JPF Home Page Forums Creative Arts Forums Creative Writing Forum "One Night In Paradise"

47. LOVE IS SLEEP; Sleep Is Love.

I remember coming from the truck to the apartment. I remember Eenunh helping me undress. I remember laying down on the unmade bed.

And now I'm awake, lying on my right side. I'm warm. I'm comfortable. There's red light outside the window. I wonder if it's morning or evening. I hear the shower running. I hear it stop. I drift into sleep, not deep, just enough for random imagery,
snow,
pine trees,
a sense of... it being done, over.
I don't know what 'it' is.
I try to sleep, to forget what 'it' might be.
Eenunh is there, behind me on the bed. She reaches around me, tucks the blanket under my chin. She always smells like fresh honey after a shower. She's breathing regularly, like she's asleep, but fidgeting with her hands at the blanket at my neck, at my back between my shoulder blades, tells me she's not. I roll onto my back. She squirms under my arm, lays her head on my shoulder. Her hair smells like honey.

"Wake up Oomam ass," she whispers. "We want to go out to eat. I want you to go play."

"I want to sleep until tomorrow, and then sleep until tomorrow again," I tell her. "If you love me you'll let me sleep until tomorrow." She giggles!

"I love you, but you've been asleep all day," she says, "and now, if you love me, you'll get up and get ready."

"I don't love you unless you let me sleep," I tell her.

"You love me no matter what," she says. She giggles again. She lets me lie there. Slowly I awaken. I am rested. I feel rejuvenated. I needed rest. I want more rest. I want to get up and do something... with a positive vibe. It's been a grueling week, two weeks, too many days and nights going, pushing past tiredness, pushing on. Pushing. Pushing. Doing what we had to do.. .to get to now.

"I love you... no matter what," I tell her. "I still want to sleep."

"We have to go," she says, leaves the bed. I open my eyes to see her naked, pulling on underwear. I close my eyes, it seems only a moment. But it must have been longer. She's in a knit dress, her blue one. I sit up, stand up. She pushes me toward the bathroom. I go.

Dressed in my blue blazer, black pants, cowboy boots, white hat, I stand before a mirror, check myself out. I'm ready. They're ready. Everyone is in the living room. Eevanh and her mother and father are back. The door is open, the hall noisy with conversations. Tinunh, my roadie, picks up my guitar, nods toward the door. We go out, down ramps. There are cars waiting. Cars! We get in. It's warm inside! The seats are comfortable! We go out the main gate, up the street just a short way, into a parking lot, around the back, and drive in through a large spindle-door. We get out, go in a hinged door, down a hallway, and up ramps, just to what might be a second floor. Tinunh and Eevannh disappear with my guitar. I'm okay with that. Eenunh keeps fixing me, adjusting my blazer, tucking my shirt, stooping to wipe at my shoes with leaves. I feel like a prize pig! LOL

We go down another hall. There's a lot of noisy voices, a curtain. Someone pulls it back. Eenunh takes my hand, leads me out... onto a stage! There... there must be... a hundred... hundreds of people! Ass Emoilihn! The voices go up in a shout, get shrill, and down again to a cacophony of individual shouts and calls.

"Eenunh Entemannh!" is one I hear. Lots of people shout it. She waves. The crowd roars. I hear the name of Aloyan Entemannh called. Eenunh waves. She holds onto my hand, squeezes it. She keeps moving across the stage. My guitar is there, my case open. Tinunh comes from behind me, picks up my guitar, hands it to me, holds the strap up. I lift my hat, tuck my head into the strap, put my hat back on. The crowd quiets as Eenunh begins to speak, saying,

"Paronde cos revonde!"

They go into a frenzy, repeat it, call her name, his name.

"We have come from afar to see you!" she shouts. They quiet. "We have come from afar, fought battles to see you, ass Emoilihn of Sagribe!
And now, may I introduce to you, my beloved friend, and yours, Ass Oomam, Gary E. Andrews!"

