Karma Town

Karma Town

By Paul McCann

In an undercover bus zone behind the boom gate there were some cars parked around . Some of them looked as if they had been there for a long time with dirt and dust on the windscreen and wheels . The sound of laugher echoed around the walls of the car park that came from outside the office of Getaway On Time Coach Link The office was closed , On the front door there was a message .

If the reception is unattended just wait in the waiting room , where already a  small group of tourists were waiting for their coach to arrive .

They were all dressed like normal tourists , with cameras around their necks and some hand luggage at their feet . Their colourful outfits mirrored their jovial mood with frequent giggles and nonsensical comment .

The group were making sarcastic comments about Getaway On Time Tours because their coach was running late and now behind schedule for the departure time  .  Then as if from nowhere the blue and yellow coach arrived outside the waiting room .The coach driver checked all the names on his list against the ID of all the passengers who were waiting there . The driver checked all the baggage of each of the passengers and then loaded it all into the compartment at the rear of the bus .

There was no welcome or friendly greeting from the driver , He just told them the number of their allocated seat on the coach . After they were all seated the driver got behind the wheel and started up the engine then slowly made the departure from the undercover bus zone to the road that seemed deserted of traffic . Before much longer they were on the road to start their adventure to places where they had never been to see things they had never seen before.

An uneasy and strange sense of the unknown was felt by everyone on board as one of the passengers said ,

“:Well, that’s us then . Here we are. “

The driver responded ,

“That’s true , but tell me where abouts are we ?”

No one had an answer .

“Ok then , I guess no one knows where we are , so its time to go somewhere else between here and somewhere “

Suddenly another one of the passengers asked  , 

“How far away are we from the first stop ?”

“Hard to say , not that far”.

The driver responded and it went quiet again until the man sitting behind the driver seat asked ,

“So roughly in your estimation how far might it be before make our first stop ?”

The driver  again thought for a moment and replied said ,

“Well , it’s really not that far away I suppose , however it does depend on how things are around the bends as we go and if there would be any road closures or unscheduled detours from here to there. So again, as I said , it’s really hard to say  how far away it is from here to there .”

Some of the passengers started to feel uneasy and they looked at each other with some inquisitive glances . Then the silence was broken by another one of the passengers who asked the driver.

“How long have you been driving coaches for Getaway Tours ?”

The driver responded

“How long , is hard to say you see , it’s like well , how long is a piece of string that’s tied to a post on the road that goes nowhere , It’s only a piece of string , the length of it doesn’t matter , It’s the same as the length of time people work in a career , it’s really not that important when you consider the fact that time between here and there is non-existent , Time has got no measurement or destination in a spiritual sense and its better left that way anyhow ?”

Everyone went quiet for a while ,

The silence was deafening until another one of the passengers spoke .

“That’s not an appropriate answer , we are living in a world where time exists and we all know that time is how we conduct our lives , We all need a time when we start or finish and it’s an essential part of life that makes a  difference with who we are and what we do and when we do it .”

The driver just kept driving along the road around the bends  that passed for miles and all the passengers were getting more uneasy . They came to a detour sign and there was no other traffic on the road , The atmosphere was tense so a few of the passengers began making small talk amongst themselves . After a long stretch of road had been left behind, they came to another detour sign ,where the driver made the turn and went the direction that the road signs said ,.

After a long haul up the road the driver pulled the coach into a small town and drove through the main street where they came to a large estate house called , “Ayah Way where the gates opened automatically allowing the driver to access the private road along a driveway to the front doors of the old estate home where he eventually parked the coach and said .

 .“We’re already here at Ayah Way in Karma Town folks .“

Everyone looked at each other with a quizzical look of surprise on their faces .

One of them said , .

“There was no mention of Karma Town in our travel brochure. ‘

The driver turned around and looked at all of the passengers saying  ,

“ There are moments in life when miracles happen and now is one of those moments so it doesn’t matter what you think or if you believe or you don’t believe because all of you are here for a reason .“

One of the passengers spoke .

“Why are we here ?”

The driver pointed to the person approaching the coach . He was dressed in a white robe and sandals on his feet ,.He stepped on board the coach saying,

“Welcome to Karma Town .”

The driver of the bus walked away leaving them all stranded . The man with the white robe called out every name of those on the coach and then he said , ,

“Sarah Milers or sour face Sarah as you’re known. You’ve done a lot of things in your life that were unfair to others which has resulted in a large debt so you have been given one last chance to redeem your soul and reclaim it before it’s too late  .”

