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you accepted your mortality when it happened. That part was willing to give up this body and fly to the next incarnation. The other part likes living here and now and rejected it. Those two parts battle each other in your dreams. You end up with nightmares, reliving the event.”
    I settled back and thought about the dream. Sometimes it wakes me with the sweats and the shakes. If it hits me in the wee hours of the morning I have to get up and walk around to get my heart rate back to normal, waiting for the adrenaline surge to wash from my system. Sometimes I don’t get back to sleep at all,
spending the rest of the night reading, waiting for the dawn, trying not to notice my hands shaking as I turn the pages.
    â€œThat sounds like it might be the case,” I said, unwilling to acknowledge my fear to this stranger who had somehow become involved in my life. The dreams used to come only once every two years or so. Now it seemed that they came more often. I didn’t know why.
    â€œYou’ve just had another trauma,” said Felix, looking earnestly at me. “Your mind and your spirit are questioning why you keep putting yourself at odds with your own mortality. You go into harm’s way. You’re getting older. Maybe you should not do that any longer.”
    I looked at him through nearly closed eyes, ignoring his comment about my age. “Is that why you came along? I thought you were staying in San Francisco.”
    â€œChawlie made me an offer I was unwilling to pass up. So I came. If I have to baby-sit you for a couple of months as part of the deal, that’s okay, too. You’re not too much trouble.”
    â€œIs that a compliment?”
    â€œNot at all.”
    â€œThe doctors told me to stay quiet for a couple of months. That’s just what I intend to do. No excitement. I think I’ll catch up on my reading.”
    â€œThat policewoman. She didn’t want you to leave.”
    There had been further conversations with Inspector Henderson, and they had become increasingly hostile. Felix had evidently informed Chawlie, because I was suddenly represented by counsel, a businesslike defense attorney named Andrew White who flew to my bedside the moment the detective walked through the door. I’m not sure, but I think I was almost arrested before I left California, Inspector Henderson not wanting to let me out of her jurisdiction. The attorney somehow mollified her, and promised that if my presence were warranted I would be there.
    The woman who had been killed by the murderous young gunman was the focus of Inspector Henderson’s investigation. In
Henderson’s tidy mind the world was out of balance. Someone had to pay for that death to restore order to the universe. The gunman was dead. His targets had fled the state. I was the only connection to the killing that she could put her hands on. That I, too, was escaping was not, in her mind, acceptable.
    There are a few times when lawyers do come in handy.
    â€œBut I left. I don’t like California all that much. And this time I’m especially glad to leave.”
    â€œIt will be fine. Don’t worry.”
    I nodded, and tried to get comfortable while we made our final approach to the airport.
    â€œYou read much?” Felix asked.
    I nodded.
    â€œYou don’t look like a reader, Mr. Caine, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
    â€œI don’t own a television. Found it to be less than profound. Used to only watch the news, but I gave that up. It seems to be aimed at the trailer trash these days. Indecipherable crap. So I read. It passes the time.”
    â€œNovels?”
    â€œMostly histories and biographies. You?”
    Since I had been released from the hospital and had left the area of immediate threat that San Francisco had become, Felix had suddenly opened up and began to try to get to know me. He probably didn’t feel as if he would have to work very hard to keep me alive. I