“There, that wasn’t hard, was it?” Hera (and the first-grade teacher) said. “You can change the wheelchair too,” Hera suggested gently as she rearranged her own gown and added a summer wrap.

Lydia was so confused that she didn’t know what she was doing. She stared down to see that she was no longer tied to the chair, but that was because they’d untied her for dinner. Wasn’t it?

“Do help her, Christ,” Hera said.

Christ leaned forward graciously. “Do you understand who I am?” he asked.

Lydia squinted at him uneasily. Was he the old man next to her in the nursing home, a senile old coot like herself? Or was he an old Christ, such as she’d never seen in pictures or read about in the Bible? In any case, she decided, he was nice; so why hurt his feelings? “You’re Christ,” she said, sighing.

“Verily,” Christ answered. “And I say to you that you are you, whether you’re young or old or male or female at any given time. You don’t have to be old and sick right now. Certainly not here. Or there, either. So turn into the image that you like best.”

“And then maybe we can get on to dinner,” Zeus muttered. But Lydia didn’t hear him. She was staring at Christ. He sounded so absurdly sure. His gray-white curls quivered with conviction as he nodded his head. His brown eyes didn’t blink. They were wide open with that innocent look the very senile get. He wanted her to change her image so badly; she hated to break his heart.

“Daughter,” he said.

And she suddenly was a daughter in fact! That is, she was young, glowing, incredulous.

“That was beautifully done, Christ,” Hera said.

“Yes, I still have the old touch,” Christ answered. He rubbed his wrinkled hands together with obvious satisfaction.

“Well, let’s get on with dinner, then,” Zeus shouted. He clapped his hands and a table appeared, loaded with delicacies. “Now that everyone’s settled, what did you come here for?” he asked, reaching out not too gracefully toward a leg of mutton.

Lydia looked up to answer and she paused in bewilderment. Suddenly his eyes were young and hearty—and very, very familiar. They belonged to Oversoul Seven and just as Lydia realized that, that scene vanished and everything came back to her. “Whatever happened?” she cried. “Oh, that was terrible. I relived one of the darkest moments—”