saying of God. No preacher necessary, no play-acting. The real thing.
“Yeah – I mean, yes. Wait – I do,” said Jack. “I do.” He knew it was his turn. “Do you, Jill Scott, take me to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold, um, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health … for better or worse, from this day forward, ‘til death do us part?”
“You did it wrong,” she said. “You mixed it all up.” He knew she was lightening the solemnity, and he smiled.
“It was pretty good anyway,” he said. “So, do you? You know, take me?”
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, there was no light pollution like in the old days, and no moon, and Jack had never realized that the starlight could be bright enough to see by. “I do,” she said. Jill in the starlight, looking at him with a smile. He thought there probably wasn’t a better way to see someone you loved than illuminated by starlight. He could see her clearly and she was beautiful.
“Then, by the power …” Jack purposefully didn’t continue. He knew that they both had the words in their minds, outside themselves, just below the audible, but heard clearly in their minds saying ‘I now pronounce you man and wife.’ The silence continued as Jill looked at him expectantly. She smiled wider.
“You may kiss the bride,” she said. He did. It was a sweet kiss, and her lips were fresh and sweet and cool like orchid petals. They laid back down again, and looked up at the sky.
Gretchen, stomping awkwardly up from the former eighteenth hole of the Biltmore golf course, approached her daddy with something red hanging from the bottom of her chubby dirt-smudged fist. A tuft of greens protruded from the top of her hand like a bouquet.
“Look at this one!” she called excitedly. He walked toward her to show his interest. The radish was large.
“That’s a nice one! We should ask mommy to make a salad – I bet she would. We could eat it tonight.” The soft lips pouted below her straight brown hair. She looked a lot like her mother.
“I wanted it now,” she said. She was a big fan of radishes. He sighed and acted as if it was a big deal as he slowly got his knife out and took the vegetable from her. He brushed the dirt off onto his shirt, then cut off the top of the radish and let it fall before slicing the rest into coin-shaped pieces. As he sliced them, he handed them to her one at a time. She put them in her mouth, and he had to slow his cutting to keep her cheeks from becoming full like a hamster’s mouth. When there was nothing left of the radish he closed the knife and put it away. She tiptoed to see if she really had it all. He laughed and held his open hands in front of her like a magician to show she was truly finished.
She tottered over to the garden again, unsatisfied and looking for another radish, reminding him in an odd way of Fat Zombie. As he looked back at the Biltmore the sun flashed off a window and reflected into his eyes, but he could see Jill through the kitchen window off to the side, standing as close to the counter as her expanding belly would allow her – a bun in the oven they used to say. She happened to look up at that time too, saw him looking, and waved. He waved back and turned to Gretchen again.
Far off in the distance he heard a zombie groan, and it meant no more to him than a dog barking. He had fenced a good-sized area off, and nothing was getting through that to his family. The wind picked up a bit and rattled the palm trees. The world had changed, yes, there was a new predator in it, and if you didn’t watch out you could have problems. But humans had faced predators before. Overall – well, he had Jill and Gretchen, and a good secure home. He was thankful.
Turned out it was a pretty good world.
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