
**Black Messiah**

by   
**Maysam Yabandeh**

  * ACT I
    * Crucifixion
    * Roma
    * Julio, the Scarface
    * The Miracle
    * The Church
    * The Mosque
  * ACT II
    * The Apostles
    * Maria
    * O Brother, Where Art Thou?
    * When Mari Met Sally
    * In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time
    * Echoed Whispers
    * Waves of Compassion
    * Mr. Morgan
    * Messiah Show
    * It Is On
    * This Is War
    * In Morgan We Trust
    * Religions United
    * And God Created Common Sense
    * Karma
    * The Church, Take 2
    * Carousel
    * Name the Price
    * Unforgiven
  * ACT III
    * Ascension
    * The Last Goodbye
    * There Will Be Blood
    * Thou Shalt Not Kill
    * The End
    * Resurrection

(c) 2020 Maysam Yabandeh

# ACT I

## Crucifixion

Black Jesus is crucified on the cross. His black skin makes a sharp contrast with the blue sky above him. Hands are nailed to the cross. The nail is covered by Jesus's red blood. Drops of blood are falling from the nail.

The nail shakes. Jesus's fingers bend and form a black fist. The arms start shaking. It seems that Black Jesus is shivering. His head is tilted down. It is not from being faint as opposed to what appears first. Black Jesus is actually looking at something down the cross. Fury is firing off his eyes.

Black Jesus is looking down at a young, beautiful, dark-skin woman. She is wearing a white headscarf and standing down the cross. She has wisps of red hair poking out from under the headscarf. She looks like an angel sent directly from heaven and has a charming smile on her face. The smile makes her look even more innocent. Why would Black Jesus be mad at an innocent woman?

The beautiful woman is offering a flirtatious smile to a Roman soldier. The soldier is a handsome man with an athletic body and long blond hair. His eyes are, however, repulsive with lust overflowing from them. The woman does not seem to mind though. She is kindly attending to the wound that the soldier has on his finger. 'Wound' is too much of a word; it is more like a small scratch on the tip of his middle finger. The young woman is using her white ribbon to wrap around the scratched finger.

The soldier has his right hand extended towards the woman, and is leaning his left hand on the cross. The cross is mostly red from Black Jesus's blood. Some drops of blood are also dripping on the white headscarf of the woman, but she is not noticing them. Or perhaps she does, but she is ignoring them. All her attention is on treating the scratch on the extended middle finger of the Roman soldier. Could Black Jesus ever forgive him for the crucifixion? Could ever forgive her for...?

The fury in Black Jesus's eyes becomes wilder and wilder. THUNDER strikes suddenly! And the Roman soldier's face turns black. The young woman is still smiling at him. THUNDER strikes again mixed with a furious scream! And the soldier's face is all merged in black color. The brush hits the Roman soldier, harder and harder until it tears the canvas. Jesus's scream gradually turns into a pitiable sobbing. The brush drops from his hand, and he himself falls to his knees. His head hits the palette that has fallen on the ground. He rolls and lies on his back as he is still crying. Jesus's black face is now covered with a variety of colors.

"God, how can I ever forgive you?" Black Jesus says with excruciating pain.

The young woman in the painting still has the flirtatious smile on her face. The smile, however, no longer looks innocent.

## Roma

Roma, a black woman from the inner city is talking on the phone. She has a butt that Sir Mix-a-Lot would describe it as very healthy; the same goes for her round belly. The ashes of the cheap cigarette that she carelessly holds in her hand are falling on the ground. She is not enjoying the smoking, but that is the only drug she can use while on the phone. The phone's base is on the kitchen counter. She is too agitated to stand in the same place. She keeps marching left and right but cannot go far because of the phone's short wire. Even if it were not because of the wire, there is not much space to walk around in that tiny one-bedroom apartment.

"Crystal. That's enough. Bring the sugar box back to the kitchen." Roma sounds agitated and aggressive. Crystal is Roma's little, seven-year-old daughter who is playing with her four-year-old brother, Malcolm. They are apparently making a castle out of everything they found around the apartment. It might look nothing like a castle to us, but to be fair, we don't have the imagination of two innocent kids either. Crystal looks and finds Roma back to her phone conversation. She ignores Roma and resumes building her dreamy castle.

"You don't know how much I missed you, Babe," the voice over the phone says. He sounds miserable and frustrated. "Can you forgive or something? We can start over."

Roma takes a long drag of the cigarette before she responds. "Well, you should... you should..., hey, I'm talking here. You should've thought about it before you raise your fucking hand on me." Roma's yelling scares Crystal and Malcolm. They stop playing and turn to Roma. She notices that.

"Crystal. Bring back the fucking sugar," Roma yells angrily.

Crystal feels threatened. She reluctantly gets up to bring the sugar box back to the kitchen. It is a big tin box and hard to carry for a small kid at the age of Crystal. She holds the box by the handle on its lid.

"Don't touch my castle," Crystal says to Malcolm and starts moving the sugar box little by little.

"You broke my phone, you bitch. What did—" the voice over the phone says before it gets interrupted.

"— You know what. I am glad I broke your phone. Going around talking to bitches you think I wouldn't know, you son of a bitch."

"What bitches, you crazy fuck."

"Fuck me? Fuck you. When they let you out, if I see you anywhere near my children—"

"— They're my children too, you crazy—"

"— I'll call the police. This ain't your family no more. And I'll do everything to protect my children from your crazy ass."

Crystal trips over. The box falls, and the sugar spreads all over the dirty floor. Roma notices that, drops the phone, and furiously runs towards Crystal.

"I'll kill ya," the angry voice over the phone yells. "I swear. I'll fucking kill ya, you crazy bitch."

Crystal sees giant Roma running towards her. She recognizes the mad look on her face. Crystal runs towards the door to escape. She has no plan yet, but perhaps if she could find Security George, he can save her again. Crystal is near the door when Roma's hand reaches her and grabs her by the hair. Her hair is pulled. It hurts. It hurts really bad. Crystal bursts out crying. Malcolm is watching with unbelieving eyes.

"How many times I tell you be careful, you moron," Roma mercilessly slaps Crystal over and over.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." These are Crystal's desperate words, hoping that they save her from more abuse.

"Stop crying. Not a sound. Don't cry or I slap you more."

Crystal shuts her mouth and cries silently.

Roma takes a cold look at Crystal as if she does not even realize what she is doing to her kid. Crystal's face is soaked with tears. "Go bring the vacuum. I want this floor to be cleaned like it's new."

Roma notices that the voice over the phone is still talking. She leaves Crystal alone and gets back to resume her phone call. Crystal, as she is wiping her tears with her sleeves, leaves to bring the vacuum from the closet. She notices Malcolm staring at her in shock. Crystal approaches Malcolm and without missing a beat mercilessly grabs his hair and yanks it left and right.

"How many times I tell you don't touch my castle."

Malcolm bursts out crying. Roma hears that, drops the phone, and comes to punish Crystal more. This time, Crystal was ready and manages to reach the door before Roma catches her. Roma throws her shoe at Crystal. It hits her in the back as she is running out of the apartment. It hurts. But, Crystal does not stop. She knows this pain is not comparable to the pain she has to endure if Roma catches her. She runs towards the safety that she might find outside that hellish apartment.

## Julio, the Scarface

It is after midnight. Crystal is wandering in empty streets. The darkness of the night is frightening. She is thinking perhaps she should go back home and take the beating. Suddenly, she hears loud music. She turns and finds that the loud music is coming from the open door of a strip club. It is called 'Black Angels'. A few light poles are guarding the strip club, one of them is flickering once in a while. A large poster next to the door shows a couple of strippers who are posing half-naked. They seem happy, Crystal thinks. She wonders whether she can find peace there. Perhaps one day she will be as happy as the girls on the poster. She takes a step towards the strip club. She sees a young, white man leaving the club. She gets scared and hides behind the garbage cans.

The young man is wasted. He is wearing an expensive suit with a loose tie. His name is Chandler, and he has recently found a job as a junior trader at an investment bank. He is very proud of himself and wears the suit everywhere to declare that. The strip club's door shuts behind him, and with that, the music stops too. Silence reigns again on the empty streets. He walks towards the main street. His drunken steps are the only sound that breaks the silence of the night.

A half-burnt cigarette is thrown on the street. The man who was smoking it steps into the light. He is wearing boots with thick soles, worn-out jeans, a square shirt, and a vest. One of the sleeves seems to be loose. Yes, he is one-handed. His face is still in the dark and cannot be seen.

Chandler hears someone is following him. Chandler stops, but the sound of stalker's boot stepping on the empty street does not. Chandler turns and recognizes the stalker immediately. He is Julio, a Latino man with scars all over his face. Julio is as scary as he looks. If it were not for his cheap clothes, Julio would resemble the leader of a drug cartel.

"Remember me, Wall Street?" Julio says to Chandler. His thick voice is scarier than his face.

Chandler panics and hastily searches in his pockets for his knife. He is not finding the knife. He looks like he might have a heart attack any second. Julio enjoys watching that.

"Julio doesn't forgive. It's pay time." There is no mercy in Julio's tone.

Chandler finally finds the knife and takes it out. With a press of a button, its sharp blade comes out. Chandler has partly got his confidence back. "Hey, fuck off," he says to Julio while pointing the knife at him.

Julio does not seem impressed though. He keeps walking towards Chandler. Julio's confidence terrifies Chandler. He hysterically stabs the air with the knife to scare Julio off. Julio sneers and keeps approaching Chandler. Julio reaches Chandler. Chandler makes his mind up, screams, and stabs him with the knife.

Chandler cannot believe his eyes. Julio has intercepted the knife with his one bare hand. Chandler gulps in fear. Julio is looking directly into Chandler's eyes. His only hand that is wrapped around the blade is now bleeding. He tries to turn the knife back on Chandler. Both men are pushing hard. Chandler's stamina is running out. Some blood drops from Julio's hand. Julio finally bends Chandler's wrist. The knife is now pointing at Chandler. Chandler's wrist is about to break when let go of the knife.

Julio throws the knife away and without missing a bit chokes the young man with his bloody hand. Chandler is using both his hands but fails to remove Julio's firm grip on his throat. He is running out of breath. Julio enjoys looking into Chandler's helpless eyes.

Chandler's face is all red. His eyes are rolling back and his hands are giving up. Right before he passes out, Julio throws him on the ground. Chandler inhales deeply which is followed by multiple painful coughs. Julio watches Chandler's misery, and that gives him satisfaction. Chandler throws up. The vomit is mixed with blood. He is on his fours on the alley's floor.

"Next time, think twice before disrespecting a stranger in a bar." Julio interrupts Chandler's painful coughs. He turns to leave. "And get your Wall Street ass off my block," he says while walking away.

"Fuck you," Chandler says while still on his fours.

Julio stops and turns. He looks enraged. He approaches Chandler again. Without saying another word, he kicks Chandler in the stomach with his heavy-sole boots. Chandler moans in pain and falls on the ground. He is holding his stomach and taking labored breaths. Julio watches that. He is not satisfied. Julio kicks him again, and again multiple times. No more sound is coming out of Chandler. Julio stops. He takes a second to regain his breath. He fixes his hat and says: "Fuck you too."

Julio spits on Chandler's body, turns, and leaves. After a few steps, he hears Chandler inhaling deeply. It is as if he was very near to die right there on the street. As his face is still on the ground, he says with a shaky, hoarse voice: "I'll remember your face."

"I've forgotten yours already," Julio responds without turning back. "Julio forgets but never forgives."

Julio notices that Crystal is standing next to the garbage cans, watching the whole scene. Julio stops. Crystal screams.

## The Miracle

"NOOOOOOO."

Krystal screams. She is a little, Caucasian girl at the same age as Crystal. A man is holding her by the arm and is forcefully taking her towards the adventure park's exit gate. It is lunchtime when there is little visitor traffic around the gate. No other visitor seems to be around to respond to Krystal's scream.

"Hey, what is going on there?" Krystal hears someone yelling that from behind. The man who is pushing Krystal ignores that and keeps taking her towards the exit gate. He hears someone running towards them. A black hand taps him on the shoulder. "Hey," the voice yells again.

The man stops and angrily turns back. He is an athletic guy with muscles popping out of every corner of his body. He wonders who is this dead man who dares to touch him. He sees an average-size, black man wearing the park's official vest. His name is Jesus, and he is a park operator in charge of the zip line. He still has in his hand a half-eaten burger that he was eating during his lunch break.

The man gives Jesus a dirty look. Jesus subconsciously takes a step back. He is no match for a muscular guy at that size. Jesus is frozen. He gulps in fear. He cannot say a word or make a move. The guy sizes up Jesus and quickly figures that Jesus is too little of a man to interfere. Without wasting any more time, the man turns towards the exit gate and pushes Krystal with him. Jesus watches Krystal being taken away, but there does not seem to be much that he can do about it.

Krystal starts crying. Jesus cannot bear an innocent kid's tears. He has to do something no matter the consequences. He takes a leap in the dark, gathers all his courage, and yells: "Leave the kid alone."

The beefy man stops. From his shoulder moving up and down, one can tell that he is breathing angrily. He lets go of Krystal's arm, returns to Jesus, and angrily marches towards him. Jesus's heart is pounding fast, but he tries to ignore that giant who is approaching him. "Do you know this man?" Jesus asks Krystal. She does not say anything and just wipes out her tears with her sleeves. The man has now reached Jesus and his shadow is cast on him.

"None of your damn business."

"I'm making it my damn business," Jesus responds with a trembling voice after he swallows his spit.

The guy puts his big hands on Jesus's face and violently pushes him back. Jesus falls back on the ground. The man follows and collapses on Jesus. Jesus looks up with shocked eyes. Omar, his 20-year-old, Indian colleague, is rubbing his knuckles after having punched the man in the face. One punch is all that it took for Omar to knock him out.

"Dude," Jesus objects to Omar, "I wasn't finished talking."

"Punching is quicker," Omar responds dismissively.

"You could get fired."

"Not if no one saw," Omar says while checking the surroundings. "Except this little one." Omar turns to Krystal and kneels next to her. "Where's your dad, Missy?"

Krystal points to the guy who is passed out on the ground. She is not crying anymore. Omar turns to Jesus. There is an awkward moment between Omar and Jesus.

"Well," Omar tells Jesus while standing up, "my job is done here. Are you finally joining us this Friday or what?"

"I'm not sure."

"You gotta start sometime. Trust me. It'll be good for you," Omar says while stepping away.

Jesus watches Omar leaving. He is thinking about how to turn down Omar's invitation without hurting his feelings. He turns his look to the man that is passed out next to him.

"Is this really a father?" Jesus asks Krystal.

Krystal nods with a sad face. She does not say a word, but her questioning eyes are screaming.

* * *

OH, MY GOOOOOOOOOOOD.

A girl screams in excitement. She is going down the zip line in the Eden Adventure Park. It is the 4th longest zip line in the world that measures a whopping 2.6 miles of cable. It made the headlines in the national newspapers when it first came out in 2018. People of all colors, races, and religions from across the world come to the Eden Adventure Park for the sole purpose of experiencing the most amazing ride of their life. The ride starts from the top of Paradise Mountain that is overlooking the entire park and whatever happens in it. The view from the summit is spectacular with the mountain range in the background. Most mountains shine red in the sun because of the Iron-rich stones that are abundant in this area.

From up there, you could barely see the people in the park. They look like some small ants that are standing still. The start of the ride is like free-falling from the sky. You would hold your breath, your heart would beat at its peak, and you would be thinking: what a beautiful way to die. It is only after the first five seconds that you feel the pressure of the hook on the back of your safety vest as if somebody is holding you from the fall. In no time you learn to trust it, all of it, the cable, the hook, the safety straps on your vest, and just enjoy the most amazing view of the mountain range on the side and of the creek at the bottom. The end of the cable cannot be seen with naked eyes, and it appears as if you are going to hit the bottom of the creek at an insane speed. It is only after the midpoint when you realize that the cable bends and connects to the landing platform at the edge of the cliff that is overlooking the creek.

The landing platform is where most of the facilities of the adventure park are located, ranging from less-adventurous rides such as bumper cars, Helter Skelter, and carousel that is exclusively used by kids, to exciting ones like pendulum ride, pirate ship, and a roller coaster that is enjoyed by people of all ages. Well, not exactly all ages; there is a minimum age of four to be accurate, which is much less than the minimum standard age that is enforced in other adventure parks. However, the owner and the director of the park, Mr. Morgan, has managed to pull off his powerful connections to reduce the minimum age and hence increase the profit. That is how he does business, and that is how he got so rich. Even right now, he is at the zip line's landing platform, figuring how to bribe two city inspectors to ignore the safety issues with the short distance between the cable when it reaches the landing platform and the concrete bottom of the platform.

At the top of the Paradise Mountain, people, wearing their safety vests, are waiting in line for their turn to go down the zip line. Lucy, a cute, young French girl, is already in line to go next. She has her feet pushed against the launch gate and is impatiently waiting for the operator to open the gate. Lucy is smiling, which makes her look even more attractive. She must be good in bed too, Paul thinks. Paul is the playboy/operator who is now on his break—from being an operator. He enjoys his break by eating ice cream while staring at Lucy. He is actually leaking the ice cream to be accurate. Lucy turns her head, and her eyes fall on Paul. Their eyes lock together. Paul does not miss the chance and takes a shot at her; he extends his tongue way out and gives a long, suggestive lick on the ice cream while maintaining the lustful eye-contact with Lucy. Paul's move does not work on Lucy. Lucy acts crept out and turns her face away. She smiles again. Paul follows Lucy's look and finds Vincent, the tall, handsome boyfriend of Lucy with pretty, blue eyes and soft, long hairs—of which he is very proud. If it were not for his oddly fat belly, people would assume that he must be an underwear model. What a piece of shit, douchebag, Paul thinks. He is disgusted by Vincent, although he still does not know why.

Vincent is being helped by Jesus. Jesus is a 33-year-old, skinny, well-shaved, black man with an average height. He is a painter by night and a zip line operator by day, just to pay the bills. He is reluctantly tightening the straps on Vincent's vest and doing the final safety checks. Vincent is standing with open arms and takes a condescending look down at Jesus's depressing face. What Vincent does not know is that Jesus has been struggling with depression for quite a long time now.

Jesus picked up painting shortly after Sally, his ex, dumped him. There was something in painting that would ease the pain. He started by painting his father. The first paintings depicted a tall, strong black man with serious, yet kind, eyes. The portray of his father became more and more legendary over time until recently that it looks more like a Greek god than a human dad. There is no limit on a young man's imagination.

Jesus's father passed away before Jesus was born. Jesus never understood how could be no picture left of his father. The explanations that his mother, Maria, gave him was never convincing. He always felt that there is something fishy in the stories that Maria tells him about his father. He has thought about all kinds of scenarios. One theory that has crossed his mind was that his father might actually be alive and that Maria hides the pictures so that Jesus would not recognize him.

