Gaff could hear Wally as he stepped from the walkway onto the beach. "Those damned Jehovah's Witnesses are at it again. Stopped me while I was jogging this morning. Giving me their pitch. Maybe I should wear some kind of symbol to let them know I'm a minister with a congregation. Don't need them to tell me what to believe."

            "You could wear a collar on your tee shirt." Gaff was laughing.

            He could tell that Wally wasn't amused as he plopped onto the cooler. "Then they'd think I was one of those Roman Catholic mackerel-snappers."

            Gaff checked the tip of his rod to see if he'd a fish on the line yet... nope. "You're mighty 'het' up this afternoon, Wally. Maybe you'd better cool down ... give your blood pressure a rest."

            Wally wiped sweat off his face. "Where do they get off saying that only 144,000 will be saved?"

            "I think I read that somewhere in the Bible, maybe Revelations. But I don't believe they're the only ones saved. You know the translators didn't understand all the symbolism in the numbers... that phrase may have a different meaning altogether." The old fisherman ended his sentence by pushing himself out of the chair. He walked to check his rods.

            "In the Bible, you say?" Then Wally mumbled, "Have to look that up when I get back home." He got up to follow his friend to stand at the rod holders pushed into the sand.

            Gaff took the first from its holder. "Even if it is there, is that the important thing? I mean, after all these centuries, is that the only thing that people think was important in Yeshua's life?"

            Wally spit out his answer, on the attack. "Jesus died to save our souls from sin."

            Gaff reeled in the first hook to find it empty. "Can't catch fish without bait to get them to bite the hook." The second hook had a small bit of fish on it that he removed to throw into the waves. "For you, Wally, the bait is the possibility to save your soul by accepting Jesus as your Savior. But other people see his passion and pain as modeling the way they should live this life... to pay their way into heaven with the suffering."

            Wally sputtered, "But, but..."

            "Wally, we're all different. I read about the good things that man did for others and the way he treated everybody the same and that's what's important to me. He showed me how important every single person is... every one of us." Gaff pulled a fish from the cooler and cut pieces from it to use as bait.

            Wally jammed his fists into his waist. "Of course he did good works to show that he was the Son of God. Proof of pedigree, you might say."

            Gaff cast the first hook into the deep water beyond the sandbar, set the hook, and returned the rod to its holder. "So you fight the Catholics and the Jehovah's Witnesses and lots of others to see who's right. You fight to see how many people you can get to come to your side in the argument."

            Wally stomped around in the sand, hands on hips, blood coloring his neck red on its way to his face. "I want to help people understand..."

            Gaff cast the second hook into the water and set the rod into the holder. Then he turned to look his friend in the eye,....