by Bush, J. M.
“Yes, ma’am,” Tara replied with feigned annoyance. “Jeez, Miss Bossy Pants. Get a house, a diner, and a fiancé and all of a sudden you’re the queen of the world.”
“Tara, I’m sorry if that came off as rude. I’m just nervous, is all,” Samantha said, putting a hand on her best friend’s cheek. “And you know, it all seems so sudden, even though I signed those papers for the house and our diner over a year ago, and August only proposed six months ago. Should we have waited longer?”
Samantha said “our diner” because as soon as legally possible she had signed half of it over to Tara, since she had been there just as long and worked just as hard to keep that place going.
“Do you feel like you should have waited, Sam?” Tara asked, already knowing the answer.
Samantha looked at her, and with the world’s biggest smile, said, “Hell no, sweets. Hell no. I want August all to myself as soon as possible; every night and day!”
Tara, still fussing with Samantha’s hair, said, “Oh, tell me again how August proposed to you, Sam. I love that story.”
“Well, I love it, too,” Samantha replied, “So I’ll tell it. As you know, I waited as long as possible to install the mandatory Nutricator in our diner. August knew I was feeling pretty upset about having it in there, so he chose that day to propose. He said that he was initially going to do it another time, but he felt that I especially needed something good to happen on that specific day, you know?”
“Mmmm- hmmm,” Tara said with a grin and a wink.
Sam continued. “Anyway, as he walked me home down West Main, right as we passed between the lanterns…between our lanterns, he knelt down and pulled the box out of his pocket. As soon as he did that, I knelt down, too, and pulled a box out of my pocket.”
Tara hooted with laughter at this, and said, “I utterly adore that part! Why did you have a box with a ring in it, again?”
“You see, sweets,” Sam reminded her, “I was planning on asking him to marry me. I had made him a ring out of wood a couple of months before, and I’d been carrying it around just waiting for the right moment. Well, when he got down on one knee between the lanterns, I knew that was the right moment! So we asked each other at the same time right there, between the lanterns. I gave him the wooden ring I had made, and August gave me this beautiful diamond ring that used to be his granny’s.”
Tara and Samantha both looked at the antique ring she was wearing. It was a platinum band with an almost one- karat diamond. It wasn’t big, but Samantha didn’t care about that. She knew that this ring had a history, and it was important to August. It was Samantha’s favorite possession.
“Sam, it’s a gorgeous ring,” Tara said, jealous but happy for her friend.
“Thank you, sweets. I think so, too. Now, my life is perfect except for one thing,” Samantha said, sadness dripping from the words.
Tara tilted her head at Samantha, and asked, “What’s that, Sam?”
Sam shook her head and closed her eyes, whispering, “Having that filthy machine in our diner, making nasty, old, fake food for silly fools who wouldn’t know a good bite of food if it bit them back.”
Tara threw her head back and laughed even more, saying, “Oh, it’s not so bad, and you know it, Sam! Business has tripled since we put in the Nutricator. We actually make enough Credit now to afford some nice things. Did you know that last week I went ahead and got a Montek.Automaton?”
Samantha whirled on her oldest friend in the world with shock and disgust plastered all over here face and said, “Sweets, why on God’s green Earth would you buy one of those dreadful things? Who is it for?”
Tara laughed at the expected response from Samantha, and replied, “It’s mine, for your information. And no, I’m not dying. I just wanted to have it and be prepared, since I’ve already got the Credit for it. One day, I’ll be standing in the corner of the diner greeting all the customers as a tin can full of memories. Won’t that be just weird as all get out?”
Tara always did have a sick sense of humor. Sam said, “Then you better go before I do because I’m not having one of those things in the diner all day long. It would creep me out, sweets.”
“Sam, there’s at least two in the diner all the time, anyways,” Tara said. “Those things have surprisingly caught on. Some people never leave home without their loved one’s’ memories walking beside them.”