Jesus is tightening the bottom of Vincent's vest. He gets curious about Vincent's odd, fat belly. Vincent notices that. "Do you have something—" Jesus says while his look is down at Vincent's belly.

"— Quack, Quack," Vincent says playfully while poking Jesus in the middle of his head.

Jesus angrily looks up. He is so upset that he could totally punch Vincent if he was not so goddamn tall.

"What's up, Officer boring?" Vincent says with his thick, French accent. That is pushing Jesus to the edge. Vincent does not seem to have any regard for other people's feelings. "I actually have a safety question, Officer boring," Vincent changes the subject. "What if someone hits that concrete platform right before landing?"

* * *

"No way," Morgan says with a charming chuckle to the inspectors. They are standing at the landing platform. "There is at least 6 feet space here. Even Michael Jordan is not tall enough for that."

"But the speed—," the unconvinced inspector insists.

"— Speed is what makes it fun. Look, look. What do you see?"

"Those paddings?"

"State-of-the-art de-accelerators I ordered right from mother-fucker Germany. 45 fucking thousand dollars. You could come with the speed of light, and these de-accelerators would make it like a baby jumping into her mother's arms."

The inspectors, still suspicious, give each other a weird look. Morgan's salesmanship skills are working on them. That would reduce the price of the bribe that he later has to pay them.

"It's all clear," the operator at the landing platform says over the radio.

* * *

"Send the next. Over," the radio speaker says at the launching platform.

"Ready?" Jesus asks Lucy.

"Yeah." Lucy is excited. She turns her head and makes eye contact with Vincent. Paul, who is still staring at her, follows her look and finds Vincent winking at her. Paul gets suspicious. His attention breaks with Lucy screaming. Jesus has opened the gate, and Lucy is going down the zip line, gaining more and more speed every second.

"Allez Allez Allez," Vincent shouts while putting both hands around mouth.

* * *

Lucy is enjoying the wonderful ride with the heavenly view. Both of her hands are holding a grip on the rope. She takes her eyes off the spectacular view and looks at her inflated belly. Her right hand leaves the rope and reaches the belly. What the hell is she doing? She starts to open the vest's strap on her belly!

* * *

Vincent gets behind the gate, ready to go next. Jesus's eyes fall on Vincent's inflated belly again, and his suspicion comes back.

"Wait a minute, what is that?"

* * *

"What the fuck?" Morgan says when his look falls on Lucy, who is approaching the landing platform at a high speed. Morgan is about to get a heart attack. He starts running towards the cliff's edge while waving his hands at Lucy. "No, No, No."

BOOOOOOM!

That is the sound of an explosion on the concrete wall at the edge of the cliff, right below the landing platform. A watermelon explodes into a million pieces after hitting the concrete wall with that insane speed. Lucy, who had dropped the watermelon, lands safely.

* * *

"Yee Haa," Vincent screams out of excitement. "Je'tem, mi bebe," he shouts like a madman, which is followed by a mad laugh.

Jesus, who is now certain that Vincent's fat belly is fake, does not miss a beat in searching under his vest.

"Hey, get off me, shithead," Vincent complains.

Jesus finds the watermelon, takes it out, and holds it before Vincent. Jesus looks furious. His teeth are grinding from the rage.

"This is a joke to you?" Jesus yells at Vincent. "People could get hurt, you moron."

"Hey, get your hands off me, you boring American. You don't know how to have fun."

Jesus loses his temper. He is about to get physical when Paul, the ice cream in his hand, interferes.

"Hey, hey, hey, relax. Jesus, why don't you take a break?" Paul is now in between them, facing Jesus.

"Jesus!" Vincent exclaims. "Your name is Jesus! A black Jesus! Ha ha ha. You make me laugh, you little man."

Jesus loses his control and goes to attack Vincent. Paul wraps his arm around him. "Hey, easy, easy, bro, easy. Hey, look at me." Paul is looking right into Jesus's eyes. Jesus looks up at Paul as he is still breathing rapidly like a raging bull. "I'll take care of it. Alright? Leave it to me. I'll take care of it." That calms Jesus down. Paul certainly knows how to talk to his best friend. It has been almost twelve years since they have been friends. There was always a purity and an innocence in Jesus that attracted Paul. He always stood behind Jesus and defended him in every situation. You, idiots, don't get him, he would say. Jesus is not of this world; he is made of heaven—whatever that means.

Jesus reluctantly yanks the watermelon and takes it with him.

Vincent follows Jesus with his eyes while he is still doing his mad laugh. "What is your miracle, little Jesus? Hey, when I die I want you to bring me back to life." Vincent follows that with a forced laugh.

Jesus does not turn back. He just angrily throws the watermelon in the garbage bin as he is walking away. Vincent sneers and turns back. He finds Paul's face right before his, and that scares him. Paul is standing still with a confident smile on his face. His eyes are angry, but his lips are smiling. Vincent feels a bit threatened.

Paul starts redoing the straps on Vincent's vest. Vincent turns his look away. His eyes fall on the shelf. He notices Paul's ice cream that is lying down there next to the radio, waiting for him.

"A Niger Jesus. So funny." Vincent does not know when to shut up.

Paul was tightening the last strap when he hears that. He pauses. He needs a second to make his mind up.

"Jesus, what are you waiting for? Over." The voice says over the radio. That brings Paul to attention. The rage successfully suppressed, he smiles and finishes tightening the strap.

"It's coming. Just a sec. Over," Paul says over the radio.

Vincent is behind the gate with his feet pushed against it.

"Remember, hold your knees up to avoid swinging to left and right. Ready?"

"I'll see about that."

"I guess we all will see," Paul says and pushes the button. The gate opens, and Vincent departs with a loud scream.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."

Paul is disgusted by that. He puts the radio back on the shelf and picks up his half-eaten ice cream.

Jesus turns back to the platform to take over. He notices that Paul is leaning on the gate, eating the ice cream while joyfully watching Vincent. That is weird, he thinks. He follows Paul's look and notices that Vincent is messing around again by throwing his legs left and right. The strap on Vincent's left shoulder gets loose a bit.

"What the hell is that idiot doing?" Jesus says in a worried tone.

"Playing with his odds?" Paul responds rhetorically.

Jesus takes a suspicious look at Paul. Paul is back on licking his ice cream. Jesus tries not to overthink it. He goes to prepare the next rider.

"JESUS!" A girl screams. One of the straps on Vincent's vest has torn apart, and he is hanging only on one strap. Jesus is worried to death. He runs towards Vincent only to be stopped by the fences. "Knees up. Knees up," Jesus screams.

Vincent continues his reckless behavior of throwing his legs around.

Lucy with open arms is waiting for Vincent at the landing platform. "Allez, Allez, Allez," she excitedly screams while jumping up and down.

"AHHHHHHH." The safety straps get busted open, and Vincent falls. Vincent's scream is filling the whole creek.

Lucy with a shocked face has stopped jumping up and down. She still cannot believe her eyes. This cannot be happening.

Vincent's scream continues.

"Oh, shit," Paul says while the ice cream falls off his hand.

Vincent's scream continues.

A mother looks away while covering the eyes of her son who was watching Vincent.

Vincent's scream continues.

Jesus extends his hands as if he is trying to do a miracle. If there is any Jesus-y miracle in him, now it is the time to show it.

Vincent's scream stops.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Jesus says with a hoarse voice.

Morgan and the two inspectors run over the edge of the platform and watch the fall. One of the inspectors takes pictures, and the other takes his notepad out and takes notes. Morgan sees that, holds his head between his hands, and falls to his knees. "Fuck me. I'm fucked."

Jesus's tearful eyes are still staring at his miracle-free hands.

## The Church

"Would God ever forgive me?"

A woman says with a regretful tone. She is sitting in the confession booth. On the other side of the booth, Father Kelly, a half-Irish, half-German pastor is sitting. He is an experienced pastor who has devoted most of the 54 years of his life to the church. His part-baldness is compensated by a very nice, black clergy jacket. A big cross necklace made of silver and gold shines on his black jacket. He was checking the time on his Rolex wristwatch when he hears her question.

"Would God ever forgive me?"

Father Kelly takes a deep breath.

"Well—"

"— You don't need God's forgiveness." Father is interrupted by a mysterious voice that fills up the whole church. The woman's attention is grabbed. "You are the one who should forgive God. Come. Come, my victim friends." The woman stands up and walks out the confession booth as if she is hypnotized. "Come outside and let's forgive God for..." The voice continues with a pitiful sob. "... for what he has done to us."

Father Kelly notices the woman leaving the booth. He removes the curtain and sees everybody is leaving the church. "Damn. That son of a bitch," he says furiously before he pulls the curtain violently and jumps out of the booth. The curtain gets partly torn down. He follows the people outside the church, where the voice was coming from.

* * *

Father pushes through the churchgoers who are gathered in front of the church. His assistant, Otto, was the first person out, and he is standing at the front line. Although this is not a Black Church, there are a few black people among them. People are watching Jesus who is standing with open arms on top of a garbage bin at the church doorstep. Jesus, who is now bearded, has symptoms of multiple fresh burns on his face and on his hands. Half of his beard and part of his hair also seem burnt. His face is covered with tears, and he screams the words from the bottom of his heart. It is hard to tell whether he is a mental patient or a very talented character actor.

"That crosses every line of decency," Father Kelly says with grinding teeth. He looks enraged and irritated. Father notices Jesus's shaking feet. Jesus is quite unstable and it looks like he might fall in the garbage bin any second now. Father Kelly is contemplating something. The more Jesus talks, the madder Father gets. He is like a barrel of gunpowder that only needs a small spark to fire off and unleash himself on Jesus.

"Pray no more, my children. Time to answer God's prayers. Time to forgive. Let's forgive Him for the pain and agony that we are born into."

That is it, Father thinks. He marches towards Jesus with clenched fists. He suddenly finds a tall man blocking his way. Father looks up and recognizes him. That is Paul, Jesus's longtime friend and apparently his present supporter. Paul is standing there with crossed arms. He is nonchalantly chewing gum while staring down at Father. Father takes a step back. His back hits Otto, his assistant.

"Sorry, Father," Otto says. Father turns and takes a look at Otto. He is still in shock. Otto watches Father Kelly slowly regaining his temper.

"We need to do something about this son of a bitch," Father tells Otto.

"But he's harmless!" Otto says while pointing to Jesus.

Father turns to Jesus, and his look falls on Paul's hand. Paul is extending his hand, flipping off Father Kelly. Father turns back to Otto.

"Yeah, at first. I bet they are even cute too. But, the harm starts when they grow big. And this asshole is set to grow huge."

"You want me to call the sheriff again?"

"No, that wouldn't do. We need to do something worse. Something much, much worse."

Otto is all ears.

"Call his mom," Father says and pushes the crowd around to go back inside the church.

Otto is left there with a puzzled look. "His mother?!" Otto murmurs.

## The Mosque

Imam Zahed is performing Friday's sermon. His beard is shaved except a bit on his chin and a few hairs on the thick, brown mole that is shining out on his big, white cheek. He rearranges his glasses quite often. You can tell he is in his forties by the white hairs that are growing here and there on the sides of his head. The mosque is filled with Muslim prayers of all races and all colors. They are all ears, paying heed to their speaker. Imam Zahed not only has a charismatic character but also is a great public speaker who grabs everyone's attention the moment he starts talking.

"Prophet Muhammad—peace be upon him—has warned us already. That, Shirk when it approaches you makes less noise than a black ant walking on a black stone in a dark night." Imam Zahed scans the crowd and gives them a few seconds for the last sentence to sink. "A black ant walking on a black stone. That is how silent Shirk is. So, a believer always must be vigilant. Satan is everywhere, and we have to reject it when it attempts to break our faith. That is what Satan is after. Your faith. We hear unfortunately that some young believers have let Satan rob them of their faith. They follow the vibe, or vibrant, I don't know whatever teens say these days..."

The audience laughs, except for Omar who is listening to the sermon intently. He takes Friday sermons very seriously. Probably more seriously than Imam Zahed himself. Omar has in his eyes the innocence and stubbornness typical of a teen of his age. He has shaved the mustache but let the beard grow very long. He would have looked more handsome without it. The recently shaved head does not help him look better either. Omar's focus is entirely on what Imam Zahed is preaching.

"They follow trendy nonsense; blasphemies of a black con artist. Subhanallah! Subhanallah! A black ant on a black stone. Prophet did warn us already, but would you listen to the prophet of God or you listen to a black con artist who is sadly becoming more popular every day."

Imam Zahed takes a deep breath and continues with a raised voice.

"Vallah, Vallah, no one enters heaven unless they believe in prophet Muhammad—peace be upon him—and follow him fully and completely. That is what being a true believer means. That is faith," he states authoritatively while pointing his hands up, towards the sky—well, towards the ceiling to be accurate. "They say 'but I am doing good deeds'," he says mockingly. "This is not what we will be asked in the other world," Imam Zahed shouts. The audience's heartbeat reaches the top. Many have goosebumps. "At the judgment day, when you are facing the hellfire, Allah will ask you 'Did you believe in my prophet? Did you follow his tradition?' No, then the hell is prepared for the deniers no matter how much good deed they have brought with them." Imam Zahed scans the crowd and waits for his last sentence to sink in. "Brothers, Vallah, Vallah, whoever follows this black agent of Satan is an apostate, and at the judgment day he will have no place but in hell."

* * *

The sermon is finished and people have dispersed. Some are still scattered around the mosque, chatting in small groups. Omar is sitting with two other men, one of them an Arab of his age, Ali, and the other is Frank, a middle-aged, blond Caucasian with a long, pretentious beard. Frank is the one who is doing most of the talking.

"Sermon after sermon after sermon, and nobody does a damn thing. If this isn't Jihad then what is. This is Jihad, but it takes guts, and not everybody has it."

Imam Zahed is leaving the mosque. As he is walking through the mosque, people stand up before him and show respect by saluting him. Imam Zahed graciously and humbly responds to them. He passes by the group that Omar is sitting with. Frank jumps up before Imam Zahed.

"As-salamu Alaykum," Frank salutes Imam Zahed in an overly annunciated way.

Imam Zahed recognizes Frank and is disgusted by him. He turns his face away and responds to the salute of another Muslim on the other side. Frank is quite humiliated. He rolls his eyes around to see how many people have witnessed his embarrassing moment. Quite a few. But, he is tougher than that. He just needs a few beats to regain his confidence. He then turns back to sit back with Omar and Ali only to find that Ali is no longer there. Omar, however, is still impatiently waiting for Frank. Frank sits back with Omar.

"It's time to act, and it takes real men to do it," Frank continues. He raises his hand and shows his palm. It seems to be an invitation for a handshake. "This black Kaffir shall be squashed."

# ACT II

## The Apostles

SQUASH!

A hand slaps on the neck and squashes the black fly on it. Sandy then takes the dead, black fly and stares at. "Enjoy your destiny, you black fuck," Sandy says with a chuckle. Sandy is completely bored. The Pendulum Ride that he is in charge of is standing still. There is a sign on its entrance gate that says it would need at least two passengers to operate. And there is none. There is a similar sign on the roller coaster's entrance gate. The roller coaster cars are sitting there silent. The carousel is still running but with no music, and there are only two or three kids on it. The zip line in particular has no customers.

The entire amusement park is relatively empty, and it has been since the last week when Vincent fell to his death at the bottom of the creek. Morgan, the park owner, did manage to bribe the inspectors and the city officials—as he always does—to turn a blind eye on the incident, but one cannot wipe out the public's fear with money. If this continues for too long, Morgan would have to declare bankruptcy.

Sandy, who is bored to death, notices that some operators are gathered around the cafeteria. He is tempted to join them. Nobody would come for Pendulum ride anyway, he thinks. He flicks the dead fly out the window and leaves the booth to join his fellow operators.

* * *

Sandy is approaching the other operators. It is quite a diverse community composed of people from a variety of ethnicities. It seems there are also quite a few of the park visitors among the operators. Apparently, they have found this gathering more interesting than the park itself. Everyone, except Omar, is huddled around Jesus who is preaching to them. That is new! Sandy thinks. Omar, as always, does not look handsome in his long beard and shaved mustache. At least, he still has not shaved his greasy hairs, which makes him look more likable. His muscular body also is quite attractive. He has popped his shirt off, doing pull-ups but with only one hand. That is very impressive, Sandy thinks and turns his look on Jesus who is now visible through the standing crowd. Jesus is sitting on the grass. He obviously has not shaved for a few days. That is new too! Sandy thinks. Everybody else is standing, including Paul, who is standing awfully close to a good-looking female operator.

"Everybody is mean these days," Jesus continues his speech, "so much hate, full of anger, full of unforgiveness. It's like we wake up every morning thinking whom should I hate today? It's like we have an endless stack of injuries in our hearts, we have never forgiven them for what they have done to us, and we are constantly seeking revenge."

"On whom?" one asks.

"On everybody," Jesus responds immediately, "on anybody who comes across our way. Once you let your heart be filled with hate, you have little control over whom you project it on. We need peace in our hearts. It starts by letting things go. By forgiving—"

"— Then do what?" one interrupts Jesus with an unenthusiastic tone.

"Do good. Isn't that the goal? Growing into a merciful human who does good to people, exercises compassion, and shows clemency. We have gotten ourselves so busy with the details of prayers and rituals that we have forgotten the purpose. The simple, sensible purpose of doing good."

"So, who did you forgive?" one asks half-sarcastically.

"God," Jesus responds right away without a doubt. "I forgave God. If you can forgive God for what he has done to us, you can forgive everybody else."

"Enough blasphemy for today," Omar yells from behind.

People look back. Omar pushes his way through the crowd and approaches Jesus who is still sitting down on the ground. Omar points his clenched fist at Jesus. "Take it back before I break your teeth."

Skinny Jesus sitting on the grass seems totally defenseless against muscular Omar standing above him. The crowd does not interfere. They rather take a step away to safety. It is hard to blame them since Omar is quite a scary person even when he is calm and partly savage when he is angry. Paul, however, leaves the girl operator alone and jumps in to defend defenseless Jesus. He puts his hand on Omar's chest and pushes him away.

"Hey. Easy, easy. Easy tiger."

Omar looks furiously at Paul. Paul is taller than him. Paul stands his ground.

"He's just talking, bro," Paul tries to defuse the tension using his charm. "Relax, alright. Take it easy."

Omar turns with an Aargh and walks away. After only two steps he stops and turns back to Jesus.

"I wasted so much time trying to save you from the church and guide you to the path of righteousness. But, you instead go crazy, rambling blasphemies, making yet another cult. I will correct you. Swear to God, I will correct you."

Omar turns angrily and violently pushes the crowd away to leave.

"Omar," Jesus calls.

"What?" Omar shouts and turns. Everybody is all ears. Jesus, however, has no rush. In contrast to Omar, he is quite calm and peaceful.

"I forgive you."

"Forgive your ass," Omar says dismissively before he leaves furiously.

