Reincarnation

I am occasionally asked if I believe in reincarnation. My usual answer is that I may have been a lady's maid in a previous life. I am quite good at the traditional duties of a lady's maid. I can start a fire in a fireplace, without a gas jet. I can make a decent pot of tea. I am very good at maintaining clothing, from getting out stains to making invisible repairs. I am fairly good with hair. The only part I would not have enjoyed is the fact that Milady had the right to whack her maid upside the head with a hairbrush. I would not have liked that.

However, there was this once...

I was sitting on a the couch in a dimly-lit room. There was a lamp on the end table, and the TV was on, but that was the only light. Brendan, at maybe six, was playing with cars on the rug. He asked me something, and I called him "Blaise" when I answered him.

For just a heartbeat, the couch became a settle, the dim light became firelight, and he was a small boy in a loose long shirt, playing on an Oriental rug. And his name was Blaise. He had two older sisters called Ysobel and Elaine. Ysobel was tall and thin, and talented with weapons. Elaine was more skilled in domestic arts. Both were a bit "witchy."

All this in a split second.

Strange.