Chapter 10: Breaking News

“You guys are weird,” Bill had no idea of the power of the old gods. He only saw tree-huggers and animal activists. “I just don’t understand, Mina, how you can walk away from everything we were taught in Church.” When Bill said ‘church’ you could hear the capital C. “What about Hell and Damnation?”

“Bill, you’re fucking everything in sight.”

“But I’m saved.”

“The christian church teaches their people that sex is never to be enjoyed and to be used to ‘Increase and replenish the Earth.’ Does that mean, when you’ve full filed your duty and had kids, you’re supposed to stop fucking?

“There’s another thing. The old Testament is ‘Given for instruction in righteousness.’ The old Judaic law says that a if man lie with a virgin AND NOT PAY HER FATHER THE BRIDE PRICE, they are married. Did you pay her dad for your first piece of ass, Bill?”

“Ah...”

“Ah, right. The second girl is bigamy, because the vows taken in marriage, include, ‘and keeping yourself unto her.’ By your actions, you’ve already damned your soul.”

“But, I’ve been forgiven.”

“Bill ... take a ball peen hammer out to the truck ... that truck is near perfect, you went to a lot of trouble to remove all the wrinkles and imperfections. The wrinkles and imperfections are the sins of that trucks life. You removed them with loving kindness. More or less, you’ve forgiven the sins of the truck. You get what I’m trying to say here?”

“I think so. You’re saying the truck is a mirror of my soul. It’s as perfect as I can make it. I’m God and I’ve taken away the sins of the truck?”

“Close enough. If you took the ball peen hammer out there and just barely dimpled the hood it wouldn’t be perfect. Right?”

“Right.”

“The dimples are new sins.”

“Oops ... I see.

“I’ll show you more when we get home.”

Bill drove Mina back home. She went to the garage and found a piece of leftover lumber.

“Sand this for me,” she said as she handed it to Bill. While he was sanding, she found some paint, a handful of nails and a hammer.

“Looks good, Bill. Paint it.” It was quick drying spray enamel. The paint was dry in minutes.

“Yeah, that’ll work.” She took the board and set it on the work bench, handed Bill the nails and hammer and explained, “This board is your freshly sanded and painted, born again soul. Pretty, ain’t it.”

Bill admired the board. “Yeah, looks great.”

“Take the nails and hit each one just enough to stand the nail up so it won’t fall out.”

A Bill was tapping the nails in the pretty board, Mina said, “those nails are sins committed after you were born again.”

Bill looked up as he was whacking a nail and thumped his thumb a good one.

“You gotta pay attention to the sins, Bill.”

“I see that. They hurt.”

The nail ‘sins’ were all standing upright in the board.

“Those are new sins...”

“Since I’ve been born again and am saved I can pull the nails.” Bill pulled the nails.

Mina grinned...”Now pull the holes.”

“I can’t do ... oh. I see.”