A yellow raft in blue water by Dorris Michael

Author:Dorris, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Indian women
Publisher: New York : H. Holt
Published: 1987-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

surrender. I was nearly a foot shorter, but he was afraid of my pregnant body and that evened the odds.

I spoke into his face, only inches above mine. "I want to wear ... a long white . . . dress and . . . have a three-foot. . . wedding cake and ... go to Hawaii ... on my honeymoon . . . with Paul Newman." My words were forced out in bunches, as I strained my muscles against his strength.

"You're a crazy woman," Elgin said when, breathless, he rested his forehead on mine. He smelled like wintergreen Lifesavers. "Crazy." He dropped his body next to mine, folded me to him.

A long time ago I had stopped saying aloud how good our lovemaking was. I didn't want Elgin too sure of himself. But that time, that morning, I saw in his eyes that same look that hooked me at Barclay's, the same desperate stare that eclipsed the public park in Tacoma. It was an expression that had never been in anybody's eyes but his, and I'd kill to keep it there.

We married at the federal courthouse, with no witnesses that we ever saw again except each other. I chose a beige dress because it was on sale and it made me look darker, as though Elgin and I were closer to the same shade. Elgin dug out his dress army uniform, even though we thought that might be illegal. It was either that or the blue satin cowboy shirt I got him with my last black box paycheck. The woman judge wore a tweed pantsuit and pearl earrings. She smiled at us and wished us good luck.

Once we were outside again, Elgin put his hand under my elbow to help me negotiate the stone steps, then we stood on the sidewalk, letting the crowd flow around us while we decided what to do. Finally, we ate an early dinner of salmon steaks and rice, huckleberry pie for dessert, at a seafood restaurant, and went next to a C&W club everybody said was the place to go. We sat at a table, suddenly shy with each other, until the band started playing "Sweet Dreams." That song made me want to cry, and I reached for Elgin's hand. We moved out and danced close and clumsy, the baby inside me wedged between us, our arms around each other's backs, and we stayed that way, barely moving our feet, after the music stopped and the other couples sat down. When I opened my

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