The Third Part of Chapter 5: Yes!

James and Clarissa went inside on the pretext of going to the washroom. Actually, James had said he needed to go, and then motioned for Clarissa to follow. James had butterflies in his stomach due to the true purpose of this trip; he had convinced Clarissa to go with him on some flimsy pretext of “attending to his needs,” which she took at face value for the naughty behaviour best performed in private that it suggested. Once inside, he revealed the true purpose of this trip: James went down on one knee and proposed to Clarissa. Clarissa gasped.

“Of course I want to marry you! It’s such a beautiful ring!”She exclaimed, beaming.

With Clarissa’s reaction, James was glad. He stood up; they kissed, and then went outside after lingering for a little while indoors, to witness the antics of Belinda, who was now stumbling towards David. The Vanetti’s baby son Jason was visible, crying behind her while clutching his hand; David did not look pleased.

“Belinda,” said he, curtly.

“Hey Davey, did I ever tell you what a good cook you are?” her words were quite slurred.

“Actually, Pia made the salads,” he responded, looking with disdain at the wine stain on her dress.

“Oh yeah, my compliments to the chef, hic!”

Belinda poured another glass of wine, and then, seemingly forgetting that she had done so, fetched a Bacardi Breezer (orange flavour) from the cooler, thus being the first person to double-fist at a garden party. Unhappily, her manners seemed to desert her with increasing inebriation. She consumed the wine first, not in sips, as people would do in polite company and making conversation all the while, but in gulps, with no chatting in between. Jeannine and Rick were both watching her from their respective vantage points on the veranda and beside the koi pond, and both of them were wearing looks of pity. Rick lived near James’s parents, while Jeannine had an elegant old house east of Bank Street.

I hope she changes direction; I would like to see her dry rather than in the koi pond, thought Rick. It was too bad that she was not dry in another sense of the expression.

At this point, Belinda’s thoughts were fuzzy; she was feeling a vague feeling of contentment through her dizziness.

“I must say, Davey, you look much better after I’ve had a bottle of this good stuff,”
David heard that as “I nussay, avy, woo much better affer I had a butt of thizz gudd suff,”

David turned around and tried to start a conversation with Kevin, not wanting to spend any more time entertaining his wife’s drunken friend.

“So, Kevin, are you having a nice evening?”

“Yes, thank you. Your wife’s salad was particularly good, and I quite liked the punch,”

“That’s wonderful,”

“Say, who’s the drunk?” asked Kevin; he knew perfectly well that the drunk was Belinda, but he feigned ignorance. It was true that he had had almost as much to drink as Belinda, but as he was much taller and larger, due to muscle mass rather than fat, he was holding up much better, and while at least a bit tipsy, was not making an ass of himself.

“She’s one of my wife’s friends, who will not remain so much longer, by the looks of it,”

Belinda was thinking, my, I’m tired after all this booze. Maybe I’d better go home and sleep. Oh, there’s Kevin. My, what a piece of man, thought she, eyeing his posterior. He looks so much finer than Kale. What was I thinking marrying that piece of wood? It was unfortunate that she did not just think the last part. That she also spoke rather loudly meant that several other people heard this detail; not everyone wanted enlightenment to this window on her thoughts.

David looked at Belinda one final time and his lip curled as she stumbled toward the gate. What will Eunice think when I tell her? She is one of her close friends, for reasons understood only to Eunice. He also disagreed very much with Belinda on her assessment of Kale. She thought him a rather pleasant man, and was unhappy that he had moved to Calgary after the divorce rather than Belinda. She reminded him of a more unpleasant version of the Prime Minister’s Wife, Francisca Cathaline Gutzmann-Meach; Cathaline was indifferent, like a cat, but Belinda was worse than indifferent toward her husband; she was antipathetic, not showing any thanks for his providing for her, demanding gifts for love in a most unsavoury manner, and generally was an unkind person with stormy friendships; given this, it was no wonder that Kale divorced her. She resembled his cousin Viola in this regard, who had divorced some man named Ken, with Ken getting custody of the children. It was a tragedy this way: Viola estranged herself from her daughters, while Ken had to struggle with being a single father. Even though he had never met Ken, he still felt sorry for him at times. This was three years ago, however, and was yesterday’s drama, so to speak. The political drama on Parliament Hill and 24 Sussex Drive was much more interesting, mainly because all the people involved were incredibly wily politicians, which stood in contrast to Belinda. There was the revelation that Prime Minister Meach had forced out his predecessor using staff to spread rumours about Colm’s health; there was his wife, who was the very picture of unquestioning devotion to her husband when the cameras were near, who still showed a curious detachment when prying eyes and ears were supposedly looking the other way. In any case, thought David, my vote is with Duff in the next election; the drama is a real distraction, and Duff was a very smooth operator, standing by silently, watching the inevitable collapse of the house of cards.

“James!” Exclaimed David upon seeing the man of the hour, “You look much happier now than when you went into the washroom.” David failed to notice that Clarissa’s hair clip had reversed its direction from its initial position when she had gone inside, and the top two buttons on James’s shirt were undone, which was again not the case when he went inside.

“I should confess that neither of us had to go to the washroom. We’re engaged!”
Clarissa showed David the ring on her finger.

“Clarissa! James! I’m so happy for you both! Did that just happen when you ‘went to the washroom’? It’s not exactly a naughty thing, you know. I could have announced it. In fact, I’ll do that right now. Hey, everybody! May I have your attention! I have just heard from James and Clarissa that they are now engaged.”

The party erupted into applause.

“The wedding will be in August,” called out Clarissa.

“The fifteenth of August,” added James spontaneously. Now we’ll have to make reservations, he thought.

Belinda said to herself, “I was right!” James and Clarissa are getting married! This has to be the major event of the season. I would like to get married myself, again; Kevin’s single, and so what if he says he’s gay? He’s probably just playing hard-to-get.

David thought that this was exciting, and wondered how they were going to plan it. Two months to plan a wedding is rather fast, and Pia and I took nearly six months to plan ours. Have they considered a guest list? Are we on it?

Laura thought that they were moving very fast! Then she went on a fantasy trip in her mind about some handsome man who would arrive to sweep her off her feet.

How excellent of them, Kevin thought; it was so heartening to see friends to fall in love with each other. He had known James through David and Pia, which was why he was at the garden party, and they looked nice together.

Jeannine thought, how lovely! Her thoughts then turned to Belinda, as she really was at a loss as to why the Vanettis had invited her to the garden party.

How wonderful that they’re going to tie the knot, thought Rick as he applauded; I’ve known James for five years, essentially since he moved here, and he’s a very lucky man to be landing this sort of woman. Now, if only that drunk would stop stumbling around, this party improve. James and Clarissa left the garden party and went home to dive into the preliminary stages of wedding planning. The party continued with an even more cheerful atmosphere until 10:15.

At that time Pia said to the last guests, “Listen, I like you very much, but you know, Jason also needs to sleep,”

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