Word spread quickly down the Long Walk grapevine.
"Garraty and McVries are getting married."
"Could you repeat that?"
"47 and 61. They're getting hitched."
"You can't do that on The Long Walk."
"Hell, that's illegal in almost every state anyways"
"Have they gone batty or something'?"
"Heard that 3's gonna be the preacher."
"Where'd you hear that?"
It was true. It had come slowly, then all at once. McVries had asked a simple question. Garraty had said he'd think about it. Then had come the flood of almost teary-eyed confessions from McVries. Then Garraty had said yes.
Word on the Long Walk grapevine was the 47 and 61 were completely out of their minds.
"So you'll do it?" McVries asked Baker. He and Garraty stood close together while Baker walked backwards in front of him.
"Well, I've seen a few of my cousins married. And my big brother." Baker offered a weak smile. "I guess I could do it. Are you all sure this is really a good idea? I don't think anyone's ever been married on the Long Walk before. Don't you both have girls back home?"
"To hell with back home," Garraty said. His voice was unusually bleak for him.
"Ray, you sure you aren't just going along with one of his weird schemes? You really want to do this? Just earlier you were telling me about that Jan you had, and…"
"Please, Baker," Garraty responded. His words sounded strained, like the plea of a hospital patient begging for his medicine.
"If you want the sappy stuff, we love each other."
"I thought you didn't believe in love, Pete," Baker said in a low voice.
"What the hell else do I have to believe in?" He gestured at the road around them. "We're going to fucking die, Baker. Why do any of them care what we do? Who has time for that? We're on the god damn Long Walk!"
Baker closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Alright. I'll do it. I don't really remember the speech very well. It'll be short." He looked up at the grey, cloudless sky. "It's bad weather for a wedding."
"All the weddings in Maine happen in this weather," Garraty said.
Abraham sidled up beside Garraty and McVries. "So. A wedding. On the Long Walk. Jesus. And not even a normal wedding, a gay one. You've outdone yourself, McVries."
"I try," McVries said, with irritable sardonicism in his tone. "If you've got a problem, shove off."
"Man, sorry, I didn't mean it like that. You're making Long Walk history right now. The reporters are gonna get a kick out of this."
The reporters. His mother and Jan back home. They'd see him on the television. They were pretty far from the next town, if they could finish the deed before they even got there, maybe the people back in town would never know. Would it be wrong of him to lie to them like that? Nobody was walking him up the figurative aisle, he would be walking the whole time, actually, but nobody but these boys he'd known for under a week would be at his side.
"Let's finish it before they get a chance to," Garraty said. "I think my mom would have a fit."
"I don't care if my mom has a fit," McVries said. "But whatever makes you happy, dear." Garraty's face reddened a little at the pet name spoken with McVries' thin smile.
"Do you want to start?" Baker asked, noticing Parker and Stebbins coming up behind Abraham. Someone Garraty thought was Davidson was there, too, but he couldn't tell. He almost found himself wishing that Olson and Barkovitch were still around to see, and swallowed hard.
"Small fuckin' wedding," Parker remarked. "Back in Illinois we-"
"Oh, shut the fuck up about Illinois," Abraham said. "You probably marry your cousins back there."
"Your mother must've married her cousin for you to come out lookin' like you do," Parker retorted.
"Can we have some peace and quiet? Please," Baker said. He was still walking backwards. "Jeez, I barely remember the whole marriage speech. I'll sorta make it up as I go along, okay?" McVries and Garraty nodded solemnly. Baker cleared his throat.
"We are, uh, gathered here today to celebrate the marital union of an asshole with a scar and some kid from Maine. There's only about five of us gathered here, so it's kind of a pathetic wedding, but I feel like there's something a little sweet about it, if you catch my drift?" Baker's Southern drawl made this all sound almost musical. "I'm no preacher. I'm just Art Baker from Louisiana. I can't really marry you, but I'll do my best, because I really do think you two deserve it. You aren't wearing suits and ties or anything, McVries, I think you're wearing a pullover hoodie and Garraty, you're wearing an army jacket. But I don't think the suits and ties are really what weddings are about."
Baker paused. Garraty and McVries had taken each other's hands. If the soldiers had any idea what was going on, none of them said anything. "I think it's right noble that the pair of you love each other enough to want to do something like this. So, I'm gonna ask, Peter McVries, do you take this man as your, uh, unofficially and unlawfully wedded husband?"
"Fuck yes, I do."
"And do you, Raymond Garraty, take this man as your unofficially and unlawfully wedded husband?"
"I do."
Garraty thought the world would stop, the road would crumble beneath their feet, somebody would scream. But nothing happened. They were just words. They didn't mean anything to anybody except him and Pete.
"You may now kiss the…er…groom."
"How are we gonna do that without getting a warning?" Garraty asked.
McVries answered him by picking him up off the ground bridal-style and kissing him. Garraty had of course kissed people before. Jan, and a few girls in middle school. But this felt different…it felt electric.
Abraham and Parker clapped and whistled. Garraty swore he could see Parker wiping his eyes and Abraham shoving him playfully. Stebbins applauded pensively, that secret smile of his on his face. Davidson gave Garraty a friendly pat on the back before making his way out of the group so as not to fall below the speed limit. The world went on.
"Did I do it good?" Baker asked.
"Yeah," Garraty said, feeling his heart beating softly in his ears. Not like the kettle drum pounding that almost killed him. This was like a dove's wings flapping gently in his head. "Yeah, you did. Thanks, Art."
"What he said," McVries added. "Thanks, Art. For the world's first Long Walk wedding that wasn't bad."
"You're welcome," he said.
Baker turned around, but didn't stray far from where Garraty and McVries were walking. Garraty thought about Art Baker, kind and shy Baker. What the hell was a guy like Baker doing in the Long Walk? "Pete?"
"Yes, darling?"
"I think that was better than an honest-to-god wedding."
"We can tell the grandkids about it. We got hitched on the fucking Long Walk, and our preacher was a Louisiana guy who called me an asshole." McVries laughed, and Garraty laughed too but he had a strange hurt in his heart. He wondered if they let you into the afterlife together if you were married. That was probably a question for Baker.
At least I'll die a married man, Garraty thought.