Walter walked out of his quarters and rang Deborah’s doorbell.
“Come in”
The door opened and Walter waltzed in. He had a cotton robe, a richly embroidered belt, and comfortable nylon sandals that looked like hand tooled leather. He had rings on all 10 fingers, and a necklace made of what looked like gold. In the center of the necklace was what looked like onyx but what was really a small camera.
“Do you think this is over the top?”, he asked.
“I don’t know. What do you think of me?”
Deborah also had a nice blue cotton robe, but she had rows and rows of gold disks strung together around her neck. She had a gold medallion, also with what looked like Onyx but was really a little camera.
They had launched some communication satellites earlier in the week so that Adelle could watch and record the action in real time.
“This is exciting. I’ve never given away a bride before”
“I’ve never been married before”
“Will I ever see you again?”
“Walter, of course you will see me again. We have to fight a war, remember?”
“Did you take your anti-oxidant pill?”
“Yes, you?”
“Yes”
“Well, we will enjoy the wine vicariously”
“We will be spared the hangover tomorrow”
They beamed down along the road to Ramah. They started walking towards town.
“Are you armed?”, Walter asked her.
“I have a laser pistol strapped to my right ankle, a stainless steel knife at my left ankle, a garrott, some PVC ties in case I want to tie up somebody, and a communications medallion. You?”
“I have a laser pistol and a communications medallion. I didn’t think of a knife or a garrott, or PVC.”
“That’s because I have experience as a guerrilla and you don’t. Why do you ask?”
“I notice you have about a kilogram of gold around your neck, and I would hate for you to be the victim of a robber on your wedding night.”
The whole town had turned out to see Deborah, the famous judge and prophetess of Israel. There was a couple of goats on spits, roasting over coals. There were baskets of figs, pomegranates, grapes, and dates. There were loaves of bread, jugs of milk and wine. There were musicians playing simple, lively melodies. Deborah and Walter walked in, and everybody stared at them.
“EVERYBODY! FRIENDS! I WOULD LIKE YOU TO MEET MY FRIEND WALTER!”
“Walter? What kind of name is that? Who is your father?”, people asked him.
Walter just smiled and waved.
Lapidot came out of the house, dressed as usual. Maybe they are a little clothing challenged. He walked up to Walter and embraced him. “It is so good to meet a friend of Deborah’s”, he said. “I thought she was all alone in the world”.
“I wanted to make sure she was marrying a good man, so I came a long ways to meet you”
“Where did you come from?”
“A long ways away”
Then Lapidot walked to Deborah and embraced her.
“Where is your friend... Walter?... from”
“A long ways away”
“He said the same thing”
“He is a very truthful man”
The party went on for hours. The men were getting happily drunk. The women danced and sang.
Lapidot turned to Deborah, and said “My beloved, let’s go home”
Deborah replied, “I agree”
So they said good bye to the party, and walked back to Alisa and Amech’s house.
“Are your parents going to leave us alone?”
“I built a booth for the two of us in the field.”
Sure enough, at the far corner of the vineyard, was a small building perhaps a meter wide by two meters long by a meter and a half high. There was a curtain at one end of it. The floor was covered with a sheet of cloth.
Deborah crawled in. This doesn’t look very comfortable. Lapidot crawled in next to her.
“Have you ever been alone with a woman before?”, she asked him.
“No, I have not”
“Lapidot, take your clothes off. I think you are going to enjoy this. I know I will”
Walter was the last person to leave the party. It was dark, and he had neglected to bring low light goggles. Because of the anti-oxidant pill, none of the alcohol had gotten out of his gut and into his bloodstream, so the pupils of his eyes were normally dilated, so he was having troubles seeing in the dark. He pulled out his medallion.
“Adelle”
“Yes”
“One to beam up”
And he was gone.
