No More Limbo...What about Purgatory?

      "I'm in the limbo," the bald headed professor confessed, tilting his head vaguely towards some unknown point at the end of the universe, pretty close to one of those black holes, the ones whose existence or not has stirred up a ruckus in the world's most erudite circles.

       "Don't sweat it," I said, "because the limbo no longer exists."

       "You mean there's no longer a stopping off place for poor lost souls?"

        "Nope! That's what somebody said in the newspaper, some big wig in the Church, said that actually there never was a limbo, that it was just a popular invention."

        "You don't say! And all these years, all these centuries, thinking you could take a deep breath in the limbo and play with the souls of babies before having to come to terms with your fate. Well, well...What a novelty! It certainly takes some of the heat off..."

       "Sorry, there is no evidence there was ever much heat in the limbo. I fear you are getting it mixed up with Hell."

       "True. I mean somebody might get angry and send you to Hell to burn to death but I've never heard of anyone getting uptight and sending you to the limbo. Nevertheless, something bothers me: What if  Hell was (is) also a popular invention?"

      "How dare you say that! That's blasphemy!"

      "So...you don't think they'll do away with Hell?"

     "Quite impossible, I'd say."

     "Why?"

     "That's where we are."

      "Oh."