A Survivor's Guide to Eternity(8)

“Presupposing I believe you for a while, how long do you think I might have been dead?”

“Hard to say for the first time. Maybe a year or eighteen months before you get reincarnated the first time. I have no idea why, maybe a backlog? Time does seem to flow more predictably from the second time onwards.”

Ed thought quietly for a moment, overwhelmed by the whole idea of being dead for over a year.

“I have no idea how to respond to all this. It’s so far fetched. Maybe I’ve taken some very strong hallucinogenic drugs or something. This can’t be happening? Besides, why do you keep saying first and second time? Does it keep happening over and over again?”

“Yes, unfortunately it happens again and again. There are some important things to know though,” replied the fox gently.

“Important things? What do you mean?”

“What’s your name?”

“Ed. Ed Trew”

“Well, Ed Trew, I’m Sam Edwards and like you, I have human consciousness and memories. Just like you, I had the whole jolt and shock of coming around to realise I was an animal with human memories. Also, just like you I was incredibly lucky to meet another like us, a ‘Transient’ who told me what I am about to tell you. Most Transients don’t get this opportunity and before they know it, their minds are cabbage and they’ve lost their opportunity. Basically the deal is this. You keep your human consciousness for around four days. During this time your human memories will gradually fade. As this happens, the instincts of the host animal get stronger and stronger and you start to give yourself over to that creature.”

“What do you mean, give yourself over?”

“You start to lose all your human awareness and basically your soul dissolves into the animal’s basic consciousness.”

“What about speaking and communication?”

“You lose all that.”

“Memories?”

“All gone. You become a basic creature.”

Ed sat motionless, in a state of shock and disbelief, listening to the fox’s revelations.

“After the four days expire, all your human memories, habits, instincts, awareness and emotions disappear completely and you become the common or garden animal with no self-consciousness whatsoever. What happens with these animals after death, I don’t know, but I do know that if you die in the four-day period then you go back to the beginning, reincarnated into a new animal randomly, giving you a new, four-day period all over again. It could be any species from a rat to a poodle; it might be in the wild or a zoo or as a household pet. Anything is possible.”

“But if you only have four days, and say you get born as a helpless cub or something, what happens then? What could you possibly do in that state?”

“You never come round as a newborn. It’s always youthful, but never a vulnerable pup or anything like that. Maybe it’s because we can jump into animals because they have no souls?”

“No souls? Are you sure?” queried Ed.

“What’s the alternative, that an animal suddenly has two souls or that the first is banished in an instant? It’s my belief that we’re being tested. I don’t know how or why but I think we need to solve some sort of puzzle or riddle or something to find out what all this is about and why we’re here. There must be a reason this is happening, and so I keep going round the four-day cycles, trying to work out what it could be. Maybe there’s a way one can release oneself from the cycle and be reincarnated back as a newborn human?”

Ed stared on, his beak-like mouth hung open, his senses oblivious to the re-entry of the badger into the scene, once more sniffing his bottom mercilessly. He turned towards the fox, trying hopelessly to bend his thick neck.

“So I’ve woken up as a tortoise, made friends with a rather large, talking fox, realised I have been reincarnated and now you’re telling me I have to kill myself every four days?”

“In a word, yes, although I’m not large, it’s you that’s small. Also, for safety’s sake I’d suggest suicide every three to three and a half days to be safe. As a tortoise this might take some research. I can just cross the road and get pummelled. I think the cars would just swerve around you.”

“Fantastic, all that, and now I have to find out the best way for a tortoise to kill itself. Well, as I recall from my faint memory, I didn’t have a lot of suicidal tortoise friends when I was a human.”

“There’s no rush, you still have a couple of days. I suggest you come over to my lair and I’ll go and get some food. It’s your first time, and you should relax. Talking will help.”