* * *

It is evening. The adventure park is closed and the workers are leaving one by one. Jesus has laid back on a tree at the edge of a cliff overlooking the creek. The sun is setting behind the mountains. The sunset has painted half the sky red. Jesus, the paintbrush in his hand and the canvas on his knees, is painting the sunset. Painting was his only joy in this world. It would ease the pain like no other drugs could. Especially when the wound is deep, old, and rotten, and Jesus has got one of those for ten years now.

The colorful palette lies on the ground. Beside it, a white pigeon is standing, watching over Jesus's painting. It is as if the pigeon is showing Jesus how to paint.

"Coo-Coo," the white pigeon says.

"Yeah, I know," Jesus responds.

Suddenly, the pigeon flies away. Surprised by that, Jesus turns his look and sees his colleague, Guneet, approaching. Guneet is a bearded, thirty-two-year-old Punjabi Sikh, wearing a dark blue turban.

Guneet does not say a word. He just sits next to Jesus on the ground and joins him in watching the sunset and the beautiful energy around it. Jesus goes back to painting it. After a few beats, Guneet breaks the silence.

"I hope Omar hasn't scared you too much?"

"I guess he did a bit, to be honest," Jesus responds with a hesitant tone. He pauses for a beat. "Sometimes, I think perhaps I should just shut up, you know, try to be normal—"

"— No, never," Guneet says firmly as he turns to Jesus. "Look. Why do you think I wear this damn turban all the time?"

"I thought it is a sin in Sikhism to show the hair."

"Yeah, but do you really think I believe in that shit? That hiding my hair would make me a better person?"

"Well—"

"— It's not about beliefs. It's about freedom. Punjabis have gone through so much shit to keep their faith against the tyranny of Hindus and, after them, Muslims. They had to sacrifice with their blood to earn their freedom to practice rituals they made up. This is to honor their sacrifice." Guneet says while pointing to his turban. "Who the hell are they to tell Punjabis what to believe and what not to believe. Listen, if you really care about what you're saying, then the hell with whoever who doesn't. Don't chicken out just because of bullies like Omar are not happy with your way. Fight for your way. Fight for your freedom. It's worth it."

Jesus is contemplating on what Guneet says. "Thanks, my friend," he says finally with a reassured tone.

"Always. You can count on me, brother."

They do arm-wrestle handshake. Before it hands the earth over to darkness, the setting sun is watching from behind the mountains the beautiful synergy between the two friends.

## Maria

Jesus's mother, Maria, is sitting in the church's back office. She is a god-fearing, 49-year-old, black woman with a pure heart and a simple mind. You can tell life has not been kind to her by the wrinkles that have appeared too early on her face. Nothing in this life has ever entered her heart except the love for her country, her church, and her family. She has loved no man in her life but her late husband, who disappeared before Jesus was born. Maria has taught her son that his father proudly died fighting for his country; a story that Jesus used to believe when he was younger. Maria has devoted her life to bringing up Jesus. She has been both a merciful mother and a wonderful father to Jesus.

Being a single mom, her biggest challenge has been managing the finances. Thanks to her prayers and the blessing of the church, she has managed to overcome the financial problems, most of the time. You can tell that by the cheap clothes that she has on, and the stitches on the left side, which she tries to cover with her worn-out purse. Her black skin is in sharp contrast with the white sofa that she is sitting on. She is a bit uncomfortable sitting on the expensive, leather sofa. She is worried that her cheap clothes might leave a spot or a scratch on the fancy, all-white sofa. It is not only the sofa; the whole office is artfully decorated with expensive furniture; from the antique, giant wall clock, to the 17th-century paintings, to the desk made of rare wood that grows only on the side of Amazon riverbank, and finally to the giant armchair behind it. The chair is so big and fancy that it looks more like a throne.

Otto, Father Kelly's assistant, enters. He is a young man with a kind heart, and full of enthusiasm to learn. He brings coffee in a fancy-looking Chinese cup.

"There you go, Ms. Freeman."

Maria is humbled by the hospitality that she receives. She takes the cup with so much care. She is a bit stressed holding such an expensive cup. If she breaks it, that would probably cost more than all the clothes that she has on—when they were new.

"Thank you, my dear. Didn't want to trouble you."

"No trouble at all. It was so good of you to come over. Father Kelly will be with you shortly."

"Did Father say what is this about?"

Father Kelly clears his throat. Otto notices that and looks at the door that is left open. Father Kelly is standing outside the office where Maria cannot see him. He looks upset. Otto knows right away that once again he must have messed up something. He gets hysterical.

"Sure, yeah," Otto says to Maria while his worried look is still on Father Kelly, "just a second". He leaves the office and shuts the door behind him.

"What is she doing here?" Father lays it down on Otto without missing a beat.

"That is Jesus's mother. You called for her!"

"No, genius. I mean what is she doing in my office, being treated like she is the queen of England?"

"Ah, well, ah, I... ah, I thought before we ask her for a favor, it would be nice—"

"— Nice?! Nice?! People don't do things to be nice. They do it because they're motivated, and that is the priest's job. Listen, junior," Father takes a parental tone and puts his hand on Otto's shoulder. "It is a tremendous responsibility to be the Lord's voice to your sheep, I mean to His sheep. It takes more than a good heart and well intentions to make a good priest. If you wanna run this parish one day, you gotta pick up the pace in learning your people skills. I cannot spell out every single word for you."

"Sorry, Uncle Jack."

"Father. Here, you call me Father."

"I mean Father. Sorry, Father Kelly." Otto's head is down. He looks genuinely embarrassed. Father takes it easy on him.

"Alright. Bring her to the front row. Just watch and learn."

* * *

Maria is kneeling in the first row. Father Kelly is standing in front, looking down at her. Maria, as her look is down, holds Father's hand and kisses on the golden ring that has seven diamonds in the form of a holy cross on it.

"It's been quite a while since your last confession, Maria."

"You must forgive me, Father," Maria says while looking up. "I am a bit short on cash these days."

"Oh, please Guardians," Father closes his eyes and says while looking up. "Turn that fire away just for a second. My skin is gone, my flesh is turning into ashes, and my bones are burning from inside. Just for a second, please, just for a second turn that fire away." Father opens his eyes and looks down at Maria. She has been listening intently, and now looks petrified. "You know who would be saying that?" Father asks Maria.

"Satan?"

Father sneers. "That would be you, tasting the result of your sins. And we both know what you did that night." Father gives Maria a meaningful look.

"Wouldn't Lord save me?" Maria asks with a shaking voice.

"He would. But, His redemption is saved solely for the believers. Are you a true believer?"

"I am," Maria responds excitedly. "I truly believe in Him."

"Then what have you done for His Church lately?"

"I'm sorry, Father." Maria is embarrassed and turns her look down.

"Have no fear, my dear. We can fix that. Tell me, how is that apostate son of yours?"

"He's just sick, father," Maria says beggingly as she looks up. "He keeps asking if his father is really dead. Lately, he has been saying that he might be the son of God. I cannot reason with him."

"Reason would not heal a broken heart." Father notices the surprise on Maria's face. "Yeah, I know the story too. He used to confess here, before losing his mind entirely. Listen, Lord has a mission for you. Are you a true believer?"

"What God wants me to do?"

Father victoriously smiles.

## O Brother, Where Art Thou?

For 15 years I was trained to be a believer.

Jesus, who is now bearded, is giving a speech to a crowd that is gathered around him at the parking lot next to the park's entrance gate. Jesus is using his break to come outside the park and to give the speech that is close to his heart. This has been the routine in the past few weeks. The crowd seems more interested in Jesus than in the park itself. Word of mouth has spread the news about Jesus, and most of the crowd has come solely to meet Jesus. The crowd is composed of all colors, races, and religions.

"For 15 years I was trained to be a believer, to believe everything they tell me. For 15 years they taught me why we are different. Why we represent the religion and everybody else is a cult. Why we are better people. Why we will deserve redemption and the others don't. Why? Because of some magic words that we say, or a magical story that we hold on to."

The crowd chuckles.

"What did I tell ya?" Paul says with a chuckle to the pretty girl standing next to him. She smiles too. Paul wraps his arm around her shoulder.

"Through the years," Jesus continues, "I've seen many good people at church. They have a universal virtue, in that they all are kind to strangers. Those are the good ones, and in all honesty, I've seen some bad ones too. These two are different. Good and bad are not the same. If there is only one truth in this universe, this is it. There is something called being good, and that is different than being bad. But, despite this clear difference, there is still something common between the two groups at my church; that they all hold on to the same story, calling it faith. What does it tell you? That this is not their faith that turns them good or bad. It must be something else. And I've met wonderful people from other faiths too, many of them at this very park. People with different rituals, traditions, and each with their own unprovable story of how the unseen, divine world works. And yet, they are all good people. People that I would confidently nominate for salvation if I was in charge."

The crowd laughs at Jesus's humor. They relate to the phenomenon that Jesus is referring to. It is like they always at some level already knew about it, but now that Jesus is pointing it out, they recognize it right away. The more Jesus talks, the more the crowd identifies itself with his words.

In the very last row, a short, middle-aged Chinese woman is trying to stand on her toes to be able to see Jesus. "Excuse me," she hears. She turns back to the voice and sees an angel-like, shy, teenage girl. There is a black hand on her shoulder. The Chinese woman turns more and sees a relatively old, blind man behind her. The man's mouth is half-open, and he is looking away so that his ears would be directed at Jesus. He is not even trying to hide the excitement on his face. It is as if he hears the voice that he has been waiting for all his life. The Chinese woman, impressed by the blind man's enthusiasm, opens the way for him to get closer to Jesus.

"What is it then that makes a person good. If it is not their particular faith, the stories that their parents have educated them to memorize, or the specific rituals that they are trained to do. What is it then? I have been asking myself this very question over and over through the years, and I finally got the answer, through an inspiration, enlightenment, a moment of clarity, or whatever you want to call it."

The crowd is all ears. The mouths are half-open, and the eyes are highly dilated. Paul's hand is now wrapped around the girl's waist. Paul smiles at the girl, but she, being drowned in Jesus's words, does not even notice that. Paul is disappointed and retracts his hand.

"The question I had was what makes you a good person. The answer I was given was only two words: good deed. As simple as that. Do good and watch yourself become good. Do good, and feel the sense of peace that grows in your heart. It is as simple as that. It might not be easy, but it is simple. That's the truth and the whole truth. It is nice to be nice. Now, did you really need a Guru, Imam, Priest, Hakham to tell you that? There is no secret, magical recipe for being good."

"Hey, not all Gurus are bad," Sagar says with a slight objection noticeable in his thick Indian accent. He is a south Indian, college-educated, young man. "You just need to find a good one. I've got one. He is very good. A good guru can show you the way and tell you what is good and what is bad."

"Do you really need a guru for that?" Jesus responds with a frustrated tone.

"How else you tell apart good from—"

"— Common sense. That's how."

The blind man, who now has a big smile on his face, nods.

"Feed the hungry was a good deed we did in church," Jesus continues, "Muslims and Jews do the same in mosques and synagogues. Do you know any Hindu temple that doesn't do that?"

The Hindus in the crowd unanimously nod.

"It is the sense common among all people of all colors, races, and backgrounds. It is common between all humanity. It's... common sense."

The blind man mouths the words 'common sense' with Jesus.

"Same goes for charity," Jesus continues, "kindness, and compassion."

"How about passion?" A teenage boy says jokingly and tries to restrain his laughter. His two friends are the only ones in the crowd that find that amusing.

"Passion is not bad," Jesus responds graciously, "but give it a few years, and let life show you that love hurts more than it heals. When it does, show some forgiveness. And that would be a good deed."

* * *

The crowd has dispersed, but some enthusiasts have stayed around Jesus to ask him more questions.

Jesus looks down and notices a little girl standing there. The girl is hugging her puppy, which seems to be asleep. Jesus smiles at the girl. The girl, however, is too depressed to return the smile.

"Can you make Mr. Puffy good again?" the girl asks with begging eyes.

Jesus kneels before the girl and looks into her sad eyes. He wishes there was something he could do to make the girl happy. She hates to disappoint such an innocent kid.

"But...," Jesus says before gulping in nervousness, "I am not a doctor, my dear."

"Didn't you say you can heal?" Jesus hears an aggressive voice saying that. Jesus looks up and finds the girl's father standing above them. The father is a Caucasian commoner with little to none courteousness. Alert by his tone, Paul approaches to interfere if it gets escalated.

"Well..., no." Jesus is surprised by the accusation.

"I'm pretty sure I've heard you saying that. We've come a long way for this. Can you just try?" The father is rude and demanding.

"But—"

"— Please," the little girl says beggingly.

Jesus turns his look back to the girl. He cannot say no to those innocent eyes. Jesus extends his hands. The girl hands over her puppy. The puppy is quite unconscious. Jesus hesitantly holds the puppy in his arm. He does not know what to do next. He looks up and finds that everybody is impatiently watching. Paul notices Jesus's hesitation. An idea! Using body language, Paul indicates that Jesus should blow on the dog. Desperate for a solution, Jesus does what Paul shows. Jesus can hear his own heart pounding hard out of stress. He puts the dog on the ground and, his hands still holding it, he blows on the dog. The dog's hair moves with the blow.

Jesus removes his hands, and the dog collapses on the ground like a corpse that it is.

"Hallelujah. It blinked," Paul screams and attracts everyone's attention to himself. "Did you see that? It blinked. It's a miracle."

"It's not moving," the father complains.

"Do you know anything about the cardiovascular system?" Paul asks and impatiently waits to hear no.

"Carti what?" the father asks embarrassedly.

"Good. That's what I thought," Paul says condescendingly after taking a relaxed breath. "Life is back to its eyes now, but it takes time to be pumped into its muscles."

Paul leans forward, picks up the dog, and shoves it into the little girl's arms. "There you go princess, as good as new. By tomorrow morning, Mr. Puffy will be jumping around like never before."

"Really?!" the girl asks excitedly.

"Really. Who's next?" Paul says and pushes on the girl's back to leave. "You had a question?" Paul says to the woman that is standing aside. "Go ahead, shoot."

Jesus is still watching the girl leaving with much optimism. He does not know if he should feel guilty for the whole thing was the father's fault, but he still does feel sorry for the little girl.

"Jesus." Jesus snaps back to attention when Paul calls his name. "People are waiting," Paul continues.

Jesus reluctantly stands up to answer the next question.

* * *

A black hand appears and touches Jesus's face. The hand has a cheap ring with a giant colored glass on it. Jesus embraces the touch with a kind smile. The fingers try to memorize Jesus's face. They touch the forehead, the nose, and then the bearded cheeks.

"I had to see it with my own fingers," Shaq, the blind man, says. "Finally, a black messenger."

"I can't do miracles," Jesus says embarrassedly assuming that the blind man is here to get his eyesight back. "How do you know I'm black?" Jesus asks as if it has just occurred to him that the man is blind.

"What do you mean exactly?" the blind man says with a confrontational tone. He seems quite offended. There is a bit of silence. Jesus can hear his heart pounding.

"Ah... ah... nothing... ah... I just—" Jesus tries very hard to find the words that would undo what he said earlier.

"See these fingers," the blind man says, "they can see things that a thousand eyes can't." Jesus gulps in nervousness. Shaq follows that with a mad, long laugh. Jesus slowly realizes that Shaq was teasing him. Jesus's laugh also slowly cracks up and joins the harmony.

Shaq opens his arms for a hug. "Common brother. Where are you?"

Jesus takes a step forward towards Shaq and warmly hugs him. The two just-acquainted friends firmly hug one another as if they have already known each other for decades. Shaq being larger and older, it feels like Jesus is hugging the father he never had.

As the laughs are settling, Shaq holds Jesus before him, touches Jesus's face with his fingers again, and this time gives a serious response.

"Your words are the miracle I'm looking for. My eyes don't see colors, that's right. Nor do the listeners of my podcast."

"A podcast?! What is it called?"

"Common Sense."

"Are you... are you Shaquille?" Jesus says excitedly as he has recognized the podcast.

"The one and the only. Call me Shaq, brother."

"Of course. Shaq."

"How is Maria?"

"Good. She is... Wait. How do you know my mother?" Jesus asks confusedly.

"Oh, we go back a long way, before you were even born."

Jesus is all suspicious. "Why didn't Maria ever mention that she knows the famous Shaquille?" Jesus wonders. "What is it that she is hiding? Did Shaquille know my father too? Or is Shaquille my—"

"And this is my little angel," Shaq says and breaks the silence. He shows a 15-year-old, shy girl who is standing next to him.

"She looks oddly similar to me," Jesus thinks, "the nose, the eyes, the smile. If I ever had a sister, it would like her."

"Sera is my little daughter and, more importantly, my right hand."

"What a coincidence," Paul opportunistically jumps in, "I am also Jesus's right hand." Paul excitedly extends his arm to shake hands with Sera. Sera does not let Paul's extended hand be hanging there for too long.

"Enchanté," Paul says while kissing Sera's hand like she is royalty.

* * *

The evening is half cloudy. His palette and canvas under his arm, Jesus is approaching his usual evening spot, the tree at the edge of the cliff. The smile has not disappeared from his face since this morning that he met Shaq. His eye on the sky, he is trying to find the sun that is hiding behind the clouds. His left foot hits something. He looks down. A sadness replaces the smile. A dark-gray pigeon with green-purple iridescence is lying on the ground. It appears lifeless.

Jesus puts the canvas and the palette down and holds the seemingly dead pigeon in his hands. It is not moving. He remembers his failure when he could not heal the little girl's dog. He is partly sad for the little girl and partly for the embarrassment he endured when he could not live up to the expectation of his followers. There is a small grain of self-doubt that is slowly growing in his heart. Am I supposed to do miracles? Jesus wonders. Would a miracle make my words any more sensible to these people? Jesus remembers Shaq saying that he is after Jesus's words, not any superman-style miracle. Why can't everybody be like Shaq? Jesus wishes. Or what if I could become the superman they are dreaming of, and give people what they want?

Drowned in his daydreaming, Jesus desperately blows upon the lifeless pigeon. Suddenly a light shines on the pigeon. Jesus looks up and notices that the sun is ruling the sky again. Inspired by that, he throws the pigeon over the cliff. He watches it with wishful eyes, expecting to see the resurrected pigeon fly again.

The dreamy moment does not last long and terminates quickly when the pigeon plummets to the bottom of the cliff like a dead stone; so does Jesus's self-esteem. It hurts. His face wrinkled with pain, Jesus closes his eyes and turns his head down.

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

Jesus hears a bird flapping its wings. Confused by that, he opens his eyes. As he turns his head up, he sees the pigeon appearing from the edge of the cliff and flying up to the sky. Hurrah! A big smile appears on Jesus's face. He feels the joy of the world when he sees the pigeon flying again. Or was it the same pigeon? It must be. Jesus does not want to ruin the moment by overthinking it.

