Wedding III

And she had been right. The day was full of sunshine and warm temperatures. The catering crew was already outside setting up tables and the carpenters had set up the arbor, and the florist was busily setting up all of the flowers. The yard was really taking shape and coming out quite beautifully.

Inside, Jody was a nervous wreck. She had skyped with her sister Jenna earlier, since she couldn't afford to come and refused to take any money from her parents. She was sad to miss the event but promised that she would come for a visit soon. Stephen and his significant other were there for support and Rory was holding up different earrings and necklaces to Jody's face trying to decide which one was best, while her brother tried to settle her nerves.

"You're having an outdoor ceremony with a hundred plus guests, twenty of which are children, a gay couple, a vegan hippie, eight mummies and a dog, what could possibly go wrong?" He teased her.

"Stephen, you're not helping!"

"Seriously sis, it will be fine, just relax and enjoy your day. And remember if anything does go awry, it will just make for funny stories to tell in the future."

Jody shook her head at the thought as Rory helped push the hair off of her forehead and placed the bead of pink pearls around her neck. "You are beautiful. It almost makes me want to go straight," he joked.

"We'll go find Dad and get this show on the road," Stephen said with a smile and wink.

As they headed for the beginning of the aisle, Jody intertwined her arm with her fathers. The lawn was beautifully adorned with pink and white flowers, the planters that The Flu had chosen were snuggled up against the arbor. There was a pastel pink runner that went from behind the chairs up to the makeshift altar. The chairs were white with pink bows attached and the boys were dressed in their finest. Not only had Nigel gotten them to wear the white tuxedoes but each had been allowed to choose their own colors for the bowtie and cummerbunds. And they all chose soft pastel colors. Rah, looked fabulous in his mint green ensemble as he began to toss pink rose petals down. Spaz began to play the traditional tune on the keyboard in his light yellow, while The Pole and The Flu stood up front and to the side wearing light orange and soft hued blue. BB Queen was clutching the white pillow with Nigel's ring in his arms while his lavender broke up the white of his suit and Java next to him, was holding the pink pillow accessorized with, of course, his favorite pink.

Jody knew how much the guys hated to wear clothes, especially when it was warm outside and here they all were dressed in formal attire on her behalf complete with top hats. It nearly brought tears to her eyes as she gazed at the scene around her.

She moved forward, clutching her bouquet, the one that Java had discovered, and tried to take it all in. There were smiles all around from her friends and family. She could feel the love flowing all around her.

When she got to the arbor, Nigel was waiting, Horace at his side adorned in his own pastel collar complete with bowtie. BBQ and Java went to their respective sides and Rah finished tossing his petals and drifted off.

The couple exchanged vows nervously as most couples do. Both ring bearers were ready and waiting giving the Best Man nothing to do but stand there and look bored. And The Pole was right where he was supposed to be when Jody turned to hand off her bouquet. Horace's front feet danced and pranced but he remained seated. And before they knew it, they had been pronounced husband and wife.

Cass in his muted teal along with Eddie in his washed out violet accessories began to pass out the small bags of birdseed and bottles of bubbles for the guests to toss and blow at the newlyweds. And just as they finished, the bride and groom made their way back down the makeshift aisle.

And just like that it was over. Jody was now Mrs. Nigel Dumblucke the VII. Everybody cheered as they made their way over to where the photographer was and began discussing their picture options.

The crowd began to scatter and the boys took off towards the bus while the catering crew began to go to work setting up for the dinner. The vegan chef was there dressed as a Fairy, complete with wings and she seemed to be ready to go. Others drifted to the house with garment bags in hand to change from their formal wear to something more in the spirit of the season or at least more comfortable.

Nigel and Jody had a ton of pictures taken in front of the arbor, next to the pond and over by the tree line. They had them taken alone as well as with friends and family. Leading Jody to moan as the last few shots were taken. "I can't believe we didn't think to include the boys in their suits."

"I'm sure their changed by now," Nigel said.

"Oh yeah," Jody said nodding towards the yard where several of them were frolicking with guests.

"Well, let's take our seats at the table so we can get this dinner started," Nigel said taking his new brides hand.

Gloria and Jody did the best they could with seating arrangement. But there was no getting out of putting the boys near Nigel's mother, Marge. There was no doubt that she was keeping a watchful eye on the boys as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

The dinner consisted of fish or chicken with all the typical side dishes except for Java who appeared to be delighted with his menu option. Somerset, in her fairy costume was flitting around asking if anybody else wanted a taste of tofu delight. Some actually took her up on her offer but mostly they raised their eyebrows and shook their head no.

