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Таня Д Дэвис

— «Ambulance won’t help him», — thought Julia and sighed with relief. She had won: Sarah was saved.

Suddenly Julia noticed another lifeless body lying near the crashed car. The shape of it was so familiar to her that it make her shiver.

«Nonsense! It cannot possibly be mine! How can it be? Mine is waiting for me quietly at the cosy office of the Human Soul Travellers Club. It must be some other woman, who perhaps had been crossing the road and whom I hadn’t noticed before the accident».

Ambulance men carefully placed the injured woman on the stretcher and put her into the van. To disperse her doubts Julia looked at the number plate of the car and horror paralysed her soul. Her worst suspicions had come true — it was the ambulance of the Human Soul Travellers Club.

If Julia had had a body at that moment she would have surely fainted.

— «It’s a mistake! Something went wrong!» — she cried in despair and clicked her fingers. But nothing happened. She clicked again and again — no result. Tears ran down her cheeks, and though she knew she had no eyes, no cheeks, no flesh whatsoever she could feel hot tears running down her face perfectly well.

Poor Julia kept on clicking her non-existent fingers until she heard the sweet patronising voice of Mr. Toffiles. «No use, Mrs. Evans, you have broken the rules of human soul travelling. Remember what I warned you about: a travelling human soul has no right to interfere in other people’s affairs or to influence their behavior. Otherwise it will be penalised. And that’s exactly what has happened with you. Why did you make poor Steve Martin crash into that truck?»

— «Mr. Toffiles, I’ll pay any amount of penalty you say, I’ll never break your sacred rules again, only please let my soul get back into my body!»

— «I’m sorry, Mrs. Evans, it’s too late. But you shouldn’t be so desperate», — Mr. Toffiles’ voice changed from sympathetic to encouraging, — «Just think: now you’ll have all the chances for travelling. You can travel free anywhere you wish. I think that’s exactly what you’ve always dreamed of. Have a good time, Mrs. Evans, and good-bye».

Good-bye, good-bye, — Mr. Toffiles’ voice was gradually dying out as if the distance between hin and Julia was getting longer and longer.

Floating high above the National Gallery, Nelson’s column, Trafalgar square, above the whole of London, so bright and beautiful, living its busy life, its windows glistening in the sun, red buses hurrying along the streets, children and dogs playing on the green grass of the parks — Julia tried to pull herself together and think of her favourite motto: take things easy and be realistic.

«Look, — she said to herself, — it goes on, London continues to live its own life, the world goes on». She dried her non-existent tears and turned at the sound of gentle voices. «Look, they were saying, — here is the new one! One more victim of the Human Soul Travellers Club. She had broken the rules, Mr. Toffiles is just a devil! Look, what a charming female soul!»