The Godless Goddess

It was a match made...somewhere.

Melissa O'Donovan and Denzel Wilson had just finished dinner and went out for a walk in Central Park. It was a warm spring night, and Melissa and Denzel had enjoyed their first date.

"By the way," Melissa mentioned, "you're the first guy I've met off Mix."

"Well, you're the first girl, too!" Denzel replied. "So had to find someone who says they're not religious."

"I know, right?" said Melissa. "Not a lot of...you know..."

"Brothers who say they aren't?"

"Yeah."

Denzel smiled. Melissa was so beautiful, with her very long shiny red hair looking so lovely in the evening light, her green eyes and pale skin glowing.

"So when did you know?" she asked.

"You mean, when I first thought it was all bullshit?"

"Yeah."

"I think I always knew...I never wanted to be there in that church...all that screaming and hollering...never made any sense to me. I'd rather be reading a book-and I don't mean the Bible."

"Hah!"

"I was always bored to death...and the preachers-damn! All they did was beat up on gay people-and I had friends who were gay! I hated it! Got away from that shit as soon as I could...have never looked back. My parents don't get it...but too bad!"

"I hear you."

"What really turned me against it was..." Denzel stopped and walked towards a bench to sit down.

"You all right?" Melissa saw a hint of sadness in Denzel's gorgeous brown eyes. His face was so handsome-his chocolate skin and short curly hair turned her on something fierce-but the worry on his face was troubling.

"My brother...he joined up after 9/11."

"The military?"

"Yeah, the Army. He had a couple of friends die on 9/11, and he wanted to get back at the guys who did it."

"What happened?"

"They sent him over to Iraq...obviously not the place where the guys who did it came from."

Melissa nodded.

"In 2004...he got killed. He got blown up."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry..."

"I'll never forget when they told us..."

Melissa shook her head.

"The moment they told us...that was it for me. I said to myself: there's no way any kind of God would allow that to happen."

"Certainly not any kind of compassionate one."

"Exactly. That moment proved to me it was all bullshit."

Melissa sat down and rubbed Denzel's shoulder.

"I always knew, too."

"You did?"

"My parents...fuck, my whole family...they were big Catholics. Like, fucking obsessed with it. And I fucking hated it. I couldn't understand why my mum was so into it, when they seemed to hate women."

Denzel nodded.

"We went to Mass every week at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Melbourne...once I moved here, I told my sister that I would rather jump into the sea than go back there again!"

Denzel laughed.

"She still goes with my mum and dad...I don't get it at all."

"Sort of like my family."

Melissa sighed. "I had a point, too, where I decided once and for all that it was all bullshit."

"When was that?"

"Three of my friends died in the Bali attack. Do you remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember that. Wasn't that a few months after 9/11?"

"Yeah, about a year after. They were on vacation...when I found out...that was it. That was it for me. It was all bullshit. There wasn't any God to stop that. It was all a bunch of bullshit."

"Did your parents try to tell you it was God's will?"

"I wasn't having any of that shit."

"Wow-you remind me of me!"

They both laughed.

"It's amazing how they tried so hard to pump that bullshit into us, isn't it?"

"I know! It's like brainwashing."

"And so many people are."

"I know!"

"It's all about control, I'm convinced...and I figure, I'm a black man-I've been controlled enough!"

"Hey, don't forget us women!"

"Yep. It's about controlling them too."

"I wish my mum and sister would understand that."

"They might, one day."

"We'll see."

Denzel smiled. "I just think people would be so much happier without it, you know?"

"I agree. I certainly am."

"Same here."

"Imagine if the only religion out there was love..."

"I think it is the *only* real religion."

"If we just believed in loving each other, not judging each other..."

"As opposed to people who love judging each other..."

"I know, right?"

"Yep."

Melissa put her pale hand on Denzel's leg. "Well, I've certainly enjoyed our theological discussion, and I've also enjoyed this evening. I hope we can do it again soon!"

"Same here," he replied, reaching over to give her a kiss on the cheek and enjoying the softness of her skin. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, loving the sweet texture of his skin. As they parted, they thought of what it would be like to be nude, brown skin on pale skin, next to each other in bed.