It was a dreary Saturday night. The moon was full, and a
certain aura embraced it. Terry stared at the moon
thoughtfully. He found its current state to be quite sybolic
to his own. It was sure of itself. It knew what it wanted,
and how to get it. He was aware of the fact that the moon
wasn't a sentient being, but he chose to ignore that fact.
He realized that this was the first time, in all his life,
that he felt any sort of sympathy towards the moon. In the
past, when he looked up to the sky, the moon appeared
hostile, as if it was challenging him, but now, as he looked
up to that great ball in the sky, he almost felt as if he
was staring at a sibling.
Terry shuddered, and moved his eyes towards his destination,
"The Divine Church". Its symbol was of the hand of God,
reaching to the main entrance, and dazzling with hundreds of
sparkling lights. It was quite a sight, but Terry had a more
important mission on his hands. Much more important than
mere sight seeing.  Knowing his target is now more tangible
than ever before, he began reminiscing how he got to this
situation, this divine mission, in the first place.
Being a young man, Terry found himself, like many others of
his generation, wishing to find himself. He was not exactly
sure of what he wanted to be in life, though a job in
priest-hood appealed to him. He imagined himself preaching
to his fellow Christians, about the love of God O-Mighty,
and about the words and lessons of Jesus. He was always
attracted to religion, although his father and mother were
atheists. The man who taught him loving Christ, was the
Reverend of his local church, John Oswald, who spent hours
reading to him passages from the bible, encouraging him to
pursue his interests in religion.  
At age 19, he quit his academic studies, in order to join
his local church, as an assistant to Reverend John Oswald.
After two years of satisfying work alongside his ideal,
Terry decided to move to Italy, to better understand the
background of his religion. While he was away, his Reverend
got reassigned to "The Divine Church".
'No time for the past,' Terry cut his string of thought, 'I
must focus on the here and now! Especially when I am so
close!'
Terry started walking. When he reached the church door, he
took a deep breath. In his mind, he had already gone through
every possible scenario. He knew what to do. The time was
nigh.
He opened the door gently. He looked around, and saw that
this church was no different from any other church he had
been to. But knowing what he knew, he felt that there was
something evil, something sinister lurking there.
Terry heard Reverend John Oswalds voice crying out "Sara? Is
that you? I told you, you don't have to come unt..." The
voice suddenly fell silent, as the Reverend approached Terry
and put on his glasses.
"Terry!? When did you get back from Italy? How was it
there?"
Terry ignored the reverend's petty attempt for small talk.
And stared straight into his eyes.
"Reverend John Oswald, prepare to be judged." Terry declared
in a deep, fearful voice.
"Terry?" the Reverend was puzzled.
"Back in Italy," Terry now talked in an even deeper and
darker tone "I was walking one day in the streets of the
Vatican, when I was attacked by some hoodlums, Protestants
no doubt. I managed to get away, but not before one of them
cut my face with a knife." Terry stepped forward and
suddenly the Reverend saw a scar on Terry's forehead, which
he only now noticed.
"I was rushed to a hospital in Italy by a Vatican guard who
found me. I insisted that I was fine, after all, because of
your teachings I was so enthusiastic on studying more and
more texts, "to become a better Christian" as I remembered
you said a week before I left. The doctors refused to let me
go, and told me that I had to stay for at least a day, or
they would be violating their state's rules. I reluctantly
agreed, because I did not want to cause any trouble for
those good doctors, who just wanted to help me, and not get
fired.
"Lying in my bed, I began reading 'Foolishness of the Jews',
when my fellow roommate, an Italian named Pier..."
"Pier?!?" The Reverend was beginning to understand what this
was all about.
"I knew you would recognize the name. Anyhow, Pier began
conversing with me. I had neither the will nor the strength
to start to explain to this man the importance of my
studies, so I began talking to him instead. We talked for
hours, about our hobbies, religious beliefs, politic
opinions, and then, with no apparent reason, Pier turned the
conversation back to you. I quickly understood that he had
known you, and I found it quite amusing the coincidence of
me being the roommate of an acquaintance of yours in Italy,
of all the people the doctors could have put me with. I was
interested to know how he knew you, but he kept trying to
change the subject. I continued to persist, until he finally
broke, and told me the horrible and gruesome truth."
Terry paused and stared at the Reverend for a few seconds.
"He told me you were both gay."
Terry pulled out a gun.
"What are you doing with that?" the Reverend squealed.
"I am asking the questions here!" Terry shouted.
"What questions?"
"Is it true?" Terry demanded.
"Is what true?"
"Are you a queer???"
"That's none of your business!!!"
The sound of a shot suddenly pierced the air.
It took the Reverend a few seconds to realize he was shot in
his shoulder.
"It had everything to do with me! You were my teacher! I
respected you! I worshiped you! And then I go and find out
you're a queer???"
"Do you think I chose to be that? Do you think that if I
could choose, I would choose to be gay? Being gay goes
against everything I believe in!"
Terry paused. He smiled.
"Do you really mean that?" he asked the Reverend wishfully.

"Yes."
"So consider this a cleansing of all your mortal sins. And
don't worry, I took care of Pier's soul too. You will both
get a place in heaven after all." The Reverend widened his
eyes in terror.
Without even blinking, Terry shot the Reverend in the head.
He turned around, and walked slowly towards the exit. He
used the Reverend's office-phone to call the police, and
left the gun beside a statue of Mary the virgin.
He gently opened the door, and left the church.
Terry looked at the moon, which suddenly lost its aura.
"Ah!" he screamed at it "What do you know anyway???"

24/10/2000.