Jesus looks around. There is no one around to share this joyous moment with, nor anyone to witness the miraculous act. Who cares? Jesus thinks. I witnessed that, and I know it is true. That is all that counts. Jesus regains his confidence with these reassuring thoughts.

## When Mari Met Sally

"Alright, there we are," an Uber driver says to Maria, Jesus's Mother. "You have a good day, alright?" He is a huge guy with a fat belly that makes you wonder how he did manage to get into the car in the first place. His deep voice joins his big body to make him sound scarier. He is impatiently watching Maria in his driving mirror, waiting for her to leave the car. Maria, however, seems to be hesitant to get out. The driver is getting frustrated. It is quite an unsafe situation for Maria to have a man of that size to be frustrated with her.

"Where do you want to go, ma'am?" The driver asks finally.

"7/11"

"Oh, that's on the other side," the huge driver says while hissing. He pauses, thinking of a reaction. Maria senses that she might face the driver's aggression if she stays in the car any longer. "You know what? You sit tight. I'll take you there," the driver says unexpectedly. Maria is pleasantly surprised. The kind gesture she just witnessed was a stranger in this town.

"Didn't mean to trouble you, son," Maria says embarrassedly.

"No problema," the Uber driver says and starts doing a U-turn. "But ma'am, you know what you should do next time? You should choose Uber Pool. Then it would drop you off right at your destination."

"I'm sorry. I don't know which is which. I just chose the cheapest."

"Of course," the Uber driver says with a chuckle, "but the cheapest one is Uber Express. It's cheaper, but then you gotta walk for a few minutes. Is this the one?"

"Yes, that 7/11."

"Alrighty, let me actually take you to the front door," the Uber driver says while turning into the parking lot. "Then, you have to walk less. Isn't that nice?"

Maria seems quite impressed by so much kindness from the scary Uber driver that she does not know, and she will probably never meet again in her life.

"Thank you very much, son."

"Of course. There we are. Don't mention it. You have a good one, alright?"

"Thank you," Maria wants to show gratitude, but she cannot remember the words. The driver's generosity has taken her by surprise. After she closes the door, she feels obliged to say more. "God bless you, son," she says while giving the driver a grateful look through the open window. "That was very kind of you."

"Of course. My pleasure. That would be my good deed today," the driver says and drives away.

The words 'Good Deed' have reminded Maria of something. She turns to the 7/11 store and walks towards it. After only one step, she stops. The platform in front of the entrance is artlessly half-painted red. It more looks like as if a bucket of red paint is simply poured on it. She remembers the words 'Good Deed' again. Where did the driver hear that expression? she thinks. She now has doubts about whether to continue to the shop. She makes up her mind and turns away towards the street. She pauses again before taking the first step. She is feeling torn apart between fulfilling the mission that Lord has assigned to her and following her heart. She puts her hand on her chest. The fingers touch the cheap, rusty cross necklace on her chest. She looks down at the cross. That gives her the confidence to do the right thing. What I felt coming from my heart is perhaps nothing but Lucifer's temptation, she thinks. Reassured by the cross, she turns back to the grocery store and walks over the red-painted bricks to accomplish her mission.

* * *

"I like your hat," Sally says flirtatiously to the hot guy at the counter. He has a classy mustache, which combined with the stylish straw hat that he is wearing makes him look quite attractive.

"Yeah, thanks," the hot guy responds dismissively after taking his look away from Sally. She is a 36-year-old ginger girl, although she looks more like 45 or 46. Light reflects off the thick face cream that she is wearing. From how bad she has aged, one can tell life has not been easy on her.

Sally is still staring at the guy. She needs a second to absorb yet another rejection that she just received. She is still in a frozen state that a gorgeous, Indonesian girl comes and puts a bag of chips on the counter. She looks 20 years old. Or older. Sally could never guess the age of Asian people, especially their women. Those sons-of-bitches they never age, Sally thinks.

"Look what we almost forgot?" the Indonesian girl tells the hot guy.

"Thankfully, you were here, babe," the hot guy says and kisses his girlfriend. He then looks back at Sally, the grocery cashier behind the counter. He finds Sally staring at them. "Hey, excuse me."

Sally snaps back to attention. She finds the pretty, Indonesian girl giving her a condescending look. That bitch must have overheard my comment about her boyfriend's hat, Sally thinks.

"The chips too," the boyfriend tells Sally while pointing to the bag of chips.

Sally, feeling the rock bottom, takes her eyes off the couple and scans the bag of chips.

"46 dollars and three cents," Sally says without looking at any of them.

"How did this happen?" Sally asks herself. "How did I end up here? I don't deserve this, or do I? No, I don't. What happened to me? Maybe if that asshole did not... How could he do that to me? I hate him. I hate him. Where are the pills? I need my pills."

Sally hysterically opens the drawer, snaps the drug container, and quickly swallows one of the large capsules in it. It hurts to swallow it without water, but that is not comparable to the resurfaced pain that she is enduring. Sally's look is down. She takes a couple of deep breaths. The hot guy and his young-looking, Indonesian girlfriend are already gone.

"How can I help you today?" Sally says reluctantly before looking up at the next customer.

"You can help me get my son back," Maria tells Sally with tearful eyes.

"Oh, Ms. Freeman," Sally is shocked at seeing her ex's mother in her shop.

* * *

"I can't," Sally tells Maria before taking another drag on her cigarette. They are standing in front of the shop, over the partly-red painted platform. Sally tries not to look at Maria when turning her down. "It's been too long. It's over between us—"

"— Not for him. He's not over it yet," Maria says with high confidence.

"With all due respect, how would you know?"

"If a mother cannot read the eyes of her own son, then..." Maria takes a look at Sally's cigarette. "Since when do you smoke, my dear?"

Sally takes a glance at Maria. It has been a long time since anybody worried about her. She likes the feeling. "It's good for me," she says and turns her look away again. "It calms me down—" Sally interrupts herself with multiple coughs. She continues smoking afterward.

"Sally."

"Yeah."

"Look at me, my dear."

Maria's trembling voice attracts Sally's attention. The cigarette in her hand, she turns her face completely towards Maria. Maria is looking at her with tearful eyes.

"This is a mother begging you." Maria's eyes can no longer contain her tears. A single tear escapes her eye. "Jesus was a good boy. He's getting worse and worse ever since you left him." Maria bursts out crying. "If only he can see you again, that's all it takes."

Maria's sobbing has left quite an impression on Sally. She drops the cigarette, approaches Maria, and hugs her.

"He can heal," Maria says in Sally's arm. "I know it. Jesus can heal."

## In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time

The door to the 7/11 shop opens very hard. It hits the bottom of the ladder that was mounted there. The ladder shakes, and the painter who was working on it falls off, so does its bucket of paint. It spreads all over the brick platform at the front door. The paint is red.

Roma, holding a big sugar box in her arm, was angrily leaving the grocery shop that the red paint pours before her.

"Hey, watch it, you moron," Roma says furiously to the painter who has fallen on the ground. The painter looks miserable and in pain. Roma carefully walks around the red paint with her high-heel shoes. These are her outdoor shoes, and different than the one she had thrown at runaway Crystal last week. Roma goes to wait at the street curb. The shop's entrance platform is now artlessly half-painted red. Sally runs out to help the painter.

An Uber stops before Roma. Roma is holding the sugar box with her left hand. Large sugar boxes are the shop's irresistible deal of the month. It is three to four times cheaper than regular sugars, but the downside is that you have to buy them in bulk. The large box is going to replace what Crystal, her daughter, had ruined that week.

Roma opens the car's front door with her right hand. The front seat is adjustable, and thus always Roma's preferred choice. She leans forward to sit when she notices a lunch box on the front seat. She takes a questioning look at the driver. He is Julio, the scarface.

"Hey, the box," Roma shouts at Julio.

Julio does not return to Roma and only shows the back seat with his thumb.

"In the back." That is all that Julio bothers to say.

That upsets Roma. She leans back and angrily shuts the door. Now, Julio is the one who is upset. His scarred face looks scarier when he is upset. He takes a deep breath like a raging bull that is ready to charge.

Roma opens the back door and throws the sugar box on the side before sitting in the back. She shuts the door hard again.

Julio is breathing more rapidly now. There is a limit on how much Julio would take, and that limit is quite low. Nevertheless, Julio changes the gear to leave.

"Go," Roma commands Julio, the scarface.

Julio pulls the emergency hand brake. It makes quite a noise. The car's old engine is still roaring. He gives Roma a dirty look from the front mirror. That is intimidating. Roma looks away. Julio is contemplating. He notices Sally and the painter are looking his way. Not here, with all these witnesses, Julio thinks. Julio then thinks of a plan. He pictures what he will do with Roma, Crystal's mom. The imagery is quite satisfactory to Julio. That brings a dominance smile to his scarred face. He releases the brake.

Julio, the scarface, drives away with Roma in his car.

## Echoed Whispers

"Are you the Messiah, a prophet, a messenger, or a guru?"

"None. I'm merely a reminder."

The intro music begins.

Shaq is interviewing Jesus for his podcast. They are in Shaq's humble garage. The garage is filled with stuff you would find in any ordinary garage: a claw hammer, a collection of nails and screws, a wrench, a ladder, garbage cans, a dustpan, a garden hose, empty flower pots, and not to mention the permanent resident of the garage, cockroaches. One of them is now crawling on the old paint cans that are stacked next to Shaq. Shaq is sitting on a wobbly, wooden stool. Once in a while, he leans against the wall behind it to relax a bit. The wooden desk in front of him limits his mobility. There is a microphone with fat padding on the desk before Shaq. There is another before Jesus who is sitting at the opposite side of the desk, where the guests usually sit.

Sera, Shaq's 15-year-old daughter is also sitting there. Her back is towards the partly-open, roll up garage door. She is, as always, shy and quiet. She is behind a 17-inch laptop, operating a sound mixer program and also in charge of live broadcasting the podcast. She stops the music and touches Shaq on his hand. With her signal, Shaq continues the interview.

"He is here, the man with no fear, the promised one, the one who forgave God, Jesus, the black reminder. This is Shaqile, your friendly voice, and you hear us from the Common Sense Studio."

Jesus takes another look at the cheap garage that they are sitting in, and that makes him sneer.

"You are Jesus, but you are no Messiah. You called yourself a reminder. How is that different than a prophet?"

"Well, a prophet prophecies the unknown future, a reminder reminds the known eternal truth."

"You know well that you are not the first on the block. Tell us, Jesus. What's new about your movement?"

"Movement?! I don't know if I call it that. And I certainly don't claim any novelty here. I am simply reminding what everybody already knows."

"And what that is?"

"Doing good. This is what our common sense tells us. It is a common value and always has been through the centuries, and across east to west. Compassion is cherished as a value whether you are Chinese, Indian, Arab, German, African, or Latino. Good deed knows no race, no color, no religion."

"And why should listeners of Common Sense Podcast believe you?"

"You don't have to believe me. Just believe your heart. Try it for yourself. Start by forgiving. Show some compassion, and feel the sense of peace that grows in your heart..."

## Waves of Compassion

"... This is a ruthless world that we are placed in. We, the humankind, are born in pain. That is the fate that is written for us from birth. There might not be any escape from it, but there is a painkiller to ease the pain. And that's compassion."

Julio is listening to the rest of Common Sense Podcast from his car radio. Jesus's words have calmed him down a bit. He has changed his mind about his revenge on Roma and is driving her to her destination.

"Bing," says the Uber app from his phone speaker. "You have arrived at your destination."

Roma, confused by the notice that the phone announces, is looking around to check out where they really are. "This ain't my home," Roma objects strongly.

"This is Uber Express—"

"— Excuse me!" Roma snaps at Julio with a loud voice.

Julio is about to lose his already-low temper. He rubs his ears to perhaps ease the pain of Roma's shouting. Roma notices that.

"Something gets implanted into your heart when you exercise compassion," Jesus continues the podcast. "Something that brings more and more peace into your heart. And isn't the peaceful heart the only real fortune in this disturbed world? Try it."

Julio takes a breath to calm himself.

"This is Uber Express. You gotta walk the rest."

"You don't tell me what Uber is," Roma shouts at Julio. She leans forward to get closer to Julio's ear. "I know what fucking Uber is. You think because I'm black I'm ignorant. You've been on my nerve since the beginning with your stupid box on the front seat."

Julio is checking out the neighborhood to see if there are any witnesses around.

"Now you drop me off exactly at my home, or I'll show you what a black woman is made of," she takes the lunch box and throws it on the car's floor.

"That's it," Julio says and, fueled with explosive rage, immediately pulls the hand brake. He rushes to the door. The door is half-open when he feels that some force is pushing him back. He realizes that the seatbelt is still buckled. He gets angrier. He tries to unbuckle it. It is stuck. He is getting frustrated. He keeps pressing the button. Julio pulls on the belt with all his strength. His face is all red.

"Damn!" Exhausted and out of breath, he gives up and leans back in his seat. He is breathing rapidly.

"Show compassion to someone sitting right next to you," Jesus was saying when Julio was struggling with the seatbelt, "or better show it to someone you don't know, or even better someone you do know but don't like. It is easy to forgive the forgivable. It, however, takes a big heart to forgive the unforgivable..." Tears clog Jesus's throat. There is a bit of silence.

Julio is breathing slowly now, thinking about what he just heard from the podcast. "I suppose I can do that," he murmurs.

"What?" Roma says with the same aggressive tone, but it is obvious that she is now scared of what Julio is capable of.

Julio gently shuts the door and releases the emergency brake.

"Where is your home, you said?" Julio says calmly. Roma's rudeness no longer triggers his temper.

Roma is totally surprised. That is absolutely not the reaction she was expecting. She is shocked and does not know how to react. It goes like this for a few seconds.

"Sis," Julio calls her with the friendly title. That brings Roma back to attention.

"Yeah, down this alley. Right before those apartments."

"Do you need some water?" Shaq asks Jesus on the podcast.

Jesus swallows his spit and continues. "I'm good. I'm good. It takes a big heart to forgive the unforgivable, but I promise you, you'll receive the reward right away; not in the other world, but here in this damned, cruel life, you'll receive the reward right away; the invaluable, priceless sense of peace in your heart. I promise you that. I might not be the promised one, but take this promise from the un-promised. Forgive and fly."

"Is here good?" Julio asks Roma.

"Yes. Thank you," Roma says politely. She is touched by Julio's kind gesture and embarrassed of her own earlier behavior.

Julio stops the car. "Alright. Take it easy, Sis."

"Thank you," she says with a humble tone and opens the door. One foot out of the car, she turns back to Julio again. "Sorry for the lunch box," she says that without directly looking into Julio's eyes.

"That's OK," Julio replies with a generous tone.

Roma smiles, takes the sugar box, gently shuts the door, and walks away. The car's engine is still on, but Julio is not leaving yet. He is contemplating something. He watches Roma walking towards the entrance door of the apartment complex until she gets in. Julio takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, that does feel good."

The seat belt buckle releases by itself. Julio cracks up with laughter.

* * *

"Crystal, come and help Mommy," Roma shouts. She is at the door of her apartment.

Crystal has arrived back home since dawn after the night she escaped. There are symptoms of black bruises on her hand. It might be due to something that happened when she was out on the streets or the result of the punishment that she received from Roma after coming back home. Anyhow, she has forgotten about that already, as kids do.

Crystal was playing with Malcolm, her brother, when Roma calls. The game is called Never-Fall, an invention of Crystal. The rule of the game is that the balloon should never touch the floor. The players would hit below it to go back up every time it is falling again. The game has two players, but Crystal is the only one who is actually playing since she is taller than Malcolm and thus always the first who hits the balloon. Malcolm enjoys sharing the excitement of the game. Or perhaps he actually believes that if he keeps playing he might also get a real shot at hitting the balloon.

Crystal hears her Mother calling her. "Don't touch my balloon," she says to Malcolm while showing the balloon to him. She then puts the balloon in the center of the desk, where Malcolm's little arms cannot reach. She playfully hops towards Roma at the entrance door.

"Come on, honey, put this sugar box in the kitchen." Impressed by Julio's gesture and touched by Jesus's podcast, Roma's tone is kinder than usual. Crystal takes the sugar box. It is quite heavy for her. "Be careful," Roma warns as watches Crystal slowly approaching the kitchen. Roma starts untying her shoes.

Malcolm has managed to reach the balloon. He starts playing the Never-Fall game by himself, except that this time he actually gets to play.

Crystal pulls up the heavy sugar box and manages to put the bottom of it on the kitchen counter. She is pushing the top to make it straight when she hears Malcolm enjoying playing with the balloon. "Don't touch my balloon," she says and rushes towards Malcolm.

"Crystal, No," Roma yells. The still unstable sugar box falls on the ground, and half its sugar spreads on the dirty floor.

Crystal is scared to death. Run Crystal, Run, is the immediate thought that comes to her. She looks at the door that is blocked by Roma's giant body. Roma slowly closes the door behind her. The only door for Crystal to escape through is now shut. This is the end, the seven-year-old girl thinks. Out of solutions, she just stands there staring at Roma. Her heart is beating fast. Her body is about to get some beating too.

Roma slowly approaches Crystal. Crystal bursts out crying when she sees the giant above her. To Crystal's surprise, Roma sits on the ground. Roma has now almost the same height as Crystal and appears less scary. "It's OK, honey," Roma says with a kind tone that was alien in their home. Crystal is still confused. "Are you hurt? Let me see your hands." Crystal's cry is settling. She shows her hands. Roma holds them. "They look OK. Why are you crying then?"

"The sugar," Crystal says and points to the sugar spread on the dirty floor.

"I guess now we'll have our coffees with milk, or with salt."

Crystal giggles. Roma smiles too.

"Would you help mommy clean this up?"

Crystal nods while smiling. She excitedly runs towards the closet to bring the vacuum. Roma tries to recover the rest of the sugar that is still in the sugar box.

Crystal passes by Malcolm playing with her balloon. She is not happy about it but does not say anything either. She takes the vacuum from the closet and shuts its door.

BOOM.

Crystal turns and finds her favorite toy, the very essence of Never-Fall game, the balloon, has burst after falling on the sharp knife on the table. Malcolm is standing there with highly-dilated eyes. He is not scared of the popping sound as much as he is of her sister. After all, he was warned not to play with her balloon.

Crystal puts the vacuum down and approaches Malcolm. Unable to move, Malcolm is getting ready for the worst. Before reaching Malcolm, Crystal bends and picks up the corpse of the burst balloon from the ground. She is holding it before her eyes. She is genuinely sad. She then focuses on her little bother's face and finds him quite scared. Then, she thinks of something. She puts the rubber body in front of her lips, sucks in the air, closes her lips, and twists the rest of rubber to trap the air. She brings the small balloon out of her mouth and shows it to Malcolm. "Look. Can you do that?"

"Me. Me. Me." Malcolm jumps up and down to participate in the new game invented by Crystal.

