A lady came to my office and asked me to transfer some pictures from a camera for a project we're doing. We were just chatting when she said something about her church.

She had made several references to her church, Jesus, and some other religious statements so I went ahead, for the sake of conversational politeness, and asked the question I'm sure she would hope I would ask.

"Where do you go to church," I asked.

The computer was transferring really slow. Painfully slow.

For the next twenty minutes she told me about her mother dying. Her mother died of grief because her brother had tragically died in a car crash three months before the died. The father died three years before of lung cancer.

It was all okay because they were all saved.

Now, I'm sorry this all happened. I know it was painful. So why would anyone bring this up to a perfect stranger?

But there is a brother in the hospital who overdosed on a whole lot of medicine because he couldn't handle the death of the mother, father, and other brother.

I'm sure the brother will be saved because her son is some sort of biblical prodigy who can recite the evangelical points of prayer.

I was starting to panic. The transfer was no where near finished. I could not interject. Sister Tragedy would not shut up.

She went on to spout of every religious cliche based on bad theology. I wondered if she had ever listened to herself before. If it was possible to believe this stuff like that. I wondered if I had ever sounded like. I'm sure I have.

She went on and on and continued to get louder. In my office. Where other people work.

I only asked where she went to church. I didn't need a twenty minute monologue. Its not fun. Not conversational.

The transfer finished and I nudged her toward the elevator door as she kept talking. The assistant in the area saw what was happening, looked and me, and chuckled. The assistant knew what was going on and how I felt about these things. This made me chuckle and it was all I could do not to bust out laughing while she was asking me to pray for her brother.

She said goodbye as the elevator shut. I turned around to the assistant and lost it. I told her I was just ear raped by a religitard.