A garden in which to walk, and immensity in which to dream. At one's feet that which can be cultivated and plucked; over head that which one can meditate upon: flowers on earth, and all the stars in the sky.

Victor Hugo

Noel races up the stairs and knocks on the door to Room 33, jumping into Julian's arms when he opens it.

"Hey, guess what? My assessment is right before yours," Noel says excitedly. "It's a sign!"

"What? A sign we both have to sit around all day waiting to see the judge?" Julian asks, pulling Noel over to the bed so they can look at the sheet together.

"A sign we're both going Forward," says Noel. "Why else would they do us one after the other?"

"Maybe Marcus and Jeannie organised it that way," Julian guesses.

"Well, I think it's so we can leave the Assessment Centre together, and head off Forward at the same time," Noel says optimistically.

"Noel, you know there's a much better chance that I'll be going Sideways," Julian says.

"Okay, so we both go Sideways," Noel says easily. "I don't care where I go, as long as I'm with you, Joo'n."

Julian looks at him. "Come on, you'd give up Heaven for me? Think about it, Noel."

"Heaven can go fuck itself," Noel says mutinously.

"I don't think you should be saying, Heaven can go fuck itself, right before your assessment," says Julian with an unwilling grin.

"Wherever you are, that's my Heaven," Noel says, pushing his face into Julian's shoulder.

Julian is too overwhelmed to answer, so all he can do is put his arm around Noel, and kiss him softly. Noel doesn't seem to think it's an inadequate response, though.

"Um, this is our last day here," Julian says after a while. "Do you want to do anything? Marcus suggested going to the park in the middle of the Waystation."

"Oh yeah, Jeannie said the same thing to me," Noel says, sitting up and pushing his fringe out of his eyes. "She made it sound really amazing."

"Alright then, let's get ready," Julian says, getting off the bed. He rummages around in the wardrobe for something to carry things, and finds a hessian backpack, putting the two books he's borrowed into it, and also his medicine. "You need anything?"

Noel only wants to pack a hairbrush and a jumper. "I bet they already have everything there we need," he says, which Julian admits seems very likely.

Julian phones the front desk to ask Colin to call them a taxi, and they walk downstairs together to wait for it.

Julian is only slightly embarrassed to find that Edith, Thomas, and Bronwen are hanging around the front entrance, dressed in hiking gear and sturdy shoes. He does the introductions, and everyone greets Noel with a friendly smile.

"We're going for a day's ramble in the Upsadaisy Downs," Thomas announces. "It's a ten mile walk through rolling hills, with pubs and inns along the path so you can stop for food or drink."

"Oh, um, it ... it won't be too much for you, will it?" asks Julian, trying not to look at Edith as he says it.

"Bless him," Edith chuckles. "Julian, we might look old to you, but we've been healed! I'm as fit as a fiddle, and there's no arthritis to slow me down."

"I weighed thirty kilos when I died, now I look the same as before I got ill," Bronwen says with a gesture at herself, and Thomas adds, "I don't even need glasses any more."

"Colin showed us the brochure for the Upsadaisy Downs," Bronwen says. "It looked like a wonderful outing for our last day here, so we all signed up."

"You and Noel are very welcome to join us," says Edith. "We're just waiting for the shuttle bus."

"Oh thanks," says Julian, "but we're going to Mandala Park."

"Yeah, it's a really huge amazing park, and Joo'n and I are spending the whole day there together," Noel says, taking Julian's hand possessively, and giving them a look as if daring them to say anything.

"Did you two meet on Earth?" Bronwen asks with interest. "You look as if you've known each other forever."

"Not really. We met while we were at the House of Healing," Julian says, while Noel chips in, "I saw him in the garden, and we just started talking, and liked each other straight away."

"You know what that's called, don't you?" Thomas says.

"What?" says Julian warily, fearing a vulgar response, or something worse.

"Love at first sight," Thomas says solemnly. "It was the same when I met my Nancy. I took one look at her, and that was it. There was only one woman for me after that."

**********************

"Good morning, squires. Hop in," Phil says when the taxi arrives. "Lovely day, ain't it? Where you two lads going? Mandala Park? Could get there with me eyes shut. You gents just sit back and enjoy the ride."

