Negotiating Karma (P.3)

Sitting on the bed next to my cat, overlooking the beautiful view of the ocean from my wife's bedroom window, it dawned on me that seeing this mass betrayal from Christine, keeping her lover in her own closet within our home for so many months, surprised me, yes, but there was no epiphany as to why I was continuing to hang about like a ghost in this world.

It did surprise me how she had got away with it for so long, but even more surprising was my utter ignorance and zero suspicion that she was even having an affair, let alone literally right under my nose. Add to the fact that she was also having an affair with my closest colleague at work. I trusted Goldstein. He's not only a great surgeon, but I thought, a good person, too. Why has he betrayed me as well? At that moment, I began to feel extreme self-pity. Interestingly, the more I felt sorry for myself, the more I felt like I was vanishing from the scene. It seemed that the “victim-emotion” is not suited to my current standing in this dimension. I could feel myself slowly moving into a dark void. It was then that Jasper spoke up:

“This emotional self-indulgence crap is not going to help anyone, George. Here, take my paw and close your eyes. There's something else you need to see.”

As I touched Jasper's paw, opened my eyes, and was standing in a bar/restaurant that my wife and I used to frequent on the weekends. The place is called the “Rusty Scupper” and has the best seafood in LA county. Once I got my bearings, I saw Goldstein and my wife sitting in a booth at the back. I decided to join them.

“ George signed the insurance policy over 6 months ago before his diagnosis. Like you suggested, it's worth over 1 million dollars. There's no way the death can be traced back to us because it was simply a failed heart transplant.” she said.

“Well, it helped that I postponed giving George the diagnosis until after you had made a few payments on the policy.” Goldstein replied.

“So, we're in the clear.” she said.

“Not so fast, Christine. Because it was a failed transplant, there's going to be an autopsy. It's standard procedure in any failed heart surgery. George would have wanted that considering he was the leading hospital instructor for all our current residences.”

Christine sipped her Vodka tonic and peered into her glass.

“You know I'm just careful, but will they find anything suspicious in the autopsy?” she asked.

Goldstein looked hurt. “I'd hoped you had more trust in me as a doctor, Christine,” he said.

Good old Saul. He always did have an ego the size of Texas! Knowing Goldstein, he would have left nothing to raise suspicion in my surgery. He is the best heart surgeon in the state. And even if they did find irregularities during the surgery, the hospital would over-look them to maintain Goldstein's reputation, and of course, their own. As far as I could see, now hearing the conspiracy from their own mouths, the whole plan appeared foolproof. My wife and a close colleague had been successful in murdering me for what, a million dollars? This didn't make any sense. Goldstein is a wealthy man from his practice and a vast inheritance he received when his parents died some years ago in a strange car accident.

My wife, according to my Last Will and Testament, would get everything. I made a quick calculation, and $ in the bank, including my many assets, amounted to over 10 million. I don't understand. At that moment. I felt another pang of self-pity and noticed myself falling again into nothing. Looking out the window, I saw Jasper sitting on the hood of a 2020 Mercedes staring straight at me. I ran out of the restaurant and finally reached my cat, who had his right paw extended in the air.

Before entirely disappearing, I reached Jasper just in time. The entire scene changed, and now I was standing on a beach looking down at my younger self, sunbathing next to my gorgeous bride, Christine, a newlywed couple on their honeymoon in Hawaii so many years ago.