Tara was right. In the year and a half since John had passed away in the clinic on West Main Street, the Montek.Automaton had become the newest and most fashionable trend since the Nutricator. Montek’s plan to soften people’s hearts had worked, to a degree. People were still rude and uncaring about anyone but themselves, but now they remarkably mourned for the loss of life. Well, the loss of someone close to them at least. They still didn’t care about complete strangers and their misfortunes.
The problem was, people weren’t mourning and letting go. They were buying new and better models of these damned robot caskets, and taking their automatons with them everywhere. They took them to work, to dinner, to the bathroom, to church (those who still went to church, that is), to Frizball games. Name an event, and there were at least a few Montek.Automatons in attendance.
They had become so commonplace that no one even noticed anymore. If you had one with you, it was like a watch or new pair of shoes. People would compliment you on the design, and then never pay attention to it again. People’s dead relatives were now relegated to an accessory.
“Be that as it may, sweets, I don’t want you to be inside one of those machines. It just don’t seem right to me,” Sam told her long-time friend.
“Too late, Sam. I done bought one and it’s gonna happen one day,” Tara replied. “I don’t know why you act so nasty about them. Your husband -to -be, the man you are just about to marry in a couple of minutes, is the manager of a plant that builds the automatons. That’s got to be a lucrative job, right? So why hate the thing making your family lots of Credit?”
“Not at all, sweets,” Sam said sourly. “Montek pays next to nothing, even for management. I’ve told August to quit and start a local repair shop, but he’s too afraid that it would fail, and then we’d be even worse off. Hopefully, now that we’ll be married, I can convince him that he doesn’t need to work for Montek. I can support us while he gets the business going.”
Tara nodded along, not paying much attention. She was too busy thinking about Montek’s latest tech catalog that came out last week and window-shopping in her mind.
Sam kept on talking, not noticing Tara’s lack of interest, saying, “I just know it would be better for us, sweets. He’s obsessed with these automatons. He’s neutral about if he or I should be in one when we pass, so he’s not as crazy as you buying one already, but he talks about them all the time. You know, a lot of the improvements in their functions and design came from August. Of course, Montek took the credit and only paid him a small bonus, but he is the one responsible for their increased emotional capacity and dialogue options. I may not approve of those things, but I am proud of August for what he’s accomplished.”
“Well, I think you need to stop worrying about automatons right now,” Tara said, hearing a call from outside the room. “It’s time. Are you ready?”
Samantha was so nervous; her stomach was in knots. She checked the mirror and saw the gorgeous dress, her black hair down and flowing around her shoulders, and her make-up looking perfect; not too much, and not hiding her freckles, of which August was so fond.
“I’m ready, sweets,” she said. “Let’s do this.”
-
August was a mess. His stomach was a bubbling caldron of witches’ brew. He felt he might throw up, pass out, or have a very violent sit- down with the porcelain chair.
“You alright, man?” Bobby asked. “You look like terrible. Here, take a sip of this wine. It’s amazing, dude.”
Bobby Li had been August’s only friend for as long as he could remember. He wasn’t as open and caring as August would have liked
in a best friend. He was like most other people today, in that way. But he was fun, hilarious, could sing like an angel, and never let August down. They grew up near each other and hung out almost every day from middle school to when they graduated high school.
After that, they didn’t see each other as much. August had worked on the assembly line, and Bobby was a traveling musician. He was on the road all of the time. It would be nice to say that Bobby got to travel around playing songs he wrote to huge, adoring audiences, but that was just not the case. Bobby also worked for Montek, and went to their many conventions around the country, playing soothing music that was scientifically proven to put customers in a buying mood. It was selling out big -time, but a Credit is a Credit, and you can’t eat hopes and dreams.
August took the offered glass of wine. It was sweet, delicious, and had a bit of a kick to it. It was real wine. Not Nutricator garbage.
“Wow. That’s fantastic, Bobbo,” August said, feeling the burn in his chest. “What is it?”
