A Jew, a Muslim and a Catholic

While some Muslims, Jews and Christians spread hate in name of their religions in various parts of the world, a Jew, a Muslim and a Catholic rode merrily in a German moving truck in Amsterdam. The Austrian Jew adjusted his kippah while looking up directions for the Moroccan Muslim driver on his made-in-China “American” phone, and the Brazilian Catholic looked for their destination’s exact address, written on a piece of paper somewhere in her purse. The three companions were on their way to fetch a bed and other items from a friend of the Catholic’s and they hoped the weather would hold up.

On arrival the Dutchman welcomed the three companions in English into his nearly empty apartment – though the Muslim and the Dutchman spoke Dutch while the others only attempted the little Dutch they knew. All the items locked up in the truck, the three companions wished the Dutchman a good trip to his new home, Brazil. On the ride back the Muslim and the Jew explained their religions’ intricacies but the Catholic knew only the bare essential about hers; the Quran acknowledges Jesus, Jews aren’t supposed to ride a bike on Saturday and Carnaval* is four days dedicated to getting all of one’s sins out of one’s system. The three concluded, in very good humor, that their religions are incredibly similar and that they were lucky that the weather was holding up during the move.

Every once in a while the Muslim would answer his Japanese phone to speak with his Swedish wife – in English. On the first stop the Muslim helped the Jew up the stairs with a few items for his apartment. On the second and last stop the three companions took the remaining items into the Catholic’s apartment. They replaced the loud squeaky Swedish bed with the new, sturdy brown bed, much to the neighbors’ relief and to the excitement of the dark-eyed Catholic’s imagination regarding a blue-eyed German-Dutch man. The three shook hands and said good-bye. Later that night it rained.

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*No idea why foreigners spell it “Carnival.”

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