Just Married

“He’s gone,” Trish shouted to her brother.

“But to the dog?”

“What are we going to do Quall?”

“Maybe, maybe, maybe just talk to the family?”

“No! His in-laws don’t have me anywhere in writing.”

“Well, we have to do something. He was our only income.”

“What are we going to do!”

She started to breathe into a paper bag. Her skin was whiter than snow, as if the paper bag had all her breath. Trish made eye contact with Quall, and they did not break until Quall had an idea. 

“Why don’t you remarry?”

Trish was honest. “No! Heaven’s no. Are you kidding? I loved my husband.”

“Well, it’s either that or we take that dog out back.”

“But Quall, we have no money for a gun.”

“He didn’t leave you anything?”

“Silch.”

“Nada?”

“Nothing!”

“How long do we have here until they kick us out?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know anything!”

“I don’t know!”

She rocked back and forth like a child on a time-out until she got bored and tired of pouting. Quall and Trish repeated the process.

“How about. You remarry.” Quall retorted.

“I already said no!”

“Let me finish. How about you remarry to Kia?”

“What?”

“I mean. He would still be a part of the Frenstane name, right?”

“Um. I’m not sure. That sounds like fraud.”

“And giving a dog an inheritance isn’t? Come on, at least try it. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Jail.”

“Do you want to be homeless Trish. What if we end up on the streets tomorrow? I’m not taking your risk, now hurry up and marry my brother-in-law.”

Trish started to get color on her face. What her brother was saying made a lot of sense to her. The next day, Trish went to Kia’s home. It had the Roman columns Trish always wanted. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea. Trish rang the doorbell, giving a Union Jack custom doorbell chime.

Kia opened the door, and he invited the widow without hesitation. Trish made her devilish deal with Kia. He accepted as quickly as he let Trish in. That dog had it coming.

Quall paced back and forth, anxious about what would happen.

“Did it work?”

“I think so.”

And she would be correct, as soon after the engagement was indeed all that was needed to draw in a steady flow of inheritance guaranteed from the family. 

“We’re rich again Trish!”

“Yeah. I don’t know, this feels wrong.”

“Oh don’t give me that. We were about to lose our money to a dog.”

All that was needed was a finalization in ink and paper. As Trish dismissed her guilt, she would not be in store for what was about to come next. The Frenstane heard the news and were ready to send that gold digger straight to jail. However, it could also result in putting their own son in jail.

All the way across the streets of Manchester was a small prison. An inmate sits waiting to be let go out in good behavior. The processing officer comes to check him out. He couldn’t believe it. Life after so long, resumed.

Trish, being extra cautious, is at a civil marriage court with Kia. Kia looks around as if he is crossing the street. The building was gray and looked like one of those cat boxes you put a cat inside when at the vet. Trish was never good at lying; her conscience became heavier the longer she waited. Finally, Kia and Trish’s names were called to a room that looked like a broom closet.

Kia put down the name, Trish Frenstane. But Trish put down the name Arthur Paul Vincent. After leaving the broom closet, Kia thanked Trish for giving him his fortune back. Trish did not respond.

Trish knew that night that she would have to get a job, work for a living, and stop leeching off a husband she loved above all else. Trish was finally able to think about herself less. She slept peacefully on her husband’s bed. That morning, there was a knock at the door. A man stood there through the looking glass. He was tall, bulky, strong, and had a dirty look.

“Who are you?”

“You must be Trish. I am Arthur Paul Vincent.”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Was she still dreaming? A nightmare, maybe.

“What”

“Come now, dear, relax, you mustn’t be surprised.”

“Get out of my house.”

“You mean our house.”

Quall woke up shortly after. “Hey Trish, who’s this?”

Arthur Paul Vincent sat across from Trish and Quall at the dinner table. The table was long but did not take long for the stares to cross the room. Quall was cracking his knuckles louder than normal. Trish messed her hair up into curls and nervous strings. Arthur Paul Vincent sipped his tea.

“Okay.” Quall spoke. “I’ll bite. What the hell happened!”

“I couldn’t go through with it Quall. I put down a fake name so Kia wouldn’t get in trouble.”

“And you. How did you find us?”

Arthur Paul Vincent got up and went on a monologue backstory like a Hamlet performer.

“And so after being freed on fraud charges, I was able to see I was married by the newspaper. I always wanted a wife.”

