The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 98misunderstanding by the punch bowl.Once at the church, Jose and his groomsmen – minus Gerald Ebbs, who had driven his car backdown the hill to get Eudora and her party – were immediately met by Reverend Kent and ushered intothe very same back room where a month ago Jose had had to strip naked in order to prepare for hissecond birth. The night before, at a brief rehearsal held at Eudora’s insistence, Jose had had amomentary panic that he would once again have to strip. He was prepared to face this requirement withdutiful determination, if that was what he needed to do to marry Eudora, and was quite relieved when itturned out that this time the room was just a convenient place from which he and his groomsmen couldfile into place at the start of the ceremony.The wait in the backroom seemed much longer to Jose than what had been promised to himduring rehearsal, and when Gerald Ebbs finally came in it was discovered that the car carrying thebridal party had very nearly not made it up the hill and over the Baltimore and Ohio tracks, owing tothe mud of a late winter thaw making Columbus Street difficult to ascend. It was only Gerald’s superiordriving skills that had gotten the bride-bearing automobile up the hill, it seemed, for which Jose was toalways be sadly grateful to him. It simply would not have done for Eudora to have had to haveclambered barefoot up the hill through the icy mud, her good shoes in one hand and her wedding dresshiked up around her knees like a woman of no other means. It was a gratitude so enduring that Josewould have it for long after he began to be visited by the apparition of Gerald Ebbs, with his oddlystretched and bruised neck.At last the church pianist began to play something that sounded for all the world like “What aFriend We Have in Jesus,” and Jose two-stepped out of the back room. Because this part of therehearsal had been rushed through, it was to the delight of some assembled in the church -- and to theconfusion of many others -- that the groomsmen followed Jose’s lead and also two-stepped, creating anoddly bobbing and weaving processional from the back room to the alter. Mercifully the distance they
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 99had to cover was short, and even in syncopated rhythm the gentlemen pulled up in front of ReverendKent in less than the time it would have taken for the congregation to moan out even a single verse ofthe hymn.Jose and his party stood awkwardly at the front of the church, Jose because he wasunderstandably nervous and his groomsmen simply because none of them especially enjoyed standingin front of crowds, and it was not until Reverend Kent caught a glimpse of Eudora and nodded at thepianist to begin pounding out “Here Comes the Bride” that any of them found themselves able tobreathe again.Eudora was preceded by two of her friends from nursing school, one cousin, and a toddlerbarely old enough to walk who came first up the aisle, scattering rose petals as she did so. The scent ofthe roses made Jose dizzy. The thought crossed his mind that as far as he had been told it was going tobe tulip petals that were strewn, not roses, and it was only with great difficulty that he was able toretain his focus until Eudora, beaming at him from Papa’s arm, finally glided into sight. She reachedthe front of the church, detached herself from Papa, and faced Jose as he took her hands into his own.The scent of roses drenching the air continued to rise as the ceremony progressed, and althoughno one else seemed to be bothered or even to notice, Jose felt he was in constant danger of floatingaway to some desert place where bones became flesh and carpets flew like aeroplanes. He would neverbe able to say how he would have made it through the wedding had he not had Eudora’s eyes to stareinto and the touch of her hands against his as a grounding physical reality. But make it through he did,and when at last he got to kiss the bride – with no tongues involved this time, as Eudora had insistentlydemanded after a brief episode at the rehearsal – he felt like a dream had slowly evolved its way intoreality in a way which his wedding mass to Concepcion never had.Yes, this was real now. He was Jose Montoya, husband, and would soon be Jose Montoya,father. It was real, he was awake, and his life was about to begin.
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