The Gospel of Arnie
by Lee Tasey
Category: Juvenile Fiction

As Arnie grew older, his sneer grew larger, so that to those in his church it became an historical landmark. It crawled up the right side of his face, exposing his back teeth and causing his right eye to crouch, as if he were winking. Families who passed him by on the playground or at the shopping mall stopped in awe at the sight of it. Parents stared. Children turned away in fright. Often a mother, grabbing her son by the arm, would point to Arnie saying, 'See that kid? You are to have nothing to do with him. Do you hear?"It wasn't long before Arnie went to grade school and his uncle's fear, once fluid, hardened like cement. For the priests and nuns at the school, teaching was a blessing from God, until the new school year rolled around and Arnie showed up for class. Feeling as though he has a new lease on life, teenager Arnie Shultz is all set to begin another school year-his freshman year of college-preaching at a Catholic school on the California coast. But Arnie's gospel is different from the one Jesus taught-while Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to earth, Arnie brings his own vision to campus.