I will give him this credit though, Joshua was a saintly human and I saw no indication that he was being unfaithful to his religion. His love rang as pure and true as a bell. Romantic love. Bro love. Family love. He was a true friend to Noah and all I saw was he had Noah's best interest in mind when I read his energy.

“I—uh,” uncle Pete stammered as he approached me. He was ready to cross over into the light to walk with the Lord or whatever (he had no outstanding contracts with any brother or they would have come looking for him) “I think I'm ready to go now.”

“Shh, shut up,” I said as I waved my recently buffed fingernails at him. I sipped on my orange crush and peered at uncle Pete from above my smart-person's glasses. “Do you know who Noah is? Your nephew Joshua's friend Noah?”

“I, uh, well, no? Am I supposed to know who that is?” uncle Pete said uselessly.

“Ugh, Pete...” I moaned, mostly to myself so he couldn't perceive it. “See, see there, Pete?” I said, pointing to a door I opened. It was his time, and he had no outstanding debts worth collecting. He would have a life review. After that, he would likely return his spirit to the Lord where they decide where to put him on the timeline to learn, grow, and collect information based on his life's performance. To him, it looked like a big bright light set to collect moths. Or maybe the light of oncoming traffic.“You got to go and move on,” I said ghostilly. I knew I likely looked something like a skeleton with a hood and scythe to him since my mask was beginning to slip.

“But, but wait,” uncle Pete's ghost trembled. “What will happen next? Can I say good-bye to--”

“Yeah, you can totally do that,” I said as I stood up and shoved him in between the shoulder-blades. A good, hard push. It was very unprofessional, but I didn't have time for it. With Pete leaving, the dream would come crashing down very rapidly. The door through the Veil was closing like a wound. Joshua would get sucked out of the dreaming like an unclogged drain. I didn't gain a lot, but I did take good notes.