I look around our tiny cramped room, small bed, with coal dust in every single nook and cranny you could possibly imagine, and yet I can't find anything wrong with it. Except for the fact that my husband is already awake and is about to be finished dressing.
"I love you." I say to my husband with a yawn and a smile as he prepares to set off for his shift at the coal mine.
"I love you too." He says back with a smile. He finishes getting dressed in his coal miner's uniform and kisses me softly on the lips, then leaves our little house in the seam. The one we have been living in for the past sixteen years and with two children. I sleepily begin to plan my day. Take the children to school, stop by the bakery on my way home to see Jenna Mellark, the baker's wife about some bread for supper, stop by the water pump for water so I can clean that god-awful coal dust off everything, and prepare supper before he gets home. My husband. I smile happily to myself as I remember out wedding day.
It was a simple wedding really, as most weddings in District Twelve go. When a woman gets married in District Twelve, she usually rents a white dress worn hundreds of times by hundreds of different women. I couldn't go to Mrs. Jackson the tailor for a dress, she was the biggest gossip in town, and the news would no doubt reach my parents. They would attempt to forbid me again from seeing this boy from the seam. I smile as I think of how that ever worked.
I wore a soft blue dress with matching shoes, and he a well-worn suit handed down to him through generations of family. Neither of our families would approve of our marriage, so we hadn't told anyone. I couldn't very well tell my parents I was getting married, much less to a boy from the seam. He met me just inside the line of trees in our backyard, kissed me softly, took my hand, and off we went. We didn't have to be secretive about our relationship anymore, so we walked the fastest route to the justice building, which was also the most populated. We got quite a few stares along the way, and I could understand why. A slender blond-haired blue eyed girl from town who had always had enough to eat, wearing nice clothes holding the hand of a boy with dark hair, grey eyes, and olive skin wearing a suit, headed for the Justice Building. One could only guess what we were headed there to do. It was odd enough for two people from town and the seam to associate with one another, let alone get married. But I didn't care. I loved him so much it hurt to think about what might've not happened.
As we reached the front steps, he took both of my hand in his, leaned over so that his lips were lightly brushing my ear, and sweetly whispered to me
"I love you." I smiled back, too happy for words at this moment.
We walked in the building, hand in hand, and got even more stares and uncomfortable glances our way. I sat down at a table as he walked up to the reception desk to get the forms and a pen. I gazed at him happily and lovingly. We were finally about to become husband and wife. I could barely contain a squeal of delight as i watched him walk back from the reception desk with our papers.
After the paperwork was all filled out, we signed our names at the bottom of page which indicated we were now husband and wife. I remember there was a warning printed in bold red ink warning us that after we both signed our names, we would be legally married to each other. I smiled to myself as I signed my name, not giving the warning a second thought.
We signed our names, walked up to the reception desk, and handed in our finished paperwork. We were presented with a key to our new assigned home. It was quite a distance from his old home, and we had a lot of personal items to bring, so we had to get right to work.
