"You lie!" Judith yelled and ran out of the house.
Judith ran straight to the library. She had to know where her mother was now. She looked up the word "atheism."
"She didn't believe in God?" Judith thought after she looked at the word's definition. Judith had heard her mother say she was an atheist before. She went to church with Judith and her father, but from what Judith could remember, she never participated in the mass. Judith just thought her mother was tired all those early Sunday mornings; Judith, herself, was tired.
Judith went to the card catalog and looked for a book on atheism. There were many writings to choose from, but Judith picked the one about the afterlife for atheists.
* * *
"Mama believed she would live forever!" Judith yelled as she ran through the front door.
Her father came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a dish towel. "What's all the yelling about?" He asked, slightly confused.
Judith took a deep breath, as if she knew she would need all the air she could get. "Mama believed she would live forever. She was an atheist!"
Judith's father looked dumbfounded. "How did you know that?" He asked accusingly.
"I heard her say she was."
Her father smiled and slung the towel over his shoulder. "Your mother was a wonderful woman."
"I never said she wasn't."
"Well," he began, sitting on a chair at the kitchen table. "Your grandfather certainly didn't think so." He patted a chair next to him.
Once Judith was comfortably seated, he began. "Yes, your mom was an atheist. It was no secret, really. She told your grandparents, and she was persecuted mercilessly by them for her lack of religion. She was even told that because she didn't believe in not only Jesus, but any god, she would endure every religion's hell when she passed on to the afterlife."
Judith gasped.
"But, honey, that was their belief. I believe that because your mother didn't believe in an afterlife, she couldn't possibly endure any punishments, because, for her, those places didn't exist. Your can't endure what doesn't exist. Do you understand?"
"Yeah."
"I believe your mother is here, constantly with us. That's how she would have wanted. it." He finished.
Judith nodded. "Are you sure that's where she is?"
"No one can be sure. I believe so, but you can believe what you want to. She's wherever you want her to be." He patted Judith's head and returned to the dishes.