Sans Ransom

Arnold and the Fat Woman

Arnold opened the door to the place of worship with hesitation. He had a printed, lightly crumpled invitation in hand.

"We Welcome You to Join Us for Passover!" the invitation read. There was a happy couple on front gesturing out with their left hands toward the entrance of meeting place. The photo looked painstakingly staged--fake smiles on husband and wife.

No matter. This wasn't time to nitpick about places to find hope. Arnold swore long ago that religion would be the last place he'd try to look for hope, but he fell upon desperate times.

His broker had swindled him out of the sales he made at Longford Condominiums. Greedy jerk. Arnold did ninety percent of the work and Langley ended up getting ninety percent of the profits. It wasn't the first time something like this happened.

Arnold's aunt died a month ago. It didn't start hurting until a week ago though. She was only forty-five. Breast cancer. He didn't know her so well but the reason why her death hurt him was that she was a good person. She was always trying to save cats and dogs that were homeless and volunteered at orphanages. She even put herself under a heck of a lot of stress spearheading a Gofundme.com campaign to save horses displaced by the California wildfires last year. It was successful. She was a saint.

Why couldn't have Arnold's grandfather died instead? Arnold hated him with a passion. Thankfully, he never touched him when he was a kid, but Arnold's sister? Well, let's just say she's messed up mentally and emotionally for good. Grandpa was eighty or ninety now. Arnold wasn't sure of his age. He just knew he was really old. He was rich. He was comfortable. 

Not fair.

Ok, fine. Arnold learned the world was unfair a long long time ago, but life didn't always rub it in his face as much as it did lately.

So, because of that and much more, here he was walking into the door of this church-like building. The words of his humanities professor at UC Davis echoed in his head: "Religion may be mankind at its most ignorant, but religion is also what separates us from wild animals that live only to eat, hunt and mate." 

"Can I help you to a seat?" 

That was a fat black woman with very red lipstick, tightly braided hair and a black dress. She had a big welcoming smile. It was a real smile. Arnold could tell the difference from the fakers. She was young. She had a beautiful blemish-less fat face--young, hopeful and happy. It wasn't the "dumb happy" that some people have. It was a happiness that wasn't intellectual, but smart enough for Arnold to like.

"Sure," he said and they sat toward the front of the sparsely filled room.