“It’s muscadine wine, dude. You’re getting married at a muscadine vineyard, you know?” Bobby replied.
“Oh, yeah. Well, we didn’t pick this place for its association with alcohol,” August said. “Though now I’m thinkin’ that it’s a very lucky coincidence. We chose Maria’s Vineyard because it’s the most beautiful place for an outdoor weddin’ in New Dothan. And Sam surely deserves the best.”
Bobby poured another glass and handed it to August, and said, “Cheers to that, Auggie. Don’t gulp it, though;: I don’t want you falling down when you’re up there. It might embarrass your wife-to-be.”
“Right. I better put this down, then,” August said, resisting the temptation to down another glass of the strong wine to cool his nerves. “Oh, did you grab those things I asked about, Bobbo?”
“Yeah, man, I got ‘’em right here,” he said, holding up the unusual bridal gift. “I still can’t begin to understand why you need these, but I stopped trying to understand you and gadgets a loooooong time ago, Auggie.”
The two friends shared a good, long laugh at that, and then August put one arm around Bobby and said, “Listen, Bobbo, thanks for being my best man. It means a lot to me.”
“Don’t get all weird on me,” Bobby said, shrugging out of the hug. “We’re buds, and it’s my honor. Now let’s get out there before she beats you to the altar.”
“Right,” August said, taking them from Bobby. “I need to set these up before she starts walking down the aisle.”
The chairs set up for the wedding were few, but filled. They had decided on no designated sides; people could just sit wherever they wanted, and that included family. Since Samantha had no family, August had decided to skip the whole parents -sit -up -front thing. If they got there early enough, his parents could sit up front. Otherwise, they’d have to be happy with whatever they got. He had already explained this to his parents, but it didn’t matter to them. By the way they reacted, August would be surprised if his parents even showed up. Which, of course, they didn’t.
Looking out at the crowd, he was pleased to see two newer models of Montek.Automatons in attendance. He felt pride when he looked at those machines. After John had died, and they had the option of putting his memories inside of one of them, August had begun working on the automatons at the factory. He found that their limitations were astonishingly frustrating, and he was glad they hadn’t chosen that path with John.
For starters, they couldn’t have afforded it. Even a year ago when they first came out, it cost as much Credit as a new AutoCar just for the body of the automaton. Affordable, Dr. Granger had said... yYeah, right. The BrainSave was a good deal cheaper, though, and still is. The new automaton bodies were even more expensive, thanks in part to some of August’s contributions. He never really thought about the ramifications of improving these machines. He just saw a problem and tried to solve it.
His surprise for Samantha in place, August stood and waited for his bride-to-be. She had not let him see the dress before the wedding. August was glad of that because now there was a sense of mystery to go along with his anticipation to marry the love of his life. Suddenly the music started, and people turned their heads, waiting to catch a glimpse of the bride.
Samantha took a deep breath and stepped out into the courtyard of the vineyard. She saw the audience turned back to look at her, and felt her face blush with embarrassment. Samantha’s gaze drifted further and settled on August, who was more breathtaking than Sam had imagined. He had insisted that she not see his tuxedo or him in it. He had only done so to tease her because she had set those same rules for her dress, but now she was glad he had insisted.
She was already happier than she ever believed possible, but at seeing him in that nicely cut tux with tails and a very handsome ivory vest and tie, she was filled with even more love and anticipation. She wanted to hold him and have him hold her. She wanted to feel his heartbeat against her cheek. At that moment, Samantha never wanted to stop holding August… and then she looked above his head, and her knees went weak. The Bride began to cry tears of endless joy. Samantha didn’t care if she was holding up the ceremony or making a scene. She lost control right there on the bed of roses that covered the aisle.
