Taking Help from Mr Jordan - 1. Chapter 1

Joe Lupino tooled down Santa Monica Blvd, in his brand-new sports car.The car had cost him a pretty penny, but Joe didn’t care. All his life, he had not had a pot to pee in. Suddenly, he found himself with big bucks to spend. At twenty-three, Joe was an up-and-coming, middleweight boxer. Like most young athletes, he didn’t give a thought to his future, or to saving for a rainy day. He didn’t think twice about buying the expensive BMW.

It's true that Joe was driving way above the speed limit, but still, the accident was not his fault. A huge semi was driving right behind him. The driver of the truck was impressed with the sleek sports car in front of him. He speeded up to keep pace with the BMW. Joe was going too fast, but the truck driver was going faster than the truck could handle.

Suddenly, Joe saw the next traffic light turn amber. He could have gone through the intersection, but he did the right thing. He reckoned that he had plenty of space, and it was safer to stop at the light. He elected to slow down, and not attempt to beat the light. He applied his breaks, and he wasn’t stopping fast enough, so he slammed his foot down as he approached the intersection. There was no way the semi could slow down like Joe did, and the truck slammed into the rear of the BMW.

The truck jack-knifed, and Joe’s sports car burst into flames. The driver of the semi somehow survived, but Joe was burned to a crisp.

******

When Joe’s head cleared of its confusion, he tried to figure out what happened. He felt like he was just coming out of a deep sleep. He looked around. A beautiful green meadow stretched out before him. He had never seen grass so green. It shone brighter than an emerald. Joe would have run to the beautiful meadow, but it was barred by a gate which glittered in the sunshine. People were waiting in line to be admitted through the sparkling gate. Instinctively, Joe realized that he was supposed to join the queue.

There were two men standing at the gate entrance leading to the meadow. One didn’t look a day older than eighteen. The other was a middle-aged man, who looked like an ad for Gentlemen’s Quarterly. Not only was he impeccably dressed, but he was a man of distinction. He carried a tablet, which reminded Joe of the tablet Moses carried down from Mount Sinai. The line moved quickly, and in a short while, it was Joe’s turn to be admitted through the gate.

“Name, please?” the distinguished gentleman asked.

“Joe Lupino, and you are?”

The man laughed. “You’re the first one who’s asked me my name in a long time. It’s Peter, of course.”

He said no more, and referred to his tablet.

“That’s strange,” he said.

“What’s strange?” Joe asked.

“Your name isn’t on the list. That’s never happened before.”

Peter handed his tablet to the young man. “James,” he said. “cover for me. I have a little problem here.”

“Sure thing” James said.

Peter took Joe’s arm, and led him aside. “Just stay put,” he said, “I need to check on your status.”

“My status?” Joe asked. “What does that mean?”

Peter didn’t answer him. Instead, he removed a cell phone from his breast pocket, pushed a button, and said, “Paul, I need to talk to the boss. This is an emergency”

There was a little pause, and Peter disconnected the call.

“The big boss is on another line,” Peter explained. “He’ll call me right back.”

In a short time, Peter’s phone rang, and he asked, “Sir, is that you?”

“It’s not the boss, Pete. It’s Paul. The boss said that he’s going to be tied up for a long time. He asked me to handle it. What’s going on?”

Peter filled Paul in on the problem.

“Okay,” Paul said, “give me his name, date of birth, and city of birth. I’ll look him up on the main frame computer. It’ll only take a few minutes so don’t hang up.”

Joe gave Peter the information, and he passed it on to Paul.

Paul was back in a very short time. “This is terrible,” he moaned. “He wasn’t supposed to come here for another sixty-five years. We’ve got to return him to his body and revive him. This is bad. I wonder how it happened.”

“I don’t know how it happened, and it doesn’t matter. His body was burned to a crisp. We can’t return him.”

“Then we have to find him another body, pronto,” Paul said. “Hold on another minute, while I check to see what’s available.”

Paul was back on the line again in record speed.

“There’s a young man, just Joe’s age, lying on the beach in Miami. He’s a drowning victim, and the EMTs are trying to revive him as we speak. He’s slated to die, but we can place Joe into the young man’s body and trade souls. I can see to it that they revive the body before it dies.”

“It’ll have to do, if it’s the best we can do. What’s the boy’s name?”

“James Lazarus,” Paul answered.

“How did he drown?” Peter asked

“He was out in his speed boat in Biscayne Bay, and he was going too fast. He hit a stray log floating in the water, and that caused his boat to capsize. He’s pretty banged up. He wasn’t wearing a life vest, and he was unconscious when he hit the water.”

“Okay,” Peter said, “let’s work fast.”

******

This time when Joe woke up, he didn’t feel so good. He was battered and bruised, and sore all over. He was disoriented, and tried to figure out where he was. He tried to get his bearings, and he concluded that he was in a hospital bed. Half his body was bandaged, but he didn’t seem to have any broken bones. His confusion was mind boggling. All he could do was wonder how he got there.

Suddenly, he realized that he had to pee. He had no constrictive devices on his body, so gingerly, he got out of bed. He stood still for a minute, while his balance steadied out. Then he went to the bathroom More confusion. He was sure his cock had shrunk.

While he was peeing, a nurse came into the room and yelled, “What are you doing out of bed, Jimmy?”

“I had to pee.”

“Why didn’t you call me? That’s what your dad is paying me for.”

“What do you mean my dad is paying you? First, my dad hasn’t got a penny, and second, my name is Joe, not Jimmy, and third, aren’t you a staff nurse at the hospital?”

The nurse didn’t answer him. She ran out to the desk to get a neurologist ASAP. “The patient has amnesia,” the private nurse, Miss Melrose, yelled.

