As Isolde Led Me
and that’s all I’ve ever known- last night after dinner
- Despite months of rehearsal
- where I will inflate my balloon
- the engineer and the artist
Tune in next time part 322 Click Here for Earlier Installments
As Isolde led me the length of the vessel to reach the chapel, I wondered what had become of my aunt Xylona. She must have evaded capture somehow, otherwise Fleur or one of her odious retainers would have gloated over it.
Naturally, Fleur’s aircraft carrier had a wedding chapel, standard Contrarian naval specification. It was a cramped chamber above the engine room, adorned with bird skeletons (the traditional Contrarian symbol of marriage). It also had a turntable, which the chaplain switched on when we came in. It started playing the bouncy, atonal music dictated for proxy weddings at sea, which happened to be performed by the band that’s all I’ve ever known of Contrarian experimental jazz.
Isolde steered me to the lectern and told the chaplain, “Harry and I almost eloped last night after dinner, but now we can do things properly. The way we’ve been rehearsing them for the past nine months!”
Despite months of rehearsal, neither Isolde or the chaplain knew their parts. I stood quietly by, speaking only when they prompted me, and saying the lines they provided. After Isolde promised that Harry was “what I will store in my spice rack,” I, on Harry’s behalf, solemnly declared Isolde to be “where I will inflate my balloon.”
“In that case,” the chaplain said, smiling, “I now pronounce you the engineer and the artist. I’ll shut the door on my way out.”
bonus points for using them in order