number 10
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The wedding

The day before the wedding, the French and English family arrived. The English family, two uncles and two aunts, all of about my age, came for tea at our apartment. We talked and played music. The French family arrived by train. They were all very emotional and friendly. Again it was a beautiful day. Everybody loved Amsterdam. "She has never looked so well", her mother said to me. "The Dutch life does her good." In the evening we had dinner together. After that we went to a bar for a drink. We went home early. Running, to become calm. "How do you feel?", we asked eachother. We didn't have an answer. We didn't sleep very well that night.

The day of our wedding was also a lovely day. At nine she went to the hairdresser. At ten, I went to the hotel to meet her family. With her father, her aunt and her uncle, I walked to the town hall. The sun was shining. My family, my mother and my sister and her daughter were already waiting. About ten minutes later, #1, her partner and my son arrived. "You two look very much alike", said her uncle to my sister and #1. "That is the reason he went with her in the first place", my sister said, jokingly. Everyone was in a good mood. A little later the rest of the family arrived. Her mother and sister and her two brothers with their girlfriends. She had instructed me to tell her mother and sister how lovely they looked. So I did. "I must take care not to marry the wrong one", I said, hugging her sister. Also my younger sister with her husband and children arrived. Finally she came. She looked like a Parisien model, in a very tight dress, looking very anxious and nervous.

The ceremony was mostly in Dutch. Typical Amsterdam style, lax. #1's partner made an attempt at translating it in English. The marriage vow was in French, however. We were standing on a platform, that started rotating when we were to make our pledge. I felt a slight vertigo. After saying the "yes" (she said "oui") to eachother, we were both almost in tears. (Were we?) I felt dizzy, we were married. From now on, we were living in another world.

She told me afterwards that her brothers took her in their arms and asked her whether she was happy. She said, she didn't know, so she didn't say anything.

I had arranged a boat to take us to the restaurant where the lunch would take place. Everyone enjoyed the view of the canals. And the cool air. I was complimented for having organized it.

At the restaurant, we unpacked the presents. We kissed and thanked everybody. We got beautiful things. The next day, our house looked lovelier than ever.

The restaurant was near a church. The carillon was playing all the time. We took care that everybody was happy. We did not pay much attention to eachother. Why should we? We had a lifetime waiting.

Towards the end of the afternoon, everybody went home. The French family left first, then my family. Only the English branch remained to help us with our presents. Everybody had liked everybody, as they said. We agreed to have a reunion the next year.

At home, we opened another bottle of wine, unwilling to end the day. Then we took the English family to their hotel. Walking to the hotel, some old guy sitting in front of a cafe shouted: "You will never make it". I was annoyed, but didn't say anything. "He was right, that guy", she remarked later. Waiting for the family to pack, we took another drink and smoked a joint. The joint killed her right away. Also her uncle passed out. They drove us home and I carried her upstairs. I put her on the bed. Her uncle took a long time to say goodbye to her, and an even longer time to go to the toilet. I was wondering what the two of them were doing, but I decided not to interfere. It was a family affair. God knows what happened in the past.

The next day, we woke up with a hangover. She had a nausea. "Not exactly the erotic route", she joked on the telephone. That afternoon we made love, but there wasn't much difference with how it was before the wedding. We were slightly disappointed. What did you expect? To live in a completely different reality? Since the nausea continued, she did a pregnancy test. To my surprise it was positive. She got very nervous, and I phoned a doctor to have the test confirmed. The next morning, Sunday, the test was confirmed. She was pregnant. It was a love baby. She complained about the Dutch doctors and the primitive way everyhting was done here. That evening we informed our families. "That's fast", they said. Indeed, that was fast. Were we happy with it? Yes, I think so. But I don't know. We were still exhausted.


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(C) Æliens 2005

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