The last episode ended with a dream that I had where my father appeared to me. He looked fantastic and told me that he had never died, that death isn't real, it's just a gimmick, a public relations stunt that God does to get people to think about him. At the end of the dream, he told me that he didn't want me to wear his star sapphire ring anymore and had me give it back to him.           As we stood there holding it, I felt it vibrate, then it turned into a brilliant white light and filled up the room. When I woke up, although I was disappointed that the experience had been just a dream and that he remained dead, I was still very happy to have been able to see him again. He had been dead for about six months, and it was a long six months. When I woke up, it was about six in the morning and I began my day as usual. As I drove to school, I reflected on the dream from a psychological perspective. My second semester of psychology was almost over, and the mysterious workings of the mind were really starting to fascinate me. As I thought about it, I was quite impressed by this dream. It had been a perfect mental placebo for me. In the theater of my mind, my father looked great. Healthy and smiling, he said he had never really died, and that it was only a PR stunt. He called it a gimmick, which I loved. It was a term he used a lot in the early days of the team, but I had forgotten all about it. Yet it was exactly the way he used to talk. Indeed, everything about him was familiar, comforting and reassuring, just the way I would want it to be.   And there was also this God theme running through it, which made perfect sense because I was getting so much religious exposure every day. I had seen this beautiful light, filled with an essence of peace, happiness, and contentment. I felt like I was finally coming back home and experienced an overwhelming love. Then I merged into it. All classic heaven stuff. I didn't know what to make out of my father's ring though. I had given it back to him and it turned into light, which started the whole heaven part. I figured it probably had some subconscious meaning or other. Anyway, I'd bring it up with my psychology teacher. Anyway, as far as dreams go, it had been a real beauty. And if my mind's purpose was to comfort me and bring me a little happiness and peace, it had certainly done its job well. I felt great in the dream. And as a matter of fact, I was still feeling pretty good as I drove along.  When I got to the school parking lot, I took the ring off and looked at it. I liked it, but I always felt a little odd wearing it. I had just turned seventeen, and it was the type of thing you'd see on a fifty-year-old man. I didn't care, though. It was his, and I was going to wear it for the rest of my life and give it to my kids. I put it back on and went into school. *** It was a Friday morning, and I had gym first period. When I got to my locker, I followed my usual routine. I wore two rings, a gold initial ring, and his black star sapphire. I took them both off and put them carefully inside my wallet, next to a ten-dollar bill I had. I was going to buy a new basketball after school. I took off my wristwatch, wrapped it around my wallet, and put the whole thing in one of my shoes. Then, I put my books on top of my shoes and locked my locker. I double-checked the door and the lock to make sure it was all secure and tight as a drum. I had been doing the same thing twice a week for five years. It was a beautiful May morning, and I played touch football with my friends, a bunch of jovial, eleventh-grade jocks. I took a shower and got dried off. Then, I opened my combination lock, swung open my locker door, and put my clothes on. I took the books off the top of my shoes and took out my wallet. I removed my watch, and put it on my wrist. Then I opened my wallet to put on my rings, and the world stopped. To my extreme shock and disbelief, my father's ring was gone! Everything else was exactly as I had left it. My gold initial ring and the ten-dollar bill were still there, undisturbed. But his black star sapphire ring, the one I had given him in the dream just a few hours earlier, had disappeared without a trace. Suddenly, reality didn't make any sense. What had just happened, quite simply could not have happened. It just wasn't possible. My head started spinning and I felt disoriented. I sat down on the bench in front of my locker and tried to pull myself together. To make sure I wasn't losing my mind, I went over all the details again to see if I had made a mistake. But I hadn't. I remembered everything precisely. "Somebody must have stolen it," I thought for a second, but obviously, that didn't make any sense. The locker had been clearly undisturbed when I came back after my shower. The combination lock was still locked, and the door was untouched. And besides, why would someone steal just that one ring and leave the wallet, the watch, and the gold ring, not to mention the ten-dollar bill? I thought about the dream again. It was now nine in the morning and I had only been awake for a couple of hours, so everything was still completely fresh in my mind. I realized how strange it had all been. I didn't remember feeling drowsy or falling asleep and all of a sudden, I was back in the chapel. And there had been nothing dreamlike about it at all. Actually, I never felt more awake in my life. And on top of that, unlike my usual dreams, it hadn't faded a bit. Normally, I forget my dreams before I even start breakfast. But this time, I could remember every detail, especially my father's tan, smiling face. He said that he hadn't really died and that it was a trick. Then he had me give him back his ring. When we held it, it turned into a brilliant light. And now, a few hours later, in real life, it had vanished into thin air. It just wasn't possible. Still dazed, I sat in front of my locker for a few more minutes and then the bell rang. I knew I had to hustle because my next class was all the way on the other side of school. There was nothing left to do but get on with my day. My logic had hit a brick wall. I got up and started walking. But as I hurried along, I noticed that everything felt a little lighter, like the old bounce was coming back into my step.             A few weeks later, I went to visit my grandparents. I still made it a priority to visit them once a week.  Bit by bit, they were coming back to life and it was especially clear with my grandfather. It was less than a year since my father had died, and he was still, obviously mourning the loss, but he was much more of his old self again. Maybe what happened to him at the Seder was part of it.              During one visit, we started talking about my sister. She had tumbled down a few steps in a classroom building. She wasn't hurt, but for a few moments, she just sat there, laughing. The trouble was, she couldn't stop. After a while, she went to see the nurse, who was concerned and admitted her to Temple Hospital for observation.           Sybil laughed all night, hardly sleeping. And then the next morning, she burst into tears, couldn't stop crying and was hysterical for hours. Then suddenly, the whole thing stopped, and she was herself again. She was back in class the next day. "In that one dream, didn't your father tell you to watch out for her, that she wasn't doing well?" my grandfather asked me. He was right. She had never shown any emotions after my father died, and maybe this was how her grief finally got released. That would be Sybil. She always had her own way of doing everything. I wasn't surprised that my grandfather had brought up the dream. He was always interested in the unusual things that had happened to me around the time of my father's death. And I always liked talking to him about them, because he was the only person who really believed me. I'm pretty sure everyone else thought I had lost my marbles. I couldn't blame them. It had been a lot for an unprepared sixteen-year-old to handle. My mother had me talk to the rabbi and some teachers. In their rational explanations, the seemingly prophetic events never happened. To them, they were just false memories I had created to make myself feel better. But I knew what I had experienced, and no matter what anybody says, you know what you know.  That was one of my grandfather's favorite sayings – you know what you know. He was always big on keeping knowledge and beliefs separate. You had to know what you know, know what you only believe, and know the difference. He was a mystic though and still, for him, dreams were in a special category, and could be bridges between worlds. He felt my two dreams were very much like that – the first one, where I'd had a vivid dream about the death of my father and then it all came true exactly as I had dreamt it in in real life the next day.  And the second one when I had handed him the ring in my dream and then the next day, it vanished out of my locker in real life. And he had an inkling that there might be more to come. And as with a lot of things, it turned out he was right. Well, that's the end of this episode. And as you probably can guess, there are a couple of surprises over the horizon, so as always, keep your eyes, mind and heart opened, and let's get together in the next one.

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