Chapter Fifteen

Marion stood as well.

As she did so, the crazy, not-so-naked guy who just might be King Arthur, held out his hand rather chivalrously and helped her to her feet. She smiled up at him with some serious puppy love in her eyes. My heart sank.

Great, my dream girl has the hots for King Arthur. What the hell chance did I have?

"So are you with us?" she said, turning to me.

"Can we at least get some breakfast?"

She rolled her eyes and took Arthur's hand and led him through the hotel suite toward the door. She called back over her shoulder:

"There's no time, James. C'mon, hurry!"

"I knew you were going to say that," I said and looked down at my bare feet. "Wait, I have to put my shoes on!"

But they were already gone.

* * *

I pulled my socks and shoes on and dashed after them. The seam of one of my socks was crooked. I hate when that happens.

They were just exiting the hotel and stepping into the bright sunshine of the late morning sun when I caught up to them. Gone was the rain and most of the clouds. Although giving off little heat, the sun was shining furiously.

The three of us merged with a throng of pedestrian traffic along a busy sidewalk. As we did so, I suddenly had a damn good question:

"Hey, if you're really King Arthur, then why not lead us straight to the Grail?"

Arthur, who was a few inches taller than me, glanced back over his shoulder. There was a bemused expression on his handsome face. "And just what do you think I'm doing?"

"Then why not just, you know, make it appear? After all, you just appeared."

Supposedly, I wanted to add. We moved past an outdoor cafe; I eyed the steaming dishes longingly.

"And where would the fun be in that?" he asked jovially.

I blinked. That caught me off guard. "You're here for fun?"

"Sure," he said. "Why are you here?"

I thought about that. Yeah, my dreams had been pretty persistent, but the idea of coming to England to pursue them had certainly been an intriguing one.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess I'm here because I thought it would be fun."

He laughed. "Life is supposed to be fun, lad. You are supposed to enjoy yourself. It is only you humans who have made things so difficult."

You humans? Okay, that sounded weird.

"I'm buying a scone," I said when we came upon a bakery. I didn't check to see if they stopped or not. I didn't care. I was hungry and I was getting a scone and a coffee, and that was that.

But stop they did, and Marion even put in an order for both she and Arthur, who excitedly picked out something dripping with chocolate icing. I think it was a cinnamon roll, but with all the icing, it was hard to tell. Anyway, I was reminded of a kid in a candy shop.

I paid for everyone, although Marion had her wallet out and was hunting for some money. While she hunted, I handed the young lady behind the counter a few pounds and told her to keep the change. In actuality, I had no idea how much I had just given her, nor did I care.

Back in the sunlight, Arthur was already making a mess of things. Chocolate icing covered his lips and hands; Marion giggled and used a napkin to clean him up.

Damn. Lost her. To King Arthur, no less.

But did you ever have her?

Nope. Not even close.

I couldn't feel too bad. After all, they seemed to make a very nice couple, and they seemed very comfortable around each other. Very natural. Granted, I would have loved to have been on the receiving end of that napkin, but life goes on, right?

On the move, I ate my scone and drank my coffee, and when I spilled a little of both down the front of my shirt, I didn't see Marion running over with a napkin. Granted, Arthur was still making a royal mess of himself (no pun intended) and needed Marion's help, but whatever.

Maybe being freshly re-born had its downside: clumsiness. Maybe getting used to one's new physical body took some time.

Lord, what am I saying?

I had no idea. I had no idea what I believed, or what was going on. But something strange was going on here. Something worth looking into, even if my next stop was a looney bin.

Ah, what the hell. I didn't fly halfway around the world just to go home again, right? And what better way to explore Glastonbury than with King Arthur himself?

Right?

Yes, the same King Arthur who was currently sucking a massive chocolate stain out of his souvenir sweatshirt.

Lord, help me.

Chapter Sixteen

The sunshine was short-lived.

The sky quickly filled with clouds and a sharp wind followed. Tree leaves scuttled across the cobblestone sidewalks, and those with the forethought to bring a jacket, zipped them up tightly with glee. Marion was the only one in our group wearing a jacket. Psychics always think ahead.

I was cold but didn't complain. And if I got cold enough I could always pop into a souvenir shop and get an I Heart Glastonbury jacket.

I was walking behind the two of them. As much as it pained me to admit, they really did make a good couple; that is, if they were in fact a couple at all.

Now explain to me how could you be born one day, and have the prettiest girl in the land the next?

Maybe if you were King Arthur, you could.

King Arthur?

Really?

I think I was jealous of the naked guy who wasn't naked any more. The naked guy who might just be the greatest king Britain has ever seen.

Or its greatest nut job.

