"You had died and your soul was collected," the stranger continued, "Then Annie jumped from the bridge and her soul was collected. But she was supposed to have survived. Once we realized the mistake, we put a soul back. The wrong soul. Your's, Gloria."
"How could you make a mistake like that!?" Gloria interjected.
"Well, mistakes do happen occasionally," the stranger said as he shifted from one foot to the other.
"So who is Gloria actually?" Annie asked.
"She's someone who had died on a battlefield," the stranger answered vaguely.
"She's a soldier? She's a guy!?"
"I didn't say that," the stranger said.
"Why can't I remember anything about my other life?" Gloria asked.
"That's because you don't have those memories." The stranger pulled out a flat black plastic object from his sleeve. "Your memories are here."
"What's that?" Annie asked.
"A floppy disk," the stranger explained, "A digital storage device commonly used a couple of decades ago."
"All my memories fit in that primitive thing!?" Gloria exclaimed, "Just how little memory do I have?"
The stranger waved the diskette. "This is just a metaphor. If you like, I can make it a stone tablet."
Gloria stepped forward and reached for the diskette.
The cowled figure pulled back. "Uh-uh, not yet. You'll get it back when you're well and truly dead." He slipped the diskette back into his sleeve.
"Aren't I already dead?" Gloria asked.
"In your first life you are. Your life as Annie Billings is yet to be settled, though."
Gloria breathed an irritated sigh. "How come Annie has her memories?" At least Annie knew her name.
"She has a copy of her own memories," the stranger said, "That is, up until the time she took a bath in the river."
Gloria glanced at Annie. "If I didn't know better I'd say that's Mother over there."
The stranger clasped his hands together and stood on a foot in a silly little embarrassed pose with his other foot raised behind him. "Oh, honey, you've caught me!" he said in a voice that was exactly like Mother's.
The jaws of both girls dropped. "M-mother!?" stammered one. "Mum!?" exclaimed the other.
Annie shook her head. "He's not Mum. He's much worse than Mum."
"All right, enough jokes," decided the stranger. He had reverted back to the male voice. "We're here to decide on what to do with the life of Annie Billings in the real world. One of you two must go back."
"It's obvious," Gloria said while looking at Annie, "She should go back."
"Why would I want to go back?" Annie protested.
Gloria spun towards the other girl. "Because you're supposed to be there."
"I don't want to go back," Annie said adamantly, "Who knows what you, a boy, have done with my body!"
"What!?" Gloria was indignant with the accusation. "I've been taking good care of your body, and your life! And it's not certain that I'm really a boy."
"Oh, yeah? If you've been doing so well, tell me how you've been handling Connie," Annie challenged.
"Well, she's my friend," Gloria began uncertainly.
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