That Thursday afternoon, Arnold was able to get together with Laura. She didn't have anything scheduled or anything, so he decided to invite her to dinner, but not his boarding house. He'd told her about the crazy people he's living with at the boarding house, so she understood.
"Maybe some other time I can meet your family," Laura said.
"You will. I'd still like you to meet my friends I've told you about," Arnold told her.
"All right."
They decided to go to a place that wasn't so busy. He offered to pay for her dinner.
"Arnold, that's very kind of you. You really don't need to do that."
"But I want to."
"I bought my own money to pay for my supper."
"Maybe next time you can. Unless you want to pay for both of us next time."
"I'll keep that in mind, Arnold."
"I know we haven't known each other very long, but I thought we could get together."
"We can do that anytime, even if we have different friends to see and do things with," Laura said.
"I do have a question."
"What's that?"
"Are any of your friends Christian like you are?"
"No. Some of them are Catholic. I don't mind it, but the Catholic beliefs are something I don't plan to believe anytime. They do understand I'm a spiritual person myself. A couple of them are Mormon, and that is a very difficult belief to understand since Mormons belief in Joseph Smith, one of the founders of the Mormon church."
Arnold had heard of the Mormon belief but never had the time to figure it out and he wasn't so sure when he would do that. Laura was a very nice person since their first day at John Baptist. That was also Pastor Wayne's first day at the church. Like Arnold had heard, he was supposed to be a great pastor for his first time doing it. Arnold could tell Pastor Wayne was doing well for himself since the day he began to preach about Romans Road. Arnold did know for sure in the near future Pastor Wayne would be doing series for his sermons.
"Tell me about you, Arnold. Are any of your friends Christians?"
"Not a one. They haven't yet gotten used to the new Arnold as yet. I'm sure they will. It takes time, you know."
"I believe that," Laura said.
"And we haven't yet got started into talking about what our last names were."
"I noticed that too, Laura. My last name is a funny one so please don't laugh."
Before he was going to share with her on what his last name was, a waitress came by to take their orders. So Arnold let Laura go first and then when she finished, he gave her his order. Then she left to give the chef the orders.
"Why would I laugh about your name?" Laura asked.
She watched as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I'll tell you and you'll see why people find it funny and we don't talk about it very much."
"That's understandable. Try me."
"It's Shortman."
"What kind of name is that?"
She tried not to laugh but kept the giggles inside. Arnold did notice that but he didn't say anything else after that.
"Arnold, do you ever say grace at dinner?" Laura asked.
"I did try that when I first started believing in the Lord, but not one person understood what was happening to me, so I don't do it anymore."
"Oh. Maybe we could do it tonight?"
"Are you allowed to do that in restaurants?" Arnold asked.
"Of course."
"Oh."
"That happens, and I understand," she told him.
"I know."
"So, Arnold, tell me what you do on your free time besides working at the hat store," Laura started.
"You know I go to school and my friends and I play baseball whenever we can. I help out with the crazy people at my boarding house, you name it."
"That sounds like a lot you have going there."
"I know. Life would be boring if we were all the same, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, Arnold, it would. Can you imagine what the world would look like if there weren't any words or numbers?"
"No. I've never thought about that one, to tell you the truth."
"Just something to think about."
"I know, Laura."
When the waitress came back with their orders, Laura and Arnold finished talking when the plates were placed in front of them.
When the waitress left, Laura said, "Should we say a short prayer?"
"Okay. Go ahead if you want to do it."
"Arnold, since you're a new believer and new at this, I think I'll let you have more practice on saying grace in public. Some believers aren't even shy doing this sort of thing. Have you tried doing it at your school?"
"Of course. I did it one day and my friends thought I wasn't myself."
"Oh. It wasn't yourself like they said because you weren't the same person you were before you became a Christ believer."
That's when their napkins were in their laps and their heads were down, Arnold began, "Lord, thank You for another day of friendship with Laura. We understand that You have plans for us in the future. We don't know what your plans are, but you're the only One who does know. Please help Pastor Wayne bring in more people to Your House. We don't know what it looked like before we came along, but if there weren't many people back then, please let the time be now. And let my friends start believing in you, but it is Your timing and not ours. In Your Name, Amen."
"That was a good prayer, Arnold. Keep working on this and it will get better," Laura told him.
"I'll keep that in mind."
When they finished eating their meals minutes later, their waitress came back.
"Would you like anything for dessert or are you all right now for?"
"We're fine, thank you. Could we have the receipt?" Arnold asked.
"Sure."
She gave it to him and then went to get more orders from customers.
"Let me pay half, Arnold," Laura said.
"No. I want to do this."
"If you say so, but at least let me leave a tip."
"You win on that one. I pay for dinner and you do the tip."
After that she didn't say anything and left $3.55 for tip.
Arnold saw her tip and thought it was a good number. Then they got up from the table and put their jackets on. It was supposed to be a breezy night.