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Hi Mike, and Vanessa,

(ahem) I don't lie to my children when I tell them Santa is real. Santa IS real ... very real... he's just got a secret identity like any other superhero, which is... me. They get told the rest of the story when they're much older. But I don't consider it lying. (We don't play him up real big, either.)

OK, on to the story. It's an interesting setup, that's for sure. Can I suspend my disbelief? Sure. They're acting according to what they believe is necessary to save the man.

Was Harvey the inmate saved? My take--not yet, but he might figure it out once he's been on the other side a while. But my theology runs a little different from many other Christian sects. I'll drop it there rather than get in a huge discussion about it.

The story's just for fun! Mike said so.

Literary-wise, is it working? Mostly. It runs into a little trouble where the first preacher apparently reads Harvey's thoughts. If he's not supernatural--as shown at the end--then there needs to be a scientific way he's doing that. Either make the fellow a psychic, give him a gizmo hidden in his pocket that reads minds, or just rewrite it to knock that part out.

And can a fiction lead to truth? Did you see "Leap of Faith" with Steve Martin as the showman evangelist? Great movie.

Linda