Life's Golden Ticket Read Online Free Page B

is this place, Henry?”
    Henry looked around the square thoughtfully. “ That I can’t quite explain. It’s where miracles happen. It’s a place where people become what they’ve always dreamed of being. I s’pose that’s why you saw Betty become a beautiful, happy, healthy little girl—so you could see this is a place where people can transform themselves.”
    â€œBut how did it appear, how did this place just . . . ?”
    Henry shook his head and interrupted. “No questions like that. Let’s start with a simple ground rule. No questions about how the park came to be, or what it is, from here on out. If you question it, the experience isn’t what it should be.” He gave me a take-it-or-leave-it look. “Just accept that this could be a place of miracles for you, and choose to experience it fully. Got it?”
    â€œOkay, but . . .”
    â€œAnd no buts,” he countered. “Now, come with me. . . .”
    He walked to the far side of the square, and I could do nothing but follow obediently. I felt an urge to ask more questions, but I was so unsettled by the happenings of the past few hours that I couldn’t even muster the logic to put the words together. Even if I could, Henry had already warned me.
    When we got to the edge of the square, he said, “This is the Truth Booth.” It was tiny, like one of those mini–photo booths kids and love-struck couples gravitate toward at shopping malls. “In a few minutes,” he said, “I’m going to have you sit in there, and we’re going to figure out some of the reasons you might be here. You see, everyone who comes to this park was invited by someone who cared deeply for them. And they accepted the invitation because they knew this place might just change their lives. That’s why Mary would have come here: to change something. Most folks who get here, though, only have a vague notion of what they want to change. The Truth Booth helps them get clarity by forcing them to look at the reality of their lives. But before you go in there, you have some questions for me, don’t you?”
    He had read my mind. In the moments he had been talking, logic had returned, and I had fixed on the one question I couldn’t leave alone.
    â€œI’m sorry for asking again . . . but are you sure you don’t know what happened to Mary?”
    Henry studied me for a second, shaking his head. “I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what happened to Mary. Everyone who comes here has a unique experience. They all go on rides, play games, eat, and walk around thinking about their lives, but exactly what they experience and what they learn differs for each individual. I can also say that everyone who comes here ends up confronting some things about their lives that may not be pleasant. Sometimes in that process people freak out, shut down, or get lost. I fear one of those things may have happened somewhere along the journey for Mary, but I just don’t know. We’ll have to figure it out together. But let me be clear about something,” he said, positioning himself directly in front of me. “We are not here together simply to understand Mary’s story. This is a place of destiny. There is a reason you are here—a reason beyond Mary, a reason you could even see this park without an invitation, a reason you bumped into me, and, somehow, a reason I felt deep down that I should help you. Everything happens for a reason.”
    â€œWhy did you help?” I asked. “Betty made it sound like a big deal.”
    â€œIt is a big deal,” he said, offering no further explanation. “Look, son, Mary asked you to come here to understand what she experienced. Fine. But you are also here to understand something about yourself. There are lessons for you here. I’ll be your guide—I believe I was meant to be. I’ve been here a very long time and have