"Here, you play until I finish vacuuming." Crystal offers her new invention to Malcolm. Malcolm seems excited. Crystal goes back and picks up the vacuum. As she passes by, she watches Malcolm's failed attempts to replicate what Crystal did with the rubber. Crystal smiles.

## Mr. Morgan

What the hell you want me to do?

Morgan shouts on the phone. He has connected the Bluetooth hands-free headset to his iPhone. There is a cigarette on his free hand, on which he takes frequent drags as if it is giving him the oxygen he needs to breathe. His other hand is on a big calculator with giant keys. He keeps pressing the Enter key on the calculator, hoping for a miracle. The large negative number on the calculator, however, does not change. The calculator is placed on a pile of receipts. You would think such a big business must have gone paperless by now, but Morgan is old-school and resistant to new technologies. He has started his career from zero as a car salesman, and to this day that he has built his empire with his bare hands, he still has not managed to detach from his old ways of running a business.

"Yes, Charles, I do know the terms of the fucking loan, but you gotta give me a break here. I am trying everything to bring the park back to its full capacity after that fucking incident, but these things take time. People do not even come near the park anymore. You know better than me that marketing is a slow—"

"— Jesus, we got a problem. Over." Kathy, from reception, says over the radio.

"Hang on a second, Charles," Morgan's attention is grabbed by overhearing that unexpected radio conversation.

"Jesus is here. What's up? Over." Jesus responds over the radio. Morgan has leaned towards the radio to listen more closely.

"Your fans again, but this time there are too many. Over."

"Alright! Coming over. Over."

Morgan hurriedly snaps the radio.

"Jesus, Jesus, this is Morgan. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?"

There is a bit of silence. That is killing Morgan.

"Yes, Morgan," Jesus says finally over the radio. "Jesus is here. Over."

"Stay put. I repeat. Stay put. Do not leave your post. Got it?"

"But, people are waiting for me. Over."

"Charles, I'll call you back," Morgan says over the phone and hangs up without waiting to hear Charles's goodbye. He puts the iPhone is his pants pocket, grabs the radio, and runs outside his office.

"Kathy. Keep them waiting. I am coming," Morgan says over the radio as he is running towards the gate.

* * *

Morgan, the radio in his hand, is excitedly running towards the gate. His fat belly is showing through his shirt, which is partly tucked out. He is indeed not in good shape. He does not care either. He cannot care less about his appearance. All he cares about is the growth of his business and the number of zeros in front of his bank account number.

"Mr. Morgan, I'm a bit confused. Can I just go to the gate for five minutes? Over," Jesus says over the radio.

"No." That is the short, firm response from Morgan. He cannot spit out more words while running.

"Can you at least tell me why? People need me. Over."

"No." Before Jesus asks more questions, Morgan reaffirms his order using the only word he can say while running. "No... No... No..."

As he is approaching the gate, he gets more excited by seeing the large crowd gathered behind the gate. Kathy has her head out the window watching him approaching. He reaches the gate, finally, red-faced and panting. Kathy is impatiently waiting for him to talk. He wants to talk but is out of breath. He leans his hand on the wall. Kathy watches him regaining his breath.

"Talk to me," Morgan says while he has barely gained his breath back.

"They say they want to talk to Reminder Jesus, the leader of the god-forgiver movement."

A big smile slowly grows on Morgan's face, although he is not sure what a reminder is—he actually heard remainder instead. He has regained his breath.

"Starting today, we sell only all-included tickets. Got it."

"Sure!" Kathy affirms confusedly.

Morgan leaves his radio with Kathy and, the greedy smile on his face, goes through the staff door next to the gate. Kathy is watching him. She is still not sure what Morgan is up to. Morgan approaches the reception counter and jumps on it. Or this is what he attempts, but he is not in good shape for such a move. Kathy is all shocked. Morgan's struggle to get on the counter attracts some attention. Some of the visitors are watching his struggle. The others are still murmuring.

His iPhone falls off his pocket on the ground, but he is too excited to care about that. He is on the counter finally with a bit of help from Kathy. He tries to keep his balance while he stands up on the counter. The murmur has almost stopped. Most people have now turned to him, watching curiously.

Morgan opens his arms like when Moses did when he parted the sea.

"Pilgrims," Morgan shouts, "Welcome to the land of Remainder, Prophet, Guru Jesus."

## Messiah Show

'Messiah Show'

The fresh paint says that on a hand-written sign that points to the center of the adventure park. The other signs are made of Aluminum pointing in different directions, and the carved words on them say: Carousel, Pendulum Ride, Pirate Ship, Roller Coaster, and Zip line.

The park is crowded again. Not at its full capacity yet, but thanks to the popularity of the Messiah Show many people spend their leisure time in the park. Carousel ride is almost full of happy children, and it is circling with inspiring music. The Pirate Ship is still running half-empty, but there is now a line before the Roller Coaster. The zip line has only two people waiting in line. It takes time for people to forget the tragedy of Vincent's death and trust the zip line again. Jesus and Paul are no longer operating the zip line. Morgan has given them a raise and has reassigned them to run the Messiah Show.

* * *

Omar along with Cheng is operating the Pendulum Ride. Omar has shaved his head, which looks weird with the long beard. It makes him look more like a fighter than an operator. He seems agitated, and his attention is barely on his work. He is watching the large crowd that is gathered around Jesus. They are quite far, and Omar cannot hear what Jesus says. But, it would not make a difference either. This is the popularity of Jesus that Omar finds resentful, irrespective of the content of his words.

"Are you alright, buddy?" Cheng tells Omar with a friendly tone. He has noticed Omar's lack of attention to safety.

Omar turns his look away from the crowd around Jesus and looks at Cheng's friendly yet concerned face. Omar is thinking of what to do. He looks quite tense.

"No. No, I'm not," Omar says and leaves his post without saying another word.

* * *

"Suzy, can you send someone to cover Omar? Over." Omar hears Cheng says that over the radio.

"Why? Where the hell is he? Over."

There is a bit of silence.

"Ah, I think he doesn't feel well? Over." Omar hears Cheng says that, finally. He does not care though. He turns off the radio and keeps walking towards the entrance gate.

"Thank you, America," an upset visitor says sarcastically after Omar shoves the man out of his way. Omar does not care. He is all agitated and zoned out, walking against the flow of many people who are entering the park—most of them to attend Jesus's Messiah Show.

* * *

Omar reaches the park's entrance gate and exits through the door that says 'Staff Only' on it. He still has the park's vest on. He walks towards the staff's parking lot that is right next to the entrance gate.

A young couple notices the park's vest on Omar when he exits the park and approaches him to seek help. The boy, Karl, is wearing a T-shirt and shorts, which show his big biceps and also thin thighs. The girl, Sharon, is wearing a sexy, blue tank top and light green, hiking shorts. A golden, heart-shaped necklace is shining on her white chest. That grabs Omar's attention right away. He, however, tries to ignore them by looking away.

"Excuse me," Sharon says politely as Omar is getting closer to them. "Do you might have a map of the trails?"

Omar, who is still avoiding eye contact, does not stop though.

"Not for whores." He walks right through the couple while responding.

"What?!" Sharon is shocked by the uncalled-for insult.

Omar ignores that and keeps approaching his monstrous-looking motorcycle at the corner of the parking lot.

Sharon looks back at her man, Karl, expecting him to do something. Karl is a bit afraid of confrontation, especially with a crazy-looking guy of Omar's size. He stays put, gulps in fear, makes his voice thick like Sylvester Stallone, and says:

"Hey. What's your problem?"

"Fix your woman, you pimp!" Omar responds right away without turning back and starts unlocking his motorcycle.

"Ah, well, ah... Fuck you."

Omar furiously turns and gives Karl an intimidating look. Sun reflects off his shaved head, and the fire is pouring from his raging eyes.

"Or... Or not." Karl gets scared and takes a step back, almost hiding behind Sharon.

Omar turns back and sits on his motorcycle.

"We'll report you to your supervisor," Sharon says in a quavering voice after she gets disappointed with her man to do anything.

Omar takes his park vest off and angrily throws it on the ground. He ignites the engine of his monstrous motorcycle. It starts with a loud roar and exhales thick smoke from its exhaust.

Sharon with sad eyes watches Omar leave. She, still in shock, cannot believe what just happened.

Omar being gone, Karl feels braver, approaches Sharon, and touches her on the shoulder. "Are you OK, babe?"

As soon as Karl's hand touches Sharon's shoulder, she turns and gets away from Karl.

* * *

Sharon and Karl are wandering in the amusement park. Given the bad experience with Omar, they are less encouraged to ask the other operators about a hiking map. Hiking is the reason that they have come here in the first place. They are here on a multi-week vacation and are planning to hike around the beautiful nature around the amusement park. Hiking is the activity that truly amuses them—her, to be accurate as Karl is just tagging along—and they do not have any interest in the typical activities that one can find in amusement parks.

They are wandering in the park, looking for one of the trailheads when they notice a large gathering at the center of the park. That is unusual for an amusement park, Sharon thinks. Out of curiosity, she approaches the crowd, and Karl naturally follows her.

As they get closer, they can hear Jesus's voice through the speaker. That is the Messiah Show that they are witnessing. It is basically the same, old, informal preaching sessions that Jesus used to hold at the entrance of the park, but now at a much larger magnitude thanks to capital investment by Morgan. Paul is walking among the crowd, spreading a flyer. He takes a good look at each person before handing the flyer. It is as if he cherry-picks the audience.

"Excuse me!" a sweet, old lady with thick eyeglasses tells Paul. "Can you explain this quote?"

Paul's look, however, is locked on something else. "Yeah, sure. No problem." Paul responds without turning to the old lady. He leaves the lady bewildered with the flyer in her hand.

Jesus, a microphone attached to his collar, is standing on the platform in the middle of the grass field. He is surrounded by a large, enthusiastic crowd that are sitting on the grass, circling around Jesus, and heeding to his familiar, yet refreshing words. They have come here to see with their own eyes the owner of the voice they have heard in Shaq's Common Sense podcast.

"Exercise compassion and discover the heaven on earth. The heaven to which you are the creator with your good deeds. Forgive and show clemency. Every time you do, a sense of peace grows in your heart. Do it and feel it. Call me a liar if you didn't. Don't forgive people because they deserve to be forgiven; forgive them because you deserve to be the forgiver; your heart needs offering forgiveness. Don't deny it from your heart. You are given the chance, take it. Take it for your heart."

Karl notices that Sharon is drowned in Jesus's speech. She looks like she has been hypnotized. She is not though. But, Jesus's speech has indeed left an impression on Sharon; on Karl, not as much.

Paul, a big chunk of fliers still in his hand, is now sitting with one of the visitors, going through the details of the flyer. The visitor is a pretty, twenty-year-old girl with a white tank top and a short skirt. The old lady with thick eyeglasses passes by them.

## It Is On

Where is that pretty girl?

Sally thinks that when regretfully looking at herself in the mirror. She is in the tiny bathroom of her cheap studio apartment. She tries to stretch the wrinkled skin under her eyes to remind herself of the old days. The skin wrinkles again the moment she removes her finger. A deep sadness resurfaces on her eyes. Her vision gets blurry. Despite her resistance, tears are welling up in her eyes. Her sobs are about to follow when she rushes to the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. The cabinet is filled with medicine containers of different sizes and colors. The toothbrush and toothpaste seem irrelevant among those many drugs.

A couple of containers fall when her shaky hand touches them until she reaches the red one with the word 'Caution' printed on it with large black letters. She hurryingly takes one large capsule from the container and swallows while still sobbing. It hurts without water. She closes the mirror door of the medicine cabinet and leans forward to drink water from her bathroom sink.

She closes the tap. She has no rush to stand up and face herself in the mirror again. Who wants to see that miserable face anyway? she thinks. Jesus does, that is who. That is the response that gives her the strength to stand up again. In the mirror, she sees her face that is covered with tears.

She wipes the tears off her face. No, this is not the time to feel sorry for yourself, she thinks. This is the time to go out there and actually do something. Yes, you are the one. Jesus is sick, and you are the cure. Go, girl. You still got it.

Refilled with confidence, she takes the lipstick from her spacious makeup bag and applies it on her lips. It is as red as blood.

## This Is War

Morgan licks his lips.

It is a hot, dry day in the park. He is lying down on his couch and doing accounting with his giant calculator. There is no symptom of the piled up receipts on his desk. The positive number on his calculator's screen increases each time he presses a button. He is so ecstatic that he looks more like a drunk. He chuckles once in a while with no obvious reason.

His concentration breaks with the voice coming over the radio.

"Mr. Morgan," the voice says hysterically, "they are coming. They are coming. Over."

"Morgan is here. Who's coming, Kathy?"

"The police. The police."

Morgan lowers the radio and thinks for a second. He is trying to figure whom he has not paid, and who might be behind this invasion. "Goldman?" he wonders. "No, that son-of-a-bitch would not dare to cross me. It must be that asshole Chase, but I paid him already." Out of ideas, he raises the radio near his mouth again.

"Kathy. Whatever happens, don't let them in. I repeat. Do not let them in. I'm coming over," Morgan says and rushes to his desk.

"I don't think I can. Over," Kathy says with a helpless voice over the radio.

"Try."

Morgan takes his iPhone off his desk, presses on a name in his address book, and then runs out the office.

* * *

The police cars stop in front of the gate. The cars bring so much dust with them that they create a battlefield feeling. Kathy, scared to death, is trying to see beyond the dust. A high-ranking commander approaches through the dust. Two giant guards are accompanying him. He points to a police officer that looks like a criminal who broke out of jail using the police uniform as a disguise. The officer shows respect to his commander, enters the reception, and brings a paper to Kathy's desk.

"We've got reports of illegal gathering in this park by someone called Jesus Freeman," the police officer says loudly to Kathy while his other hand is on his holster. "This warrant permits us to enter. Open the gate immediately."

"I... gotta... I have to show this paper to the park's director," Kathy says with a trembling voice. "Mr. Morgan will—"

"— Now!" the officer shouts at Kathy with a merciless face while opening the button on his holster.

Kathy jumps back from fear. She is shivering. She gulps in fear.

"Yes... yes, Sir. Yes."

As her eyes are still on the officer, she leans forward and presses a green button on the wall. The gate is still closed. She pushes it again. Still does not work. She becomes hysterical and keeps pushing the button over and over.

"Jail is a difficult place for a pretty girl like you," the officer says with a devilish smile while leaning towards Kathy.

"No, officer. I swear to God," she responds hysterically as she bursts out crying. "The gate jams sometimes." She nervously pushes harder on the button.

"Enough is—" the police officer says while taking his gun. He gets interrupted by Morgan's entrance.

Morgan enters the office with his hands raised. He has the radio on his one hand and the iPhone on the other. He has the hands-free headset in his right ear. He is all sweaty and out of breath. Everybody turns to him, including the police officer who also points his gun at Morgan.

"I have the mayor on the phone," Morgan says while breathing rapidly. "He wishes to speak with your commander."

The police officer gets frustrated and cocks the gun while it is still pointed at Morgan. Kathy screams.

"For the last time, open the goddamn gate, now," the police officer roars in rage.

Morgan, however, is quite relaxed.

"You heard that Josh," Morgan says on the phone, "OK, one second." Morgan slowly lowers his iPhone and pushes a button on it. The officer follows that closely while pointing his gun at Morgan's chest.

"They can hear you now, Mr. Mayor," Morgan says.

The mayor's voice is now playing through the speakers all over the park.

"Get on the fucking phone, Charles, or I'll send you back guarding the damn zoo that you came from."

The police officer gets scared. His hand is shaking now. He lowers the gun while looking back out the window. Charles Sakai, the commander, hastily runs into the reception. Morgan is holding his phone up. He presses a button to disable the speakers. Charles runs towards Morgan and snaps the iPhone.

"I am here, Sir... Yes, Sir... No, we just... Yes, Sir."

Morgan is looking into the police officer's eyes with a victorious smile. The officer gulps in shame while uncocks and holsters the gun."

"No, Sir," Charles continues over the phone. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be there in 15 minutes."

Charles hangs up the phone, looks up, and notices Morgan holding the exit door open for them.

## In Morgan We Trust

Mr. Morgan approaches the location of the Messiah Show. His shirt is still partly untucked from all the running. The last speech is finished and most of the crowd is dispersing. Quite a few are circling around Jesus, asking him questions. Paul is also helping two young girls, one in a black sports bra and yoga stretch pants, and the other wearing a light blue culotte dress. Paul is quite engrossed in conversation and does not notice Mr. Morgan approaching. Jesus, however, notices that and excuses himself from the surrounding fans to join Morgan.

"Hey, Mr. Morgan. What was that all about?"

"You heard it over the radio, huh?"

"Radio? No, Paul takes care of the radio. I meant the speakers."

"They were coming after you."

"They?" Jesus sounds scared a bit. "Who?... Why?"

"Because you talk, young man. And because people listen."

Jesus turns his worried look down.

"There is nothing to worry about," Morgan reassures Jesus while putting his hand on his shoulder. "If they want to stop you, they have to go over my dead body first."

"Aren't they powerful people?" Jesus asks worryingly while looking up.

"So is Morgan," Morgan says with much confidence and then sneers.

## Religions United

They are late. Only Hakham Abba and Guru Saj have arrived at the Hilton's spacious meeting room. Hakham Abba is a very old, skinny, Jewish Hakham with a long, white beard. Guru Saj is a short, old Hindu Guru with an Imperial mustache. They are sitting on the opposite sides, at the edge of a long table. They are both bored. Once in a while, they share an awkward moment when their looks cross, but then, having nothing to say to each other, they both break the eye contact. There is a jug of water in between and a glass of water in front of each.

Father Kelly enters with a bottle of wine in his hand.

"Oh, Hakham Abba, Guru Saj. You're here already."

"We have been here since a long time ago," Guru Saj says sarcastically.

"Sorry about the delay," Father says with a chuckle. "But it took time to find a Kosher wine."

Father puts the wine on the table. Guru Saj impatiently watches Father Kelly searching his pockets. Father takes a small bible out of his pocket, and a corkscrew after that. He puts the bible back in his pocket and sits behind the conference table. Father then starts opening the wine bottle with the corkscrew.

"So, shall we start?" Guru Saj runs out of patience.

The wine bottle is open, finally. Father takes a sniff at the wine.

"Imam Zahed must show up any minute now. God, I hate it when people are late." Father goes to pour some wine for Guru Saj. "Fortunately, we have a good wine to make the waiting less painful."

Father then leans towards Hakham Abba to pour wine for him. Hakham, however, puts his hand on the glass. Father is surprised.

"It's Kosher."

"Not if it is handled by a non-Sabbath-observant Jew," Hakham Abba responds firmly with an uncompromising tone.

Father raises his eyebrows, leans back, and pours wine for himself. "I gotta say, it's really admirable that you are keeping a multi-thousand-year-old tradition alive."

