///I too have had a little boy, not quite two years old, tell me something startling.

First he said that he used to be a big man once. That, in itself, is nothing at all unusual- most kids think something of the sort.

But then he said he used to have an airplane. Well, this is Alaska- kids know all about airplanes.

Then he said, matter of factly, It crashed. I crashed it. And I died.

I said, Oh, that's too bad. What happened?

He said, It had a fire. And they couldn't get to me fast enough.

Now, I agree that he could have overheard such a conversation at home. However, he was playing with some blocks at the time and his demeanor was, well, different. ///

When I was a boy I was haunted by snatches of memories of medieval Europe. It happened whenever I heard medieval music or saw medieval art. The feeling of recognition was overwhelming and completely puzzled me. At 4, I'm hearing medieval music on TV and thinking, "I know what that is!! But how could I know, I've never heard this before." Even weirder, I had memories or impressions that I couldn't make sense of until I got older--namely, I was a monk and an unhappy, dissatisfied monk at that. Could mean nothing. But suppose I had memories and sensations back then that I didn't get to recall or re-live? A stimulus in a new life triggers them no differently than when you hear an old song from childhood that you haven't thought about in decades--thought you had utterly forgotten it. Those feelings are not as vivid now but I still have a penchant for medieval music and art. And I still have no desire to be a monk.

And this boy you speak of--those may have been his final memories and sensations and then he died before he could remember and re-live them so it must happen now because he was conscious when it happened. But who knows?