I bit my tongue. This guy murdered his mother and got in two rungs ahead of me, but you never argue with the Boss.
“...or,” He continued, “you can return to Earth and learn a little more.”
“What if I do worse this time?” Winslow asked.
“You can never go backwards, only forward,” the Judge explained. “Souls always retain the lessons they’ve learned in previous lives, even though they might not remember them, and each life is progressively better as a result.”
Right, but how much better? I ask you. Starting over still didn’t tempt me. My life was none too easy when I was down there. Even if I were twice as good next time, things could still be touch and go.
“What would I learn next time?” Winslow asked.
“In this life,” the Judge told him, “you had too much attention. The next time you’d find more balance. I’d send you down in a family of six kids. You’d be number four.”
Winslow smiled. The idea clearly appealed to him. “I’d have sisters and brothers?”
“And a father. No divorce,” the Judge guaranteed.
“Probably no money,” I prompted. “Six kids would be expensive.”
The Judge nodded. “Harry’s right. The family would be comfortable, but not rich.”
“I don’t care about money,” Winslow said. “Send me down.”
From the look on the Judge’s face, I knew Winslow had picked the right thing, the brown-noser. And in a blink, my client was gone.
“Mrs. Lawton is having a baby boy right now,” the Judge told me, then shook His head. “Relax, Harry. Take some time off and visit level six. You did a good job on this case. Think about what you learned. Count your blessings. And if you want to learn more, give me a buzz. We always have clients who need a good lawyer.”
Yeah, right. And it might be a millennium before I made level ten. But what the hell? One step at a time, right?
Maybe I’d talk to some of the other guys who’d made it. Maybe there was a shortcut I didn’t know about yet...