Either way, Marion was hanging onto his arm as if he were a buoy in turbulent seas. For her, maybe he was. Even now, from behind them, I could see her struggling for breath. She was sick. Very sick, and my heart went out to her, and suddenly I wanted her happy no matter who she was with.

King Arthur made her happy.

Good for him.

Lucky bastard.

"So where are we going?" I asked, but the moment the words left my mouth I saw the answer: there, before us in a crowded outdoor marketplace, was a long line of smiling, happy people.

And why wouldn't they be smiling? After all, they were waiting in line for a chance to remove history's most coveted sword:

Excalibur.

* * *

We got in line, too.

I had to admit that I was a bit intrigued. Was Excalibur really in there? Could the naked guy who was no longer naked actually pull it free? So far, no one else had been able to remove it.

Of course not, a voice inside my head said. Because the sword is a fake. A ruse. A hoax to separate tourists from their hard-earned pounds.

Anyway, I watched a great many people enter the tent with a smile on their faces, only to exit a moment later still smiling. Sometimes they shrugged or snapped their fingers. And every one of them seemed to enjoy the experience.

Still. A scam was a scam. And I was sure this was one.

Well, pretty sure.

So we waited with the other chumps, and while we did so, I asked a few more questions. "Can we go back to the part where you mentioned remembering why you had returned here?"

"Of course," said Arthur.

"Can you, well, elaborate on that?"

"My reason for being here is very specific," he said. "I'm not necessarily here to learn or to evolve my own soul, although that might still happen."

"Because you're here to help," I said.

"Yes, exactly," he said.

The line moved forward a little. The wind picked up, whistling over my exposed ears. Luckily, I was growing my hair out, and my longish, rakish hair kept my ears mostly warm.

"And the rest of us?" I asked.

"The rest of you don't remember why you're here, which is kind of the point," he said.

"And what is the point?"

"To re-discover yourselves, to re-discover God."

"Why do I need to re-discover God?"

"You don't. You can do whatever you want."

I turned to Marion. "Does any of this make sense to you?"

She nodded. Of course she nodded. I'm sure that whatever her darling king said, she would agree to it. If he said pigs could fly, I'm sure she would have happily nodded about that, too.

Okay, that sounded a bit catty, didn't it?

Marion said, "We're born with a sense of separation from God for a purpose. One of our jobs here is to reconnect with God."

"To reconnect with God?"

"Yes," she said.

"Which implies we were already connected," I said, trying to kick start my brain into gear. "Or that I already knew Him."

"Yes," she said.

"Before I was born?" I said.

"Yes."

"You're saying I knew God before I was born?" Okay, now my head was hurting a little.

"Oh, yes," she said.

I looked to Arthur for some help here, but he was looking up into the sky, whistling to himself. A merry tune, from what I could gather.

The line before us continued moving; we shuffled forward obediently. Our conversation had attracted the attention of a few bystanders.

"Are you implying that I'm reincarnated?" I finally asked.

"No," she said. "I'm implying that you have always been alive."

"Always?"

"Yes."

"From the beginning of time?"

"Oh, yes."

Lord, my head hurt. Maybe there was a better way to pass the time in line. Maybe I should ask Arthur how Merlin was doing.

Or maybe not.

"Fine," I said, plunging blindly forward. "Last question before my head splits in two: why do we need to reconnect with God in the first place? Why not be born with full knowledge of God? Heck, why be born at all? Why not just keep living in Heaven? It's got to be better than here."

Marion looked at me patiently. "Only when we reconnect with God does true growth occur. Only when we awaken to Him do our souls evolve into something more than they were before."

"I don't under - "

"We are born with separation from God so that we may know separation."

"What does that mean?" I asked. "Seriously. Help me here."

"It means," said Arthur, leaning forward, his breath smelling of chocolate cinnamon. "You cannot begin to know God, unless you have not known Him."

"But - "

"Can you know up without knowing down?" he asked me.

"Probably not, but - "

"Can you know hot without knowing cold? Can you know good without knowing evil? Can you know love without knowing hate?"

"No, but - "

"So it is with God," said Marion. "If you bask in God's love for all eternity, then you will never have the experience of not knowing His love."

The line was moving again. We had attracted a few more listeners.

"And why would I want to experience not having God's love? I'm not exactly sure what God's love is, anyway, but having it seems a lot better than not having it. And if given a choice I choose to bask in God's love."

"Tis a good choice," said Arthur.

"But you're saying I chose to come here, to earth, to experience not basking in God's love."

"Yes," he said.

"And why would I do that?"

"To evolve. To grow. To experience something new."

"And I had a choice to be born?"

"Always," he said.

I was about to say something when Marion touched my arm lightly and pointed to the tent. "It's your turn, James."

And so it was.