Down Below

by Brian Greene

Joe, who was eight and who had recently gotten comfortable riding a bike, decided to take a little spin around the neighborhood at noontime on a Saturday. Joe’s mom had a split shift at the phone company that day and was taking a nap after finishing the morning half of her workday. Joe’s sister (12) was ironing her hair, and his brother (10) was reading the sports page. Joe’s dad was somewhere, who knew where.

Joe had just gotten to the street from the driveway when the neighbors’ poodle, who terrorized him so often, came running and barking. The dog raced up to Joe’s bike and started biting at Joe’s legs as the boy pedaled. Panicked, Joe decided to turn around and ride back home to safety. But when he completed a u-turn, he was riding toward a moving car coming in his direction. The car’s driver, taken by surprise by the child’s sudden 180, couldn’t stop in time.

When Joe lay unconscious in the street after the car hit him and knocked him off his bike, he had a dream. In the vision, he was playing by himself in his family’s back yard when two serene children approached him. One of the children pointed to a golden ladder that hung untethered to anything and that seemed to go on indefinitely into the sky, toward the sun.

“You can come with us now. God’s ready for you.”

As Joe began climbing the golden ladder in his dream, just behind the two angels, he at first felt at peace, happy that he’d been invited to go and live in Heaven. But then he saw his mom, looking worried and frustrated as she checked her watch while standing in line at a grocery store. Joe’s mom, who worked as a telephone operator and often put in overtime hours, had to do so much to keep up their home and take care of her three children. She did everything, while her husband spent his time gambling away the family’s money at dog tracks, in back-room card games, and on Sunday football.

In the dream, Joe hesitated in his climbing, and he got the angels’ attention.

“I can’t go with you. I’m needed down below.”

The dream ended and Joe came out of the unconscious state he’d slipped into after getting hit. He looked up, dazed, and saw that many of the people from the neighborhood were standing nearby, watching him. He caught his mom’s eye as she stood over him. He brought himself to a standing position and regarded the little crowd encircling him.

“He’s ripped the seat of his pants.”

Some nervous laughter came from a few different people after one of Joe’s family’s neighbors said that.

Joe looked at his mom. She’d have to go back to work soon, pull the second half of her split shift. She always had to do so much. She was smiling lovingly at Joe.

“He’ll have a scar on his bum,” somebody else said.