My Redacted Life: Chapter 32 (Cont._3)

Seeing as how I enjoyed no place in the planning of the Wedding of the Century, I concentrated on work. That came with a nice surprise. Tom called me into his office one day and asked, if he wasn’t getting too personal, what plans we had made for a honeymoon.

I said that plans were now resting between a jaunt to the Gulf Coast and a trip to Chicago to see relatives and the largest collection of important American architecture that existed in any single place in the country.

He nodded with approval. “Don’t let me interrupt plans that you might be looking forward to,” he said, “but how would you like and all-expense paid honeymoon in Denver, Colorado and then up to Aspen?”

“Aspen?”

“Not much skiing there in August,” he said, “but they’re beginning to attract a year-round tourist trade. It’s a charming place any time of year.”

“Aspen? Why Aspen?”

“We’re being hired to do a feasibility study for some folks who want to develop a learning and convention center in Arkansas,” he said. “They want to use the Aspen Institute as a model. It attracts an international clientele.”

I nodded. He continued. “We’ll pay for you to take your bride there and enjoy yourself for a few days if you’ll simply tour the facility, find out as much as you can about it, and bring back a report. You can spend the rest of the time as you please.”

“I’ve been to Denver once,” I said. “It’s an interesting place, the Mile-High City.”

“Spend some time there too,” he said. “What do you think?”

“I think I’ll check with Brenda,” I said. “But it sounds nice.”

I caught her in good mood while she was sewing her mother’s dress for the wedding. She expressed some caution. “What do I do while you tour the facility?” she said.

“Whatever,” I said. “Sleep, go site-seeing, shop, read. I can’t imagine that it would take more than a couple of hours.”

“Could we rent a car?”

“Already checked on it. Yes. We’ll drive farther up into the mountains and enjoy the vistas.”

Her eyes took on a misty look. “Did I ever tell you about the couple I knew growing up? Childhood sweethearts and all. Poor as church mice. Both raised up in sharecropper families. He was just a few notches up from functionally retarded, but got a job at the rice dryer when he got out of high school. Two of the sweetest people I ever knew. We were all so happy when we heard they were getting married.”

“I don’t remember your telling me about them.”

“They had their engagement picture in the local weekly. He wore his cowboy hat and she wore the cutest, most adoring smile you’ve ever seen. Some friends had chipped in and had her hair styled.”

“That’s nice,” I said.

“The paper included a little write-up about their plans. Guess where they were going for their honeymoon?”

“I have no idea.”

“To the Ritz Motel in Prothro Junction, less than 20 miles away, said so right there in the paper. It nearly made all of us cry.”

It nearly did me too.

“So,” she said. “I guess Aspen, Colorado isn’t that bad for a honeymoon, even if it is a business trip.”

“Whatever happened to your friends?”

“Still married and happy as can be. They have two sweet young kids and they are one of the most beloved families in the county. I'm inviting them to the wedding.”

“So, Aspen it is?”

“Why not?”

With no further discussion, She agreed to let the company fund our honeymoon and for it to be a “business trip,” as she put it. She said no more about it at the time.

I suspected that she did, though, file it away, should she ever find a use for it.

I dunno. Seemed like
a good idea to me.