Last Night

Last night just as we were about to make supper there was a ring at the back door. My husband and I looked at each other. "I'll get it," I said, remembering that I've told all of my neighbors they can call on me at any time for any reason. I opened the door and a young man wearing a lanyard was standing in the foyer. He had a clip board and a tattoo of musical notes coming around from behind his right ear curling around his neck. He explained some kind of free rebate money from the electric company. I listened knowing I was not interested. "Are you the bill payer?" he asked. "No," I said. "I'll get him." I shut the door and said to my husband, "go talk to him." I listened in on the spiel. It was a string of well rehearsed, fast paced words. "When do you breathe," I asked. He laughed. Then we talked about music. He showed us the other side of his neck where he had a tattoo of a treble clef. He smiled and his two front teeth had a gap between them. He had a wide pronounced jaw. We said no thank-you, good-luck and goodbye. We shut the door and as we walked to the kitchen. I asked my husband, Did you see the teeth and the jaw and the smile was just like Jonathan, even his whole rapid way of speaking. "Yes, yes you're right," he said. The hair on my arms stood up. "We were speaking to a reincarnation of our dead nephew. We should've invited him to stay for supper."