Trish got up and ran upstairs. She cried hysterically, and she held her picture frame of herself and Mr. Frenstane. She cried herself awake for hours until Quall came to comfort her.

“You should get divorced.”

“This is all your fault!”

“My fault? Why didn’t you just marry Kia, as I told you? I can’t get a job.”

“I hate you. Leave me alone.”

Arthur Paul Vincent then came upstairs. He was sent downstairs after the door slammed shut. Trish was hesitant, but after Quall stared at her, she had the civil forms bounce around her skull. She looks at Quall and talks to him without saying a word. Quall immediately fires back with a resounding.

“Forget it.”

“Quall. Please. It’s our only hope.”

“I never worked a day in my life! You get a job!”

“Okay. I will.”

Trish and Quall hid in the room, waiting for the nightfall. They peek around the corner to find Arthur Paul Vincent still in the house. He stood there as if he owned the place.

“Go away!” They said in unison.

“And leave my wife and brother-in-law? I’d rather go back to jail.”

“We’re going to call the police.”

“Okay. And tell them what?”

Trish refuses to engage with this loon. Quall started to approach the home intruder. He goes for the face, but since his punch was more of an elbow jab, Arthur Paul Vincent cross-countered and pushed him back to Trish without hurting him.

“What do you want?” Trish interrupted.

“I want what you want. A better life.”

Trish went back into her room with Quall, as they slept on it, Trish went to God’s place for a bit in the form of lucid unconsciousness. The walls of her bedroom suddenly became clouds and sky. There were angels in forms of wings a child would draw on a kindergarten drawing. She was floating with her husband as the gates of heaven appeared like the backdrop of a movie set. Trish’s husband could not speak. However, Trish understood what the dream was trying to tell her. She loved him, but it was time to realize the truth. Maybe he did not feel the same. All those years, all those cards, presents, ‘I love you’s, meant nothing. The dream opened her wide shut. It was time to move on. 

That morning, after returning to reality, Quall was in handcuffs. He was bend over the night drawer by a police officer with the door propped open. In agony, Quall shouts.

“Trish, help me. They’re here for the house.”

Another female cop comes into the room with an extra pair of handcuffs. She went peacefully. Reap what is sown. The chickens have come to crow. Let sleeping dogs lie. That was until Arthur Paul Vincent came into the room as well. He pulled a fat wad of cash out of his coat. He then paid the police to let go of his wife and brother-in-law until next month’s pay.

“Thank you.”

Arthur Paul Vincent wraps his arms around the two and stays. He states that living in this country was too much of a risk. Trish and Quall agreed. That instant, a ticket to the United States was purchased. They all went down to a New England state. Landing there, Trish goes out to hunt for a job. She finds an opening for a first-grade teacher. She works with the students in a kind manner, making her a favorite. She smiles at the window of the school, looking at her reflection. She sees the good person who looks back at her, doing good for the children of the world.

Quall stays home reading a book below his reading level. He found it in the youth section of the library, but struggles to read it like Trish’s students. He puts down the book folded face down on his lap. He looks at the window of the apartment, reflecting an idiot. 

Arthur Paul Vincent supports them both with money and love. Although he does not replace Trish’s ex husband all together, he remains Trish’s husband to death do them part. Arthur Paul Vincent loves Trish. Trish is fond of Arthur Paul Vincent. Some day, they will meet down the middle and not leave the fortune of each other to a dog. He sits next to Quall. After Quall finishes looking at himself, Arthur Paul Vincent sees a redeemed man ready to start a new life. 

Kia’s brother plays cards with Jesus and is proud of his wife on Earth surviving without his money. Although Trish was not her true love, he at least did a good his live from cutting off his wife from his fortune. The greatest gift of all. Teach a fisherman to fish.

His dog sits at home with Kia. He sleeps next to the fireplace. A bone comes out of his mouth, coughed up, coated in saliva. He looks at the fire and sees bright shades of black and white and grey. He goes back to sleep. Kia comforts the dog.

The Frenstane’s name was now the Vincent’s name. There was a matter of life in the world where everyone in this blue bubble has a story and a plan. It could happen to anyone. Soon after the ordeal of marriage fraud, the Vincent family remain in an apartment. Trish and Arthur now love each other. Quall still mooches. And a newborn on the way.