The Door was #$%&ing Closed (and a collection of other shorts)

Textbook, Blackboard, Classroom, and Marriage

A Sugarcoat story

A Modest sequel to Calendar Girls

Sugarcoat sighed as she looked at the empty classroom. In truth she wasn’t required to come in today, but there was a few last minute things she needed take care of, and since the state board of education had decided to close all of the schools out of the fear of the new string of the flu going around, it meant that she would have far longer to enjoy her break. Getting the papers graded and sorted would only allow her the chance to really enjoy herself.

Her Android buzzed, and she looked at it. Seeing that Fancy Pants was calling her she answered the phone. She quickly put it on speaker, and continued to work through the pile of essay papers she had assigned the students.

“Mmm, dearest, I believe you have forgotten something,” Fancy said over the line.

“It’s unlikely. I have everything down in my planner, and backed up on google calendar,” she replied.

“True, but I’m very certain that you’ve forgotten something. Something quite large in fact,” he said.

She looked at the phone, hit the video button, and a moment later she could see Fancy’s face. Then she noticed the tux, the crowd, and her eyes widened.

“Oh… the practice, I had that down at seven pm, why is now?”

He laughed, “Dearest, we discussed this earlier. Some of those who are in the wedding won’t be able to attend the seven pm practice, and it was going to be best to hold it now at three. We did have a small snaffu in the respect that the blushing bride didn’t appear.”

She sighed, “I’m sorry, I was thinking that I had plenty of time. I can rush over in a few minutes.”

He smiled, and she loved seeing that smile, “That sounds perfectly wonderful dearest. I shall await you here.”

The line disconnected, and she looked at the essay in front of her. She needed to get going, to get to the church, and go through the dress rehearsal, but then looking at the essay in front of her she needed to check it. One of her students had come so far, and she wanted to check his progress. He still talked with the same accent as his relatives that lived here, but she had seen his writing really improve. She checked it, seeing that his argument was done with some true thought on the matter at hand.

In this case he was making a case about how state, and local government agencies had been called to go and check on his grandmother, but none of them had gotten out there after three hours. It had taken his uncle calling the delivery service at Silly Billy’s Pizza and Arcade to actually get someone to check on her. Which at the same time he was able to feed her. It was a brilliant example of government funded services falling short. He had even went further to show other examples of the same, and then he used data that was published in a journal that was found online.

The source was respectable, and she had allowed it. Along with the other news stories that he’d dug up it had shown how the local government agencies, and even state government agencies, had failed when it came to simply going out and checking on an elderly individual, and each time that something as simple as a pizza delivery driver was used the elderly person wasn’t only checked on, but they were fed as well.

Even though she herself believed in having a government that was capable of assisting its citizens she found no fault in his logical conclusion that it was apparent that a libertarian government seemed to be far more reactive toward the needs of its citizens as long as there was a service that was used in order to meet that need. Despite her own bias she only marked the few grammatical errors, gave the essay a ninety percent, and recorded it.

With that she left the school, drove toward the church, and made her apologies. She saw Fancy looking at her. His eyes bright, his smile infectious, and she couldn’t help but to return it. She saw Indigo sitting at a pew, her belly swollen due to the pregnancy, and of course the rest of her friends were there as well. She walked toward the small dressing room, and she saw the dress that Sunny had made for her.

The dress was perfect, it slipped on like silk, clung to her just right, and she slowly stood and admired herself in the mirror. Married. For the longest time the word frightened her. It frightened her because of how it connected to her in her mind. Her parents were married, but their marriage was something of a convenience anymore. She had seen other parents who deeply cared for one another. Even Second’s parents had something of a loving relationship, but her parents seemed almost to treat their marriage like a business relationship.

She wondered if they had actually loved one another before they married, and then she realized that it didn’t matter. Fancy was marrying her because he loved her. She agreed because she loved him. Whatever happened, wherever their lives led to after this, it would be done because the decision was made with love. She walked out, and she felt someone take her arm. She looked to see Second. He gave her a smile.

“I hoped that you didn’t mind me being the stand in,” he said.

She shook her head, “Thank you. Granted you’re not my father, and the idea that you could be giving me away is ridiculous in so many ways that it is beyond laughable.”

He laughed, “Sure, but since you didn’t want to invite your parents…”

She gave him a small smile, “I know, and thank you,” she said.

He walked her to the front. There ahead of them was Starlight Glimmer. She smiled at all of them, “Well, since we are all here, what do you say we run through this?”