Imam Zahed enters—his big belly before him. "Sorry I'm late, but there was a matter that had to be dealt with urgently." Imam Zahed says and sits next to Father Kelly.

Guru Saj leans forward and offers him a tissue. Imam Zahed is confused.

"You have some urgent ketchup on your shirt," Guru Saj says with a sarcastic smile.

Imam Zahed is embarrassed, takes the tissue, and wipes the ketchup off his white shirt.

"Care for a drink?" Father asks Imam.

"Is it non-alcoholic?"

"No," Guru Saj jumps in, "but it's not handled by a Sabbath-observant Jew if it helps."

"It doesn't," Imam Zahed responds confusedly. "But, thank you anyway." Imam Zahed does not get the Guru Saj's joke.

"Alright," Guru Saj says impatiently, "I think we have the majority now, population-wise at least. Why don't we start? Father, how we can help to handle your problem?"

Father Kelly sneers. "With all due respect, Guru Saj, I believe this is our problem."

"Well, it grows off your temple, I mean church."

"Lots of his followers are actually ex-Hindus. So, excuse me if I—"

"— Gentlemen," Imam Zahed breaks the fight. "I think we all agree that the peace of our equilibrium is being severely disturbed. It is in the best interest of all of us to save our youth from this corruption. No matter where it is started from and who mishandled it," Imam Zahed says while pointing to Father Kelly, "it is now everybody's problem."

Father Kelly does not like the subtle insinuation. "I mean," he takes over, "if you... we let this cult grow, before the devil knows they will be growing like mushrooms everywhere."

"Alright, alright," Guru Saj impatiently jumps in. "We hear you. _We_ have a problem. What is your suggestion?"

All eyes are on Father Kelly. He, however, leans back with no response and takes a sip of the wine. The leaders are now looking at each other to see who would go first. The silence is taking too long. It finally breaks with the noise Hakham Abba makes to extract a pill from its blister pack. People are now watching Hakham Abba slowly swallowing the pill and drinking water afterward. Watching Hakham Abba, Imam Zahed is inspired by an idea.

"You know, in some traditions, the false prophets would face the death penalty."

"Yes," Father Kelly says excitedly.

"Didn't the same thing happen to Jesus Christ?" Guru Saj asks while facing Father Kelly.

The rhetorical question enrages Hakham Abba. "No," he says while angrily slams the glass on the table, "That was the Romans."

"Alright. Romans it is." Guru Saj backs off right away.

"I already talked to Romans, I mean the mayor. He is backed up by powerful people."

"Who? The mayor?" Imam Zahed asks confusedly.

"No, Jesus. Jesus Freeman."

"By whom?" Guru Saj asks impatiently.

"What by whom?" Father asks.

"Who is backing up Jesus?"

"Ah, JP Morgan."

"The merry-go-round guy?" Guru Saj asks condescendingly.

"Yep, That was my first reaction too. Apparently, his business has grown fast. Merry is not the only one who goes around for him now," Father says with a sneer.

"Yeah, I heard his taxes cover half the city's bills," Imam Zahed interjects.

"That is outrageous," Father continues. "Many of the usuals of my church are spending their money there."

"Yeah, mine too," Imam Zahed confirms. "Only if they had spent the money for the mosque."

Hakham Abba takes his cane and gets up to leave.

"Where are you going Hakham?" Father Kelly objects. "We still have a problem to solve."

"Morgan is not a problem. He's a solution." Hakham says and starts leaving.

"On behalf of everybody," Guru Saj says, "please do elaborate."

"He is a businessman," Hakham Abba says without turning back. "Offer him a good business proposal, and he becomes your closest ally."

The three leaders are inspired. They look at each other to see who goes first. Father Kelly breaks the silence, finally.

"Well, what if..."

## And God Created Common Sense

"Jesus Freeman is nothing short of a con-man. Yet another opportunistic cult leader who abuses the naiveté of weak-minded people." Shaq finishes reading and takes his finger off the Braille paper. "This is an excerpt from the article," he continues, "signed by the leaders of all major religions and published in mainstream media including the Times and the Post. What do you have to say to them?"

Shaq is doing his 6th interview with now-bearded Jesus, taking place in the Common Sense Studio, also known as Shaq's cheap garage.

Jesus is fighting tears. The words he just heard really hurt him. The extent to which people go just to defame him is beyond his comprehension.

"Don't they see I'm not asking anything in return? Didn't all those religions, that those people presume their leadership, repeat everything I say? What I do is merely a reminder of what we all already know. We are just tricked to forget how big of a deal that is. Instead, we are trained to put emphasis on everything but the good deed. Anything that colors us differently than the guy on the other side. Anything that strengthens Us vs. Them mentality. And we call that identity. And we are taught to celebrate it, take pride in it, die for it, and kill for it."

"Aren't you afraid, Jesus?"

Sera also turns to Jesus, expecting to hear a heroic response.

"I always am," Jesus says with a chuckle. "From what exactly?"

"They won't let you get away with this."

"Who're they?"

"They'll come after you. They'll come with all their power."

"What did I do?" Jesus asked confusedly.

"Let this blind man prophesy for Jesus," Shaq says and leans towards him. "For every man who listens to you, for every woman who supports you, there will be one less paying follower from their herd. That is the source of their powers that you're messing with. That is the guarantee of their existence that you are making it expire. Don't you have a fear of how far they would go to stop you?"

Jesus is indeed scared. He gulps in fear. Sera is watching him closely.

"I...," Jesus says hesitatingly before swallowing his spit. He is terrified, and he is not hiding it. "I don't know. Do you?"

Shaq chuckles. He hears the loud, monstrous sound of a motorcycle approaching.

"Messiah would have no fear," Shaq says, "but, you are no Messiah."

Sera mouths the words.

"You are not the son of God, or a sinless saint, or a superhero. You're Jesus; just another black reminder."

Jesus is watching Sera mouthing the words. What Shaq said has reached some place deep in Jesus's heart and ignites some repressed feelings.

A Molotov cocktail is thrown through the garage's half-open door. Her back towards the door, Sera does not notice that at first. Jesus sees that and takes Sara's hand and jumps with her to the other side of the garage. The fire catches on.

"Shaq," Sera screams while lying on the ground. Shaq is stuck behind his desk and has little to no mobility. Jesus takes a blanket to throw it on the fire that is spreading around Shaq.

BOOM!

Before Jesus throws the blanket, the paint cans that were stacked next to Shaq explode. Half the garage is now on fire. If it were not for the blanket, Jesus would probably have died from the explosion. The waves of the explosion have thrown him on the ground.

* * *

Jesus is hearing a high-pitch ring in his ears. He has lost the sense of direction. After a few seconds, he starts hearing the sound of Sera crying and calling Shaq. Following the sound, she notices Sera through the thick smoke. Jesus crawls on the ground and pulls Sera aside to a safe distance. Sera does not stop calling Shaq. Jesus looks through the fire and finds Shaq burning in silence. The fire is too strong and impossible to approach.

Jesus looks around and notices a fire extinguisher in the corner. Without missing a beat, he runs over, takes it, squeezes the trigger, and aims the nozzle at Shaq.

The fire is only partly settled around Shaq when Sera runs towards him. Jesus aims the nozzle at the nearby fire to kill it before it catches again on Shaq and now Sera. The last bit of fire is near the half-open door of the garage. Jesus kills that before he rolls up the door to let the smoke out.

Jesus is out of breath. He notices that he cannot hear Sera anymore. He slowly turns and finds Sera sitting next to Shaq's body holding his head in her arms. She is crying in silence. Jesus with fragile steps approaches them. He still cannot see Shaq's face. He gets closer. He is about to see Shaq's face that Sera's scream bursts out.

## Karma

Three young, athletic men are hiking in a leisurely pace on the trails around the park. The beautiful nature around the Eden Adventure Park actually used to be more popular than the park itself. Despite the popularity of the zip line since Mr. Morgan took over, there are still many people who come here for hiking the creek, to enjoy the amazing nature and also challenge their hiking skills.

The route is uphill and the exhausted hikers can barely drag their muscular body up. One of them who looks beefier stops.

"I give up."

"Come on man. We're almost there."

"You said that half an hour ago. This is impossible."

Omar, holding two heavy hand weights, runs past them. The three athletic hikers are absolutely impressed by that.

"What the hell?"

"How could he run uphill so fast?"

"Did you see the weights?"

"Indeed I did. Monster!"

* * *

The scorching sun is reflecting on Omar's shaved head. He is all sweat. The trail is flat now and much easier to hike, but Omar is no longer running. He is rather walking slowly. He actually seems in pain. He stops a little to take a breath. He let go of the hand weights, and they fall on the ground. Omar follows after, falls to his knees, crunches, and pushes on his stomach. He then leans back and takes a couple of deep breaths. He cleans the sweat off his forehead. Everything is blurry for a second. Omar blinks a couple of times and then tries to open his eyes widely. He can see clearly now. He picks up the hand weights and continues running.

Before he finishes the fourth step, he falls to his knees and throws up. Some of the vomit sticks to his long beard. He takes a couple of deep breaths. He then throws up his entire stomach. His beard is all mixed with vomit, but being in tremendous pain, he cannot care less about his beard now.

He is taking labored breaths while staring at his vomit. What did I do to deserve this? he ponders. After being in the same state for a while, he comes to the realization that he cannot go on like this. He leaves the weights there and tries to finish the trail with very slow, fragile steps.

He notices a cramp in his left leg. He cannot walk anymore. He sits on the ground and takes his left shoe off while groaning from the intense pain. His foot fingers are all contracted from the cramp. He looks back and notices that he has not gone far. The pile of vomit is just a few feet away with flies having a party around it.

Omar is hopeless. The pain of the cramp is getting worse and worse. He lies on the ground and tries not to look into the sun directly. He passes out from the pain.

* * *

Omar hears a kid singing. He opens his eyes and crunches his head up. An eight-year-old Caucasian boy is approaching with his mother. The mother is wearing Hijab and is a few steps behind the son. Omar smiles.

"Mom, why is he sleeping here?"

The mother notices the vomit and the flies around it. She gets disgusted.

Omar raises his hand towards the kid and is about to say something. The mother arrives and pulls her kid away.

"Don't get close, Hans. It could be contagious." This is something that probably every mother would do. After all, the safety of her family is the most important concern on her mind.

Omar's hopeless hand falls on the ground, and he leans his head back on the ground again. A tear flows down Omar's cheek.

* * *

Omar is watching the sky. His cramp has got worse. The contraction is slowly breaking the bones. In all his life, Omar has never found himself so miserable and helpless.

Sharon, with the same blue tank top and light green hiking shorts, appears above Omar. She looks like an angel.

"Do you need help, Sir?"

Omar recognizes Sharon but cannot tell if Sharon remembers him too. Being in agonizing pain, he barely can talk. In desperate need of help, Omar points to his contracted feet.

"We are late already." Karl sounds like he has recognized Omar. So must his girlfriend, Omar thinks.

"Oh, my God. This must be very painful. You're probably dehydrated."

Sharon takes her backpack off and takes out the only water bottle she had in there.

"You should take some water—"

"— Honey, we should be going—"

"— Shut up, Karl!"

"I'm going to add mineral pills to it. That helps with the cramp."

Omar has no option but to trust Sharon. He shows consent by a blink. Sharon starts looking for the mineral pills in her backpack. She does not seem to be able to find them.

"Karl, give me your mineral pills."

"Ah... I'm not sure if I have anything left."

"Karl!" Sharon shouts.

"You always do this. Fine. Fine. But, remember that I warned you. Look who is a pushover now."

Karl brings over his pack of mineral pills while nagging. The container is a pink tube. He takes a disgusted look at Omar. Sharon snaps the pink tube without looking at Karl. She adds one tablet into the water bottle and shakes it. She brings the bottle near Omar's dried lips. Omar tries but barely can raise his head. Sharon helps him by holding Omar's head in her arms. Karl feels jealous.

"Unbelievable," Karl says before he looks away.

While drinking water, Omar is staring at the heart-shaped necklace that hangs from Sharon's neck. The word 'Love' is carved on it. Omar takes his mouth away and takes a relaxed breath in Sharon's arms. It looks like life is back to his corpse again.

"How do you feel?" Sharon says while still holding Omar's head in her arms.

"Better... much better... You can go now... I'll be OK."

"Are you sure? We can carry—"

"He says he's OK," Karl shouts from the back, "for God's sake. I'm not carrying anybody."

"It's OK. My cramp is going away already," Omar says and tries to move his feet fingers.

"Can we please go now?" Karl nags again.

"I'm OK," Omar reassures Sharon.

Sharon gently retracts her arm and puts Omar's head on the ground.

"I'm leaving the bottle here," Sharon says. She leaves the bottle next to Omar and goes to join Karl. After a beat, she comes back again and puts the pink tube of mineral pills next to the water. "Just in case," she says and leaves.

After all the selfless compassion that Sharon has shown, Omar should say something at the very least. But, there is something in him that resists. He is having a battle inside him. It is like he wants to drag himself out of a pit, but in the last moment, a monster grabs him and pulls him back down.

Sharon is getting far. Omar finally makes his mind up.

"Thank you," he says with a trembling voice.

Sharon and Karl are too far already to hear that. Omar feels ashamed.

## The Church, Take 2

Meooooow.

The kitty objects strongly about the unkind treatment she has just received when Jesus kicks her away from the garbage bin. Half of Jesus's beard and part of his hair is burnt in the fire. There are symptoms of multiple burns on his face and on his hands that need medical attention. Jesus is a bit different. He is meaner now after the traumatic death of Shaq. Shaq to him was a father he never had, and watching him die before his eyes was a shock that Jesus has not recovered from yet. Jesus's eyes are screaming revenge.

Jesus turns and takes another look at the tall church that is gloriously standing there, looking down at Jesus. The flames of anger shoot from his eyes.

"Let's do this," Paul reassures Jesus while putting his hand upon Jesus's shoulder.

Jesus turns to Paul. He is glad that he has his right hand to help him get through these difficult times. Paul, who was the first follower of Jesus, now has grown to an exemplary leader of the movement. If nothing else, Paul's transformation is a testimony to the truth of my mission, Jesus ponders. He is my miracle; he is my proof, Jesus proudly thinks. Coming to the church was actually Paul's idea. But, it was not hard to convince Jesus given the traumatic state that he was in.

Paul offers his hand. Jesus makes up his mind and joins arms with him. Paul then helps Jesus to get up on the garbage bin. The bin is unstable, but Jesus manages to maintain his balance with a bit of help from Paul.

Jesus looks at the church's front door. He remembers Shaq's face after it was burnt in the fire. That refuels his rage. The stream of tears starts running on his face. He takes a breath and screams from the bottom of his heart.

"You don't need God's forgiveness. You are the one who should forgive God. Come. Come, my victim friends. Come outside, and let's forgive God for..." Jesus chokes on his sob. It takes a few beats for him to be able to talk again. "... for what he has done to us."

* * *

The church people have come out and gathered at the entrance watching Jesus screaming in agony. Otto, Father Kelly's nephew/assistant is standing at the front line. Father Kelly pushes through the people, comes to the front, and sees Jesus standing on the garbage bin, screaming at church.

"That crosses every line of decency," Father Kelly says with grinding teeth. He looks enraged and frustrated. Father notices Jesus's shaking feet. Jesus is quite unstable, and it looks like he might fall in the garbage bin any second now. Father Kelly is contemplating something. The more Jesus talks, the madder Father gets. He is like a barrel of gunpowder that only needs a small spark to fire off and unleash himself on Jesus.

"Pray no more, my children. Time to answer God's prayers. Time to forgive. Let's forgive him for the pain and agony that we are born into."

That is it, Father thinks. He marches towards Jesus with clenched fists. Paul with crossed arms jumps in before Father could reach Jesus. He is nonchalantly chewing gum while staring down at Father. Father takes a step back. His back hits Otto.

"Sorry, Father," Otto says. Father turns and takes a look at Otto. He is still in shock. After a short conversation with Otto, Father turns to Paul again. Paul is extending his hand, flipping off Father Kelly. Paul never liked the church, but he always hated Father Kelly. He had stopped going to church shortly after his puberty. This was the time that Paul had realized the church is in the way of what he loves the most in this life; what he was gifted with; what he was born to do.

"You want me to call the sheriff, again?" Otto asks Father.

"No, that wouldn't do. We need to do something worse. Something much, much worse."

Otto is all ears.

"Call his mom," Father says and pushes the crowd around to go back inside the church.

Otto is left there with a puzzled look. "His mother?!" Otto murmurs.

## Carousel

Due to medical emergencies, the Messiah Show is canceled for today.

It says that on a handwritten board that is installed where Jesus usually performs the show. Sally seems disappointed. She has come a long way to meet Jesus. She is wearing her expensive, navy dress. Jesus used to love this color on her. She is getting torn apart between the excitement of meeting Jesus and the fright of how she might be received. If it were not for Ms. Freeman's begging, it was impossible for Sally to take such risk. But, now here she is, facing her chances. She has her pills in the purse just in case another anxiety attack kicked in.

An operator wearing the park vest passes by.

"Excuse me. Sir."

"Yeah."

"Do you know where I can find Jesus Freeman?"

"The show is canceled. Can't you read?" The operator points to the handwritten board.

"Yeah, but I'm not here for the show. It is a personal matter."

The operator looks her up and down. He is confused about what a dressed-up woman wants from Jesus.

"Are you sure you are not here to meet Paul."

"No. Never. No. Jesus. I am here for Jesus."

"Alright, alright. He is hanging over there, at the kids' section."

"Where exactly?"

"You'll find him. He'd be the only guy with a bandage on his head," the operator says while leaving.

"Bandage?" Sally murmurs.

* * *

Sally recognizes Jesus sitting on a plastic unicorn on the carousel. The carousel looks like a thousand years old. No customer is there because the old, rusty carousel ride is under maintenance. Two technicians are working on it in the operator booth. Sally is excited to see Jesus. She is nervous about how she looks. She double-checks her appearance in the mirror of her makeup kit. She takes the red lipstick out and re-applies it on her lips. She is now ready to face destiny. She can hear every beat of her heart.

As she is approaching Jesus, she notices the beard, and also the burns on his hand and face. That explains the bandage, she thinks. Soon, the unusual expression on Jesus's face distracts Sally from the wounds. Jesus looks outraged and at the same time deeply depressed. Perhaps that is perfect timing; he would cheer up by seeing me, Sally wishfully thinks and steps on the entrance platform. The sound of high-heel shoes stepping on the wooden platform is quite noticeable.

Jesus turns to the sound and sees Sally standing there, offering a big smile. Jesus turns his head back with no reaction. He must have lost his memory or something, Sally thinks.

"It's me, Sally."

"I know," Jesus says with an indifferent tone without turning his look. Although this is not the reaction that Sally was expecting, she manages to keep herself together. She tries to charm him with a compliment.

"I've heard your words. I think they're cool."

