The

The Welcome to Human Monsters.

Nathaniel Barrono didn't exactly Welcome to Human Monsters.

Nathaniel Barrejona didn't exactly get a warm welcome when he moved to Great Falls, Montana.

He was in his 30s, disheveled, 300 pounds, and he was a Jew. Or so he said he was. He drove an old, beat-up car from which he carried all the belongings that he brought into his new home. He carried them upstairs,

sweating and short of breath. The locals didn't give him a hard time, but they did

keep an eye on him. Something just didn't sit right with them. He just wasn't cut from the same cloth.

His apartment became a source of a putrid stench that his neighbors didn't appreciate.

They also noticed that he went in and out at odd hours.

He always had an explanation. One night it was 2 a.m. and a neighbor demanded to know why he was coming and going at such a late hour.

The man questioning him was elderly and unable to sleep.

Barjona was so startled, he dropped his takeout food on the landing.

He told the man that he was a cook and that he was often late in arriving home because he worked the closing shift at a restaurant.

He explained the smells coming out of his unit by saying they were culinary experiments. Both men apologized,

and they wound up forging a friendship. He began to visit the man's unit regularly.

As spring gave way to summer, a buzz grew throughout the neighborhood that Barjona was going to host a cookout, and everyone was invited.

His neighbors contributed volunteering time and various items to the event.

He set up professional grilling equipment and began cooking

burgers and sausages. They were not bought frozen from a supermarket. They were all homemade.

He even prepared a large batch of chili. He baked miniature pies for dessert. He set up some sweets for the children.

He enjoyed cooking for everybody, and people coming home from work were grateful to join in on

the fun. The derision and suspicion with which he met when he first moved in fell away as everyone was charmed by the ways in which he was entertaining them.

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