What might a spirit feel on first awakening in the afterlife? Fear, confusion, denial?

When Maggie Stevens, a former world-class gymnast, first awakens in a hospital bed, she is amazed that her body is pain-free. After all, she fell off a balance beam during a competition and crashed head-first onto the auditorium floor. What Maggie doesn't at first realize is that the hospital is like no place on earth. She meets other newly arrived "patients": Kate Douglas, a no-nonsense academic who suffered a heart attack; Ryan James, a handsome musician, who is recovering from a motorcycle crash; Frank Chambers, an ex-cop from Chicago, and Patrick Riley, a church organist, both of whom arrived from a Swiss cancer clinic; and Claire and Swen, a young couple running away from the army. When they all learn that they didn't recover from their illnesses and injuries, they go on an adventure to discover the nature of their new reality. Each must discover that their earthly choices and intentions paved the way for their final destination.

Naomi Gladish Smith, a former teacher, is the author of The Arrivals (2004), the mystery Buried Remembrance (1977), and numerous essays and short stories that have been published in the annual anthology The Chrysalis Reader, The Christian Science Monitor, and Interludes Magazine. She is also a regular contributor to WBEZ, the National Public Radio station in Chicago, Illinois.