Anastasia at This Address by Lois Lowry

wonderful wedding! Did you have as much fun as I did?"
    Anastasia undid the ribbon at the top of her head and shook her long hair loose. She grinned and sprawled beside her mother. "Yeah," she said. "I had a terrific time."
    Her father entered the living room with his necktie loosened and a beer in his hand. "I took off Sam's shoes, but I put him into bed with his clothes on. He was out like a light," he said.
    "Don't you think," he added, "that we could retire the sailor suit? It really does look stupid. I agree with Sam."
    Mrs. Krupnik laughed. "Okay," she said. "It's getting too small for him, anyway."
    "How about you, Dad?" Anastasia asked. "Did you have fun at the wedding and the reception?"
    He nodded. "I'm not sure
fun
is the correct word for it. It was—well, I'd call it somewhat
surreal.
Especially the wedding itself. Could you please explain to me exactly what was going on at the wedding?"
    Anastasia started to laugh. "Didn't you
get it,
Dad?"
    He shook his head. "I couldn't figure it out. Everything seemed to be proceeding along just like at every other wedding I've ever been to, and all of a sudden everyone started murmuring. Then chuckling. Then laughing. I started laughing, too, because it was sort of contagious, but I never quite figured out what we were laughing at."
    Then he added with a groan, "I don't mean the bell. I figured that out right away, and I grabbed it from Sam as quickly as I could. It's amazing that he could stuff a tricycle bell into the pocket of those pants!"
    "I'm going to confiscate that bell for a month," Mrs. Krupnik muttered.
    "Mom, do you want to explain the laughing or should I?" Anastasia asked. She was taking off her pearl earrings. Her earlobes ached a little.
    "You go ahead, sweetie. It started up in the front of the church, where you were standing."
    "Well, first of all, when we were at the rehearsal, Reverend Bellingham didn't say all the stuff he was actually going to say at the wedding itself He just said, 'Then at this part, I'll read a psalm and blah blah blah—"
    "'Blah blah blah'?" her father asked. "He said that?"
    "Yeah, just to save time at the rehearsal."
    "That sounds irreverent to me. A minister saying 'blah blah blah.'"
    "Well, he didn't mean it that way. He was just saving time. But then, at the wedding itself—"
    It had started perfectly. It was just like a wedding in a movie. The church was decorated with huge bouquets of pink and white flowers, and it was filled with people whose faces turned to watch as Anastasia followed the other junior bridesmaids down the aisle. Most of them glanced at her and then turned to look at the bride, who followed farther on at the end of the procession, holding her father's arm. But Anastasia could see that a few people—her parents, and Sam, and even, to her surprise, Steve Harvey—kept their eyes on her as she walked slowly, carefully, and a little nervously toward the altar.
    Finally she reached the place where she was to stand with the other girls. Across, on the other side, she could see the ushers standing attentively. She looked for a moment at handsome Uncle Tim—Septimus Smith—and thought with despair once again how shocked he would be when he recognized her mother, when Anastasia would have to explain, when she would be humiliated in front of all the guests at the reception. She thought again about the letter of apology she had written, and how she would trudge out to the mailbox tonight to send it to New York.
    But when Kirsten, her veil a shimmering white halo around her head, took her place beside the groom, Anastasia put the despair out of her mind and resolved to concentrate on the wedding.
    Reverend Bellingham beamed at the congregation and said a few words about the joys of marriage. Anastasia listened with interest, since at the rehearsal he had only indicated by "blah blah blah" what he would say.
    "It is always such a pleasure to stand here and watch a beautiful bride walk down the aisle," Reverend