Simi could not take her eyes off Katania’s hair. Blonde? Or fake blonde? Usually she could tell the fakes from across a room, but this time she was not sure.
“May I get you ladies some more coffee?”
Simi turned to see Innocence just behind her.
“Perfect timing. Strong and black please,” said Simi.
“Of course,” said Innocence.
“A cappuccino for me,” said Katania, her grooming complete.
“I’ll bring those over.”
Katania placed both palms flat on the table, fingers drumming, while Simi picked up her fork again and pulled off another wedge of pancake. She ate it slowly, then pushed the plate to one side. The pancake was cold now, slightly rubbery, and her appetite gone.
“The thing is,” Katania said “the priest really impressed me. Tall. Handsome. Collared shirt. Who cares if we don’t know him. Jen gets these things so wrong. Getting a priest now is like calling in the plumber or something.”
“Calling in a plumber!” Simi, choked on the last of her pancake. She slapped herself on her chest, until her coughing stopped. “Getting a priest to marry you is not like calling in a plumber.”
“Why not?”
“Well …” Simi stared at Katania. “You’re not serious are you?”
“Oh I am,” she said, smiling, and leant back again, her fingers running through her hair once more, first one hand, and then the other.
Shocked, Simi watched in silence. She barely noticed Innocence when he appeared with the coffees.
“Thanks,” she said automatically, and stirred in some sugar, her brain blank. She raised her cup, held it in both hands, elbows on the table, and watched Katania over the rim.
“I had to use all my charm to get the priest to agree. He was very happy when he heard that they’re actually married – properly married. Whatever that is.”
There was a brief silence, then Simi cleared her throat.
“Well, whatever you think of priests, and of this priest, whoever he is, choosing him … it’s not really your choice, is it?” She lowered her cup back on to its saucer, her eyes never leaving Katania. “Surely this decision is up to Jen and Hansie, and the priest?”
Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023
The Phraser 
Georgie, what a great idea, I enjoy reading the short extracts. It reminds me somehow of how I married. I must tell you as I think it will amuse you. After 3 attempts of arranging it formally in my island and also in Plymouth, and with his job, he rang me up and said, just get the Kioni overseas wedding brochure and pick somewhere exotic in the world (fourth attempt), where it is not monsoon/hurricane/typhoon season 🤣 .The timing was for 6 weeks time when he would be allowed 14 days leave. Too soon for any family or friends to come, but that was life and we sadly accepted it, so just the two of us, which ended up being very chilled, low stress and excellent! So it was Mauritius, and very beautiful it was too. I will never forget that the minister who married us in the tropical, gardens looked like Little Richard, the live musicians we ordered to play for us said they knew lots of romantic songs but during the wedding ceremony played ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes’ and ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it’. If that was not funny enough the minister, (Little Richard) said solemnly as part of the vows, …’Peter, and you agree whilst married to Glynis you will not be tempted to ‘go’ with any other women in the village ‘…….. ‘And Glynis, whilst married to Peter, you agree not to ‘go’ with any other men in the village ,…..’ It was hilarious, and the whole thing was far away from the organised, cut and paste UK marriage that would have been, I would not change it for the world, apart from the fact from time to time we do often wonder if we are actually legally married …. 😄
Please feel free to use any of this in your creative writing. I have a video to prove it!
I continue to look forward to reading more of the imagined wedding……. The plot thickens!
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Glynis thanks so much for such a great story. So wonderful, and even better – it’s true! I am definitely going to have to thicken my plot 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
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I’m really enjoying these little snippets. Did you write this as part of a course or just for fun during lockdown? Looking forward to the next instalment!
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So pleased you’ve found them! Thanks for reading. These are part of a draft for a book that I tried to write in lockdown. Very much still a work in progress.
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