [I am calculating now.]

Strange, yes. And for some, no eyes and no ears.

How will we manage?

Cloudspeak. [Her sight is focused on a far-off star, and She knows how far. Her eyes are yellow.]

They won’t understand me.

No. [We cry together.]

And Right? And Good? And True?

Yes, that too. All of that. [He understands.] And Loss.

Always?

[We see time passing. We are the only ones now, floating in the middle of black. It is only He, and She, and I. She teaches me a new song about the color green, and about fire. He adds a second verse about tennis shoes and picture books.]

What do I see? [Something in the World catches my attention.]

Men and women.

But I don’t…

They won’t understand…

…me. You didn’t tell me this before.

What will you do?

[I look at the Sun and the Earth spinning in circles. And He and She and everyone else not spinning. I remember the songs They sang and the time I first sang along. I remember all the ones who are there and the ones who have already returned. And I remember the stones.] Cloudspeak.