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Show -84 blew itself out against the gold-tasselled American flag in the corner. The flag was a gift from a grateful governor to Maybelle's second husband, who had in his spare time been a colonel in the Arizona Air National Guard. His pinched military face stared down at us from a somberly clumsy oil painting on the wall. I supposed that it was my duty as bridegroom to seem full of ritual good cheer and I didn't want to disappoint anybody. I pumped every hand that was offered me and smiled sincerely until my face ached with the strain. Here goes, I said to myself, I'm on my way to becoming a man of account. "Well, boy, I hope you make a success of married life." Maybelle's benediction, delivered in her East Texas accent, sounded like a second warning. A fat man looked Mary-Ellen up and down and winked at me; I glared back and he turned away. "We're going to be very happy," Mary-Ellen reassured her aunt. I had a moment of panic and held tight to her hand. Did I love this woman? I wasn't certain. It wasn't the giddy head over heels feeling I'd had for Jenny but I told myself this was a deeper and more mature emotion; I squeezed her hand tighter to dispel any doubts. It felt enough like love to make my twenty-three year old heart beat quicker. "Now look, you--" I said. |