Jody could hear several conversations going on around her. One person commented on how beautiful the flute solo was in the middle of the ceremony. And she had to agree that The Flu had outdone himself. She and Gloria had run out of jobs for the boys when Flu happened to plop down on the couch and start playing the flute and from there the solo was born. She had to admit she was pleased at the job each and every one of them did. She was still bummed about not getting a picture of them in their formal wear, but would have to let it go. There had been several remarks about how they combined their formal wear and their costumes and she just had to smile and think if these people only knew the truth.

As dinner began to wind down and the toast was given, the pole barn was being readied for the band and dancing to come. They had hired an old friend of Nigel's from high school to play and she hoped that he was worth it, never having heard him perform. The boys of course offered their services but Jody didn't want to take advantage of them, she wanted them to enjoy being part of the crowd instead part of the act, but she had to admit that she would have loved to have them play their funky music in her honor.

The sound of forks and knives hitting the plates went along with the murmur of voices and laughter. Both Jody and Nigel constantly glanced over at the boys to make sure everything was going fine. Cass, as usual, had gulped down his entire meal and was now helping himself to Eddie's plate. Eddie, a bit perturbed was about to stab his fork into Cass's hand when Somerset flounced by and offered him some of her vegan goodness. With a big smile he shoved Cass over and thrust his plate out. She gave him a heaping offering and bounced on over to the next table.

Cass finished his helping of Eddies food and was going to move in to take more, but Eddie had his arm draped around his plate and had practically buried his face in his food shoveling away. Nigel stood up in preparation to step in, but before Cass could move, Jody had yelled in a whisper, "Casanova, stop it right now!" And he did, the mummy folded his arms tightly against his chest and pouted, but he did refrain from stealing anymore food.

"That must be a skill that teachers have," Nigel commented as he sat back down.

"What's that?" Jody asked, pushing her bangs aside.

"Whisper yelling."

"Yeah, it's quiet but still gets the point across, it's the inflection."

The kids had finished their meals and since most were decked out in their Halloween finest they began to drift off to find something to do until the grownups were done with their meal. Horace was bounding around, happy to have somebody to play with as the kids grabbed some of the outdoor toys that Jody had set out earlier.

"So guys, you did a great job today," Stephen said to The Flu and Rah. The duo grunted in return. "Too bad you can't come out of the closet, it did wonders for us," he said as he nodded at Rory.

Again the mummy's grunted.

"I just love how they stay in character. Just where did Jody ever find you?" A woman asked as she passed by.

"She has all kinds of contacts," Stephen said smiling. He had to admit when he first learned the truth from his mother concerning the boys, he didn't believe it. But once he met them and smelled them, he realized the supernatural story was true. He also loved that it didn't make him stand out nearly as much in his inner family. His father was a great guy, but tended to be rather traditional and Stephen's announcement that the love of his life was a man kind of put George's life in a tizzy.

Suddenly there was a splash from near the pond. Parents shot up first trying to account for their children. Several people went running towards the small body of water including most of the boys. As Stephen trotted over he quickly realized that it had been Horace that had gone into the pond to retrieve a Frisbee that been thrown. Just as everybody sighed in relief a little boy, named Billy, who was dressed in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume, yelled that he would save the dog and jumped in much to the dismay of his mother.

The boy charged in and Horace met him in about two feet of water. The boys' parents were relieved that he wouldn't drown and at least only his bottom half was wet. But as he went to grab Horace he got tripped up and went face first into the drink. Horace sat down and allowed the boy to grab onto his fur until Java extended an arm and hauled the little guy back up to the yard.

"Now what are we going to do?" His mother cried out. "We'll have to go home, you don't have any other clothes."

"I don't want to go home," the boy wailed.

"Neither do we," his father added. "But what else can we do, you stink."

"I just smell like them," the boy said as he pointed towards Java, who then smelled his own armpits and shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sure we can find him something to wear," Gloria said as she arrived on the scene.

"I want to be a mummy," the little guy declared.

"See, he wants to be a mummy. I can make that work," said as she and the boy's mother gathered him up and headed to the house.

"Okay then," Nigel yelled. "Everybody back to the tables, it's time to cut the cake!"

Jody and Nigel took the traditional stance and began to slice the first piece of cake together. The photographer circled, snapping away, until they each fed the other the first bite. Nigel made sure to smear lots of frosting all over Jody's face and in retaliation she did the same. Each and every mummy jumped up, eager to partake in this fun game, but their plans were quickly dashed when Nigel VI intervened and made them back up and explained that was only for the bride and groom.

Finally the wedding cake was cut as was the one specifically made for the guys. And Somerset carved out a chunk of chocolate mass and did a curtsey before offering it to Java. Everybody was sitting back down and enjoying the sweet treat, putting an end to the meal. Jody was happy, Nigel was happy and the meal portion was nearly done without much of an incident.

