Don and Debby sat nervously in the hypnotherapist's waiting room. They were lucky to be seeing Halley; she was one of the most renowned past lives therapists/psychics in the country and it was difficult just to get a personal appointment with her. When she wasn't traveling and giving seminars--and that wasn't often--she was always booked solid. But a friend of a friend of a friend managed to squeeze the couple in. They desperately needed the appointment. Both were in their late thirties and both had spent their lives suffering from episodes of depression and severe panic attacks. Now it was affecting their marriage, even though they loved each other more than anything. Trips to other hypno-therapists had produced only sketchy images of the lives they had before this one. It was like having a box of glass shards from a broken picture window, with some pieces providing a glimpse of what once was, but also with most sections too small to be pieced together again.
A door opened and a beautiful woman emerged, dressed flamboyantly but not oddly. The three exchanged introductions and Halley led them into her "office," a spacious room furnished with comfortable, luxuriant chairs and decorated in soft, relaxing colors set off by candlelight. The unmistakable scent of marijuana could be faintly detected. Don and Debby sat together on a couch and Halley pulled up a chair facing them. They discussed the couple's situation in more detail, particularly the grainy, momentary memories that had been brought up in visits to previous therapists. Halley was unable to make real sense of any of them, though it seemed to all three that the memories were from a relatively recent period of history.
"I want to try something that neither of you have done before," Halley told them. "I want to put you both under at the same time. Perhaps if you enter the world of the subconscious together you will better be able to peel away the layers that separate your current lives from your previous ones. I have tried this before with couples and it seemed to work very well."
Debby and Don gave each other questioning looks, then agreed. Both had been through past-life regression sessions before and were aware that the dangers were minimal. Halley lit a stick of incense and instructed her clients to lie back on the couch, close their eyes, and relax completely. Then she turned on a tape recorder and started talking to them in a very soothing voice, helping them find their centers, then guiding them as they moved outwards from those places...
DEBBY I'm Jonathan Miller and I was born in Mississippi in 1899. It's 1924 now and I run a feed and farm supply store. My two brothers and I inherited this place from our father; he died of that flu back in '18.
I stand a hair over six feet and am very muscular, with red hair and a mustache. I am considered a very handsome man and many ladies want me to court them. Both of my brothers took wives and they're always wondering why I haven't married. I try to avoid the subject, and when I can't I just tell 'em that I'm waiting for a real love. What they don't know is that I already got one, and it hurts me knowing that I can't share that with them.
DON I'm Charles, Charles Washington. It's 1924 and I'm 30. I live in the same house where I grew up in Mississippi. We're real poor. I'm a farmhand and my sister cleans houses for rich white folks. We give our money to our parents; they damn near died from that flu a few years back and haven't been able to work since.
I'm very tall and strong, perfect for doing heavy work and the white farmer I work for gives me plenty. My body aches at the end of the day, but if it weren't for me doing all this shit work I might never have met my love. Jonathan is one of the few white folks who'll let Negroes even come into his feed store, and I have to go in there at least once a week. His brothers don't like that much but they don't spend a lot of time there, which is real good because I don't know what would happen if anyone ever found out about Jonathan and me.
DEBBY/JONATHAN It's late night and I sneak out of the house and back to the store. I got something awful bad to tell Charles. My brothers went to a Klan meeting a couple of days ago and they wanted me to come with them to the one that was tonight. I could tell they were real mad when I lied and said I was too tired. They said I was a nigger-lover and no brother of theirs was gonna be a nigger-lover. The Klan don't just hate the Negros. They hate a lot of other folks, too. And they really hate the homosexuals. They say we're gonna burn in Hell for our perversions.
DON/CHARLES I make sure my parents and sister are sound asleep before I sneak out. One time my Mamma heard me and if I weren't so big now I would've gotten a lickin' from her. There's been some lynchings of Negros lately; the Klan is in our town now, she told me. It ain't too safe for colored folk to walk around late at night. Some white man might try to say that I was breaking into his house and the police would back him up all the way. I'm just happy she didn't ask me where I was going. My Mamma knows that I'm different because one time she caught me and a fella that don't live around here no more messin' around in the cellar. But she won't say nothing to my Pa or my sister.
