Mandy: I have an angel on my shoulder giving me advice.

Angie: Did he help you pick out those pants? Cause you may be confused about which direction he came from.

Mandy: No, just the angel. The devil is a no show.

Angie: I would guess he doesn’t have the best work ethic.

Mandy: Hey! I like these pants.

Angie: There it is. What if, as your partner, I got stuck with lucifer?

Mandy: Duality? Interesting.

Angie: That doesn’t make me evil, does it? I would know if I was evil.

Mandy: I have a sure fire evil test. Wanna try?

Angie: Let’s do this.

Mandy: If this burns it is bad news. (Mandy throws holy water at Angie’s face.)

Angie: Yow!

Mandy: Oh no! Does it burn your skin?

Angie: No! I was just surprised. And, now, I am angry. What are you doing with holy water in your purse?

Mandy: My grandma got it for me when she went on her pilgrimage to Vatican City. I can’t believe I wasted Pope John Paul II holy water on you!

Angie: What would you have done if I had been evil?

Mandy: What a silly question? I would have scheduled an exorcism, obviously.

Angie: That is not the obvious answer. The obvious answer would have been, “I would have taken you to a doctor because you seem to be allergic to something in this water.”

Mandy: Faith verses science. The age old debate rears its ugly head in our friendship.

Angie: This is one topic that hit every branch as it fell out of the ugly tree. Instead of us arguing about it we should let Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons” handle it from here.

Mandy: “Angels and Demons” begins by telling of the sometimes mundane life of Harvard professor Robert Langdon.

Angie: Langdon is a religious symbologist who receives a mysterious phone call asking him to come to Switzerland. He blows the call off as a prank but when a gruesome fax arrives he finds himself on the way to the scientific research center, CERN.

Mandy: What piques his interest was the fax revealing a picture of a murder victim who had a religious symbol branded on his chest. Langdon recognizes the symbol which leads him on an adventure that could end in death and destruction.

Angie: I love Robert Langdon. He gets into some crazy business, sort of like Indiana Jones, but Robert keeps it academic. Not to imply that he skimps on the action but he’s a smart action hero.

Mandy: I love smart.

Angie: And I love action.

Mandy: Heroes, you mean?

Angie: OK.

Mandy: This brief overview doesn’t even begin to delve into the question central to this book: can faith and science co-exist?

Angie: Brown explores this query in a way that is totally engrossing. He writes in simple sentences and keeps the plot moving.

Mandy: I didn’t even realize the deeper conflict until I was done reading because the conflict brewing on the surface had so absorbed all of my mental capacity.

Angie: Well, that happens when “Dancing with the Stars” comes on.

Mandy: Lil’ Kim got rooked, man.

Angie: Brown never alludes to his own opinion. For all I know he’s a priest or he could be a physicist. He is respectful of his reader’s beliefs but loves stirring the pot. He shines a spotlight on faith verses science because he wants us to see that it’s not about right or wrong. It’s ultimately about good and evil.

Mandy: Which is why this book can be viewed as controversial. Those who believe passionately are offended by the mere suggestion that a gray area might exist.

Angie: It could be controversial because it involves the abduction and murder of Catholic priests.

Mandy: There is that.

Angie: Hey, how long have you been carrying that water around? It’s kind of starting to itch.

Mandy: The power of Christ compels you!

Angie: To do what?