Mama's Paradise

"Settle in baby, Mama's gunna tell ya a story. A story about a people's like us. They were poor and needy, but kind and gentle, like us. So one day they went to a place in paradise. There were waterfalls and unicorns flying. Salvation and kindness were the only rituals people there knew. Acceptance and food are plentiful there. In the wonderful paradise there is no suffering, no pain, and laughter rings instead of groans of death. I know baby, I know, that you will go there some day. The perfect happy place. Some how we will all go there." Nabulungi's Mama said to her young daughter. She kissed her on her forehead before blowing out the candle and checking to make sure the windows were locked.
"Mama, do you really think I will go there one day?" Her daughter asked.
She smiled, "Of course baby, now get some sleep." That was the last time Nabulugi saw her mother. She never knew what had happened to her, or where she went. She had just assumed that her Mama had gone to paradise, and in some ways, she did.

Present day

"Nabalism, hurry up, we are going to miss our flight!" Arnold Cunningham said as he pulled his girlfriend over to the boarding station. They had just went through the immigration stations and bag checks. "Elder Price, my best friend, is going to be upset if we aren't there again."
Nabulugi laughed, "Arnold we will be early, we just got here." She said trailing along. She was so excited! Her first flight, to paradise! They were going to Sal Tlay Ka Siti. It was like she always dreamed of!
When they got to the terminal, or so Arnold called it, Elder Price was talking on the phone with someone and blushing. As they got closer she caught some of the conversation. "No, yah, I'll call every night... Of course I won't forget...I miss you already, but I'm excited.... Six months, I know...I'll see you soon....love you too...bye" Arnold smiled at Elder Price knowingly. In which case Elder Price scuffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't say a word." He warned Arnold who had opened his mouth to say something. Naba looked at them strangely, but didn't say anything. It was too obvious who the Elder had been talking to.
Arnold smiled as they were interrupted by a loud crackle and a very bored sounding flight attendant calling about letters for people to get seated. When their number was called Arnold grabbed his best friend and his girlfriends hands and dragged them over. He practically threw the tickets at the flight attendant and ran onto the plane.
Naba started to get really nervous. The plane was really loud and she couldn't hear her own thoughts. The seat they had was a three row window seat. Elder Price was motion sick, so he sat in the middle while Naba sat near the window and Arnold sat near the small plane hallway. Naba watched outside the window as people were working on the planes left wing.
Finally after a short while everyone was seated and the captain told them to put on their seatbelts. Elder Price, as Naba noticed, looked a bit pale. The plane lurched forward, and The Elder turned a shade of white that Naba had never seen before. Arnold started to snore. This was going to be a long time, Naba thought to herself as she looked back out the window. The seatbelt sign flashed once more and a loud sound erupted from the plane as it gained speed. Elder Price looked green and he clutched the armrests with white knuckles. Naba took his hand and squeezed her friends palm. Elder Price relaxed a little and Naba watched as her home became smaller, until it was a sand-colored blur. Although she was going to paradise, she missed her home, and hoped her Papa was doing well.
After several long hours of flying and many barf bags later they touched down. Naba had fallen asleep, but had awoken to the sound of the loud plane crashing back onto the earth. She looked around outside by her small window and saw big mountains and fog. After Elder Price almost suffocated Arnold by holding his nose and mouth so the heavy sleeper would wake up, they exited the plane. They were treated with a sight. Naba had never seen so many people of all race packed into one place. Arnold got attack hugged by his mother as Naba watched. Arnold picked his mother up and spun her around as she kissed his forehead. Arnold's father smiled and patted his son on the back, before grabbing Arnold's backpack on his back and pulling him and his mother in for a big group hug. Elder Price was greeted with his own family. His father shook his hand and his mother held back tears and hugged him. His sibling poked him. She watched the two "Mormons" with their families silently, with a big smile of her own on her face. All of the sudden a friend came out of the crowd.
"Kevin!" Elder McKinley shouted as he ran out from the flow of the rushing crowed. Elder Price turned and smiled brightly.
"Connor!" The two men embraced, but that was all Naba could see because she was all of the sudden being pulled by Arnold over to his mother. "Parents, this is my girlfriend, Napifolious!" The big man exclaimed. Both of Arnold's parents game him strange looks, Naba just smiled and held out her hand.
"Hi, I'm Nabulungi, but you can call me Naba. I am the Elder Cunningham's girlfriend and a Latter Day Saint" She said kindly. Arnold's parents just stared, shocked.
"So he wasn't making her up..." Arnold's father whispered to his mother, in a not-very-quite voice. Naba just smiled. A few long moments later Naba was shaking hands with Arnold's father. She was then hugged by his mother, who was, if possible, crying even harder than she had when she had hugged her own son. Elder Price came over to talk to Arnold, and Naba answered the questions that the Cunningham's asked. Such as, "We're their spiders? How long were you a Saint? How do you know our Arnykinns? What's your name again?" Naba answered them all with a smile until Arnold said it was time to go. Naba's heart almost leapt out of her chest, like a Joseph Smitts fuck frog.
She allowed Arnold to pull her along and talk about the paradise. When they exited the airport there was a giant sign for a advertisement for whiter teeth. It had a unicorn flying on the front. Just like Naba's Mama had said. She was here. She could see the mountain peaks and the air didn't smell like cow piss and decay. The Cunningham's all piled into a very nice, not dirty at all, car. Naba was amazed. As they passed stores and homes and lights Naba felt so excited. Arnold was in the seat next to her telling stories about the different things she saw. When they passed a Walmart it was called that because once a wall was built around it to keep the bad guys from conquering Helms Deep, and Luke Skywalker once stayed in the Temple Square and had soda with Brigham Young. It was so fascinating, especially the fight against AIDS in the Hogle Zoo. She would have to text it to her friends later.
Once they got to the Cunningham's residence Arnold helped Naba out of the car. She was taken upstairs, in the "house" it was strange that people here didn't have huts. She laid down on a squishy thing Arnold called a bed, but Naba wasn't so sure. It was just so soft. She asked how many vitamin injections they got per day and how much flour they got rationed? Arnold gave her a strange look. "No, Narcohyonia, we don't have any of that, here, I'll show you." Arnold took Naba's hand and lead her to the pantry. Naba cried for thirty straight minuets. She had never seen such plentiful food. It was paradise! Her entire village could live off this. Arnold hugged her as she cried tears of homesickness and joy.
For dinner that night they had cow meat. It was a strange difference from goat meat. The Cunningham's had the Prices over, plus Elder McKinley and Naba. They all talked excitedly, avoiding the subject on how they started a new religion, and why Elder Price would sometimes flinch and shift uncomfortably when someone mentioned where his copy of The Book of Mormon went. It was pleasant, and one of the best times of Naba's life.
Elder McKinley talked with Naba in her home langue, it felt good to know she had a couple friends here. After all most of the Elders she had grown to know over the past two years came back here. She told Elder McKinley all about her trip, and the weird things she had encountered. There wasn't one thing she could think to curse God for. The Elder had laughed at the statement and agreed, looking across the table at Elder Price. Naba told him about the stories Arnold had told her in the car ride here, and how the food here was just like what her Mama used to tell her.
After dinner, when Elder Price and Elder McKinley left to see Elder McKinley's new apartment, Naba and Arnold were doing the dishes while the parents were talking. Naba smiled at her wonderful boyfriend who had taken her to this paradise. She kissed his cheek and said, "Elder, I am so glad you Baptized me and took me to paradise." He blushed bright red and scrubbed the dishes harder. Naba blushed and smiled to herself. Tomorrow Arnold offered to bring her inside a church. She couldn't wait.