Chapter 21 - Shutdown
Naomi Neary could notcontain her excitement.She didn’t know what a wedding was, or what happened at one, but tomorrow, the entire family was attending a ceremony, and she got to wear a pretty new dress.The whole wedding thing also included her first stay at a hotel with a swimming pool!Her Daddy, Michael Isaac Neary, and Michelle’s daddy, Cousin Zeke, took them to the pool and she learned how to float.She asked her daddy if he was going to teach her how to swim and he said he would after the wedding.She made a small entry into her tiny memory to come back to it, or revisit that one later as her Mommy would say.
Yesterday, they had to go to a rehearsal.She knew what a rehearsal was since they had them at her dance school before the big recitals.This year, she had the lead role as Cinderella where she would get to ride off into the Happily Ever After in a pumpkin with her prince.She wasn’t so sure about that either, but she was happy to be at the hotel with a pool.After the wedding, she would get to play in the water again with Michelle.
Today was the big day.Dressed smartly in a lace covered peachy colored dress with dainty white shoes and white tights, she sat still as her Aunt Rebekah added light blue ribbons and bows to her hair.Michelle wore the same dress, and they also had the same hairstyle with ribbons and bows.
Grandma Ruth called for places, and she and Michelle were handed little baskets with flower petals.Yesterday, they practiced in the rehearsal with pieces of paper; today; it was real live flowers.The doors to the room opened, and side by side, she and Michelle walked down the blue carpet, dropping petals like she’d been taught.
At the end of the path, there was a stage.Uncle Jay stood on the stage next to a boy she didn’t know, and beside him was her Daddy in a suit, and another man that she’d didn’t know either stood next to her daddy.She waved at her dad, who gave her a small smile, and Uncle Jay, who blew her a kiss.Naomi swatted the kiss away, then thought about it again, grabbing at the air to catch the phantom kiss.The audience chuckled at her antics as she chased the imaginary kiss, locating it near the bench seat and applying it to her cheek.She waved at him to let her uncle know the target was reached; after all, Uncle Jay did buy her a pony.
Michelle’s mom Tameka waved for Naomi and Michelle to come sit next to her on the front row where on the stage, she could see her Mommy.The dress her Mommy wore was the same color as the dress she and Michelle were wearing and just like the one Aunt Rebekah had on.A lady she didn’t know also had the same dress and stood on the stage by Aunt Rebekah.
Suddenly, music started and everyone stood up.Naomi stood up too, but she couldn’t see.Standing on the bench seat, she spotted what everyone was looking at–Aunt Helen.She wore a white gown with the same peachy colored lace covering her face, walking besides a man Naomi had never seen.At her side, Grandma Ruth appeared as everyone took their seats.Naomi watched with interest as the man lifted the lace from Aunt Helen’s face, kissed her cheek, then took her hand and gave it to Uncle Jay.
“What is he doing, Grandma?Is he giving Aunt Helen to Uncle Jay?”she asked.
“Yes, he is,” Ruth Neary replied.
“Why, is he tired of her?”
“No, Helen is getting married to Jay, and her father is entrusting her care and well-being to your uncle,” she told Naomi.
Her eyes squinted as she tried to add two and two.“That man is Aunt Helen’s daddy?”
“Yes, he is.”
“So, he is my Mommy’s daddy too?”
“Yes, he is.”
Her eyes got wide, and her volume got loud, “I have a black grandaddy and a white grandaddy too?”
“Ssh child,” Ruth said as low giggles went through the crowd.
Naomi was not done.“So, if that is my grandaddy, does he have a wife?Is he married to my Mommy’s mommy?”
“He is.”
“Well, where is she?”Naomi asked, turning in her seat.A woman sitting directly behind her waved at the child, placing her finger to her lips.Naomi didn’t like being told to shush by a woman she didn’t know.She stared at the woman mutherfuckingly, stopping when she noticed the resemblance to her own mother.“You look like my Mommy, but old.”
The group close by giggled a bit at the child’s realization that she was meeting her other grandmother, but Naomi was uncertain if she liked the vibe of the woman.Naomi, turning back in her seat to watch the action, listened carefully to what Uncle Jay was saying to Aunt Helen, then he placed a ring on her finger.Aunt Helen did the same to Uncle Jay.The man in the long white dress said a few words, then Uncle Jay kissed Helen.
“Grandma, what is happening?”Naomi asked.
“Jay and Helen are now married,” Ruth explained.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that now, he and Helen will go off on a romantic trip, then come home and become a family,” Ruth explained.
Naomi watched the two people she loved a whole lot face the room.All the folks in the big room full of chairs clapped for them, and Aunt Helen was smiling.She hardly ever smiled, and this must mean she was happy.Naomi very seldom saw Aunt Helen happy, and she thereby concluded in her six-year-old brain that being married must be a good thing.Her mommy was married to her daddy, and she was happy.Grandma Ruth was married to the Grandpa Man and baked goodies every day but didn’t get fat, so she must be happy too.It was then that she decided by the end of this party thing for Aunt Helen and Uncle Jay, she was going to find herself a husband so she could go on a trip to a hotel to swim in a pool and live happily ever after.
