In the Slammer Ch. 06

Fuck that shit. I had zero interest in filling out some damn form just so that some damn judge could fuck things up all over again. I had Dolores' address. I'd just have to do without her letters.

There was only one bus a day that went to Alderville, and there was no way I could get back downtown in time to catch it. But it took the Pulaski Pike, which was only about a half a mile away. I wasn't 100% sure whether buses were allowed to pick up passengers en route, but I figured if I stood right out in the middle of the road and waved my arms like a madman it might improve my chances. The driver was a nice guy. He pulled over and let me on.

—

I didn't know they still had towns like Alderville: pretty little houses on pretty tree-lined streets, kids playing in the backyards. Nobody was home at the address Mrs. Carlsen had given me, so I sat on the steps and watched the clouds drift by.

I remembered how sometimes when we were in our cell, Dolores would lay up on the upper bunk watching the clouds out the window and just humming to herself. Real soft, oblivious of me, off in some happy place of her own. People on the inside were always drifting off to places of their own, but they usually weren't very happy ones. Licking old wounds, rehashing old gripes, relitigating old wrongs. But wherever it was that Dolores went, it always seemed bright and happy.

—

Two girls came walking up the block, carrying sacks of groceries. They spotted me sitting on the step, One of them gave a squeak and just let her sack drop to the sidewalk. It was the first time I'd never seen Dolores wearing regular clothes.

She came running and I met her halfway and she jumped right up into my arms and I held her tight.

"You made it."

"I made it."

"You didn't answer my letters."

"Fucking county never delivered them."

"Your girlfriend wasn't there."

"I tracked you down, though."

"I didn't know what to do."

"Looks like you did pretty good."

The other girl was just coming up, holding both bags of groceries. I put Dolores down and took one of them from her.

"Hector," I told her.

She smiled. She'd already figured that out.

"Thanks so much for . . ."

" 'Course," she said.

—

Dolores gave me a little tour of the house. Her room, Clarisse's room, the kitchen where Clarisse was fixing supper, the apple tree out back. The couch in the living room was a little more beat up than Sharon's.

"You can sleep here. You might have to put the cushions down on the floor if you don't fit."

"Can't we stay together?"

"But don't you think we ought to start doing things the right way now?"

She glanced into the kitchen. Clarisse was at the stove, within earshot. She ushered me out onto the front porch.

"I've been to talk with Father O'Shaughnessy. There are these preparation classes we'll have to take, but that will be OK because Annie won't be out until then anyway. It won't have to be big or anything, just big enough for everybody who ought to be there. And we can have the reception in the hall. Clarisse says she can do the catering. Unless you think we should have it somewhere else."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said. "Trying to catch up here. Isn't there something else that kind of has to come first?'

"The rings you mean? There doesn't have to be an engagement ring. It's not, like, mandatory. We can't afford one anyway. I hope you don't mind. I mean, it's not like I'll be having to fend off that many guys before we get the real ones."

"The asking, I mean."

She gave me a puzzled look. Then she grinned.

"Oh yeah. I guess I kind of just took it for granted. But you're right. If we're going to do it right, we should go by the book. So do you want to ask me? I think you already know the answer. Or do you want me to ask you?"

—

I didn't ask her, though. Not then. I did move in with them. I slept on the cushions on the floor. I got a part-time job at the hardware store to pay my share of the groceries and rent. Dolores and I went out on real dates. There was an Italian restaurant in town. It was no Luigi's, but it had checkered tablecloths and crisp bread sticks and we liked going there. There was also a library, and we spent many evenings reading to each other, like we had in our cell.

I went with Dolores to the preparation classes. They weren't exactly like Mrs. Carlsen's hygiene classes, but they were pointed in the same general direction. Father O'Shaughnessy was big on financial literacy and spousal communication. He also had to get in his quota of religious stuff, but it was mostly things that Mrs. Carlsen had been trying to teach us anyway. Dolores took it pretty serious, so I did too.

Annie finally got out, and she and Otis came up to see us. Clarisse and Otis cooked barbecue in the backyard, and we invited over some of the neighbors.

Annie and I were sitting on the bench. She asked me how Dolores and I were getting on. I told her about the letters and the return address and the Italian restaurant and the books.

"Uh-hunh," she said. "Dolores tells me you're dragging your feet."

"Wait. What? No. It's just . . ."

"It's just . . .?"

"It's kind of a big commitment she's looking for."

"The two of you are meant for each other. You know that."

"You always say that. You say that my falling out of the sky into her cell must have been the hand of something. But how can anyone really know for sure if something is the hand of something or not?"

She looked at me, kind of incredulously. "Whose hand was it that flagged down that bus?

"Look, Hector. You're always too worried about what's going to come. What's going to come is going to come. Good things and bad things, aggravation and delight. We got no real say in what's going to come. But we can choose whose side we're going to be at when it does."

I'm not going to tell you that that's when I finally made up my mind, but later that evening I got down on my knee, right there in front of the apple tree, in front of everybody, and asked Dolores if she'd be my bride. She said yes. There was cheering and crying and hugging and back slapping.

—

The wedding's going to be a week from Saturday. Annie and Clarisse will be the bridesmaids. Otis will be my best man. Mrs. Carlsen will do the reading. Sharon is coming, and Misha. Rachel Ramirez sent a nice card from L.A. Sophie is sending a lei from Hawaii.

Dolores will be wearing white.