Under the Bali Moon

Zena looked out to the ocean as Adan continued his welcoming. There, she focused on one ship floating so far out she could only see its navigation lights meant to both confirm and reveal its location as it floated through the night.

“You know what? Let’s stop this right now?” Zena curtly interrupted Adan.

Everyone looked at Zena nervously, as if they’d been waiting for her to say something out of line or do something outrageous.

“What? What is it, Zena? Everything okay?” Zola asked carefully as she reached over and placed a calming hand on Zena’s knee.

“Yes, silly. I’m just saying—let’s stop all this welcoming stuff,” she said, adding more cheerfulness to her tone. “In fact, Adan shouldn’t be the one welcoming us all here anyway.”

“Who should be welcoming us, Zena?” Alton asked, and at that moment he sounded as though he fully expected the people from the local crazy house to show up to take Zena away in a straitjacket and human muzzle.

“You!” Zena said. “You two. The bride and groom should be opening the wedding weekend with a welcoming for their guests.” Zena looked to Adan for support. “I’m guessing you and I have been to the same amount of weddings. Am I correct? Isn’t that how it goes?”

“Yes,” Adan confirmed.

“Oh,” Zola uttered, as if none of that had occurred to her, though Zena knew she’d been to and even participated in a few of her line sisters’ weddings. “So, that’s cool.” Zola looked at Alton, who appeared just as surprised and also speechless. “Well,” she giggled girlishly. “I guess, we both say, ‘Welcome?’”

Alton nodded as if his betrothed had really done something, and he cavalierly repeated, “Yeah. Welcome,” before easing back in his seat comfortably.

Even Adan looked perturbed by this nonchalance.

“Come on! You guys have to do better than that,” Zena pointed out. “You sound like teenagers. This is your wedding. The most adult thing you could do. You have to do better.”

“It’s not that we don’t want to do better. We just don’t know what to say,” Zola complained.

“Okay! Okay! Well, in the interest of time, and so our lovely food doesn’t go untouched for too much longer, I’ll give a suggestion,” Zena offered. “How about you two stand and welcome Adan and me here. And then share something special with us. Say...” Zena looked around and snapped her fingers as if she was trying to find a solution, but the truth was that she’d planned this—she’d already used her interrogation skills to come up with the perfect prompts to cause contention between Alton and Zola. “You could ummm... I have it... You could tell your guests what you see in each other. Why you believe your mate would make a good husband or wife.”

Adan nodded at the suggestion and looked at Alton and Zola, who started getting up rather awkwardly like two teens about to give a speech before their classmates.

“Welc—” Zola tried, but Zena quickly stopped her.

“No, Alton should start,” Zena demanded. “He’s the man. The husband. He speaks for both of you...now.”

Adan nodded again, though he also looked as if this might have been a quizzical detail for someone like Zena, who only ever let him speak first when she had nothing to say when they were children.

“Well, it’s the twenty-first century, and I don’t see my soon-to-be wife as a second-class citizen,” Alton said sarcastically. “She’s my equal. My soul mate. But I’ll play along.” He cleared his throat and shook away his nervousness. “Welcome, everyone. My lovely bride and I are so happy to have you here this evening as we prepare for our nuptials. I believeith it was the good brotherith Common who saidith, ‘It don’t take all day to recognize sunshine,’” he went on in jest. “Well, I did recognize that sunshine in this badass chick beside me, and I’m never letting her put me in the dark again.”

Zena was staring at Alton and struggling to hide her frown of displeasure at the cute but out-of-place Common rap song quote. “And tell us, beyond being sunshine—because we all know that about Zola—what will make her a good wife?”

Alton bit his upper lip as he contemplated. A bright light from one of the tiki torches set up around the table sparkled behind him. Soon, he said, “She’s a good person. She’s nice. She’s nice to me. And she’s beautiful. And I love her.”

Zola swooned and leaned into Alton. “So sweet,” she said.

Zena smiled weakly and turned her attention to Zola. “And you—why do you believe Alton will make a good husband?”

Zola grinned at Alton, and she had to hold the grin for a long while because it took her twice as long as it had taken Alton to gather a response. So long, in fact, that one of the staffers beside the table seemed to lean in with anticipation.

Soon, Zola spoke to Alton as if they were alone. “Alton, you are comforting. You are so fine!” She smiled. “You are always sweet. You love me. You’re a good man.”

“Oh, babe!” Alton said.

One of the staff members wiped a loose teardrop as Alton kissed Zola.

Clearly unimpressed, Zena started a slow clap until Alton and Zola stopped kissing, and she offered a well-intentioned smile.

“That’s sweet,” she said. “Very sweet. And so original. No at all what I expected. I’ve heard so many brides and grooms respond to that very question and they say things like, ‘She’s good with money and children and has good credit and is godly,’ and ‘He’s stable and successful and intelligent and ambitious.’ Those are the kinds of answers I’m used to hearing, but I think what you two said was sufficient. It was well-meaning. It was beautiful. Right, Adan?” Her tone was indicting and a little sarcastic, but not blatantly attacking. She didn’t want to cause alarm.

Adan had clearly caught on to something, though, and was staring at Zena, trying to discover her point.