Get Closer

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"Well. I'm waiting," he says, leaning back in the pew, his long legs stretched out as far as they'll go.

"Work is okay," I say, stifling a yawn.

"Hey, I've got an idea." He sits up and grabs my hand. "Why don't we get married?"

"That's the liquor talking," I say, sending us both laughing because of the lack of it.

"Come on, it would work. You know me better than anyone."
"All the more reason not to marry you." I look at the altar, noting the flurry of activity of the members of the wedding party, feeling completely detached.

"Okay, if you won't marry me, how do I get Joy back?" Jeff asks.

I take a sip of green punch and make a face. "Give it time. She might get tired of life sans Jeff Davis. Your charms, your not-quite-funny-enough jokes."

"I really blew it, huh? I guess whatever I do doesn't matter," he says, sticking out his lip, a classic pose of petulance and powerlessness.

"Next time you should go along with what she wants. She waited as long as she could for you to decide to get serious. Sometimes you have to do things you're not completely sure of, with the faith you will eventually be sure."

He looks down at his hands. "I could never do that," he says, as if I'd asked him to perform brain surgery. "But now I'm ready to give her what she wanted."

That's exactly it -- wanted. What he refuses to understand is this: there's a window for these things. It's like begging for a Barbie Dream House when you're seven and having someone give it to you when you're thirteen. It loses something.

When the rehearsal actually does start, Krista's father states that for the bride to go through the rehearsal will jinx the wedding and since I'm one of the few woman present not in the wedding, I have to stand next to Leland and go through the ceremony.

Unfortunately, her father works part-time as a minister and is in charge of organizing everything and putting people in their places. He keeps calling Krista Sister, which is really working my nerves. This is the man who gave her a book titled Narrow Make My Bed, a guide to maintaining celibacy in a collegiate setting. What he didn't know is that she hadn't succeeded in maintaining celibacy in a high school setting.

"Hold her hand, young man," Krista's father says. "Sister, tell your young man to get in closer. We can't do the rehearsal properly if he's not going to mark it out."

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox." Woody Allen

Cocktail Hour
Drinking music suggestion: Greatest Hits The Brothers Johnson

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Sunday!