Finally!
Craig Lewicki, one of Don's very few friends from High School and his best man arrived in time to help setup. He got out of his car just as Lanh stepped out of the barn, she was a mess covered with all forms of foul, wet, nasty... mud, blood... Craig didn't want to speculate, but she wore an ear-to-ear grin. "The last calf of the spring was born! Just in time!" called Lanh as she recognized him.
Lanh had been up all night with momma cow and was happy to report momma and baby were doing fine. They went in the house to find Kim-ly sitting in the kitchen staring at the coffee pot as it slowly filled. Kim-ly was on "Lanh-duty" this day, and was exhausted, just because Don and Lanh chose not to celebrate their graduation it didn't mean that Kim-ly couldn't. "Go take a shower," Kim-ly groaned, worried that her hangover was going to last past noon.
"Use my shower," said Ralph as Lanh reached for the bunkhouse door. "That one is still broke." Lanh shrugged and hurried off upstairs. The bunkhouse shower was ancient and gross, but it was convenient after the incidents that can occur on a dairy farm. There was talk about selling off the cows, the return was no longer exceeding the effort it took to maintain the herd, Ralph and Don were talking about growing feed crops for the local dairy farmers with larger herds. Lanh sighed, she would miss the herd, but on the other hand, corn doesn't poop on you. A few minutes later, after Lanh headed up the stairs to use "the only working shower," Don stepped out of the bunkhouse in clean clothes, drying his hair.
Mai and Duong arrived not long later and the boys Huy, Trung, and Bao arrived shortly after that. Several of Don's cousins arrived as a truck full of folding chairs from the Lutheran church arrived, followed by a pickup load of folding tables from the Catholic church, and the setup began. It was an all-day affair to set up the tables and chairs, the wedding gazebo, and the dance floor.
As the venue for the ceremony neared completion, Mai and Lanh halted the chair set up. "The gazebo needs to move back," called out Lanh.
"What?" asked Craig Lewicki, who was Chair Chairman. He and his crew had been working hard and have done a great job setting up the marriage venue.
"We just got another big batch of RSVPs, we have to add a few more rows of chairs, we need about three more rows," said Mai as she reviewed the diagram of the layout on her clipboard. "About fifteen feet."
"How much more power do we have?" asked Craig, referring to the extension cords for the sound system.
Bruce Campbell, Ralph's brother who is an electrician thought for a moment then said "Fifty feet, that's the max."
"Ok boys let's break it down," said Craig pointing to the lacy white gazebo, "We're going back fifty feet." There was good nature groaning that evaporated when Huy and Trung walked up with a cooler full of beer, and in less than 20 minutes the gazebo was moved. The guys were getting good at it, this was the third time they had had to move it.
With the marriage venue set up, now they concentrated on the reception area. A local tent company had set up a huge tent and the crew set up the head table and other tables and chairs with practiced precision. Tomorrow was the decorating, which Lanh promised would be even more intensive.
As the sun began to set, a beautiful black Lexus pulled up and stopped in the middle of the activities to the taunts and catcalls from everyone. To everyone's surprise it was Tam that got out of the car wearing a nervous smile. Gone was the ancient Toyota, the new luxury cruiser was purchased in honor of her new job at the University of Bemidji. "Just in time for the party, that's my big sister," called Kim-ly.
Tam walked around to the passenger side, opened the door, and let out her passenger, a tall, handsome, black-haired man with a neatly trimmed beard, who was completely blind. He was wearing dark glasses and as he stepped out of the car, he unfolded a cane which he used to probe the ground ahead of him. "Everyone," called Tam as she took his arm and led him toward the group, "this is Jake Johnson."
~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~
The wedding party loaded lawn chairs and coolers onto Ralph's hay wagon, and with Lanh at the wheel of the old Ford tractor, they headed back to the pond where a large bonfire was set up waiting for them. Cold beer, soda, hotdogs, bratwurst, chips, macaroni salad, a boom box, good friends and family. That's all that Don and Lanh ever wanted from a bachelor/bachelorette party. Heck, this was all they wanted for a wedding. Bring on the preacher, let's get it done!
It was a beautiful night, one of the first really warm nights of spring. Rosa danced with one of Lanh's cousins by the fire to some rock music blaring from the boom box, Sydney took advantage of Cindy Reece's absence and sat next to Craig sipping an illicit beer as they grew closer. "Let me get this straight," Syd said to Craig, "you were in on a nasty trick to embarrass Don and Lanh in front of the entire school, and now you're the best man at their wedding."
Craig put on a good show of concentrating. "Mmmm... yeah, that about sums it up."
"How does that make any sense?" she asked as Craig handed her another beer.
"I was Don's swimming mentor when he joined the JV team right after that dance, and the next year, when he got all fucked up by Joshua Grimes, I helped with rehab, I got him in the pool, put a kick board in his hands and we started out kicking and splashing like a kid learning to swim for the first time."
"Oh wow," Sydney raised her beer in a toast. "So, you're like a hero!"
Craig clinked his beer can against hers. "It wasn't just me, Lanh was there, in the pool, every session, helping out and urging him on. The only sessions they'd miss were when he was at the debate team with her."
Bao and Trung set off fireworks for the entertainment of the crowd. The skyrockets were reflected in the mirror like pond, but that was lost on Lanh and Don who in the darkness, hidden by the reeds, they were wrapped in each other's arms, their lips engaged in kisses that grew hotter by the minute.
Jake's arrival took the attention away from Don and Lanh so they were able to remain at the edge of the circle of light from the bon fire and kiss, while everyone else tried to unravel the mystery of Jake Johnson. Tam wasn't offering an explanation, and she wasn't answering direct questions, but she was having fun fielding guesses, but all guesses so far were answered with "Nope, that's not what happened. Anyone else?" Jake was obviously under orders to play along.
Finally, Jake said "We haven't heard from the bride yet, I haven't even met the bride." Tam and Kim-ly looked around and they couldn't locate her.
"Lanh!" called Tam, but there was no answer. The chatter of the party died down as she called again, "LANH!" but there was no answer.
"Where are you
tΓ΄m
?" called out Kim-ly.
"I'm not saying," called Lanh from the darkness, "and don't call me shrimp!"
Once the laughter died down Tam called out, "come meet my date."
Don and Lanh walked into the firelight, straightening their clothes, and stepped up to Jake who was sitting in a chaise lounge, Tam lounging between his legs. "Way to steal the spotlight sis," grinned Don as he opened a root beer for Lanh.