The Good Atheist Read Online Free PDF Page A

you’re coming with me because I’m not going without you.”
    Her hand unconsciously came up to her face and rubbed the scars that ran down from her eyes to her mouth. Ever since the accident she’d shut the world out, avoiding friends and staying away from public places. The scars on her face went much deeper than her skin. Her soul had been scarred and her self-image badly wounded. As a beautiful model, it was understandable that much of her self-confidence had been built on her appearance. Slowly, though, she was re-building it on other qualities that had remained largely undiscovered. And it seemed to me she was ready for the next step.
    It didn’t help that most of her friends in the fashion industry had melted away. Oh sure, there was for the first few months an outpouring of sympathy, lots of people dropping by, even a few feature e-zine articles about the supermodel bravely recouping from a near-fatal car accident. For a while she was a hot topic on industry blogs.
    And then nothing. Selene was no longer in circulation, and there wasn’t much need for supermodels with a limp and a deformed face. She quickly became yesterday’s news, interest and attention moved on to other things. She was left to rot in obscurity.
    Selene tried to bounce back. She realized she needed to find another line of work, and she could no longer rely on her looks. She wanted to find something that would keep her out of the public eye and would not require her to leave the house. That’s when she discovered programming.
    Not just phones and droids, but toasters, fridges, stoves, cars, house systems were ‘smart’ and capable of being integrated with larger systems over the internet.
    But they were dull. Selene started writing personality apps for smart devices and appliances, and discovered that she had a real knack for it. She started selling them online. I was skeptical at first, but I didn’t say anything and remained supportive. Sometimes the smartest thing a guy can do is keep his mouth shut, and in this case it worked.
    Because it turned out people loved her personality apps, and it wasn’t long before they went viral. Her apps brought character and charm to all kinds of appliances and devices.
    Fridges with wit. Toasters with Freudian complexes.
    Who’d have thought it’d be so popular?
    It gave Selene something to do while allowing her to stay home where people couldn’t see her. And I was happy for her. Happy that she’d found something interesting and rewarding to do. But in the process she’d been growing more reclusive. She forgot that, despite all the phony friends who had dropped her, there were still plenty of real friends that loved her. I wanted to protect her, but maybe I had been protecting her too much. Maybe I should have encouraged her a bit sooner to get back out into circulation.
    “I don’t know if I can do that,” she said.
    “I think it’s time to try.”
    “People will stare at me.”
    “You were a supermodel. You should be used to people staring at you.”
    “Yes, but for different reasons. Now they stare because I’m hideous. Little children openly gawk at me and point. The startled looks. The sidelong glances. Adults will take double looks, and try to be more polite and not as obvious, but I can always tell they’re looking.”
    “Don’t say you’re hideous. I don’t like it when you run yourself down like that.”
    “Well, it’s true. I have a face that scares children. They clutch their mothers’ arms a little tighter when I walk by.”
    “So let them stare. You’re beautiful where it counts most, just remember that. You’re going to have to deal with this sooner or later. We can’t spend the rest of our life hiding in this apartment.”
    I’d never really forced the issue before, but it was time. Sometimes we all need a nudge in the right direction.
    “Just go on without me.”
    I shook my head. “Uh-uh.”
    “You’re being stubborn,” she said.
    “Yes, but only when