And on day seven…
I’ve never been to Sunday school. Papa has never let me. I cant exactly put a finger on why, but from whatever I’ve overheard my papa and mom arguing, it has something to do with a red flag with a bright yellow hammer and fickle. They fly it a lot in Kerala, and in this far away place called West Bengal. Apparently a lot of people in the family have been really loyal to this red flag over the years. Some, like my great grandfather even fought and died for it. It just sounds like a hell lot of trouble for a flag.
I’ve had my own fare share of trouble cause of this Red flag. I dont know why, but everyone’s always interested in what god I worship and what church I go to, in that order. I dont want to feel left out so I make up the name of a church from whatever Ive heard my other buddies say. It usually has a saint at the beginning and a really British sounding name second — Saint Paul church, Saint Nicholas church, Saint Hugh Grant church. But I also keep forgetting the names I make up, sometimes I go from being a catholic one week to being a Syrian Orthodox the next. To be honest, I have always been a bit sketchy on this whole god thing as well — I mean for someone who takes care of people and gives them what they want, he does a pretty bad job. My father works for the government and even he does better work. Jesus just doesn't have enough skin in the game to do good work. I’ve tested this out with a lot of wishes, usually centred around video games and HotWheels cars. Never worked. I thought may be I was doing it wrong and started praying that my father gets a lot of money, but that didn't work either. Im really scared to ask my teacher about this whole “praying” affair, cause the whole mood seems to suggest that you can question 1+1 = 2 but cant question “Is there really god?”
All this has my mom worried though. She's always worried, she keeps fighting with my father on going to church and since he does not let me she says I should fold my hands and read the bible. I do that. Im not really sure why God is as violent as Arnold in The Terminator. I imagine god walking to the background score of Judgement Day every time I read the bible. I also pray for the good health of my mom and dad, cause well I need food, shelter and TV. Things escalated pretty quickly last week though. There was a dinner table conversation that went like this:
Mom: So, what r