“Sarah shouted aloud .

“ I have no idea what you’re talking about .and obviously you don’t know  who I am and the authority I possess .’

He handed her a sheet of paper and said ,

“We know exactly who you are . Here is a list of tasks that you need to complete before you are able to leave Karma Town . “

Then one by one he handed out a similar sheet of paper to all of the passengers saying ,

“ Each of you has a list of tasks that will require a signature to confirm you achieved what needed to be done “
Then the questions were coming in one by one like wave of communication that made no sense . The man with the white robe spoke over the top of their voices ,

“This is your miracle . All of you , so during the time you are here in Karma Town you have been given a chance , to off load all your baggage and redeem your soul . If you fail , you will not be leaving this place the same way that you came . You debt will not have been paid and so the cost of your wrong doings will need to be paid in full and as a result you will not be able to progress any further in your life so you will remain as prisoners here until you learn the lessons of how to be a kind human being and live in harmony with the world and yourself /’

Pointing to each one of the passengers and calling them by their name , he gave then a number .

“:In this place you will be known by the number I have given you . Now you have a purpose which is to rectify all the wrongs that you’ve done ‘

A welcome party made their way from the estate house and led all the passengers  to the rooms that were allocated for them inside Ayah Way .

The coach driver returned and said ,

“Good luck , I’ll be here for those of you who are ready to move on “

He got in the coach and drove away .

All the passengers went to their rooms and were given a reminder to try to follow the instructions that would be given to them .

Paul the interior designer had a job on his list to share his talent freely . Later that evening he had  a call on his phone from a stranger. in town who wanted a quote to have some decor works on his new home  . Paul had always be greedy and selfish and had never  helped anyone . As hard as it was for Paul to accept the job and  he told the enquirer that he had won a prize for being the hundredth caller today and that he would decorate the home for free and would be happy to do the job for free .

Jim who was known as a hard man , had an aggressive attitude to every person he met . He had spent years making money as a street fighter and liked to bully  others in his life .

Jim’s job on the list here’s given was to save a life . That evening Jim had three phone calls with no person responding when he took the call . All he had were  the areas where the calls had come from .Muker , Gillan and Dobber . That night on the TV news there were 3 people who had been.killed in car crashes in those towns . The next day he had another 3 phone calls but no one answered , all he had were the names of the towns where the calls had come from .Queensbridge , Gordonville and Leighton . On the TV  news later that night 3 people had been killed in separate car crashes in those towns . Jim realised that he was being given a sign and had to somehow intervene to save a life .

The following day he had a phone call from a stranger asking for help as his car had broken down .

The stranger had thought Jim was working for a car breakdown service .

Jim was almost going to hang up but suddenly he thought of why he was there in Karma Town and whispered to himself.  

“ This man is getting home safe tonight “

Jim answered the call and said he would be there to help soon . Afterwards he found a car hire company and hired a car then went to help that person who had broken down who had given directions of where  his  broken-down car was . When he got there Jim paid for a tow truck to a motor mechanic and then drove the very grateful person home .

Diana had always been critical of people’s talents . She had destroyed the dreams of many up-and-coming artists with her job in the Arts and Entertainment industry .  When she was out at dinner that evening there was a young guitarist singing some songs for the people in the restaurant .

Her job on the list was to support. that artist and find him a break into show business .

When some of the  crowd in the restaurant insulted the  musician Diana showed a strength of character and took the microphone and introduced herself as the musicians manager and  told the rude people to leave the restaurant or she would call the police to have them arrested .

The manager of the restaurant seconded Diana’s sentiments and had had his security remove those concerned .

Diana told  the young man she loved his songs and if he would be ok to record ten of them for a demonstration album for a music publisher she knew .

The young man’s dream of becoming a star had just been found . He was so happy he cried tears of joy .  Every one of the passengers had similar experiences and made a change to the lives of others .

After a week the coach arrived back in Karma Town .

Everyone there had achieved the tasks and the driver introduced  himself as Justin .

The passengers all got back on the coach and were given a tour of places they would never forget. 

and on route had discovered a feeling that money couldn’t buy .

At the journeys end , all the passengers were given a full refund for the inconvenience of the unscheduled stop on their tours.

 

The End