* * * * *
There was white powder all over the bottoms of his feet, a lot more of
it in between his toes.
"Okay," George said. "I see it. What does that prove?"
"You go ahead and find the powder on the rug. If I walked from here
to the dresser and back there'd be powder all over the rug where I
walked. Find it."
George looked but the rug was solid blue without any white marks on it.
"So you crawled on your hands and knees, so you walked on your hands.
Just don't tell me the scissors did that themselves. They couldn't."
"I didn't say they did it by themselves. _Something made them do it._
Something doesn't want me to get married, George. Take last night.
Someone put pineapple in my fruit cup. You know I'm allergic to
pineapple. It makes me itch all over for two days but luckily I found
it. When I came back from the florist the bridge was out. I could have
been killed if I hadn't noticed it."
George shook his head. "The bridge was _not_ out. I went back and
looked for myself later. You went the long way for nothing because the
bridge is standing as it always stood. Did you hear anything over the
radio about the bridge being out?"
"No-o-o...."
"There wasn't even any rain. Eddie-boy, you're just nervous. You're
imagining things. Judy will have a nervous wreck on her hands if you
keep this up. Look--you just sit here and wait for me while I run
downtown and get you another pair of black socks."
"Uh-unh. It's Sunday and the stores are closed."
"Okay, I'll let you wear mine. I'm only the best man and I'll wear navy
blue and no one will know the difference." George sat on the edge of
the bed next to Eddie and took off his shoes and socks. He gave the
socks--just a half-size too big--to Eddie, then padded across the room
to the chest of drawers to find a pair of navy socks for himself.
The scissors got up off the dresser again while George's back was
turned and Eddie wanted to yell, only no sound came out. He just sat
there watching while the scissors cut this new pair of black socks
neatly in half. Then George began to turn around and the scissors
dropped quickly at Eddie's feet.
George held up a pair of navy socks. "I got 'em ..." he began. "Eddie,
what the hell did you do _that_ again for?"
"Honest...."
"Never mind. We'll both wear navy." Plainly he thought his cousin Judy
was marrying a lunatic.
* * * * *
The thing that surprised Eddie most was the fact nothing happened
during the first part of the ceremony. It was an outdoor wedding and he
stood with George at the makeshift altar in the garden while Judy came
down the aisle with her entourage.
Judy was lovely in her getup, all right, only Eddie could have done
without all the pomp and ceremony. And lately there had been something
about Judy--little meannesses, some annoying petulances--which had left
Eddie on the irritable side.
It was her mother as much as anything, a fat overbearing dominating
windbag.... Eddie-boy, stop talking to yourself that way about your
future mother-in-law....
_Why should you? Go ahead, keep thinking like that if it's what you
feel. Assert yourself._
"Who said that?"
"Said what?" George wanted to know. "I didn't hear anyone. And be
quiet, Eddie--people are looking at you."
_You don't have to be quiet unless you really want to. Don't let them
rope you into anything, Eddie--it still isn't too late._
Eddie looked in vain for the source of the voice but everyone around
him seemed so utterly unperturbed that he could only conclude that he
was hearing things. Could this have been the voice of his conscience,
telling him to get out while the getting was good?
_Conscience, smonscience. No such thing, Eddie. It's me._
"Well, who are _you_?"