Wait and wait again, they were used to it. They waited and waited, always together, their hopes were great, they grew everyday, just like the anxiety. How long it had been, they had forgotten.

“When will it come, do you think, soon?” Her voice raised its velocity after every third word.

He couldn’t say, he didn’t know, “But I hope sooner than later, you know what happens if it’s late…”

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence.

“And’ow d’you think it’ll be?” her words were starting to collide into each other after their chances from the last batch passed by.

He always tried to slow and draw out his words in the hope it would put a bit of a break on hers, “I do not know. I do not think anyone knows, even those who have gone many times before us.”

She must have been considering his thoughts because there was no interruption and even a moment of silence.

“Mmmmhmm, mmmhmmm…yeah, you’re probably right, the two of us, our first time to go again...”

Maybe her thoughts were going faster than her words. If he could see her, he was sure her head would be bobbing up and down like a buoy on a stormy sea.

“And, and do you think will be together in the same carrier at the same time…or, or get into contact with each other later? I do so hope we see each other again…”

He reminded her, “But it might be in totally different circumstances, we might not even recognize each other!”

A loud voice rumbled through, “MOVE FORWARD! NEXT IN LINE MAKE READY!”

There was a shuffle of sighs and gasps of impatience.

They both trembled, they knew they were getting closer to the front of the line.

“And if we don’t…” her voice dried up for a moment, “Will we find our way to each other again, if it doesn’t work out like we hope?”

He knew he had to give her a feeling of hope, “You know how strong our connection has become, I can’t believe it could be broken.”

She must have smiled, he couldn’t see it, but felt that some of the tension around her had eased.

Suddenly the dull gray began to take on light, her voice rose to a high crescendo, “This is the closest we’ve ever been!”

He was having a hard time keeping his cool composure, he felt the excitement growing within himself, but slowed his words before he let them out, “Yes, you’re right, the closest...ever.”

“This could be our chance!” Though they both knew the rules, only so many each time and after that those at the front had to go back to the end of the line and start over.

The light was growing, warming, they could feel it, filling them. So close, they were so close!

“We’re right at the front! Oh my—-my God!” Even though he couldn’t touch her, he knew she was shaking.

In his calmest voice he said, “I think we’re going to make it.”

A gleeful giggle erupted from her, then the loud voice, “JUST ONE MORE TODAY! MALE ONLY!”

He felt himself being pulled away from her, the pull of the tunnel of light. His soul was being sent into its reincarnation, but what about her....what about...as he entered the waiting body all his previous thoughts and memories were cleared. She was no more for him.

But he was still everything for her.

“OK, THAT’S IT NOW! EVERYONE AT THE FRONT, YOU KNOW THE RULES, BACK TO THE END OF THE LINE!”

She felt a fire ignited, if she had had a face it would have been bursting crimson. She’d waited a long time, she wanted to be close to him, she wanted to be in a body, any body, even an animal again. She’d be happy as a cat on his lap, a bird to sing to him from a branch. Anyone, anything. Yet now one, ten, twenty, a hundred years could lie between them.

She was at the end of the line again, she was silent, she didn’t have any words for the one who was next to her. She sobbed without tears.