The one thing my rational self could not explain

A further epsode in the series "Daniel Mortimer's Way Out experiencesin Washington, D. C.

. The shock of falling into the cold river induced an experience so strange that I am daunted by the attempt to describe it. It was as though the names of all rivers and oceans babbled in my ears--the Potomac, the Rhine, the Amazon, the Thames, the Ganges, the Euphrates, the Seine, the Yang-Tse, the Weser, the Jordan. Then came the sensation of falling through air, as though I had been back in the airliner to Boston. The turbulence had become unbearable and the doors had burst open. I had been sucked out of the plane into the atmosphere. Falling, I could hear a sound like the squealing of rats.

Below was a livid sea from which there rose the stench of putrefaction. Soon the color of this infernal sea had changed to a lurid red and yellow. My horror increased when I saw the loathsome forms on its surface-decaying corpses, skeletal wrecks, a scabby crust floating like pack ice on a frozen sea. Even more terrible than the scene itself was the awareness that I was about to be made part of it - like the wretched creatures I could see being merged and dissolved into the vile mass. Now I could make out hideous things like sea spiders that were crawling on the crust and lunging their probes into bodies as they floated by. I cannot remember the moment or even the manner of my immersion, only the futile effort to prevent myself sinking into the morass. My frantic movements attracted the attention of one of those giant spiders. Slowly and deliberately it worked its way toward me. My legs felt something slimy and slippery; a feeling of utter disgust made me retch. I hoped for a quick, merciful end. Then something white of yet indefinite shape approached. It seemed to wade toward me. As it brushed past, I somehow knew there remained one chance of deliverance.

I flung my arms round what I could now imagined to be the neck of a pale mare. I tightened my grip. I was being drawn along faster and faster until, to my immense horror, it made a terrifying plunge downwards into the depths of the foul sea. I held my breath until my lungs were near to bursting. The thought of breathing in that polluted substance terrified. When I could hold my breath no longer, I experienced for a moment that feeling of self-abandonment a dying man must feel. My eyes, hitherto kept closed, opened to a scene where all was drenched in a deep red light. The exquisite pain was over. I could breathe. The substance through which I was borne became translucent and air-like. The savor of sweet wine was on my tongue and the mane of the pale mare waved, as might the leaves of a plant in clear water. Fear had yielded to a sensation of emotional as well as physical buoyancy, for I now surveyed a delectable land where the mountains and hills had put on delicate hues of red and pink, a land with fairy castles where everybody from the King, with his long white beard, and Queen to the humblest servant were spellbound by the enchanting tone of the minstrel. Now confidently astride the white mare, I looked down over forests of trees that swayed to and fro, rising and heaving, like gigantic underwater plants.

Fish and birds shared the same airy-liquid medium. The landscape gradually changed. Scenes of luxuriant growth were replaced by the desolation of a rocky and sandy waste. The horse no longer "swam" but moved on its hoofs in customary manner along a lonely track. This led into a rocky chasm, which was so narrow at one point that there was barely room to pass. As I looked up, the walls of rock took on the shapes of giants or titans raging against the heavens.

Soon the chasm widened into a spacious canyon in which the first sight to meet my eyes was that of a magnificent temple facade cut into the rose-red sandstone. As I rode forward, more temples in the rock appeared. The path was now a paved road leading into a colonnade. Between the columns were the statues of great men in ages past, the emperors of Rome, philosophers and poets. Rough stones yielded to white marble, this to the gleam of silver and gold. I statues of gold; precious stones lay on the ground like pebbles by the wayside. I saw a figure like the Queen of Heaven adorned with precious stones- -diamonds, sapphires, amethysts and emeralds. I could hear the music of the flute, lyre, trumpet and tumbrel and a woman's voice singing a lullaby. At last the statues came to life. A nymph clad in gold and purple smiled graciously, her hand outstretched for me to clasp. I tried to reach it, but the mare, like the ship of Ulysses, carried me past death and danger, for then I noticed a skull, overlaid with gold and silver, resting at her feet.

The colonnade splayed out into a great forum beyond which stood a magnificent temple of white stone. I rode to the foot of a broad flight of steps leading to a forecourt in front of the temple's main portal. As I looked up, I beheld a great throne of white marble with six ivory chairs at either side. Twelve elders came through the great door and sat in their appointed places. At either side of the door stood a man in shepherd's attire with a ram's horn in his hand. This he placed to his lips and blew a sound that began as a long monotonous wail and ended in a series of high-pitched notes like the call of a bird. A grave patriarch appeared at the door. A figure with a winged helmet walked beside him.

When they reached the white throne, the patriarch sat while his attendant stood beside him holding a scroll of parchment. The horse climbed a flight of steps until we reached a white circle, and here it stood quite still. One of the elders rose from his seat and said my name. The patriarch looked at the attendant, and the attendant inspected the scroll. He made a sign with his staff. The patriarch, pointing at me, pronounced: "Not yet." His grave face yielded to a smile when he again said--this time to me personally--"Not yet."

At that very moment I sensed a sharp pain in the back of my neck. I felt myself being pulled back through time. In the space of a few moments all that I had experienced in my strange vision flashed before me in reverse sequence, the forum, the colonnade, the canyon, the chasm, the desert, the lush forests and fairy castles. The pain grew more intense, for it was as though a bony hand had clasped me by the neck. Then the evil stench of the loathsome sea almost stifled me as the horrors of that hideous sight appeared again for a mercifully brief moment before I was braced by the sudden sensation of cold water over all my body.

I looked up into the clear night sky. The stars seemed to be so near, like specks of silver I could sift through my fingers. With what awe I contemplated the greatness of the universe and the smallness of man. Only the divine spirit implanted in the human soul was not subject to the laws of physics and chemistry, which governed all else. It was as though I could hear Rachel say "Many waters cannot quench love."

I was conscious that I was being ferried back to the riverside. When l fully came to, I found myself lying on a mossy slope overlooking the Potomac. I enjoyed the rich aroma of decaying leaves. I must have fallen into the river, I thought.

Something about a chase through bushes was coming back to me..

"You forgot something, Daniel--your wallet."

I could hardly believe my ears.

"I took the liberty of paying the waiter for the meal and the wine. I think this is yours too. You left it in a bar as a security, remember? Jake asked me to return it to you.”

"Thank you," I said, totally nonplussed, "Thank you very much indeed."

I was still trying to figure everything out in my mind. The voice of rationalism in me chortled triumphantly:

"Danny, you superstitious fool! Fancy just running out of the restaurant like that without paying, then running through the streets like a mad thing, then ordering a drink with only a dime in your pocket, failing to find your way back to the restaurant and then, to top it all, running off like a startled hare and jumping into the Potomac. And all because you saw someone in a clerical habit. There are monks and friars, you know! Had you forgotten that there are still people around with enough true Christian charity to make them chase after nuts like you and return things you have left in the most unearthly places? This guy even dived into the Potomac after you and saved your life. Shame on you. As your father always said, ‘A little less Edgar Allan Poe and a little more common sense. You're so heavenly-minded, you're no earthly good.’”

Yet there was one thing my rational self could not explain. The hand that dangled my watch in front of me had no skin on it!

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