MORE SUMMER... Ups and downs (Part 46k)

I’m not sure if it was that she got tired of me telling her that everything would be OK or the fact that she got hungry that she finally got herself composed. The problem, then, was that her dress was soaked. The only thing we could think of was to go back to the sorority and wait until she was sure that the girls were eating supper and then try to make it up the stairs to her room without being seen. We actually waited on the porch until it appeared that everyone who was there was seated. She made it halfway up the stairs before running into a girl who was coming down. There was no way to hide the fact that she was wet so that didn’t help her already fragile mood. From the porch I could see it happen. As I waited I wondered how she’d be when she returned.

There was only one word to describe it... quiet, very quiet. I wanted to start to plan just what we had to do to actually get married. In spite of our previous “near miss” neither of us had done any research as to the requirements. Because we were in a public restaurant she didn’t want to discuss it. I promised that I’d start the next day since I didn’t have to be at the track until late in the afternoon. She seemed satisfied with that. But I told her that she‘d have to be willing to do some talking on the phone because she had to be a part of the decision making process. Reluctantly, she agreed.

The first thing was that we had to get blood tests. I’m still not sure just what the reason for that was. The next was that we had to post the banns of marriage at the church for three weeks. When I spoke to the minister I lied and told him that I was with the horses and that we’d be gone by that time. He was sympathetic and agreed to count the current week as one and then the next week would be the second and, since Sunday was the first day of the week, it would count as the third. The last obstacle was that we were supposed to be “instructed” by him. The only time we could do it was on the weekend and he agreed to meet with us both Saturday and after church on Sunday. It was going to be a hassle but I convinced Elle that, to meet her requirement of being married in a church, it was the only way it would work.

I picked her up at her school after lunch the following Saturday. We’d both gotten our blood tests and I’d made a trip to the County Clerk’s office for the license. All that was left was to have the instruction and to wait for the 5th of October. Because we were meeting with the minister on two consecutive days I needed to find a place for Elle to stay. I’d casually asked Clyde and his wife if they could/would be available for a couple of hours on that Sunday without telling him why. Some people looked at Clyde as somewhat of a fool but he was anything but. He knew something was up and he kept pressuring me about it. I broke down and told him that Elle and I were going to elope. He thought it was great but, knowing how he was, I was afraid that he’d spread the word. I begged him not to say a word to anyone. He, at his teasing best, said that unless I told him “everything”, he was going to tell. When I told him that Elle and I were getting the “instruction” both Saturday and Sunday he asked where Elle was going to stay. I shrugged my shoulders and he said that she could stay with he and his wife. I wasn’t sure how Elle would take the news but it made sense, especially since I was going to ask them to stand up for us. Clyde was giddy and couldn’t wait to go tell Jane, his wife.

When I brought Elle to their trailer that Saturday Jane was excited as a little kid. Elle quickly got over her shyness and seemed to fit right in. Clyde wasn’t there and I felt out of place so I went back to the barn. It was good because it allowed Elle to tell her of her “problem” and get her to promise she wouldn’t tell Clyde. AJ had a horse in the feature race which meant that it’d be after midnight before I’d be through work. When I stopped back to see Elle a little later and told Jane how late I’d be, she, in a nice way, said she’d see me on Sunday. I really couldn’t say much since they were being nice and putting Elle up for the night.

We went to church on Sunday and had our instruction after the service. Elle really wanted to get back to her school because she hadn’t done any studying on Saturday and she had some tests that week. It was probably the “calmest” we’d been in I don’t know how long. I knew Elle was uptight so didn’t push the item. Some kissing and hugging was as about as exciting as it got.

Since there was no reason to go back to the track so I headed for the fraternity. All the pledges were there and I really didn’t know many of them. I went to my room and found that my roommate had decided to put in bunk beds which shrunk an already tiny room to almost nothing. There was barely room for our desks. I wasn’t too happy but, again, suppressed my actual feelings, trying to keep harmony. Somehow, I managed to stay focused during the week and got some studying done. The worst part of the week was at night, at the track, and the teasing that Clyde put on me. Actually, the week really dragged.

I picked Elle up on Saturday right after her last class. She’d packed her clothes for the weekend, including the ones she would wear for the wedding, when her roommate was out of the room. When I got there I drove into the driveway and into the back yard, something I never did. Elle was waiting and threw the suitcase into the back seat and we were off. I couldn’t tell if she was excited or not. Jane had promised to cook dinner for us as a wedding present. I felt a bad because they didn’t really have the money to spend on food for us but they insisted. It turned out to be steak, something I hadn’t had in a long while. Both Clyde and I had to get up to the track so we left the girls alone. As I went out the door Jane told me that I wouldn’t see Elle until we got to the church the next day. I wondered what that was all about and asked Clyde. He just smiled with his big toothy grin but didn’t answer me.

To be continued...