War: A Business

Chapter 61: Church

   We were greeted by a handful of people, mostly people who are younger than me, who stopped their conversations with each other. There are three men, and three women sitting together.

  They are awfully friendly to me; somebody who they didnt know. One guy, named Adrian, patted me on the back while introducing himself.

   They asked me a plethora of questions, like where did I work, where do you live, who invited me, etc. I mostly said the truth, except for where I work right now.

  Then, after that, I sat alone, on the bench nearby. I stared at the cross embedded on the wall, on top on the stage. I try to recall their names in my head: Adrian, Mark, Seth, Kelsey, Angel and Naomi.

  Levi sat beside me. "So, how are they?"

"Awfully friendly." I bluntly answered.

"You know, in a church, you can find friends that you can trust easily." He stated.

"Well, I haven't trusted anyone in years." I recalled.

"Ease up a little." He chided. "Churches are the safest places that anyone could imagine."

"How about in Western Europe, where Muslim militants burned down churches with people inside them?"

  He suddenly fell silent, with a forlorn expression etched on his face.

"Sorry." I apologized; regretting what I have said."I should've not said that."

"Its okay." He chided."Its hard getting used to the civilian world, isn't it? I still have a hard time adjusting, even now."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Anyways," he continued. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Can you come with me to the youth program? Because I will be teaching those kids for the first time."

"Youth program?"

"Um, you know, like a sermon for young people?" He cleared.

"Still have stage fright?" I asked.

"Still have." He answered." The company of an old friend would help." He added. "It starts at 3pm."

"I get it."

  I killed time by exploring the whole place. The place is surprisingly huge, with many rooms for possibly many different purposes. By far, the largest section of this place is where they conduct their religious activities.

  Even after coming to this place, I still dont get why they worship for someone who doesn't exist; someone who let evil happen.

  I suddenly remembered the supposedly sentient robotic bartender, I had a conversation in a hotel in Cairo, before it got bombarded by acid gas.

  I remembered one of its suprisingly verbose set of words: You cannot apply the logic of immortals to the miniscule minds of mere mortals.

I still wonder what it means.

  Later, I reluctantly joined the morning sermon with Levi. The hall is packed with men and women, ranging from teens to the elderly. While they're waiting for the pastor to arrive, they talked to each other with wide smiles and laughter.

  The pastor arrived, and everyone stopped their conversations with each other.

  The pastor leaned his wrinkled face on the microphone, and started tapping it, the sound amplified to the speakers standing on the stage.