In the meantime, Jimmy (we will start calling him Jimmy now) finished peeing. After he was done, he went to the sink to wash up. While doing so, he looked in the mirror over the sink, and he almost passed out. A very handsome stranger was looking back at him. Not only that, the stranger didn’t have a muscle on his body. Jimmy reckoned that he was more damaged than he thought, so he ran back to bed. He was very frightened.

A few minutes later, Miss Melrose returned with a handsome, but long in the tooth, gentleman. He wasn’t wearing a lab coat, and did not have hospital ID displayed anywhere on the lab coat.

“This is Dr. Jordan, Jimmy,” the nurse said.

Jimmy and Dr. Jordan shook hands, and the doctor asked Miss Melrose to leave the room while he examined the patient.

Jimmy looked scared to death, so Dr. Jordan took his hand, told him to take a deep breath, and relax.

“I can’t tell you what’s happened to you, unless you’re completely relaxed, so calm down,” Dr. Jordan said. “Don’t interrupt me with foolish questions. You’re not going to believe a word of what I tell you, but it’s the gospel truth. Do you understand, Jimmy?”

Jimmy was afraid to talk so he just nodded. He wondered why everyone called him Jimmy.

Jordan began. “You don’t remember anything right now, so I’m going to trigger your memory. Try to remember the horrible car accident you were in. If you remember, nod your head.”

Jimmy nodded. “You died in that accident, you know.” Jimmy believed him and said nothing.

“Do you remember trying to get into heaven through a shiny gate, but you were denied entrance? That’s where you met Peter, and he had to ask Paul for help.”

Jimmy nodded again, but he was shivering as his blood ran cold.

“They couldn’t let you through the gate, because upon investigation, they discovered that you had sixty-five more years to live. They wanted to return you to your body, and revive you. Unfortunately, your body was burned to a crisp, so they put your soul into the body of a young man who was near death from drowning.”

Jimmy wasn’t shivering anymore. He was sniveling.

“I’m not finished. Buck up,” Jordan said kindly. “I’m not a neurologist. I’m not even a doctor. Peter, Paul and I work for the same boss. It’s my job to mentor you, and help you adjust to your new life. I’m sort of like your guardian angel. When I feel that you can function on your own, I’ll leave you until we meet again far into the future. It’s easier to reach me telepathically than by speech. Just send me messages telepathically. I assure you; I will hear you, and advise you.”

Jimmy understood, but he was incredulous. Finally, he dared to speak. “Go on, please,” he said.

“Lesson one, let’s begin with a few basics,” Jordan said, “My name is Luke Jordan and you are James Lazarus. Everyone calls you Jimmy. Got that?

Just as Jimmy nodded, a young man, even better looking than Jimmy, ran into the room. He wrapped his arms around Jimmy, and he was crying hard

“Jimmy, Jimmy,” the man cried, “I thought I’d lost you.”

He bent over to kiss Jimmy, but Jimmy pushed the man away. The guy looked shocked, so before Jimmy could say anything, Mr. Jordon reached him telepathically.

“His name is Parker Stillman, Jimmy. He was your childhood friend, your roommate, and your lover all through your years at Princeton. These days, he’s your fiancée. He has a master’s degree in art history, and you have an MBA. Not that it matters. You’re both very wealthy, and don’t have to work a day in your lives, if you don’t want to. The two of you live together. You were born gay, Jimmy!”

Jimmy may be gay, but Joe had been all straight. He gave out one long wail, “Noooooo….”

He scared Parker half to death.

No matter what had happened to him, the Joe who inhabited Jimmy’s body was straight, and he knew he would aggressively seek out women. Parker would just have to deal with it.

Jordon took Parker’s arm and led him out of the room.

“I need to talk to you,” he said. “Jimmy has amnesia, and doesn’t remember you. I assure you, it’s only temporary. I’m his neurologist, and I promise to bring him back, but until he’s ready, don’t try to force yourself on him. He doesn’t know you, and if you get aggressive, he might hate you. Please do as I ask, and go home now.”

Parker left the hospital sobbing bitter tears.

“Listen,” Jordan said to Jimmy when he returned to Jimmy’s room, the EMTs did a good job of clearing the water out of your lungs. All that your body has suffered are more than a few bruises that don’t need treatment. You’ll be given a supply of antibiotics, and you’ll be discharged tomorrow, but remember, I’ll always be with you, sight unseen, or not. Your parents are in Paris for the summer, and they live in Palm Beach in the winter, so I can’t release you into their custody. They’ll be arriving in Miami in a day or two to make sure you’re okay. Then they’re returning to Paris.”

“Are they rich?” Jimmy asked.”

“Yes, they are, but you’re filthy rich also.”

“Wow,” was all Jimmy could manage to say.

“I have no choice,” Jordan said. “You’ll have to go home with Parker. It makes sense. You two live together in Miami Beach, and you’re engaged to be married, but I’m warning you, be nice to him. He’s hurting also, and if you’re belligerent, you’ll break his heart. I know this is hard for you to fathom, but Parker loves you. Don’t hurt him. I want you to be kind to him, so you can get through the gate when the time comes. Mean and nasty people don’t usually make it through. Do you understand?”

Jimmy nodded.

Mr. Jordan took his phone out of his pocket and called Parker. “This is Dr. Jordan,” he said. “I’m discharging Jimmy tomorrow morning. Can you come and get him?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Look Jimmy,” Jordan said, “I’m ordering you to remember your life with Parker. You love him, and you will always want to make love with him.”

Immediately, Jimmy did remember his life with Parker, but when he pictured them making love, he wanted to vomit. Mr. Jordan did not get through to the neophyte, who could not fathom participating in homosexual activity.

“Never,” Jimmy thought. His only concern was on his non-athletic body, and how he was going to build it up to resume his boxing career Despite his metamorphosis, his aspirations had not changed.