"Everybody does. Have you seen the size of my followers?" Jesus says arrogantly without turning to Sally.

Sally's confidence is shaken, but she attributes Jesus's reaction to his condition. After all, there must be a story behind the injuries.

"What is the bandage for? What happened to your head?"

"Since when _you_ care?" Jesus's cold reaction is alarming to Sally. She puts her hand in the purse to make sure the pills are still there. That is my fault, she thinks. Why would I bring up bad memories of his injuries? Think Sally, think. Come on. Lighten up the mood. Some good memories. You can do this.

"Funny coincidence that I meet you here. This carousel brings a lot of good memories. Do you remember our first kiss here?"

"I remember your last spit, right on my face, after I kneeled and said I would die without you, and begged you not to leave."

That brings shame to Sally's face, which is followed by nervous laughter.

"Listen, that's actually why I'm here. I've made terrible mistakes in the past, but I'm here to make it up to you. I... I... I wanted to see if... our relationship, if you want to pick it up again and—"

"— I forgave you a long time ago, you, your mistakes, and your wrongdoings. I'm over it. There is nothing left to pick up."

That was the response that Sally was afraid of but harsher than she could have imagined. The Jesus she remembers was never mean. Tears are welling up in her eyes. She rushes for the pills in her purse.

"You don't mean it," she says after swallowing her spit. "I know you. These feelings never can completely go away—"

"— But, you surely can," Jesus says and waits for a beat for the cruel response to sink in.

Tears split over and flow down Sally's face. She swallows the pill before it is too late. This was no Jesus talking. Neither the Jesus she knew one day, nor the Jesus she hears of from people. Where is that much cruelty coming from? Sally wonders. What is changed in him?

"I've forgiven you," Jesus continues. "I don't have any feelings for you. And you know what?" Jesus turns to Sally. "I don't think I ever really did."

"But, you said you loved me," Sally says with a sob of despair.

The music begins. The technicians have managed to start the carousel, finally. Jesus smiles like a happy child, opens his arms, and starts riding away on the plastic unicorn. "It was right here," Jesus hears Sally saying that as he is riding away. "You said I love you. What's changed?"

An old, unresolved feeling of hatred resurfaces on Jesus's face.

"The many guys you fucked. The many dicks you sucked."

"It wasn't that many," Jesus hears Sally shouting.

"One is too many," Jesus murmurs while a tear escapes his eye. "One is too many."

## Name the Price

The park is quite crowded. From far away, one could see the concentration of the people at the center of the park, where many visitors are attending the resumed Messiah Show.

Father Kelly and Mr. Morgan are sitting on the balcony of the park's cafe, which overlooks the entire park. There is a cup of hot chocolate before each, but none of them is touching his cup. They just keep staring at each other. It is as if we are witnessing a gun duel in a western movie, and each of the cowboys is waiting to see who reaches for the pistol first. Morgan cracks first and picks up the hot chocolate cup while his eyes are still on Father.

"So, how's the business?" Father Kelly asks Mr. Morgan.

"Good. How's yours?" Morgan says sarcastically and takes a sip of his hot chocolate while still looking up at Father. Father has no reaction but nervous laughter.

Morgan lowers the cup. A bit of whipped cream is around his lips.

"You got...," Father points to the cream.

Without taking his eyes off Father Kelly, Morgan licks the cream with his tongue. It is gross. Father realizes that Morgan has no intention of being friendly.

"You know, Mr. Morgan," Father chases to the point, "there are some serious concerns around some particular gatherings—"

"— Yeah, you told the mayor, and the mayor told me, and I told him already to tell you what he must have told you." Morgan, confident of his connections, shows no sign of leniency. "Anyone who tries to drive my customers away from the park," Morgan continues with a raised voice, "they have to—"

"— Hey, hey. Relax, man. Relax. No one is taking your beloved customers. In fact, I am proposing to bring you more."

Morgan's attention is grabbed. He puts the hot chocolate cup on the saucer.

"I'm listening."

Father leans towards Morgan. "What do you say if our people come here, to your park, to attend the weekly mass?"

"The Sunday mass?"

"Sundays, Saturdays, and Fridays."

"Fridays too?!"

"Imam Zahed has personally committed to that."

Morgan's eyes dilate. He cannot contain his excitement. He starts picturing the future.

"We can build a multi-cultural center right at the zip line's landing platform, with a restaurant, and... and an education center."

"But, without the Messiah Show."

"Messiah, Peshiah. Who cares?"

Father makes a victorious smile, stands up, and extends his hand towards Morgan.

"Do we have a deal?"

Morgan jumps off his chair, pulls Father towards himself, and hugs him tightly.

The Messiah Show is finished by now. While hugging Morgan, Father watches the Messiah Show attendees dispersing and leaving Jesus alone.

"Bye-bye, Jesus," Father murmurs.

## Unforgiven

HONK.

The loud sound of the car horn brings Sally to attention. She is standing at the edge of an overpass overlooking the busy freeway. She has been staring at the cars that pass by her at a high speed. The eyes are red. She is not crying now, but the black traces of the melted eyelash makeup on her cheeks suggest that she has; a lot. She steps over the fence.

* * *

Jesus has finished performing his Messiah Show. A group of his enthusiastic followers is circling around him, asking questions. His wounds are partly healed, and he has taken the head bandage off.

"What would be your ten commandments?" a fan asks enthusiastically.

The crowd parts. An old man with a hunchback and a cane walks through them. His walk is slow and dragging. Jesus notices that but takes his eyes off him and turns to the fan.

"I have only one commandment. Forgive. That is the essence of all commandments. Everything starts with forgiveness," Jesus says confidently with a big PR smile on his face.

By now, the old man is before Jesus. The fan moves away to give him space. The old man takes one step closer. He then tries to raise his head as high as he can, and then he spits on Jesus's face. Paul gets furious and goes to punch the old man, only to be stopped by Jesus. The crowd is stunned, wondering if the old man is the devil himself.

"Forgive this if you can, asshole," the old man says to Jesus.

No doubt he is the devil, a fan thinks.

Jesus wipes the spit off his face with his fingers and takes a close look at it. He then turns his look back to the old man.

* * *

Sally takes a pill to calm herself down. It seems to work right away. She smiles. She turns to the sidewalk. She throws the pill container on the sidewalk, and after that her purse. The smile turns to a burst of mad nervous laughter that sounds evil a bit.

* * *

"Your daughter did the same to me a long time ago—I guess it runs in the family," Jesus says to Sally's father. "And that was the highest pain ever inflicted upon me. And I did it. I finally managed to forgive her. Forgiving you is not even a challenge by comparison."

"She's dead, you bastard," Sally's father says while resisting tears. "Do you understand. She's dead. I swear to God, I'll never forgive you for what you did to my daughter."

* * *

Sally turns to the right as if someone is watching her closely. The mad laughter stops. Tears are welling up in her eyes.

"I love you," Sally says and jumps on the freeway.

"Nooooooooo." Jesus's scream accompanies her fall.

* * *

Jesus snaps back to attention. Sally's dad is walking away.

"I didn't do anything," Jesus screams at him with a squeaky voice.

Sally's father stops and turns back to Jesus.

"Yeah, you didn't, bastard. You didn't do anything." He turns before he bursts out crying. "That's why my daughter is dead."

Jesus hears a high-pitch honk in his head. He holds his head between his hands and falls to his knees.

# ACT III

## Ascension

The Eden Adventure Park is as empty as a plagued city. Helter Skelter looks like a tower that remained from ancient Rome and might collapse in on itself any second. The pendulum ride has already collapsed. The pirate ship ride is split in half. Most of the roller coaster's structure has collapsed; its cars have fallen off the rail and trapped in what is left of its structure.

The location of the Messiah Show is now a dry desert. The ground is cracked at every corner. Jesus himself is crucified at the center, where he used to preach to people. A light, refreshing breeze blows and brings life back to Jesus's corpse. The breeze pulls the cross from the earth and takes it to the sky. Jesus, a happy smile on his face, opens his eyes as he is ascending. He looks down at the adventure park and finds it becoming smaller and smaller. He looks up and sees a big, puffy cloud above him. The cross ascends through it.

There is a carousel on the cloud. That is my favorite kind of heaven, Jesus thinks. The carousel is running without music. Only one person is riding on the carousel. That is Jesus with a bandage on his head. He is happily riding on the unicorn.

"I'm here to make it up to you," Jesus, crucified on the cross, hears that from behind. He turns to the voice, and with him, the cross turns as well. That is Sally in her navy dress. Jesus loves this color on Sally. She looks ashamed. "I...," she continues, "I... I wanted to see if... our relationship, if you want to pick it up again and—"

Jesus hears an inaudible response given by the guy sitting on the carousel. Sally's face is getting bigger and bigger, or Jesus is getting smaller, one of these two. Tears are welling up in Sally's eyes. She must have heard something hurtful. By now, Jesus's cross is as tall as Sally's face.

"You don't mean it," Sally says after swallowing her spit. "I know you. These feelings can never completely go away—"

"— But, you surely can," Jesus hears that from the guy on the carousel.

Tears split over and flow down Sally's face. The pain of the world is reflecting on Sally's wet eyes. Jesus cannot bear that. He wants to wipe the tears off her face, but his hands are nailed to the cross. Jesus hears the indistinct voice of the guy on the carousel saying something to Sally. Whatever that is, it is tearing Sally apart. Jesus has to caress her cheeks. This used to soothe her. Jesus pushes his nailed hands as hard as he can. The nails start moving, and fresh blood starts pouring down from them. All Jesus's focus is, however, only on the pain on Sally's face.

"It was right here," Sally says as she bursts out crying. "You said I love you. What's changed?" Sally's begging eyes are impatiently wishing for a response softened with a touch of mercy. The inaudible response of the guy on the carousel, however, sounds empty of that.

"Forgive me," Jesus says while struggling to get his hands free off the cross. "Forgive me," he repeats. "Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me." The nails are almost loose now.

"It wasn't that many," Sally says with a hopeless tone, and her head falls down. Jesus finally detaches himself. Before he could reach Sally's face, however, gravity reaches him and pulls him down with all its power.

"Forgiiiiiive meeeeeeee," Jesus screams while falling to earth at a frightening speed. In no time, Jesus can see the Eden Adventure Park. Not that goddamn park again, Jesus says and shortly after passes the zip line cable and plunges into the bottom of the creek, the same place that Vincent's body has exploded into countless pieces.

## The Last Goodbye

Jesus has fallen to his knees at Sally's fresh grave. The funeral is almost finished, and the mourners have dispersed. A couple of close family members can be seen in the background, saying goodbye to the last guests. They are all dressed up in black for the funeral, except for Jesus. He is in the same gray shirt he was wearing when he first received the news. He is not here just to show up, or offer condolences to her family. He is here because he had to see Sally's face for the last time. And now that he has seen it, he does not seem to be able to say goodbye to it.

Jesus combs the soil on Sally's grave with his fingers. He grabs some and brings it near his face. He stares at the soil and smells it. He rubs the soil on his face as his cry breaks out.

Jesus falls down on the ground. His cry is getting louder and louder. He extends his hand over the grave. From the above, it looks like he is hugging Sally's grave.

His eyes wet with tears, he sees a blurry image of Sally approaching him. The image soothes him right away. His crying stops. He blinks a couple of times, but his vision is still blurry. Sally is in a nice, black dress. Sally comes right before Jesus, sits at the other side of the grave, puts her hand on Jesus's hand that is hugging the grave, and says: "It's not your fault."

Jesus can see clearly now. That is not Sally.

"I've heard what Arthur did," she continues. "I don't think that's fair."

Jesus looks closely at her face. She notices Jesus's confused look.

"Oh, I'm Annie. Sally's best friend. I don't know if you remember me or not."

"How can I ever forgive myself?" Jesus says and bursts into tears.

Annie has always liked Jesus. When Sally decided to break up with Jesus, Annie was advising her against that. But, Sally had developed new dreams for her future; dreams so powerful that made the reality with Jesus unbearably boring for her.

"Come on now," Annie continues, "hey, you shouldn't blame yourself. Don't listen to what Arthur said. What do you expect him to do? He has to blame somebody. He is just another old Fa—"

"— Can you take me there?"

"Where?... Why? Are you sure?"

Jesus sits up.

"I need to feel her last moment. Please," Jesus asks beggingly.

Annie is contemplating. She does not want to turn Jesus's wish down, but something tells her that this would be a bad idea.

## There Will Be Blood

HONK.

Jesus is at the edge of the same overpass where Sally jumped off. Jesus is on the sidewalk of the overpass, behind the fence, watching the cars on the freeway, which are moving at a vertiginous speed.

Jesus turns to the left. He sees Sally in her last moments. Sally turns to Jesus. Her mad laughter stops. Tears are welling up in her eyes.

"I love you," Sally says and jumps on the freeway.

"Nooooooooo," Jesus screams as he watches Sally fall on the freeway.

HONK.

Jesus snaps back to attention. His face is wet with tears. He takes one leg over the fence. From the side of the overpass, Annie yells and runs towards Jesus. We, however, can only hear the loud freeway noise. Jesus ignores Annie and puts the second leg over the fence. Annie keeps shouting. Jesus looks down at the bottom of the freeway. He is ready to jump.

Suddenly, Jesus turns to the right, towards Annie, who is running over. She must have said something that attracts Jesus's attention. Jesus listens to her carefully. The sorrow slowly turns into fury. Annie arrives. Out of breath, Annie falls to her knees. Jesus comes back over the fence to attend Annie. Their conversation heats up.

Annie, as sitting on the sidewalk of the overpass, takes a drug container out of her purse.

"This is one of the strongest in the market. It can take down an elephant."

"Since when she is taking these?"

"It's been for many years, shortly after she broke up with you. He dumped her after their first night. She's been on drugs ever since."

"Who is this bastard? I'm gonna kick his ass." Jesus is filled with unstoppable rage. He does not hear back from Annie. He turns to her. Annie seems surprised and is looking at Jesus confusedly.

"What?" Jesus asks.

"You don't know him?"

"How would I know such bastard?"

"He's your right hand, your buddy, Paul. The front runner of good-doers," Sally says sarcastically.

Time stands still for Jesus like never before. His world is suddenly crashing down on him. His eyes narrow.

As the freeway noise fades away, Jesus can slowly hear Paul's laughter. Jesus sees the image of Paul's filthy face. He is laughing right into Jesus's face. Jesus feels light. He is ascending to the sky. Paul follows Jesus with his look as his laughter gets louder and more evil. From the above, Jesus sees that Paul is standing on Sally's grave. Jesus can now hear himself breathing like an angry bull. The grave under Paul's feet suddenly opens. Paul falls into an abyss. His laughter stopped, Paul is now begging for help as he is falling deeper and deeper into the abyss.

HONK.

Jesus is back to attention. He is standing on the same overpass. A vein on his forehead has popped out. His eyes are screaming revenge. He has his teeth clenched together. A wind blows his beard towards the left. His left arm is extended over the freeway. A vein on his elbow pit has popped out. Blood is covering his wrist. Blood is pouring down from the nail that has put through his palm. Jesus clenches his fist angrily.

* * *

Black Jesus in the crucifixion painting has his fingers clenched over the nail that is pushed through his hands. Black Jesus is furiously looking down at the two people who are standing by his cross. One is a young woman who ignores Jesus's blood that is dripping on her scarf. She is flirting with a Roman soldier who has crucified Black Jesus. The Roman soldier's face closely resembles that of Paul.

Fueled with the desire for revenge, Jesus repeatedly stabs the Roman soldier in the painting with his painting brush.

## Thou Shalt Not Kill

Paul is walking towards the zip line's launching platform. He turns back and looks at Jesus. Although Paul smiles, it is obvious that he is suspicious of something.

"Are you sure?" Paul asks as he is still walking. "Why us? We run the Messiah Show now."

Jesus tries to avoid eye contact with Paul. He is concerned that his eyes would give away the hatred in his heart.

"Morgan said he wants pros to be on it," Jesus responds while looking at the ground. "He doesn't want to leave any excuses for the inspectors."

Only partly convinced, Paul turns back towards the zip line's launching platform. After only one step, he stops and turns back to Jesus again.

"Why now? The park is almost empty."

"Inspectors will come tomorrow, early morning. It's supposed to be a surprise visit."

Paul does not look convinced. To take from him the chance of doing more questioning, Jesus passes by him and goes up the stairs to the platform. Paul is hesitant at first but then follows Jesus. It is better to get done with inspecting the cables before the sun sets, he thinks.

Jesus is putting the zip line's safety vest on. He is facing the wall, tightening the straps. It is as if he is hiding something. Paul also reluctantly puts on a safety vest. They put on special zip line gloves. The operators use that to control the speed using their hands. The front of the glove is made of thick leather, and once pushed against the cable, the friction will lower the speed. Paul puts his glove on and turns to Jesus. Jesus is impatiently waiting for him.

"You don't go first?" Paul asks Jesus.

"You're the heavy one."

"Yeah, of course."

Paul gets behind the launch gate. Sun is already conquered by the black clouds on the horizon. The scary clouds are making their way towards the park. Paul opens the gate. A strong wind blows and pushes Paul forward. Paul looks down at how deep the creek is. He has looked at that for a thousand times before, but it has never scared him like this. Paul is pushed forward.

"Chop chop," Jesus says from behind.

Paul takes a last look at Jesus. This time Jesus does not avoid the eye-contact. Hatred is pouring down from his eyes. Paul offers a smile. Jesus does not. Paul can hear his heart beating. He gulps in nervousness and mounts his pulley and after that the safety rope on the zip line cable. Jesus picks up something from the shelf and hides it in his safety vest pocket. Paul puts his gloves on the cable and slowly moves forward. Jesus follows Paul shortly after but at a higher speed. That does not look safe.

BAM!

After a few seconds, Jesus's feet hit Paul in the back.

"Jesus!" Paul screams in fear. He is pushed down for a few feet before he manages to stop again using his gloves. Sparkles are thrown from the friction of the glove against the cable.

Paul is stopped. He was about to have a heart attack. He turns and looks at Jesus.

"Oops," Jesus says with an indifferent face.

Paul's heart is still beating fast. He gulps in fear.

"OK. Let's exercise extra caution hereafter."

"Sure," Jesus responds with a non-reassuring tone.

The black clouds are rushing over. Paul wishes he did not accept this inspection, but it is too late now. From now on, the only way out is going down the zip line.

"OK. We can do this," Paul says with a trembling voice, lowers the glove pressure on the cable, and starts moving forward. Jesus follows him closely.

Paul looks down. The creek is really deep. It looks horrifying. To distract himself from the fearful situation that he is in, Paul tries to start a conversation with Jesus. It would lighten up the mood as well, he thinks. The raging, black clouds are not far away.

"I was thinking about this good deed thing," Paul says, "It's really cool. I think it's really something. It has many layers and dimensions, and... and facets. I think we could expand on it more, maybe at least for six or seven episodes. The visitors would love it. We can give them the exact list of bad deeds and good deeds. Just last night, a girl asked me about this. Oh, bro, what a girl, and what a smoking body. I liked her face too—"

BAM!

