The Wedding Cake In The Middle Of The Road

DJ Hazard

The Wedding Cake In The Middle Of The Road was an anthology conceived by Susan Stamberg and co-edited by George Garrett. This is an unsolicited version by DJ Hazard

After a hug and a shudder, she pulled back slightly and breathed, “I thought something might have happened to you.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, “But, c’mon, you knew I’d make it. What time is it?”

She gazed across the southwestern twilight as a gauze of a breeze lifted her hair.

“Any time now,” she said,”Very, very soon.”

“Do you really want to do this?” I asked her, “We could stay. It’s allowed.”

The sand and stones were in a different light now. A hushed violet that presented her tanned face and blue eyes in an even more compelling tableau.

“You know we have to,” she said, “but we’ll still be together. We’ll still be us.”

There was a box beside the road. Cardboard and string and I turned to her, “You know we can’t take anything with us. We even have to start undressing right now.”

I should have known better when I saw her smile, “Calm down. You start with yours, I’ll show you what’s in the box.”

The big bowl of darkness was completely turned upon us. The chill and the sage excited the air and, as a thousand unseen tinies droned in song, she explained.

“They do something here. I kind of like it. Actually, I think they take it a little too far, but it’s the thought that counts.”

She scooted the box out towards the yellow line, pulled back the top and sat cross-legged behind it. She began undressing as I moved over beside her.
“It’s a cake,” she said.

“I know what a cake is by now.”

“No,” she said, “Look closer.”

The soft quasi light of the stars showed two figurines, steadfast on very elaborate icing.

“It’s for you and me,” she said, “Quick, take a piece and feed it to me.”

As I did she did the same and, for a moment, we were there, naked in the middle of nowhere, feeding each other.

“It’s a gesture,” she smiled, “It just means we’ll continue to take care of each other.”

“I will. I do. Don’t I?”

She laughed and said, “That’s what they say while they’re doing this.”

We must have looked into each other for quite a while, for I never saw the starship until it was right above us.

*****