The Straight and Narrow

June 2, 2022·12 min·1 clip

Cliff confesses he might be a hypocrite because he remarried after divorce, which he now believes is forbidden by God.

This short episode of Here Be Monsters is a personal essay by Jeff Entman, based on writing he did in 2012 and rediscovered on his hard drive. Entman met Cliff on the sidewalk outside a bank in Boulder, Colorado, where Cliff was working as a street preacher with three dogs tangled in their leashes. Cliff describes his theological journey from Catholicism to atheism to Christianity. He preaches what he calls the straight and narrow: marriage is permanent, women must cover their heads in church, and women cannot serve as preachers. Despite being all smiles and unbothered by disagreement, Cliff is one of only a handful of street preachers Entman has encountered who does not seem angry. Cliff invites Entman to dinner at his home, which surprises Entman with its millennial aesthetic: art, houseplants, a fake stuffed tiger, and a bright green touch-tone phone. His wife Sophie works as a school custodian and quietly tells Entman she dislikes the job but needs the benefits to pay for Cliff's medicine. Over pasta and twice-buttered Pillsbury biscuits, Cliff reveals that his first wife cheated on him with his best friend, leading to divorce. He later married Sophie and raised four children. But as he read the Bible more deeply, he concluded that remarrying after divorce is strictly forbidden. Sophie moved to a twin bed in what used to be the study, and Cliff implies they have not slept together since. When asked what worries him most, Cliff says his children, particularly one who is using drugs and does not seem to care. The narrator reflects on his own high school anxieties about saving friends from hell. In the months after the visit, Cliff mails handwritten notes and literature in envelopes with Gregory Peck stamps, even though he lives only half a mile away, suggesting the walking had become difficult. Entman notes he later found what he believes is Cliff's obituary, though he cannot be certain because he never recorded Cliff's full real name. The episode ends with a brief mention of the narrator's other projects and upcoming full episodes.

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