"Fuck!" Paul yells.

Something has hit Paul in the back very hard. He loses control of speed. He is quickly gaining more and more speed. He pushes the gloves against the cable as hard as he can. Sparkles are thrown from the friction of the glove against the cable. The excessive heat passes through the leather and burns his hand's skin. As hard as it is, he finally managed to stop.

Paul is breathing rapidly that he hears the sounds of safety straps getting open. He turns. Jesus is right behind him opening his safety straps.

"What the hell are you doing?" Paul yells while taking his glove off the cable to throw a punch at Jesus. The last strap snaps, and he falls before the punch reaches Jesus.

"Nooooo."

Paul falls but only for two yards. He is hanging by the safety rope. There is a reason that operators always use that.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Paul shouts at Jesus while looking up at him.

THUNDER ROARS.

Teeth grinding and jaw clenched, Jesus looks like an unstoppable zombie. A vein on his forehead has popped out. His eyes are screaming revenge, and he is breathing like an angry bull. Jesus takes a knife out of his vest pocket.

Paul realizes that tough talk is not helping him here. "For god's sake, Jesus. This is me, Paul, your right hand."

Ignoring Paul's begging, Jesus starts cutting the safety rope. Paul has to think of something, and it has to be fast.

"No, bro. I'd die. That's murder. Listen to me. Is that what Jesus would do? Is killing a good deed?"

"Sure, it is," Jesus says finally with grinding teeth without looking at Paul. "You just need to find the right piece of shit that you take joy sending it down to hell." Jesus keeps cutting the safety rope.

Facing his last moments, Paul bursts into tears like a little child. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry, bro. Where is forgiveness now? Where is your mercy now?"

Paul is looking down at the bottom of the creek when a rope appears before his face. He stops crying, but the sound of crying does not stop. He grabs the rope immediately and hangs on to it with all his strength. A tear drops on his hand. He looks up. The black clouds let go of their rain, finally, and all at once. It is now Jesus's turn to cry a river.

* * *

The rain has stopped and the sky is clear again, but the sun is setting anyway. Jesus and Paul are at the landing platform, all soaked. Paul is sitting on the ground, hugging his knees. He is shivering. Jesus is sitting at the edge of the cliff, staring at the bottom of the creek. It looks unsafe.

"When did you meet my Sally?" Jesus asks Paul without looking back.

"Listen, I didn't know she is going psycho, honest to God. I mean, she was leaving messages almost every day, but I figured she's just crazy. Most of them get it after you ignore them a couple of times. But, she keeps sending messages like a psycho. I was getting scared of her, to be honest."

"Was not a few enough for your royal dick? Did you have to fuck everybody?"

"At first it was," Paul says shamefully and turns his head down. "I was even happy with only one. But, it didn't take long to figure the dark secret: that the more you treat them like shit the more they come to you. Once you have the knowledge, then it is a matter of choice; and my penis chose to be happy." Paul takes his eyes off his crotch and looks up again. "Don't get me wrong; My heart wanted to be happy too. But, if history has taught us anything is that it's not gonna happen, not at least to the most of us. So, I chose the happy penis, it was simpler, more accessible, and... you know, less risky. That is a natural choice. Anybody else in my place would do the same. Blame the game, not the player. You cannot be mad at me."

"I'm mostly mad at myself, for being such an idiot letting trash like you join the awakening."

"Oh, please. What awakening?" Paul asks with a sneer. "Why do you think these poor suckers are seeking comfort in you? Have you ever once asked yourself that?"

"Because of the truth—"

"— The hell with the truth. These are sheep. Baa. Baa. Dump fucking sheep. They don't give a shit about the truth. They only care about eating, shitting, and fucking. That's the summary of their sheepy life. They're fed up with being bullshitted all their life, but they still need to believe in something. So, they found you. The new guy on the block, with no bad history yet, shinier, more trendy, and less boring rituals. Less," he sneers, "no, you got none, zero. That's why these sheep love you the most. Where do you think I came from? I was sick and tired of that prison-like church with that fascist pastor with all the rules, dos and don'ts, and—"

"— So, you found me?" Jesus says with a hoarse voice. A few tears have found their way out of his eyes.

"So, I did. The guy with the easiest religion. No rules, no rituals, yet still comforting, so I could sleep at nights. You function as a sleeping pill for them. A strong tranquilizer for their conscience."

Jesus tries to stand up. However, there is not much strength left in him. He has to use both his hands like an old man. Jesus feels dizzy. A soft breeze blows. Although the breeze is light, Jesus is thrown off balance. He is leaning towards the creek. He might fall off the cliff at any second. In the moment, he does not find that a terrible event. What would he do tomorrow, otherwise? He has not much left to live for. Everything he believed in this world, was shattered to pieces.

A gust of wind blows from the bottom of the creek and pushes him back on balance. Not today, he thinks. Jesus turns and leaves with fragile steps. He walks so slowly like he has aged a hundred years in a matter of seconds.

Paul follows him with his eyes. He watches Jesus passing by without even looking at him.

"See you tomorrow?" Paul asks.

Jesus stops. He gulps in despair. It is painful.

"I don't know if I can run the Messiah Show tomorrow."

"That's one less thing to worry about. The show is canceled effective next week."

"Canceled?!" Jesus is awestruck. He turns to Paul.

"Yeah, Morgan made a better deal with them. There's going to be a new show here at this very platform. I was in charge to pass the news to you. He wanted me to ease you into it. Oops," Paul says with an evil sneer.

"Perhaps, that's for the best. If its product is you," Jesus points to Paul with a condescending look, "the awakening is better off in sleep."

The sun sets on the Eden Adventure Park.

## The End

"Do good. As simple as that. That was the inspiration." Jesus makes eye contact with Father Kelly. "At least I thought it was," Jesus continues. "Was I inspired or hallucinated?"

Jesus is at the zip line's landing platform, giving an apologetic speech at the inaugural ceremony of the new multicultural center. Jesus is crushed by his failure, but he does not care anymore. The hope that had inspired him to dream was all gone. It turned out to be yet another deceitful mirage. He himself no longer believes in his mission. If the product is Paul, there must be something wrong with the thought process. He does not know what that is, but he does not care to figure it either. He is expected to retract all his previous words, and to renew his vows of remaining a faithful servant of the church. Father Kelly is standing victoriously next to Jesus, ready to take over after Jesus steps down from the podium.

A large, diverse crowd composed of the followers of all major religions has gathered to hear Jesus's speech. Morgan personally took charge of managing the show and is excitedly giving orders to assistants. Imam Zahed, Guru Saj, and Hakham Abba are sitting at the front row to celebrate their victory with Father Kelly.

The speech is being broadcast through the entire park. A speaker also replays the speech at the top of the zip line, on the launching platform. Nevertheless, people who are lined up to use the zip line are not paying much attention. Among them is Roma with her children, Crystal and Malcolm. They actually have come here for the sole purpose of seeing Jesus with their own eyes. But, once in the park, it is impossible to resist the kids' requests to try every single ride. The whole family is happy, and Crystal is getting ready to experience the amazing zip line ride.

Omar is in charge of safety. Roma feels uncomfortable with bearded, weird-looking Omar tightening the straps.

"Is it safe for children to use this ride?" Roma asks Omar.

"Yeah," Omar responds dismissively. He sounds rude. Roma is not only unconvinced but also feels unsafer now that her daughter's safety is in the hands of a guy like Omar.

Crystal, who has been staring at Omar's long beard, finally dares touch it. Omar does not like it. He pushes Crystal towards Bao, Omar's female colleague. Bao welcomes Crystal with a kind smile and helps her go behind the gate. She is vividly much nicer than Omar.

"Excuse me," Roma tells Bao. "Could you please double-check the straps?"

"Oh, ah..., My colleague has already done that," Bao points to Omar who seems quite offended. "Don't worry about it. The park is conformed with ISO 3000 Standard. It's pretty safe."

"Yeah, but you cannot be too careful. It doesn't hurt to check again, does it?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem," Bao says with a cute smile and starts touching the straps. It is actually her first week at the Eden Adventure Park, and she is still not trained to fasten the safety straps. It's not hard to realize that she has no idea what she is doing. She might be even loosening the straps, for what we know. Omar, who is quite offended, cannot care less and turns his face away.

"Alright. All set," Bao says with the same reassuring, cute smile. "Ready sweetie?" she asks Crystal. Crystal nods her head. Bao helps her to get behind the gate.

Roma is still nervous. Something is not right, she thinks.

Bao opens the gate, and Crystal starts the ride with a cheerful scream. Roma, however, finds the scream more frightening than cheerful. Still concerned about the safety of her daughter, she cannot take her worried eyes off Crystal.

Omar, already irritated by Roma's lack of trust, turns to prepare the next rider. He suddenly freezes when his eyes fall on the next rider. He is a middle-aged Jewish man wearing a yarmulke and a beard. Omar is in shock for a few beats. The Jewish guy notices the hesitation on Omar's face.

"Is there any problem?" Jewish guy says while waving his hand.

Omar gets back to attention. "No, no problem. Where is your vest?"

The Jewish guy, who is now suspicious, points down to his son who is standing before him. The father has his hands on the shoulders of his son. The 7-year-old son is also wearing a yarmulke but no beard.

"Alright, come here," Omar says to the Jewish kid. The Jewish kid, who has been staring at Omar, goes towards him. The father, however, whose hands were on the son's shoulder, holds the son back. The son turns back to his father. The father is staring at Omar. He is suspicious of something and cannot let go of his son. Omar hates this mistrust, and he is not hiding it. Bao is watching the standoff between the two men.

"I can help you, sweetie," she says to the kid to defuse the tension before a fight breaks out. The kid, excited for the ride, runs towards Bao. His father's hand detaches from his shoulder, but the father still cannot take his eyes off Omar. Bao starts tightening the straps, at least this is what she intends. Omar sees that from the corner of his eyes and notices that Bao is messing it up. For a moment, he entirely forgets about the father, and reflexively goes towards the Jewish kid to properly tighten the straps. Bao immediately moves aside when she sees Omar approaching.

"Get away from my child?" the father says angrily while running towards his kid. Everybody in the line is now watching the developing situation. Omar stands up straight, giving the father a dirty look. He no longer tries to hide the hatred in his eyes.

"I don't want you anywhere near my child, is that clear?" Father shouts at Omar. Bao gets scared and jumps back a bit. Omar's staring contest with the father continues for a few beats. Bao is sacredly watching the standoff.

"Screw it," Omar says finally. He pushes the kid towards Bao and takes his eyes off the father. "Not my problem anymore," he says as he steps away to drink water from his glass cup.

Bao tries to bring peace back to the situation with her cute smile. The smile, however, seems too forced. Bao goes to tighten the straps. The Jewish kid is still staring at Omar. Omar notices that while drinking water. The innocence in the kid's eyes is striking.

"Are you excited, sweetie?" Bao says to make the kid forget the rough interaction. The kid turns his eyes off Omar, but Omar is still watching him.

"Yes. Is it scary?" the kid asks Bao.

"A little at first, but once you get used to it, it's all fun. You'll see."

"Was I inspired or hallucinated?" Omar hears Jesus say that over the speaker. Omar's attention is grabbed. "I have been asking myself that very question every single day. Doubt is an essential part of our nature. Not all the maths and logic in the world could help with figuring that. What does help is... the failure." Omar feels pity for Jesus when he hears that.

An unbearable pain resurfaces on Jesus's face when he says the word 'failure'.

Crystal is approaching the landing platform. She lands safely.

"Send the next, Bao," the radio says. Roma takes a relaxed breath and takes Malcolm's hand to join Crystal via the less-adventurous cable car ride. Bao is finished preparing the Jewish kid.

"Ready, sweetie?"

The Jewish kid nods. Bao opens the gate and the ride starts. The kid does not make a sound though. He is too scared to even scream.

Omar notices a familiar face in the back of the line. It is from Karl. Omar moves a bit to check if he is alone. Nope, Sharon is with him as expected. Omar turns his face immediately to avoid eye contact. He puts his hand in his pocket and takes out the pink tube of mineral pills that Sharon had left with him. He never took any more pills, but he always carries the pink tube with him. The shame that was brought up by bad memories is now pouring down his face.

"Failure is the ultimate cure for doubt," Omar hears Jesus say that over the speaker. He gets quite tense and squeezes on the glass cup. Omar is getting torn apart from inside. There is a whole war running between the forces inside him. "When you put it in practice, and it falls apart before your eyes, then you know for sure you were wrong."

The Jewish father notices that his kid is bouncing left and right. He gets worried.

"Is that normal?" the father asks Bao. Bao has no response but worryingly watches the bouncing kid.

"Who the hell was I," Jesus continues, "to question two thousand years of tradition, culture, literature, and legacy."

Father Kelly smiles while nodding his head.

"Where is my proof? Where is the miracle?"

Father Kelly mouths Jesus's words.

CRACK!

The glass cup on which Omar was squeezing shatters to pieces.

"Hasheeeeeeeeeeeeeem!" the father screams—which is the Hebrew word for God. His scream fills up the entire creek.

Omar turns and takes a look. "Allah-o Akbar," he murmurs with a terrified face.

Jesus's speech is interrupted by the scream. Jesus aborts the speech and runs towards the cliff's edge. The operator is already watching with a binocular. Jesus snaps it from his colleague and watches through it. The Jewish kid's loosely-tightened vest has busted open, and he is now hanging from the bottom of his vest. The vest's bottom is slipping through the grip of his little hands. His fall seems inevitable.

Out of fear, the Jewish father's tears burst out. Omar is not there to witness that. Sharon and Karl are standing next to the father, watching the unbelievable horror.

Jesus moves the binocular aside, turns to the sky, and opens his arms to pray for a miracle.

"God, save him. God," Jesus prays loudly. The crowd that is now gathering behind Jesus is touched by Jesus's desperate prayer.

Omar, a rope wrapped around his arm, pushes Karl aside and jumps on the next pulley. Sharon recognizes Omar. Omar is going down the zip line without wearing any safety vest. The people at the launching platform are awestruck by the act of valor and rush to the fence to see what happens next.

"Look, look. Who is that guy?" a woman at the landing platform yells while pointing to Omar.

"It's too late," Father Kelly, who is now standing near Jesus, murmurs hopelessly.

Omar is hanging by one hand from the pulley, holding his legs up to reduce the air friction. He is moving as fast as the wind. His bare hand that was injured by the broken glass is still bleeding. He is not wearing any zip line gloves to be able to control the speed. There was no time to find the glove. The rope is the only thing that Omar has with him.

The Jewish kid's little hands are about to lose their grip. Omar is still far from him. Realizing that, Omar hooks the rope in the pulley.

The Jewish kid falls.

"Noooooo," his father cries in pain. Bao looks away.

Father Kelly closes his eyes, turns his sad face down, and makes the sign of the cross.

His hand still towards the sky, Jesus is still watching the scene with astonished eyes.

In the middle of the air, a hand grabs the kid.

"Seriously," a bewildered man standing behind Jesus says, "who is that guy?"

Confused by what he hears, Father Kelly opens his eyes and looks up again.

Omar is hanging from a long rope, one hand holding a grip on the rope and the other holding the Jewish kid. They are moving fast towards the landing platform. The wind blows his yarmulke. The kid looks down and watches his yarmulke falling to the bottom of the creek.

Imam Zahed, who had put his hands on his face, peeps through his fingers.

"He's OK. Look. Look," Bao excitedly informs the father who has fallen to his knees. The Jewish father looks with unbelieving eyes. He has lost his ability to speak.

"He just needs to pull himself up now before landing," Bao says with a doubtful tone.

Omar is trying to pull himself up, but it seems impossible with one hand.

"It takes a miracle to save him," Guru Saj says.

"Come on, brother," Jesus murmurs, "you can do it."

Omar, as if he can hear Jesus, turns to him. Their eyes lock.

Omar notices that the concrete wall is approaching very fast. He could have pulled himself up if he was not holding the kid with his other hand. He faces the reality that there is no way to pull himself up with one hand. He has no choice but to say goodbye to the Jewish kid. After all, he did all he could to rescue the kid. Omar has a moment of peace on his face accompanied by a subtle smile.

"Hey, kid. What's your name?"

"Adam."

"Adam. You'll be good, OK?"

"Okay."

Omar takes a deep breath.

"Goddamn it," Father says. He now believes that a miracle could happen. One might call him a believer now. With belief comes doubt, fear, and excitement. Out of excitement, he is no longer aware of his surroundings. An old, Christian woman gets surprised by hearing such a phrase from Father Kelly.

"I'm fucked," Morgan says and falls to his knees.

Contrary to everyone else, Jesus is not worried at all. He seems at peace as if he is receiving divine inspiration.

The concrete platform is now twenty yards away from Omar.

His confident look towards the sky, Jesus opens his arms again.

Omar throws Adam up with all his strength.

The Jewish kid appears from the edge of the cliff and lands on Jesus's arms.

Jesus hears the loud sound of Omar crashing with the concrete wall.

Jesus closes his eyes. The kid safely in his arms, Jesus remembers the explosion of watermelon when a few weeks ago it hit the concrete platform. Jesus cringes in pain. A tear finds its way out of his shut eyes.

The awestruck crowd is in shock. They are waiting in silence for Jesus to say something. Jesus slowly turns back to them, shows the kid, and screams as he bursts out crying.

"You wanted a miracle. You are my miracle. You are my proof. Every single one of you, every single time you self-sacrifice to do good, you are making a miracle."

Father Kelly, dazed and confused, is watching the miraculously-saved kid in Jesus's arms.

## Resurrection

Sera is sitting behind the broken desk in their half-burnt garage. The garage is cleaned up, but it would take years for the smell of tragedy to wear off. Shaq's photo is placed on his usual side of the table. He is laughing in the photo. Still haunted by the trauma of the deadly fire, Sera has left the garage door wide open.

The introduction soundtrack of Shaq's podcast is being played. Sera stops the music and hesitantly leans towards the microphone.

"This is Shaquille—"

Her voice goes squeaky as she chokes on her tears. She gets away from the microphone and tries to silence her cry. It takes a few beats, but she finally manages. She hears the sound of a motorcycle approaching. She clears her throat and leans towards the microphone again.

"This is Sera, and you hear us from the Common Sense Studio. Today, we'll resume our discussion on the difference between believing in a faith and trusting its leaders."

A long shadow casts on the back wall of the garage. Sera looks back and notices a man standing there at the entrance of the garage. The sunlight is pouring in from the around of his head. It is hard to see his face between that much light. Sera breathes slowly. She can hear every beat of her heart. The man steps forward. Sera can now see his face clearly. She smiles and turns back to the microphone.

"And our guest today is the son of his mother, the one of the many, yet another reminder, the very sinful Black Jesus."

The End