As the taxi continues its journey, Julian comes to realise that where he has been staying is only an outer suburb of the Waystation, or even a satellite village. The roads they take become broader and busier, the buildings higher and more imposing, and soon Julian understands that the Waystation is a city.

It looks familiar, and eventually he sees that it's a bit like London – but a London that's had all the ugly, naff bits taken out, and all the good bits made considerably cleaner and better. The wide avenues are lined with elms and chestnut trees, the only traffic on them taxis and shuttle buses.

There are people – hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the recently deceased. Most of them elderly, although there are plenty of younger people, including a few around the same age as Noel and Julian. Yet whether young, old, or in-between, everybody is moving vigorously. There are no wheelchairs, no walking sticks. As Thomas pointed out, nobody even wears glasses. But what Julian chiefly notices is how happy, or at least, content, everybody looks.

All around them are the usual things found in a city centre. Civic buildings, monuments, hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, theatres, bingo parlours, dance halls, and other places of amusement. Even shops – which Julian can barely comprehend, since there is no money, everything is provided free at your request, and you can't take any of it with you. Apparently a lot of people simply enjoy shopping as a recreational activity.

"Did you know this was what the Waystation was like?" Julian asks Noel.

He looks out the window to see what Julian is talking about.

 "Oh yeah. My hotel's not that far from here," Noel replies. "It's a lot more relaxing where you're staying."

"It can get a bit busy, like, in the city," Phil offers, "but you know, there's never any faffing about. Nobody's in a rush here, nobody ever gets aggro. We're past all that palaver, if you see what I mean."

They drive past the Golden Years Cinema, with movies catering for an older generation. The cinema is currently showing It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, and Here Comes Mr Jordan.

"Here we go, lads, we're on Tiferet Square," Phil says, as the taxi turns onto a vast thoroughfare. "The square goes right 'round Mandala Park, and there's an entrance gate on each side of it. The nearest one's directly opposite. Alright if I drop you off here, mates?"

"This is perfect," says Julian, and Noel says, "Thanks so much, Phil. You're a brilliant driver."

"It's an honour to transport you, squires," Phil says genially. "Would you like me to pick you up here later? Three o'clock this afternoon alright?"

**********************

Julian and Noel are standing under a great arch of white marble, upon which is written in golden letters MANDALA PARK ~ HOPE GATE. In smaller letters underneath, it reads: Embrace hope, all who enter here. 

They walk through, and are confronted by a white marble fountain, surrounded by green mosaic tiles that spread out like the rays of the rising sun. Around them this message is spelt in golden letters:

Pilgrim, if your heart be filled with hope, make a wish here and it shall surely come to pass.

Noel immediately closes his eyes, but Julian isn't certain his heart actually is full of hope. It's got some hope, but he can't honestly say it's filled with hope.

"I wished that wherever they decide to send us, we'll go there together," Noel says.

"Oh ... I thought you weren't meant to say wishes aloud," Julian says.

Noel considers this seriously, then says, "I sort of feel as if superstitions are an Earth thing, not a Here thing. I don't think we need to bother about them any more."

"Maybe we shouldn't have bothered with them any time," Julian says, but Noel tugs at his hand, saying, "Come on, Julian!"

Afterwards, Julian thinks that there must be some mystic spell or divine blessing placed upon Mandala Park, for it seems as if he and Noel discover it while in an almost dreamlike state. Walking hand in hand down avenues of limes filled with the humming of bees, wandering through meadows of pale narcissus, sitting by the side of sunlit stone pools, dangling their hands in the cool water.

Eventually they come to a garden of white roses, planted in the shape of an eight-pointed star. Around the silver edging of the garden is inscribed in gold letters:

Pilgrim, if you be weary, may your spirit find refreshment in the glory of the rose.

Julian and Noel sit on a bench in the middle of the rose garden and refresh their spirits. The intense fragrance of the flowers is sweet yet austere, clean and pure, so strong that it seems to completely surround them, until their very breath becomes the scent of roses. 

They do not kiss or even touch each other here, the garden is too hallowed for that. It is utterly still and silent, as if beyond time and space, and Julian feels as if he stands in an open doorway, leading to ... where?

Julian does not know, but wishes he could step through, into clouds and stars, and he is sure a cool breeze is blowing there. Then Noel pulls him back, away from the door, as he grabs his shoulder.

"That's enough refreshment for our spirits. Let's get some refreshments for our tummies."