When Sam walked out, August’s heart exploded with light. He had never seen a person looking more radiant in his life. Samantha looked more breathtaking than he had imagined possible. Her dress was a Renaissance style, and she resembled a princess from an ancient legend. It was an ivory color that matched exactly with his vest and tie. He had no idea how they had matched unintentionally, but it was perfect. It’s how their entire relationship had always been;: filled with fortuitous circumstance.
August could barely breathe with the sight of her looming in his vision. He noticed her look up and see the surprise he had added at the last minute. When she began to cry profoundly, August could not control himself, and he wept along with her. It was a cry that came from deep within his soul, and it was a gift to Samantha.
He didn’t care if anyone judged him for crying. He didn’t care if they were holding up the ceremony. It was their wedding, after all. August just wanted to hold her, and for Samantha to hold him back. He wanted to kiss the top of her head, and the back of her neck. He wanted to smell her hair and nothing else.
Samantha started walking again and then broke into a run. She collided with August in front of their gathered friends and family. She kissed him deeply to shocked gasps, and even a few oohs and ahhs.
“Are those our lanterns, sweets?” she asked breathlessly.
“The very same, love,” August answered, grinning from ear to ear. “The ones from down at the end of West Main Street.”
“How… how did you get them? Have you been drinking? Are you going to jail?” sShe asked, concealing a smile.
August laughed, and answered, “No, Sam, I’m not going to jail, but I did have a few sips of muscadine wine. Let’s just say there are two perfectly good and newly repaired replacements floating above people’s heads on West Main.”
“It’s amazing, August,” Samantha said. “It’s… perfect. It’s us.”
“I couldn’t go through with this unless we had our lanterns,” he said, shrugging. “Everything important that has ever happened to me happened between these lanterns. I intend to continue that tradition for the rest of our lives together. When we have babies, when we have anniversary dinners, when I hold you in our home, it’ll be between the lanterns.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, sweets. Now, what say we get ourselves hitched? Care to join me?” Samantha said, extending her arm for him to take.
August clicked a switch on his cell, using an app he had designed, and the two lanterns sprang to life, bathing them in the softest golden glow. From everyone watching’s point of view, August and Samantha went from regular people to beings of light and magic. It was the most beautiful wedding in the history of New Dothan.
Chapter 8
SOMETHIN’ IS BURNING
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br /> “Happy Anniversary, sweets!” Samantha squealed while handing August a large, gift- wrapped box with a big silver bow on top.
“Happy Anniversary, babe,” he replied, planting a quick kiss on her soft, thin lips. “I can’t believe our weddin’ was a year ago, you know?” Hefting the large box in his hand, August added, “Wow, this thing feels heavy. You didn’t have to get me somethin’ so big, Sam!”
“Oh just hush up and open it,” she urged him. “Go on.”
August did as instructed and unwrapped the box. Inside, he found something that he didn’t quite expect but loved nonetheless. He thought it was the coolest thing anyone had ever done for him.
“Sam, did you make this?” he asked in awe. “It’s amazin’, love!”
Inside the box was a carved wooden figure that stood as tall as August’s knees. It was a sculpture of the newest model from the Montek.Automaton line, which was the most advanced version yet. Plus, this latest advancement was only possible because of August. Montek still didn’t give out any thanks or say he was responsible. They still only gave him a small Credit bonus for all of his hard work. But August said that he didn’t do it for recognition or Credit anyways. Once the man noticed something that he didn’t like, August just had to find a way to fix it.
“Well, sweets. I’m just so proud of all the work you’ve done and how far along you’ve brought their odd little project, that I wanted you to have one,” Samantha told her smiling husband. “And since I don’t like the big tin cans, I thought this was the next-best thing. It doesn’t do anything. Heck, it doesn’t even have movable joints. It’s just a wooden statue.”
“Oh Sam,” he said, turning the deceptively heavy sculpture over in his hands, “it’s better than the real thing. It’s a work of art, babe! I love it so much. And I love you, too. Thank you.” He kissed her again, and then, rubbing his hands together, said, “Now, it’s your turn!”