In-between bites of cake Marge Dumblucke was moving her head and shoulders around in an effort to stretch them out. She was quite proud of herself that she had remembered her medication which allowed her to be close to the mummies without having a panic attack, but her discomfort was beginning to creep back in and she was trying to remember if she had put the bottle of pills in her purse. Suddenly she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and they began to rub.

"Oh, that feels divine Nigel," she sighed.

"I imagine it does," he quipped as he sat back down next her with another piece of cake. "I must say those pills are miracle workers."

But Marge went pale beneath her make-up. "If you are sitting there, then—then who—''

But in her heart she knew who it was long before she turned around. She shifted her body, turning ever so slowly to find a grinning Spaz digging his fingers into her fleshy shoulders. Then she screamed.

"Guess the pills wore off," Nigel said dryly as he continued to fork cake into his mouth.

Java, The Pole and Rah all jumped up and ran towards the terrified woman in an effort to help. But, of course their appearance did nothing to calm the situation. She jumped up and knocked her chair over which knocked Spaz over, she then tripped and fell right on top of the mummy. By the time Java reached her she was flailing madly but not moving in any helpful way. He bent down and pulled her up to her feet, but when she saw his bandaged arms around her, she fainted forcing Java to hang on for all he was worth. The Pole came over and helped ease them both into a chair so that it appeared Marge was sitting in Java's lap asleep. Rah helped tug Spaz back up to a standing position and he just shrugged his shoulders and finished off the rest of her cake.

Nigel VII had been trying to get over to his mother but got tangled up in another territorial dispute between Eddie and Cass. Eddie only thought it fair that he got some of Cass's cake to make up for the portion of dinner he had lost, but strangely Cass didn't see it that way. Nigel separated them while The Flu went and got two more pieces of cake one being of the vegan variety which they both began to fight over causing Eddie to grab it with his fingers and head for the woods being trailed by two kids who were trying to catch up with him.

Once Nigel got past that ordeal he ran into BB Queen who had his head underneath the spigot to the coffee urn, his mouth wide open glugging away. He pulled the youngest mummy out from caffeine portal and continued on his way to see what he could do for his mother who appeared to be unconscious in Java's lap.

"What happened?" he asked his father.

"Your mother's pill wore off," he said in-between bites.

The younger Nigel heaved his shoulders and sighed. This was old hat for the family; the constant balance of his mother's sanity and their beloved Egyptian family members.

"Well, I guess we should move her before she wakes up. I can't imagine she would appreciate this picture very much," Nigel VII stated as he looked around at the ancient crowd.

But before anybody could do anything her eyelids fluttered open. Every mummy moved out of her line of site and Java tried to pull his arms away so she wouldn't see them.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Your blood sugar must have dropped and you just got a little sleepy," her son said.

"But I was eating cake."

"Which must have just kicked in," her husband said with a smile.

She nodded and reached out for her son to help her up when BBQ popped into the picture with a cup of coffee. "Oh how lovely, thank you young man," she said.

Nobody dared to breathe as for a moment she didn't seem to realize what had just happened—until she did. She went back down for the count, spilling the entire cup of coffee down the front of her dress.

"We better take her inside." Her husband said with a sigh. "Pole, can you scoop her up and take her to living room couch?"

The Pole grunted a yes and did as he was asked, meeting Gloria and her tiny mummy on the way.

"My word, what happened?" She asked.

The Pole answered in a typical mummy fashion making Gloria nod and the newest little mummy to giggle. "I wanna talk like that too," he said practicing his grunts as he ran back towards the party.

"I'll go with you and sit with her," Gloria offered jumping head of the duo to open the door to the house.

Jody and Nigel changed into their costumes, going into the bedroom as bride and groom and coming out as Daphne and Fred from Scooby Doo. As much as Jody adored her wedding gown she was relieved to have shucked the cumbersome dress. She adjusted Nigel's ascot and they headed for the living room.

"How is she?" Nigel asked as he peered down at his mother, who was stretched out on the couch.

"She'll be fine son, just too much excitement." The elder Nigel said.

"And too many mummies," Nigel the younger sighed.

The couple walked out the front door only to be met by two kids, a boy and a girl, dressed as Spiderman and a character from Monster High. The boy was bent over breathless while the girl looked up and tried to catch her breath. "Eddie, is in the woods, he climbed up a tree and won't come down. He said he wants Jody." She managed to squeak out.

"Wait a minute, he said that?" Jody asked.

"Well, he grunted even though we told him it was okay to talk to us, that we wouldn't tell." The boy explained.

"I said we should get Nigel or Jody and he nodded and really grunted when we said her name," The girl stated.

"Okay, thank you guys," Jody told them. "Well, I guess I'll go get Eddie."

"Are you sure?" Nigel asked.

"We can't leave him up in the tree. You go make sure the band is getting set up and I'll find the purple faced wonder."

"Okay babe, just be careful," Nigel said as he gave her a kiss.