I Find Myself Charmed by Leenna Naidoo

Author:Leenna Naidoo [Naidoo, Leenna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, scifi, adventure, travel, magic, humour, south african, charmed, meeting mr right, old crush
Publisher: PublishDrive
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Curse of the Wedding Bouquet

I don't often go to weddings. It's not that I don't really like them...It's just that...Well, they can be so melodramatic! And all that time and money spent seems such a waste. Not that I haven't dreamt of my own. I mean, which female (old or young) doesn't look hopefully at a bridal boutique shop-front. All those gorgeous dresses and bouquets...But it's just my luck to have been cursed by a bouquet! It happened eleven years ago. I wasn't the only one...And we probably brought it on ourselves.

It was at Janet's wedding that we cursed ourselves. She had been a workmate and close friend. We had been part of a strange bunch of misfits back then, in Johannesburg. Night-shifters and studio staff tend to be so: independent, different, fiercely protective of identity or desperately searching for one. Except for Janet. She and Martin had been going out since high school and now that he had a good steady job, the lure of the white dress and tux had proved to be too strong. She was four years younger than me. I didn't know if I envied her or pitied her.

It was a gorgeous poolside wedding, small and intimate on a perfect October afternoon. Janet was radiant. All us night-owls had been invited. She hadn't much family, just her parents and sister and us. You could spot us night owls immediately. We all wore sunglasses and dresses (except for Zee who’s lesbian).

It seemed the perfect wedding ceremony with decently short speeches marred only by a semi-drunk speech by the groom's father, who mentioned the fact he was glad that none of his children had turned out to be gay. Zee had snickered as we all shifted uncomfortably. Janet had frowned. Then had come the throwing of the bouquet.

Now this is the part I've always felt ambivalent about. All us single, hopeful females have to push and shove and scramble for this blessing; abandoning our dignity for this public display of a wish that will miraculously be fulfilled—but only if you catch the bouquet. Then you can look smugly at the losers and feign pity for those less fortunate, who now have to wait and pray that they get invited to another wedding in order to have their wish fulfilled.

So there we stood, that beautiful October afternoon, six of us night-owls along with Janet's sister and Martin's little 6-year old niece (the only child present) who had insisted on taking part in this game. Zee was trying not to laugh, but stood protectively close to Kim, her partner, anyway.

I stood there bemused. I'd never been in the running to catch a bouquet before; my culture's approach to marriage wish fulfilment being rather more direct: either one parent approached the other after seeing you decked out in your shimmering sari, or you went to the temple and petitioned the gods for a good marriage soon.

I was half excited, half apprehensive. Should I catch it? Did I really want

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.