Читать книгу Darwin Alone in the Universe - M.A.C. Farrant - Страница 15

THE WHITE SATIRE

THE BRIDE’S DRESS WAS BEAUTIFUL. It was made of white satire and flowed about her in an elegant trample.

The wedding ceremony took place on a revolving stair and was conducted by the lead guitarist of a local rock group. Afterwards, the groom bowed and the bride did a ballerina curtsy. The audience was huge and everyone applauded. But the groom had had enough by then and became slack and cold. Now the bride saw him as a thin and sour manager. The man in her mind had fled!

A dear friend stepped in and became the stand-in groom. Together they greeted the guests. There was no harm in this. Everyone thought the stand-in was the groom.

As for the real groom, he was never seen again.

“What lucre!” cried the bride.

Now she gives talks on wedding preparations to dazed young wits. They all want a white satire like hers.

“White satires are essentially harmless and delightful,” the bride tells them. “Setting is important, of course, but anything loose will do—a hallucination, the great outrageous. A reluctant groom is useful for the photographs but if one isn’t available, a stand-in will do. After that … pfft! And make sure the minister is novel.”

The young wits are taking notes. “Reluctant groom,” they write. “Novel!” “Hallucination!” “Outrageous!“ “Delight!”