She applauds. Eevannh and Tinunh applaud. They all back up, leaving me standing forward. I strum a chord, D. And it seems like I want to play "Blue Riser", so I do. I'm aware of the deep silence. Someone coughs. Feet shuffle. Then even those noises seem absent. When I end the voices are low, high, a chorus of what I take to be acclaim. It's a good tune. I play and sing, and they listen, quiet, a silence broken only by some voices, the shuffling of feet, the crying of a baby. I go on, song after song. I'm in no hurry. I play. I sing. They take Eenunh's and the girls' prompts and applaud.

The officer! The older, white-haired man. He has come down the aisle, approaches the stage, comes up stage right. He comes to me, grinning.
There is a murmur of approval from the crowd. He is known here.

"Would you consider," he says, quietly to me, "having me conduct your marriage ceremony... here... now? I am licensed to do so."

I'm stunned! I don't know what to tell him. I look at Eenunh, standing stage right. She looks bewildered, gestures, 'What?'

I put down my guitar, tell the officer, "Let me ask the only person who can answer that question." I go to her, ask, in English,

"Eenunh, will you marry me, here, and now?"

She looks more bewildered. I take her hand. The crowd murmurs, shrill voices, and low. Some in the front row, close enough to hear, tell others what the Officer has said. We can hear them! Eenunh looks at them. The proposal is spread through the crowd! People begin to shout, "Neh! Neh! Marry him!" and "Marry her!" They begin to stand up! The noise is deafening!

"Can we do that?" she asks.

I don't know. Can we do that? A person licensed by the Government has offered to do a marriage ceremony, here, and now.

"He says we can," I tell her. "He says he is licensed to do it." She looks blank, then pensive, then grins, and squeezes my hand. "We can marry here, and now," I tell her. "We can marry again in Entemannh Garibe. We can go back to Costaramannh and marry again. We can show ass Emoilihn our love, their love, that it means something."

She hesitates. Her face flushes darker. "Yes," she says. "Let's do that. Let's get married here and now and there and then and again in Costaramannh! Let's not wait for the Government to tell us it is talah, alright, for us to marry!" She grins. I kiss her hand, lead her to center stage, turn to face her. The officer stands beside us, facing out to the auditorium, announces, "We will have a wedding here, with ass Emoilihn to witness it!" They murmur, slowly sounding more excited, until the voices roar as one!

Briggs is coming down the right aisle. He comes onstage.

"I have my government's authority to conduct a marriage ceremony," he says. I explain that the officer does too. We decide they both will preside! Both Government representatives will preside, with authority, and not waiting for some stranger to think it over, to study it through the lenses of Law or tradition and ideology. It is our choice, our love we will consecrate here, with vows only we can make! Yes! We will marry! Here! Now!

"Do you choose this man, this alien, Gary E. Andrews?" the officer asks Eenunh. Briggs defers to the officer, speaks low, the words I know, "Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I choose him," she says.

"Do you choose this woman, alien to you, Eenunh Entemannh?" he asks me. Briggs, "Do you take this woman..."

"I choose her," I tell him and all assembled.

"I now pronounce you wed for as long as you choose each other, bound by ass Emoilihn Law of Commons," he says, loudly, for all to hear.

Briggs, "By the power vested in me..."

"You may take your chosen one home to join in family!" the officer declares. Briggs, "I now pronounce you husband and wife!"

Eenunh steps to me, kisses me, turns, waves to the roaring crowd, pulls me along, off stage. People are coming on stage, carrying stringed instruments, wind instruments, percussive instruments. A band!

Eenunh pulls me away, down hallways to the waiting car. It's warm inside. We hold hands. She starts laughing. I do too. The driver seems to have instructions, takes us to a restaurant. There are people there but none seem to take notice of us. We are seated in a booth. Eenunh orders for us. I sit. I am comfortable. I am... happy... a familiar feeling. I am in Paradise!