with the unmelodious strains of techno music. One spotlight creates an aisle of light from the CEO and the computers to the opposite end of the room, where Meg and Joe emerge together. Meg is wearing a white leather bustier and a long tulle skirt spangled with shiny sequins. Joe is wearing black tie and tails. They are both wearing top hats, white and black respectively.
“Oh, my,” Joan whispers. “They’ll never get anyone else to fuck them looking like that.”
I feel Gabe’s hand tighten on mine. His expression is pained.
“Want to try the glasses?” Bix offers them to me. I decline. Meg and Joe have reached the CEO. The music fades.
“Dear friends,” the CEO’s voice cracks. He clears his throat. “Dear friends, you here in New York, in Seattle, in San Francisco, and those of you joining us from all over the world on the Web, we’re here to celebrate as two amazing people get together to celebrate their unique and special union together, and share this amazing moment with all of us.”
Gabe shifts in his seat and presses his knuckles against his mouth.
“The great poet Anaïs Nin,” the CEO continues, “once said, ‘Each friend represents a world in us, a world possiblynot born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.’ Meg and Joe made worlds like this for each other on the lucky day that they met, and today they come here to merge those worlds into one big world that they will share with each other, and that they will open wide to the friends, new and old, who represent more worlds to explore and enjoy.”
“That’s a fancy way of saying they’re going to fuck around all they want,” Joan leans across Gabe’s lap and whispers to us. Gabe puts a finger to his lips and shakes his head at her.
“Here are the rings you have chosen to represent your vows,” says the CEO.
Joe takes one of the rings from him, turns to face Meg, and takes her hands. “Meg,” he recites, “I trust in your love for me, and mine for you. I believe in you, and don’t need to possess you. This ring represents my love for you, not my ownership of you, and I want you to wear it knowing that.” He slips the ring onto her finger.
Meg takes the other ring from the CEO and repeats the speech to Joe.
“Joe,” asks the CEO, “do you promise to love this woman with all the love in your heart, and strive to make her happy?”
“I do,” says Joe.
“And do you, Meg, promise to love this man with all the love in your heart, and strive to make him happy?”
“I do,” says Meg.
“Richard Lovelace wrote, ’If I have freedom in my love, and in my soul am free, angels alone that soar above enjoy such liberty,’” the CEO drones. “Meg and Joe promise each other freedom and love. They celebrate and entrust to each other their bodies and hearts and souls, not to claim, but to care for and treasure and adore in love and freedom, and wewho are gathered here to witness their union rejoice in it with them. Meg and Joe, I now pronounce you life partners. You may kiss each other.”
Meg and Joe throw their arms around each other and engage in a long, deep kiss, and Joe bends Meg back so far that her top hat falls to the ground. The crowd erupts into applause and laughter, and from the speakers I can hear the tinny cheers from our videoconferenced companions in distant cities. I wonder about the people out in the world, sitting alone in front of their computer screens, looking on, and what they might be thinking of this. Meg and Joe are still kissing, and our fellow guests are giving them a standing ovation. The music comes on again, and Gabe lifts me to my feet.
“Yes,” he says, under his breath.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, you certainly can disapprove of both a tradition and its perversion. And yes, let’s go get a drink.”
“Just what I was thinking.” Bix tucks the 3-D glasses into his breast pocket. “Great minds, huh?” He claps Gabe on the back. Gabe coughs.
“But
“Oh, my,” Joan whispers. “They’ll never get anyone else to fuck them looking like that.”
I feel Gabe’s hand tighten on mine. His expression is pained.
“Want to try the glasses?” Bix offers them to me. I decline. Meg and Joe have reached the CEO. The music fades.
“Dear friends,” the CEO’s voice cracks. He clears his throat. “Dear friends, you here in New York, in Seattle, in San Francisco, and those of you joining us from all over the world on the Web, we’re here to celebrate as two amazing people get together to celebrate their unique and special union together, and share this amazing moment with all of us.”
Gabe shifts in his seat and presses his knuckles against his mouth.
“The great poet Anaïs Nin,” the CEO continues, “once said, ‘Each friend represents a world in us, a world possiblynot born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.’ Meg and Joe made worlds like this for each other on the lucky day that they met, and today they come here to merge those worlds into one big world that they will share with each other, and that they will open wide to the friends, new and old, who represent more worlds to explore and enjoy.”
“That’s a fancy way of saying they’re going to fuck around all they want,” Joan leans across Gabe’s lap and whispers to us. Gabe puts a finger to his lips and shakes his head at her.
“Here are the rings you have chosen to represent your vows,” says the CEO.
Joe takes one of the rings from him, turns to face Meg, and takes her hands. “Meg,” he recites, “I trust in your love for me, and mine for you. I believe in you, and don’t need to possess you. This ring represents my love for you, not my ownership of you, and I want you to wear it knowing that.” He slips the ring onto her finger.
Meg takes the other ring from the CEO and repeats the speech to Joe.
“Joe,” asks the CEO, “do you promise to love this woman with all the love in your heart, and strive to make her happy?”
“I do,” says Joe.
“And do you, Meg, promise to love this man with all the love in your heart, and strive to make him happy?”
“I do,” says Meg.
“Richard Lovelace wrote, ’If I have freedom in my love, and in my soul am free, angels alone that soar above enjoy such liberty,’” the CEO drones. “Meg and Joe promise each other freedom and love. They celebrate and entrust to each other their bodies and hearts and souls, not to claim, but to care for and treasure and adore in love and freedom, and wewho are gathered here to witness their union rejoice in it with them. Meg and Joe, I now pronounce you life partners. You may kiss each other.”
Meg and Joe throw their arms around each other and engage in a long, deep kiss, and Joe bends Meg back so far that her top hat falls to the ground. The crowd erupts into applause and laughter, and from the speakers I can hear the tinny cheers from our videoconferenced companions in distant cities. I wonder about the people out in the world, sitting alone in front of their computer screens, looking on, and what they might be thinking of this. Meg and Joe are still kissing, and our fellow guests are giving them a standing ovation. The music comes on again, and Gabe lifts me to my feet.
“Yes,” he says, under his breath.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, you certainly can disapprove of both a tradition and its perversion. And yes, let’s go get a drink.”
“Just what I was thinking.” Bix tucks the 3-D glasses into his breast pocket. “Great minds, huh?” He claps Gabe on the back. Gabe coughs.
“But
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