Bits of life

A-30 Words-1575

Do I have to listen to it through others and not you?”
I could understand her anger though I was not sure she was exactly angry with me. You see, Ashley was a person who was not capable of getting angry with someone or anyone. That was one of the reasons why she was a successful physiotherapist.
We agreed to meet at her place after my forenoon session at the office. In the office it was once again celebration time. Everyone gathered in my room to make a toast to the successful operation on one more important projects launched by Jim Mackenzie. After that we had consultations with one another from various departments and made a rough road map for the upcoming project. Things included to discuss were; whom to meet, what to talk and how best we could present the job needs, money grant, division between labor and management, what were the gains, how best can we manage the profit if there was any and several other issues that needed to be discussed.
We agreed to take suitable steps as and when that was required.

Ashley was waiting for me by the time I reached her home.
“Hi, Jim come and meet my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sanders. They live in Kingston, West Indies.”
The gentleman and the lady were in their sixties and late fifties. He was tall and she reached his shoulders while standing. Fair of complexion, healthy and active looking, they were impressive. No wonder they sired a lovely daughter like Ashley. They have a provision store over there and they call it, “Home Needs.” Dad is very generous with his customers. In desperate times he lets them at a later time.”
Mr. Sanders was smiling benignly at his daughter and me.
“Well, Jim, let me come to the point as why we are here. Our daughter finally agreed to tie the knot. She told us about you, your mom and the family. Why not we meet your mom and together we can set the date of marriage and the venue where it is going to take place,” said Miriam, Ashley’s mom.
I felt as though gods were kind to me and brought these two people for my sake to our city and offered to get us married.
“I am so fortunate Ma’am and Sir. This is our long time wish,” I fumbled.
Miriam immediately objected to the suffixes and said, “call us mom and dad Jim. We are going to be family.”

A little later I took them to my mom. Before that I rang her and told her of the wish of Ashley’s parents.
She reacted by inviting them over to lunch and offered to spend the day with them in the house.
When we reached home, mom, Sarah and Jonathan, and lo, surprisingly, Cathy and Ryan too were standing on the front porch welcoming us in.
“Quite a big reception we have here Jim,” said Mr. Sanders with his typical disarming smile.
After the introductions were over, we took the guests to the dining table where mom and aunt Sarah had already spread a warm lunch.
Besides noodles and quinoa, mom made crab curry, and prawns cooked in white sauce with beans and tomato. Aunt Sarah made some chicken timbuctoo a famous South African dish.
Awesome! Was what Miriam said after tasting the preparations.
Guests, being hungry made short of the delicious lunch and leaving as much as enough quantity for two more people.
As if appointed by God, uncle John and Elvira arrived half an hour later. They broke the delightful news of their engagement and readiness to marry after we agree to dates.
After they have had their lunch, we sat together in the drawing room, munching on slices of plum cake. My mom always kept desserts and snacks in story. Bringing up a hungry boy didn’t allow her much leisure.
Then Ryan announced that he and Cathy got engaged and that he observed that John beat him in breaking the news of his engagement first.
Everyone started wondering and laughing at the way our wheel of fortune turned in everyone’s favor.
“So guys, what do you think we should do now? Let us not forget that we are all very close and that we want everyone to attend every single marriage,” said uncle John.
“Hear, hear,” said Cathy, “you are so right John. I don’t want anyone missing my marriage,” she asserted.
“Cathy just expressed our very thoughts on the subject,” said Elvira, looking cool in a white top and blue jeans. John put his arm around her and whispered some sweet nothing into her ear which in turn made her blush.
“We don’t allow secrets here,” said my mom jokingly. She was joyful for her brother getting married at last.
Jonathan got up and said, “ I have one solution to offer.” All of us looked at him open mouthed.
When did Jonathan grow up to advise us in matters of marriage? I wondered.
“Come on Johnny, give us your valuable guiding tip please,” said Ashley, looking proud and happy at his expressive face.
Jonathan said with his newly gained confidence, “why don’t you all get married at our Emerald farm? My grandparents will be two happy souls when their spirits look upon this festive scene, colorful brides and their affectionate grooms. How many couples? Let me count, uncle John and Elvira, Mr. Ryan Anderson and Cathy Coolwaters, Mr., James Mackenzie and Ashley Sanders. That makes three couples. So I will further venture and tell you let us allocate one day to one couple to be married. So how many days would it take for all of them to be married? Three days. On the third day we will have dinner at the hotel grand bay and sent the newly marrieds to their destinations of honeymoon.”

Applause broke out. It was a great plan and a great idea that Jonathan chose Emerald farm as the grand wedding venue. My mom had fixed the dates with everyone’s approval and the unique thing about the wedding was that a single card was chosen to announce all the three weddings. Now the guests had to stay to attend all the three weddings spread over three days. I was sure it was a unique and a life time experience to them too. All the guests met again on the next day to discuss the arrangements and expenses for all the three wedding receptions. The other two couples that is me and Ashley, Ryan and Cathy hadn’t agreed to uncle John’s proposal to bear with the expenses for all weddings. They agreed to share everything.

A month later, we gathered at the Emerald farm to celebrate the weddings. The farm house was decorated colorfully. It was painted anew a week before. Rooms were made ready for the relatives and friends of each bride and Ryan Anderson. My boss Mr. Moore and the rest of the staff at “Future Solutions” had attended each wedding and enjoyed each reception with camaraderie.
The whole Town of Elizabeth attended the weddings as each bride and bride groom resplendent in their wedding attire kissed each other and sealed their togetherness forever by exchanging rings and wedding wows in the local church. While mine and Ashley’s reception took place at the hotel Grand Bay, uncle John and Elvira’s reception took place at the Emerald Farm. Ryan and Cathy said that they will call for a party after their honeymoon. That gave their relatives to come from far, enough time. It made sense and so we didn’t bother them too much.

Ashley and I had decided to stay in our house. I was happy that Ashley didn’t demand to move out and have a house of our own. I was glad she realized the value of having mom with us. Elders like her always provided support to the young couple. I could not think of living away from mom. Jonathan will soon move to his mother’s house. He would go back to school and come to us whenever he or aunt Sarah needed our help or mom’s advice.

Elvira had decided to put her research to practice with a few acres of land this year and expand it to the rest of the farm land depending upon the results as to how the yield was and how far had her experiment with controlling the pest and weed worked and succeeded on the land she chose. .

On the fourth day after the weddings, before the newlyweds dispersed to their honeymoon travels, uncle John threw a farewell party on the wide lawns of Emerald Farm. Tables were placed for the guests to have dinner under the golden light of the full moon as well as the neon lights hung from suitable places in the garden. It was a cool evening in September. We had bid good bye to summer and welcomed the beginning of autumn. We no longer needed the fans or air conditioning. Season of plenty was with us. Melodious music flowed from the stereo phones. The happy reunion among the members of our family made it all the more splendid.

As I looked at them I recalled the parties that my grandfather used to throw for his pals and relatives occasionally. He used to say it was good for the people to meet once in a while and exchange new. What a lovely thought!