Happy Halloween? - chapter four.

A moment the big dog still showed all its very impressive teeth. Then looked decidedly confused - like it was listening to an inner voice - and even thinking over what it heard.
Then a very loud "Plop!" and a blinding flash of lightning scared Johnny quite a bit. His hands flew up to shield his eyes. But nothing else happened after that. Except a very deep voice saying "Wow, mate ... Thank you ... You feeling pity for me removed those extra heads. ... phew! This is a nice feeling indeed. You have no idea how heavy those heads are!"
Johnny looked cautiously over the top of his fingers. Then felt like lifting them again because the big dog came straight at him. But before doing so he noticed the tell tale sign of a happy dog - the ears were up - the tale wagging ... and although one could still see his huge teeth the dog was smiling now - not snarling.
Then the dog came close enough to sniff at him and said "How do you do. My name is Cerberus - which you may or may not know ... People´s education today do not normally run to knowing the names of the staff members down here. Sniff ... That´s weird? Are you sure you should be here? I was expecting - wait a sec ..."
Here the dog sat down on his broad behind and from on hidden breast pocket in its fur produced a scrap of paper and a pair of glasses, which it placed on its nose with a bit of a self conscious giggle.
"Let´s see ..." he barked mostly to himself. "Ah, yes, here we are - J.C. Dapp, mercenary. ... but - you do definitely NOT smell of blood and death, as I would expect you to do with that job? Sniff - sniff ... You smell of very much love and laughter and happy people great and small ... I think that foolish Sage has screwed up things again"
Now Johnny knew grown-up men were not suppose to cry but this was just too much. He thought, he heard an anxious clucking somewhere. Then a huge paw went around his shoulders and before he realized what Cerberus was doing he was leaning against the dog who was licking his face a bit and rocking back and forth gently.
After a couple of minutes Johnny felt so much better. In fact he hardly hurt anymore. Only felt a bit sore here and there. He moved away from Cerberus's surprisingly soft fur and apologized while looking embarrassed.
"Oh, think nothing off it, boy" Cerberus rumbled. "You just needed a good cry. And - wait a second - I know who you are! You are that there sweet man - Johnny - eh ... Johnny Depp, yes! Not Dapp at all! Depp ... I have been a fan of yours ever since Edward Scissorhands. Those fur cuts you gave my fellow brothers and sisters dogs were marvellous. And when I saw on GGB tonight that you had helped Anubis I became an even bigger fan."
Cerberus were smiling even broader now showing more big teeth. But Johnny wasn´t afraid of him anymore.
Just said quietly "Yes, I am Johnny Depp. At least I think I am ... I´m certainly not a mercenary ... Although I am not .. sweet ... either. I´m sure, mercenaries can be good people too, but ... Anyway - if you were expecting this - what did you call him - Dapp? Then what am I doing here? Eh - and thank you very much for what ever it was you did just a moment ago. Licking my cheek like that ... It really helped. But - GGB? Don´t you mean BBC - or CCN?"
"No, I mean GG .. Oh, I forget you are mortal. GGB means Greek Goddess´ Broadcast. It´s a news channel for gods of all kinds. Yes, well - when Hermes started it it was more a music channel - like your MTV, basically. And was called Greek GOD`S Broadcast of course. But - Hermes having wings on his feet also means he tires quickly of things - so Athena and Demeter took it over and change the name and most of the programs" Cerberus smiled.
Then scratched himself behind the ear with a big back paw and said "But - as for your problem .... I wonder - you were not suppose to come through here at this time. That much I know. But ... unfortunately I don´t know what to do if you are not dead at all. You do have to die some time, of course. But if it was not suppose to be tonight ... I am not sure the process can be reversed though. So the best I can do is to take you to the Choosing Chamber. There you can chose between two doors - one for Tartarus - or Hell to you - and one leading to the Elysium Fields ... Also call Heaven by some. ... I definitely don´t think you need be afraid of ending up in Tartarus! You are way too sweet, little one"
Johnny tried protesting that if he wasn´t dead he would much rather just go back to his LIFE! Please - if it wasn´t too much trouble. And Cerberus did understand that. But couldn´t figure out how to bring that about.
He tried to comfort Johnny by telling him that Heaven was a heavenly place. But Johnny just sighed that for him, Heaven was at home with his love ones.
Here Cerberus almost broke down himself and said gruffly with a catch in his voice "Come on, puppy! Better get this over with ... The Choosing Chamber is over here"
So Johnny went with him. Not wanting to bother his friend with unreasonable demands which couldn´t be met anyway. After having walked a few minutes they therefore reached a door in a wall. And when entering saw two large shining identical wooden doors opposite.
"Here I have to leave you" Cerberus said sounding sad. "This room is seldom used. Only when the bureaucracy down here can´t decide where to send people. And we want to make sure they get what they deserve - whether that is good or bad ... And you do deserve good, so don´t you be afraid. Wait until I have closed this outer door and then choose which ever door takes your fancy, my wee puppy"
Cerberus gave Johnny´s left cheek a little lick for goodbye and then left quietly through the entrance. Johnny stood looking at that door with such a longing for a friendly face even if it was a dog´s. Then he turned with a sigh towards the other two doors and wonder which one to choose.
But while looking from one door to another he suddenly noticed something strange. The room was quite empty. Nothing there but the three doors painted a shining white. The floor and walls looked like they were made of mother-of-pearl - they shone so they almost hurt to look at. But - in all this pristine emptiness - up against the wall between the doors - lay a small reddish brown feather ...
Johnny went over and knelt down to pick it up. Then noticed a trap door so cleverly made that you had to be very close to the wall to see it at all. At the upper left hand corner of said door was a slight bump in the shining mother-up-pearl stuff covering it. And when Johnny tried pressing a couple of finger against that bump the door opened away from him.
Being forever curious Johnny only hesitated for a moment before crawling through.